A Day for Nervous Uncertainties

November 22, 2021

Our plan has been to begin the trip (on Thursday) by riding from home to the Holiday Inn by the Vancouver airport. Then we would get on the plane early the next morning. Of course we can't purely cycle to Vancouver, because there is a matter of two bodies of water and an impassable tunnel in the way. So two ferries and a bus are part of the mix.

We began by finding out that the first ferry leaves later than the time printed on our tickets. That delay would push us to a later second ferry, and eventually land us cycling to Holiday Inn in the dark. Next the weather people - they just held a press conference in which they predict another "atmospheric river" rain event, for Wednesday through Saturday.

Faced with this, Steve said "Better take the waterproof socks and 500 lumen headlights". But the wiser Dodie fell back on an old solution - phone Marvin. Marvin and Erika are known to Cycleblazers from Planned Spontaneity but Marvin's even greater claim to fame is a van with a really good bike rack. A really good friend, Marvin was willing to help us dispense with the first ferry and to arrive at the second one for an earlier sailing.

That knocked out one nervous uncertainty. Next up, speculating on where the baggage handling gorillas were likely to grab our clear-bagged bikes, and to what extent we should fold them, to expose the fewest delicate hand holds. We toyed with not folding at all, just turning the handlebars, just folding down the seat, and strapping the bars and steering tube beside the frame. Somehow we did not even consider a full Bike Friday fold. Oh, oh, I just told Dodie what I was writing, and now she is trying it!

OK, we "put down" my Bike Friday, but it must rise again to roll onto the ferry and ride to the Holiday Inn. This does look like how we will ultimately present it (and Dodie's) to the airline.

Today we also learned that the Malahat, previously blocked by flooding, was mostly reopened. So of course I jumped into the eGolf (gas remains in short supply here, with purchases limited to 30l) and nipped on down to MEC. Why would I do that? It turns out to the same reason as REI in 1978 - I bought a fanny pack. This fits the nervous uncertainty title, because this one is more like a money belt.

Finally, we put together our list of emergency numbers (for example, my brother came to rescue us when hit by a truck in Florida. Of course, Montreal to Yucatan would be a bit of a long drive for him. Last time he happened to be in Fort Lauderdale). One of the numbers was for the Health Insurance, and their card stressed that you must call them before receiving emergency treatment. They want to make sure you go to a hospital where they have a discount deal, or something. We phoned the emergency number to ask if they were serious. While lying in the ditch with emergency services standing by, they want me to call first to make sure they get the best discount deal on saving my life?

Ok, ok, they said, don't be silly, just call when you might have a chance and when you are able. That's great, because from that ditch I would not like to hear "dial 1 for accounting, dial 2 if you know the extension of the party you wish to speak to, etc. ". In fact this time it took "only" ten minutes to get the right person on the line.

As I write this (Monday eve) we are still looking at the weather forecasts. It's possible we will try to jump to Vancouver before all hell breaks loose. BC Ferries is always quick to cancel sailings if things look a little choppy. But hopefully Westjet is not afraid of an atmospheric river of rain?

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