The Winter of Our Discontent
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Like many RV’ers, we spent our winters in a warmer more amiable environment rather than the snowy, bundle-up city streets of Alberta. We called it “going to where they don’t sell snow shovels”.
2001 – The year of major significant events – devastating and traumatic events for the whole Western world and a momentous happening for me. That was the year I discovered that I was no longer “having fun” in my consulting practice and let my partner convince me to totally downsize, pack up the 5th wheel and go travelling. Oh, I refused to retire but did agree to take a major sabbatical for two years – just to test out this new way of life – mind you.
What a wondrous four years!! Our yearly itinerary was determined by the weather. We toured the northernmost places in early October or late March and spent the majority of our time in the warm climes of Arizona, California and Mexico. I learned that the desert is not necessarily all white sand; that cacti mostly bloom at night; that the Navajo Nation is humongous and I could never expect to see it all in one winter; and that the road runner is a real bird and not just a cartoon. We became committed RV’ers. Travelling in an RV is our chosen life-style.
I was taken with the contrast in the topology; the geography; the fauna; the flora; and most of all, the different cultures. I took pictures; I wrote and I created a Web Page to record our travels and adventures in a Photo Journal.
Then it happened!! My partner got a pain!! Now, we all get pains but for Canadians over a certain age – who want to travel – a pain CAN be an extremely unwelcome nightmare. That is, it can severely limit your travel plans. This wasn’t just any pain: it was a pain that seemed to defy diagnosis. It took months to finally rule out any simple cause, then months to consult with a specialist; then months to follow the medical regime he laid out until finally we got the word that my partner’s condition was stable and he was “good to go”.
Well, by that time we had spent the entire winter waiting and missed the opportunity for our southern snow-avoidance venture. While touring in Canada in the non-snowy seasons is a “not-to-be-missed” experience, travelling in the winter is an exercise in road terror.
Being committed RV’ers we took off to places we wanted to revisit as soon as we could get the 5th wheel out of the parking place. Vancouver Island is reputed to be the finest weather location in Western Canada and became the chosen destination for our good weather expedition. We took our time touring and crossed onto the Island in early June.
We were not disappointed!! It is glorious!! So much to see – so much to do!! Besides spending time with old friends, there were beaches to explore; huge cedar forests to investigate; and wineries to visit. The multitude of small islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland are home to many artists and eccentric personalities, most of who are willing to share their views and talents with outsiders. They say the winter storms on the west coast are outstanding and late spring brings an incomparable opportunity to watch the whales migrate from the south to the northern Pacific Ocean.
As we left the Island in our new Motorhome to do our presentations at the annual RV Owners Lifestyle Seminars at the Okanagan College at Kelowna, we felt incomplete – we would return!!
Our winter misadventure started when we discovered that Travel Medical Insurance would either:
• not cover my partner for anything that emanated from his previous “pain” (and we know how the Insurance Industry can connect ANY dots); or
• demand all our worldly possessions for insurance if he was stable for six months; or
• demand only half our worldly possessions if he was stable for 12 months.
Not being of the upper socio-economic strata and determined not to spend another winter not travelling, we opted to return to Vancouver Island where our Provincial Health Care Plan would cover us.
They Lied to Us!!
Vancouver Island, in general, and around the central part of the east coast of the island, in particular, is reputed to be the most weather-friendly area to spend a Canadian winter. Certainly not the dry sunshine we had become used to in our usual winter travels but a reasonable amount of sunshine and a minimal amount of snow. Yes, Virginia, you cannot escape the snow and there is significant precipitation in the form of rain, but, as they say, “at least you don’t have to shovel it.”
According to the Statistics the winter in Nanaimo can offer you: no snow cover over 50 cm (20 inches); maybe 8 days over the entire winter where the snow cover might be up to 20 cm (less than 10 inches); but you can expect precipitation (but mostly in the form of rain or heavy fog) on more days than you can expect sunshine; the temperature seldom goes down below freezing and when it does, the lower temperatures don’t last very long. Considering the alternative of snow, wind and cold, these conditions seemed tolerable.
To our delight, we arrived on the Island to beautiful, sunny, dry weather. In fact, it was so dry the west side of the island was worried about running out of usable water; many of the rivers were barely running; and the number of salmon swimming up the rivers to spawn was down significantly but it was good for us. We set up the Add-a-Room and started planning our adventures for the next few months.
And then the rains started and it rained and it rained and it rained! O.K. this was not unexpected and we had considered that in our planning, but by the end of November, all records were broken: more rain; more snow; more wind; more storms! This was not what we signed up for!
They lied!!
It hasn't snowed very much but it has slowed down the getting around as driving has been impeded from the campground. We are up the side of a mountain which means that it is really slippery going as they aren't very good at sanding/salting the roads around here as this isn't something they usually have to do.
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