AlCan Roadtrip

Well you’d better tell Evan to stop, too. His car is also smoking.

— George

This may not have been the Hurricane Ridge photo op we had in mind, but it apparently is the photo op we’re going to get.

We got up today, cleaned out the Tacoma AirBnb, and headed out toward Port Angeles. The drive over there wasn’t too eventful, but traffic was rather annoying. All that melted away with the majesty of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and rejoining US Highway 101, almost exactly four years after we first turned up that road. Last time we drove this highway, in many ways, we were different people. And that was so many cars ago, too!

We had lunch at the H20 Bistro in downtown, where we had lunch on our final big drive day of the first trip. That took longer than it was supposed to, but we finished up lunch with “just enough” time to make the run up to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center in Olympic National Park, hoping to recreate our first epic photo.

That would have been great, except we were smited by the automotive gods for our nostalgia quest. We rolled into a big traffic jam on the park service road headed up around the entrance pay station. And before we could really figure out what we wanted to do about that, I looked back and realized that George’s car was smoking. Not subtly. I radioed him about that and he jumped to the Tracker’s defense with:

Well, Evan’s car is smoking, too! He should also stop.

Which, alarmingly, was also true. So all three of us stopped on the side of the road a mile or so out from the entrance fee station. As the parade of cars marched on by us, a handful of them rolled down their windows to offer “helpful” advice.

Somehow, both the Volvo and the Tracker started smoking at the same time, but from different places. Both smelled like standard motor oil smoking. George noted that the area that was smoking in his engine bay had been wet before, so he decided that this was just old oil burning off. After all, it wasn’t dripping. Evan’s appears to be a bit more complicated because there was an active oil drip likely from this turbo fan down onto his cat. Also the back of the Volvo and the front of the Celica are covered in a fine mist of oil dropplets, and I was directly behind him all morning…

Given yesterday’s cooling system surgery on the Celica, I was a bit petrified that I’d join the other two in heart-sinking mechanical failures, but today was the Celica’s least smelly day yet! Apparently, our fix has resolved its tendency to smell like burning coolant after being driven!

But I still did a thorough lookaround to be sure. Annoyingly, I think I spilled a bit of fresh coolant either in the cab, on my shoes, or in on my jacket because all day I kept catching whiffs of coolant that scared me, but I never found a source. It wasn’t a burned coolant odor, it was a more “medium rare coolant” aroma. Hopefully that’ll just dry out and finish dissipating by tomorrow. Hell, I’m just glad that the coolant reservoir level was steady. That really does point to major improvement.

Given the delay, the increasing traffic, how soon the ferry was due to leave, and notable concern from the owners of the Volvo and the Tracker that we should take the rest of the afternoon easier, we headed back down the mountain to board the ferry. Also there was really heavy cloud-cover along the ridge line, so I am telling myself that we wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway. We did get one family photo at a turn out on the way back down, but it was a bit lackluster.

After knocking around Port Angeles one last time, we lined up to board the ferry.

The boat ride over to Victoria was great fun! My grandparents used to take me on a ferry line in Texas and I always think back to those trips on the rare occasion I find myself on another ferry line.

This ferry is run by Black Ball Ferry Line, a private company, now that BCFerries no longer runs a Port Angeles line. It appears to be a single vessel, the M.V. Coho, which first went into service in 1959. It boasts capacity for 1,000 people and about 115 vehicles. It is 341 feet long with a 72′ beam and an average sea speed of 15 knots. That didn’t seem like much until we were under way, rocking back and forth in the wind, plowing through the Salish Sea. They packed the cars in super tight but we ended up together, packed into the bow. We spent most of the trip exploring the ship.

Between boarding with smoking cars and a gentleman on the forward observation deck singing his own rendition of Woodie Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land, except “This Coast is Your Coast” — with nautical themes and subtle calls for environmental stewardship laced into the lyrics — I feel the trip has really started.

On the Canada side, Passport Control got interesting. Thankfully, we ended up in the same lane on the way out and George went first. He’s good with new people. Sitting behind him, I felt like his conversation went rather long. Then it was my turn. It started with “where’s home” and “how long will you be in Canada” and then…

So tell me the story.

Canadian Passport Control.

Oh good. How much had George explained?

Well, we’re three friends from college. We’re on a roadtrip to Anchorage, Alaska. I started in Austin, they met up with me in Seattle. We’ll be in Canada for about 8 days before crossing back into the States at Beaver Creek.

Taylor. Not sure how a story this nuts will play with Border Patrol.

He then asked what will become of the cars, if we’re driving them back or “is it a throwaway car?” What offensive language! I intend to sell it…

Apparently, by the the time he got to talking to Evan, he’d loosened up a bit. After a few Canadian adult beverages last night, Evan admitted that Border Patrol asked him which car he thought would make it. And he answered the Celica!! I am delighted and also intimidated because now it’s Canadian public record and I must succeed.

Victoria is a delightful little town. I want to come back here for a week sometime. For being such a hot tourism destination so close to the US, it felt very international with a lot of European elements. It’s a strange mix — European city layout, fashions, and walk/bike-ability, but big cars and lots of parking. Also everyone here is gorgeous.

Also, Google Navigator (which I’m proud to say, I have used for less than twenty minutes total since leaving Austin!) now gives directions using meters and my cash has a portrait of the Queen looking at me like I owe her something.

We hit up The Livet for a late dinner before we came back to our gigantic suite at the “hotel / brewery / gastropub / cocktails bar / liquor store” we’re staying at called the Swans Inn. Of course, we had to check out the brewery on the way in. It’s not a late night for us, because we run the entirety of Vancouver Island tomorrow!

Having brunch at an Irish pub, now that we’re here… in Canada… This is George’s face as he discovers that former UTulsa player #9 Dane Evans is playing for the CFL (Canadian Football League) Hamilton Tiger-Cats, which is currently on TV. He’s reading aloud the differences between NFL and CFL rules while Evan has drowned in breakfast poutine.

145.9 Canadian cents per litre… That’s cheap, right?

We took a slow morning today in Victoria, partially because we wanted to stay in Victoria, partially because we did some car stuff.

Never before in my writing have I been able to use the phrase “murder of crows,” but that is exactly what watched Evan as he investigated his turbo oil leakage situation. Without a lift, the turbo is very difficult to investigate, so he pulled up on a stoop in the hotel parking lot — a stoop of an estate sale liquidator and pawn shop. (Remember how his Volvo came from an estate sale?) Meanwhile, George and I both did a fluids “check and refill.”

After a hearty brunch at an Irish pub, we got on the road. Today, we made the run all the way up Vancouver Island from Victoria to Port Hardy. We made a few stops at scenic view points and picnic spots, but didn’t really have any island adventures today. But I did see enough that I am absolutely determined to return here one day for hiking and probably climbing and maybe even Xterra’ing. This island is full of amazement, outdoor and automotive.

After a few stops along the way, we did a final motor all the way into Port Hardy. I spent a lot of today with the top down in the Celica. That is still a lot of fun, but as it got late, that got super cold… We found our AirBnB here, and it’s a tragedy we’re only here for such a short time.

On the way in, the Celica and the Volvo both hit 168,000 odometer miles, and the Volvo and Tracker both hit 200 then 400 miles with their current owners. The Celica and I hit 3,000+ miles together today, which fills me with a heartwarming feeling of accomplishment and companionship with my vehicle, but an edge of jealousy for the other two who reached this point with their vehicles in Vancouver Island, BC instead of Brownfield, TX.

We ran down to the Sporty Bar & Grill for a quick dinner before coming back up to the cabin. We have an incredibly early morning tomorrow because we have to be in the ferry line by 5:30am. Tomorrow’s ferry takes us over 300 miles up the Inside Passage to Prince Rupert back on the mainland around midnight. We will be on this ferry for nearly 18 hours.

We board at 5:30am, depart at just after 7 and arrive at nearly midnight into Prince Rupert. I am so excited, this is going to be an amazing voyage. Once in Prince Rupert, we’ve debated the merits of a few car repairs, but the most we’ll ask of the cars tomorrow is to make it about 5 miles to the ferry terminal and to avoid leaking an amount of fluids on the deck that may get us noticed.

We got split up in the queue but we’re all in the boarding line for Prince Rupert! Sounds like they’re starting to load.

I had more faith in three leaky, arthritic Craigslist cars making it to the ferry terminal this morning than the three of us — decided not morning people. But we made it! They sorted us by destination and vehicle type, then loaded us in. We got split up into different lines going in and they packed vehicles by size so they’d pull whichever length vehicle from the queue for the most efficient pack. We drove in through the bow, which seemed kinda odd because that means not only would they have to back away from the dock, but that they would also have to back into our destination.

We regrouped on the main passenger services deck to check in to the cabin we reserved. It’s a small stateroom like on a cruise ship, which sleeps two, has room for a little luggage (access to the vehicle deck is restricted to 15 minutes every four hours), and a private bath/shower. We dropped our stuff off and went out on the walkways around decks 5 through 7. It was only just starting to get light out but the harbor was full of a heavy fog and low cloud cover. The morning stillness was detonated by a deafening horn blast. Remembering that the ship was docked bow-first into Port Hardy, I have to assume that there are no survivors left of that shockwave. But seriously — how does the town tolerate that blast every other morning at 7am? That was oppressively loud.

We continued our explore for a bit. The M.V. Northern Expedition launched in September 2008 from Germany and traveled through the Panama canal to British Columbia for her maiden voyage on this route in January of 2009, replacing the M.V. Queen of Prince Rupert. The vessel displaces over 8,000 tons with capacity for 600 passengers and 130 vehicles. The ship has three restaurants, a few lounge areas, a small movie theater, and cabins. As a passenger service ferry, it full of luxury, but as a luxury cruise ship, it’s rather spartan. An interesting mix.

There didn’t seem to be a particularly full passenger load. Everywhere we went, we felt like we had it to ourselves with lots of quiet areas. But not everyone purchased a cabin, so there were lots of people who put out sleeping bags or small camping mattresses in all the nooks and crannies.

We hit up the breakfast café which had surprisingly good food. After breakfast, we split up and I ended up asleep on a bench over the stern as the morning rolled in. The power nap helped me regain some humanity before I went on a long walkabout and watched the rest of Vancouver Island pass by.

The fog continued to slowly retreat and the sun warmed up as a small crowd of passengers gathered on the sun deck where “the barbecue” spot was. Without much else to do today, we joined in for the brats and beers for lunch, served up under the warm Canadian sunlight but kept chilly by the biting wind.

Just after lunch we made the only stop on this line, in Bella Bella. They unloaded a handful of passengers and vehicles there before continuing. Bella Bella is a fishing and logging community with a hospital, schools, and a cultural center. It’s also one of the largest First Nations communities on the coast. BC Ferries started passenger service here in 1977 and it offers service year-round.

The first “scenic point of interest” after Bella Bella was the Dryad Point lighthouse, first established in 1899. It sits on the east side of Campbell Island and marks the entrance to the Lama Passage, the narrowest point of this whole channel at about 800 feet.

After the passage, I had a real nap, that really helped. Engine noise plus vibration and rocking of the ship is apparently my magic “pass out completely” sauce. We spent the afternoon wandering around, taking pictures, and watching the scenery pass by. Until, you guessed it, it was time to eat again. We went to the buffet which was quite nice, and while we were there, the ship overtook an entire fishing camp that was in tow moving for the season!

The Third Officer came over the PA to explain what that was because even the crew in the dining hall ran over to the windows.

After dinner, it had gotten properly dark out, but with clouds and rain, we couldn’t see any stars. We grabbed a beer back in the café and Evan prepared his post for OppositeLock requesting help identifying an issue with the Volvo while I edited photos.

We got into Prince Rupert a little earlier than expected and got checked in. Driving off the ferry inspired another wave of “how in the world are we driving cars we own off a boat in a rural Canadian harbor?” Tomorrow ends the coastal section of this drive as we head inland up the Skeena River toward Stewart, we won’t see the ocean again until Alaska.

In morning light, our hotel from last night looks like a scenic extra from HBO’s Chernobyl… Whose idea what brutalism architecture anyway?