August 23 Victoria to Hope

Dede waiting to drive on to the ferry

OTHELLO TUNNELS

Left Victoria this morning on a bright clear and somewhat warm morning (60 degrees) We were headed to Sidney to pick up the ferry to Vancouver on Highway 17. Vancouver Island had great highways, they’re four lane, divided, well paved, well marked, but no overpasses. The posted speed limit is 90km (55mph) but there are stop lights about every 4-5 miles or so. More in or around communities. With all those stops, it is hardly a highway. The road from Victoria to Sidney ends at the ferry terminal. It is kind of like going through a toll booth, only the toll in our case was $217.


The BC Ferries are very modern, three levels of car decks, 3 passenger decks, with amenities such as a day spa, private lounge, video arcade, computer stations with WiFi, a pretty nice buffet, a latte and ice cream bar and the souvenir shop. There was a naturalist on board giving a presentation on and animals who live in this part of the sea. The only amenity that we found lacking was the accommodation for Dede. She was not allowed on any of the passenger decks, and was relegated to this small room on one of the car decks in the middle of the ship. Given that we didn’t want to spend our time crossing the Georgia Strait in an enclosed room in the bowels of the ship we took Dede back to the trailer and locked her in for the 90 minute trip.

We arrived just south of Vancouver headed off to find Highway 1, the road that spans the length of Canada from west coast to east coast. (US highway 1s both west coast and east coast travel north and south, Canada’s highway 1 goes east and west, go figure) I was greatly relieved to see that on the mainland the Canadian government has seen fit to invest in overpasses. I was concerned about all those crossing roads that I would have to stop for or at least slow down for between Vancouver and Halifax.

We arrived in Hope BC in the afternoon. Their claim to fame is they have on old railroad line that has stations and tunnels named after Shakespearian characters, the Othello tunnels, etc., and that the Canadian Japanese were interned here during WWII. I had thought that the interment was only an American disgrace, and did not realize that the Canadians participated as well.

Tomorrow we are off to Kamloops.