Caspar 14 June 2023

Final Lap

Up and anxious early: big travel day ahead. Down to breakfast 5 minutes too early, but the Abigail's staff fussed over us, and presented us with today's breakfast menu, even including the weather forecast for the day. While we're glad to be headed home, Rochelle says 'I could stay here for a week.' Ironically, Eggs Benny for the second day in a row.

Taxi right on time to the Harbour Air terminal in . . . guess where: the Victoria Inner harbour. Loaded tight in the Otter and away!

Easy to YVR, an immense facility. The Canadian authorities are uneasy with the unceded territorial issue, and make gestures to acknowledge the First Nations' existence (without actually having to stop the plunder.) 

As soon as possible, we checked in, with the help of a speedy but very devoted United helper, and made our way through the indignities of transport safety – we still had to take our shoes and everything metal off, but nobody had their temperature taken, so the greatest present day risk for flying was utterly ignored. We government functionaries always say, plan carefully for any previous problems, but be sure to ignore the present and future ones! We think that flying while sick should be a federal offense tantamount to murder. 

Push back 'on time' five minutes after the schedule, and southward bound . . .

Maybe I can figure out which mountain this is. Ranier? Hood?

I have been disoriented most of the trip, not having my usually unshakeable sense of where North is intact, so imagine my relief when I recognized the Blue Lakes and Clear Lake.

Coming into the stack at SFO right over The City, then down the Bay to loop around, the habitation pattern below looks like some sort of terrible skin condition.

We lost our way in SFO, but after a couple of false starts found our shuttle, our car, worked our way through late rush hour, and rewarded ourselves with a shared spaghetti with Domenica's sauce and a meat ball and a half at Catelli's then home in the gloaming.

Pi the cat found us half an hour after our arrival and has scarcely left our sides since.

I'll take some time for the anguish of mass travel to wear off, and the glow of the Great Bear to reassert itself. It's there: I can feel it. I'll do one more page about travel, and travel as elders, and to serve as a table of contents for this trip . . . but not today.