Wednesday, June 27 in Parksville, BC

We made it!

The Healey continued to perform well for our last two days of driving from Bozeman, MT to Parksville, BC -- total distance is about 900 miles.

Our trip west from Bozeman was almost entirely on I-90.  This kept our average speeds high.  Our first day ended at 458 miles in the small aggie town of Ritzville, WA.  We passed through Montana, Idaho, and Washington on the way.

Western Montana reminded us a lot of New Mexico, though definitely greener and wetter.  The forests here look a lot better than in NM, Colorado and Wyoming where beetles and fire have taken their toll.

Nance poses on the dock at Coeur d'Alene

We had a pleasant break at a ritzy Italian restaurant on the lakeshore in Coeur d'Alene, ID.  This resort town was downright festive, packed with scantily clad young and old people finding fun on the beach.  I remembered staying here in the 70's to work on a Navy project.  Don't remember it being so touristy, but life was more serious then.

After enduring a slow drive through industrial Spokane, WA we finally ran out of steam in Ritzville.  There we found a clean and comfortable Best Western and crashed early. 

We awoke to a steady, Northwestern drizzle.  We prepared the Healey for water travel.  Bailing buckets, dry towels, rags and side curtains were deployed.  We needed them all.  The windows fogged up constantly.  The wipers feebly wiped and the passenger wiper shredded in a few miles. We amputated its remains.  We could see just enough to stay on the road not be run over by semi trucks.  We finally left I-90 and turned NW through the Wenatchee National Forest and the Cascade mountains. This was a scenic shortcut to Everett, WA -- missing the hubub of Seattle.  The rain was easier to handle on this beautiful road.  It almost snowed at the highest elevations and heat was not a problem. The rains finally declined but we stuck with the side curtains.  It was quite chilly at the higher elevations.

The scenic driving ended when we hit I-5 N but the scenery continued. We moved quickly into Canada, losing a little time at the border to get our passports out of the boot (wrong again, I didn't think they were needed to enter Canada, only to leave).

Healey rests in the lower ferry deck while we enjoy the scenery

We hit Vancouver at rush hour, and began the torture of driving an old car in heavy traffic. But we endured and made it to Horseshoe Bay north of Vancouver in time to make the 7:20 PM ferry.  It worked perfectly, the lighting and weather was ideal for our hour and half journey to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.  We had a relaxed dinner in the ship's cafeteria.

We found our friend Judie Gardiner's beautiful condo overlooking the ocean.  Judie is the widow of a classmate of mine from CalTech.  Amazingly, her place is right next to the Healey Rendezvous 2012 hotel in Parksville, BC.

The ferry is big, holds three decks of cars and lots of people

I have tried to ad some pictures to this posting and some of the earlier ones.  I will be off the air for a day or two while we enjoy the Rendezvous.....