MAY 15, Friday, Coombs and Parksville
This is the start of the May long week-end, unofficially the start of the summer season in BC. It was sunny but cool. We went for a drive to a local tourist office and got info on the area. From here we went up 4A and visited the village of COOMBS, a hillbilly sort of place where the main attraction is the store with a dirt roof and grass growing on it; goats are on top eating the grass. The place has grown a lot since I was here 20 years ago. There are now a few stores full of tourist goodies. We continued on 4A to Hwy 4 and went to the Provincial Cathedral Grove Park where one can find huge yellow cedar trees. We walked a couple of nature trails then drove back south of Coombs where we stopped at the North Island Wildlife Refuge Centre where we visited with hawks, eagles, birds of prey, crows and ravens to name a few. We also met SANDOR, an eagle with a broken wing who will never fly again and has been adopted by the staff at the Refuge. He put on a little show for us. We also saw wild Australian Black Swans.
We came home to an almost full park. Time for dinner
MAY 16, Saturday, more Sightseeing
Sun and clouds again today and a little cool still. Val did laundry in the morning and I called my daughter and son. Val called an old friend and we made arrangement to meet tomorrow.
In the afternoon, we went for a drive to the “Little Qualicum Cheesework Farm” which turned out to be a quaint little farm catering to kids mainly but we did see pigs, cows, rabbits. We walked the grounds then went in the shop where they make cheese and sell fruit wine. We tasted a couple but I didn’t like it so I went for the cheese and bought a bag of curd cheese; not nearly as good as the one from Drummond’ Ville PQ. We also took a drive to Milner Gardens but they wanted more than we were willing to pay so we came home after stopping in Qualicum and looking around.
MAY 17, Sunday, Meeting friends
We got up at 8 a.m. and met Karen and Brian at 10 for breakfast. We had a lengthy visit then said our goodbyes and went for a drive to Nanoose Bay where there is an experimental Naval Base. We also looked at a couple of parks and went for a walk which Tucker thought was the greatest.
Back to our campsite to relax and enjoy the rest of the sunny day; it is fairly warm right now at 70* F or 20*C
MAY 18, Monday, to Chemainus, Vancouver Island
A cloudy day and cool today! We packed and on the road by 11;15 a.m. We got back on 4A then 19 and headed south. Traffic was heavy, everyone is returning home from a long week-end. We arrived at COUNTRY MAPLES RESORT, an AOR member which cost us $9/night for 7 nights. IT is a very nice park near the Chemainus River and we are about 10 minutes from the town of Chemainus.
We set up then relaxed. It began drizzling so a good day to stay inside and read a book.
We travelled 79 KM (48 miles) in 2 hours at an average speed of 39MPH.
N 48* 53’ 43”
W 123* 42’ 59”
Alt: 173 ft
MAY 19, Tuesday, back to Parksville
We drove back to Parksville so that Val could have her haircut with Jacqueline whom we met in San Carlos, Mexico. She had done Val’s hair there and Val wanted her to cut her hair again. In the meantime, I found a place to have the connectors on my satellite cable replaced and I found an antenna for the Sirius home dock which was a bonus.
We came home via Nanoose Bay and once back at Country Maples, I set up the satellite. It drizzled again in the afternoon.
MAY 20, Wednesday, Quantum to garage for repair and meeting “old friends”
We took “Q” to GREG’S RV to have the underbelly cover replaced. We dropped it there and drove to Nanaimo to meet Bill and Betty for lunch at their place. Alex, another “old friend” was there which was a bonus for me. We had a marvelous visit talking about the “good old sailing days” Unfortunately, it had to end as we had to pick up our rig at 4 p.m. so we said our good-byes and went back to Duncan, south of Chemainus.
Greg’s RV did a good job on the underbelly so we paid our bill which was much less than I figured then drove back to Country Maples and set up once again.
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