The sound of rain was the first thing heard in the morning as I came to life in the darkness of the musty room. Amazingly all our gear had actually dried out, but it was a shame to put it all back on and walk out fully dressed into pouring rain. The bikes started and warmed up, the BMW purr such a now comfortable part of our lives.
We found the turn to the ferry backed up with cars, a disheartening sight and sat in the line for a few minutes until I saw a way to squeeze out and into the terminal lot.
Kim stayed in the line until I finally figured out where to go, parking alongside the entry and walking in to stand in the interior line dripping wet. Eventually I got to the window where the stern acting lady behind the counter suddenly warmed, telling me there’d be no problem going standby with the two bikes. In a few minutes we had our tickets and made the line, only waiting a short time before rolling into the ferry hold first in line! Woohoo!
As they strapped the bikes down, Kim bailed and grabbed our sleeping bags and mats, taking off to find a spot before the rest of the crowd could. After making sure everything was kosher with the bikes, I wandered up the stairs and eventually found The Butterfly with a couple of window seats reserved. We left our gear and wandered about, waiting for the ferry to get going in the rain and mist.
The time spent on board was fun, wandering out on the decks until the wind and cold drove us back in, sitting in the cafeteria and drinking coffee, lounging in the chairs and watching the mist shrouded mountains slide past in our socks. It felt great to know we had nothing to do except to do nothing.
Twice we spotted a whale, a first for each of us and it was exciting to see.
As I walked up onto a deck, a door opened in front of me and I almost walked straight into a guy. He smiled and said “I’ve been following your ride report on Advrider.com and recognized you two.” We shook hands and officially introduced ourselves. “AKJerry” was his Advrider handle and I told him we’d get a coffee or something later on. (Unfortunately it didn't happen :( Jerry if you read this I owe you a coffee bro!)
Kim wandered into the movie theater with a glass of wine, while I went back to the car deck for something. A huge guy was near the bike and began talking to me about bikes and riding, telling me of his many trips to Ecuador where he would rent a motorcycle and travel the mountain roads. He had a heavy British accent and size-wise he dwarfed me. Inside his old Land Rover sat a huge St. Bernard who dutifully watched us talking. We talked several times that evening, sharing that he was a mortician on Haida Gwaii island and escaped to Ecuador as much as he could for motorcycle adventures...
I wandered back and found myself in the theater with Kim, watching the remainder of a movie about Stephen Hawkings life.
Eventually we found the upper floor deck to be open and set up our sleeping pads and bags for the night. A few others eventually came up as well. As we finally laid down to get some sleep, the ferry began pitching side to side enough to roll me off my side sleeping position. Kim had fallen asleep but I got up and stared out the windows into the darkness, barely able to see whitecaps on the water below until I got sleepy again and laid down.
It’s not much, but we call it home
The night was a fitful one, sleep constantly interrupted by people wandering up and loudly setting up to sleep or just talking. It was a difficult night to say the least and I dreaded waking up and I dreaded trying to sleep.
Somehow Kim ended up on the other side of the ship from where she started. I was afraid to ask why.
I finally couldn’t stand it and went for coffee, but the cafeteria was closed until 7 am so I wandered around a while and upon returning found a line of about 50 or 60 Germans waiting dutifully at the door. I gave up and headed back to start packing up my sleeping gear. After doing so, I returned for coffee to find the line even longer. I gave up again and woke up Kim to get our gear together. After packing a bit more I went down and found the line gone, excitedly grabbing a coffee cup and pulling the handle to fill it. Yep. No coffee and none in sight. Just then the loudspeaker came on and announced that the car deck was open and for everyone to begin loading. Life sucks.
Anyway, we got downstairs quickly and as we were loading the bikes, several German tourists began gathering around Kim. They were supposed to be loading onto the bus next to us but instead were excited to see a woman riding a BMW. They talked with her in broken English and it was a lot of fun. One woman began to tell Kim what it was like to have been in East Germany and how much freedom meant to her how. Tears came to her eyes as did they to Kim's. They all wished us well and wanted to take pictures, so I told them to group together for a shot for us to remember them.
We were dressed and ready to leave, but the bikes were still strapped down and I was wondering if we were to unbuckle them ourselves when a worker yelled at me to go ahead and undo the straps. I did and we fired up as the doors opened, riding off onto the ramp and into Port Hardy.
Emotions were mixed, as in one overnight trip we had left one amazing world, only to re-enter a much more mundane and crowded one...