4th - 6th November 1997

Tuesday 4th November
Claire called at 9am which I was kind of expecting but it still really woke me up.  The van had been fixed and it was ready for us to start siliconing it and changing the wheels.  I had a quick shower and got in the car to go into town.  Unfortunately the car wouldn't start, apparently the battery was drained.  So I got Aaron's jack out and hitched into town.  When I got there Claire and I set about filling in the gaps with silicon so hopefully no rain will come in.  Then we started to do the wheels. This proved to be quite a job and after much huffing, puffing and swearing....we loosened all the nuts!  We really weren't very confident about jacking the vans up, so I called Aaron to ask for help, he didn't answer.  So we decided to do the insurance while we wait.  We got all the insurance sorted and then she said she didn't take credit cards....Arse!  So, we hitched up to the shack, got my travellers cheques, tried to talk to Aaron, and hitched back.  We sorted the insurance, $387, and then went back to the van.  We still couldn't do the wheels and just as we were getting upset, annoyed and frustrated, Aaron to the rescue!  All he did was show us where to jack the van up, but that was all we needed, just the assurance that what we were doing was correct.  He left to deliver the "Sound" and said he'll come back later to see how we were doing.  We fixed the wheels quite quickly really and we loaded up and left.  We went to the shack first to get my stuff, while I was there Jamie called and I talked to him for a bit.  I don't like talking to him much, I always feel like he's judging me.  Anyway, we went back to into town to see if we could find Aaron to say goodbye.  Alas, we couldn't and so we went back to the shack in the vague hope that he'd be there....he wasn't, so we left!
Claire drove to Tim Hortons at Port and then I drove to Nanaimo and boarded the ferry. I was quite upset for the first bit of the journey because I really wanted to say goodbye to Aaron.  We had such a brilliant week and I was kind if sad that it had to end.  Anyway, we caught the last ferry and once in Vancouver made our way to the backpackers hostel to collect Claire's cousin, Simon.  Unfortunately, he'd left a few messages to say that the hostel would be too hard to find and that we'd find him at the station.  We picked him up and make our way to Kitslano.  Sally wasn't in but the others let us in anyway.  There were quite a few people staying in Kits and I didn't feel that we were as welcome as normal.  We settled down for the night after having to move the van in case of fineage (made up word, by me).

Wednesday 5th November
Awoke quite early as everyone was going to work.  We had breakfast and showers and departed to Banff, or so we thought!
I drove out of the city which was quite traumatic and stopped at Maple Ridge for gas, this is where we discovered drips of oil on the ground under the van.  We bought some more oil and filled it up and also filled the radiator.  I drove as far as Hope where we stopped for lunch.  We took the wrong road out of Hope and after 20k we stopped, turned around and tried again.  This time we chose the right road, the Coquihalla Hwy.  We had to pay a $10 toll here but the mountains were beautiful and well worth it!  After a while the scenery changed and it became quite barren and desert-like.  To pass the time we played "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral", I was quite good especially when I was a Kinda Toy.  We eventually stopped at Kamloops and we stopped at a garage to ask about our oil leak.  They couldn't really help so we poured in some more oil and I drove to Salmon Arm as Claire was too stressed.  We parked in the car park of Canadian Tire and this is where we spent our first night in our new abode.

Thursday 6th November
We awoke at about 8:30am when everyone was started shopping.  We took the van in and explained the problem.  They said they'd have a look and gave us a loan car in the meantime. We went charity shopping and we bought quite a lot of stuff; 2 pairs of ice-skates, blanket, jumper, curtains, scarf, gloves, frying pan and a stolen Kermit (our new mascot) all for $5! Bargain! All this expenditure was on top of a lot of miscellaneous goods bought in Canadian Tire.  We went to Tim Hortons for lunch, Simon's first time, and I stole a napkin dispenser.  After dinner I called Aaron and we had quite a nice chat although not as nice as it would have been in person.  I met Claire and Simon at the toy shop where they had unsuccessfully tried to get Thomas stickers.  Then we went back to the van.  We were told that it couldn't be fixed tonight but they'd push it out so we can sleep in it and have it back in the morning.  That night, Claire and I unpacked our stuff and Simon cooked us Spaghetti Bolognese.  We played cards and then I read to everyone.

<these are extracts from my diaries written whilst travelling and working in Canada and the US in '97-'98>