Girl Meets Canada: We Have Achieved Take Off!

The ongoing story of a girl and her van on an epic journey across Canada.

So, did I mention that I’m driving across Canada this summer? I think I may have failed to do so. I’ve been thinking about it for so long, I just assumed that everyone else knew. The whole world. Hi, world!

DAYS 1 – 5 (May 10-14)

I was planning on blogging about the trip with some sort of regularity. But here I am, five days on the road and I haven’t even mentioned it. Oops. Bad blogger! BAD, BAD BLOGGER!

Sorry, world.

This is the part where I should really sell my trip, so you’ll be dying to check in ALL THE TIME! WHAT IS SHE DOING NOW? WHERE IS SHE? I MUST KNOW!!!!!

The thing is, I don’t really have anything to sell. My plan is super vague. Take van. Drive around. Hope to reach Newfoundland before something important falls off.

I left Victoria Monday, my Westfalia van packed full — half with camping gear and half with boxes to store. You may remember that last year (around this time) I struggled with packing my apartment and getting rid of all the unessentials. I managed to cull my stuff into a manageable load that fit in a 5X6 storage unit. After a year of paying to keep this junk locked up I went through it again, and now have it down to about 15 boxes that fit nicely in the corner of my dad’s workshop. I’m sure in another year I’ll just tell him to burn the lot of it.

So the first few days of my trip were spent on Cortes Island, playing with bunnies, cuddling Brodie (my dad’s ridiculously cute border collie), reading in the sun and digging for clams. And watching the Canucks get spanked, but let’s not talk about that. Yesterday I left him to head to the tip of Vancouver Island. I was driving to the Cortes Ferry with dad following behind (he was on a mission from my mom to take a picture of me driving on to the ferry. Parents!). All of a sudden he wasn’t behind me anymore.

I noted this as weird and then forgot all about it. I pulled into the ferry lineup; dad parked close by a few minutes later and says, “Do you want this?” as he lifts my tailpipe up. It had fallen off while driving and I hadn’t even noticed.

We’re off to a great start!

I played with my new GPS in the ferry (thanks, mom and dad!) and was amused to see its interpretation of me crossing the water. Yes, I’m easily amused.

Like this rock. It’s a rock that says Canada Rocks. It made my day. I pulled a big u-turn to drive back and take a picture of it. Most of the time I really enjoy traveling alone. But it’s times like these, when I’m pulled over and laughing hysterically, at a rock, that I really don’t question why I’m alone. Times like these it seems pretty darn evident.

Then it was a three hour drive to Port Hardy. I found a lovely little campsite called Wildwoods, that has free firewood and showers and wi-fi, all for the low price of $15. And best of all, I got the whole thing to myself. I didn’t see another soul until this morning, when an elderly man in a golf cart drove by me three times. Other than that it’s just been me and the barking sea lions on the beach below.

And some axe murderers and crazed truckers lurking in the bushes, I’m sure.

Did I mention the wi-fi? I’m writing this post and uploading pictures while sitting in front of a campfire. I believe the correct term for this is “sweet-ass”.

Photo Credits

All photos © Sarah Gignac

This article first appeared on Raggedy Threads in May 2010.

Recent Sarah Gignac Articles:

• Filmmaking 101 Part 6 - Shoot Day
• Filmmaking 101 Part 5 - Casting & Crew & Catering, Oh My!
• Filmmaking 101 Part 4 – The Pre-Production Dance Of Insanity
• Filmmaking 101 Part 3 – A Lesson In Passion and Partnerships
• Filmmaking 101 Part 2 — The Script