South to Parksville

After two busy days in Port Hardy, we set out on the last leg of the trip. South on highway #19 to Parksville, about 350km. It was surprisingly mountainous giving us more of the winding and hilly roads we had become used to. Logging is very active in the north end of Vancouver Island. We saw many active hillside logging sites, as well as some logging sites right along the highway. 30 years ago I had flown over the BC mountains many times and I remember seeing mountain slopes totally stripped of all usuable trees and then just left, as the loggers moved along to another hillside. Now what we saw, was all the cleared areas were being reseeded with young, healthy trees. This has now become a truely renewable resource.

  We  turned off  hwy #19 at Campbell River, onto #19A. This is the old highway and a much more scenic route, following the east coast of the Island.  We stopped and had lunch in one of the many parks along the waterfront in Campbell River, right on the 50th Parallel. 19A took us about 120km south to Parksville

Once in Parksville we found the park where we will stay for the month of September and got set up. Parksville is a beautiful town on the water, with many sandy beaches. From anywhere in town you can see snow capped mountains. To the east on the main land and to the west the mountain range that runs down the center of the island.

It will be good to stay in a beautiful place like this for a month, but we will miss the travelling. The three of us in the truck early in the morning, heading down the highway to experience new places.

                                      Summary of the trip West

We have travelled 11,000km, (6,835miles) since leaving Cambridge. 5200km in the the van and 5800km in the truck.

We achieved about 13 MPG average in both van and truck.

Cost of gas averaged about $1.35/lt  With a high of $1.86 (we did not fill up!) Right across the prairies, prices ranged from $1.06 to $1.18. Yukon was surprisingly low averaging $1.33. $1.29 in Whitehorse.

We also saw no difference in grocery prices in the Yukon than at home.

The days that we travelled, we usually covered 350/400 km, with the rare day of 500km(300 miles). We seldom drove two days in a row, but normally stopping 2/4 nights in each place to explore the area

Parks were more reasonable than I thought they would be, averaging less than $30 per night. Every park had electric, water and sewer hookup and laundry. Most had wifi and many had cable TV. Whitehorse and Dawson City where we stayed longest had everything.

Our best memories and places we enjoyed most are numerous, but to pick a few favourites: Sault Narrows on the Lake of the Woods, Drumheller, Whitehorse, Dawson City, Tatooga, Port hardy, but we enjoyed every place we went. Every place had something of interest. There really were no disappointments.

I spent a year planning the trip, spending many hours on the internet. Arranging Health Insurance for an extended time out of the province was frustrating and took several months before it was finalized. I joined the Good Sam club, a camping club. They have roadside assistance which we bought, and I bought their camping book which has 1500 US and Canadian campgrounds listed. I already belonged to Explorer Club which have hundreds of Canadian campgrounds listed. I selected the parks and made reservations as early as late April, this assured us a site every night without worrying about where we would stay. The only time we changed reservations was when we stayed two days extra in Grande Prairie to buy the truck.

Vancouver Island was selected by us to spend a winter due to the fact that we did not want to pay the very high cost of  medical insurance to travel to the US.

Staying within Canada meant we were covered by our Ontario Insurance, OHIP.

The temperatures in the area we will be staying over the winter should seldom drop more than 1-2 degees below zero C, with rain.

Vancouver Island is 500km long from Victoria to Port Hardy, so has everything from rich farm lands in the south to rugged mountains through the center. We have seen a lot of the island over the years, but hope to revisit some of our favourites.

I hope some of you have enjoyed the "blog", I have enjoyed doing it.

                                               NOT THE END