Well, after looking at the work calendar, and trying to keep up with my self appointed, ‘Go diving once a month’, I looked as if I had a few days that I could skip out for a bit and do just that.
After working what seemed like a 100hr work week, I was able to grab a few hours of sleep and start driving out in daylight to BC. I normally do this in the darkness, to avoid traffic, and the pretty sights of the mountains as I hunker down for the ~11hr drive.
The major consideration of when I left, was to make the last ferry at 9pm. Leaving at 7am with 11 hours of driving should get me on the 7pm ferry, and gives me a nice buffer for a nap, or if the road gets slow or stupid for a bit.
Driving through Banff and to Lake Louise turned into a ‘was plower at some point’ single lane of mostly people wanting to go skiing. So much so, that the last 3.5km of the hiway was a parking lot for the offramp!
The snow (and lanes) cleared up shortly after that mess, and was clear in Golden on wards. The top of Rogers this time was white, but not heavy snow, and was mostly slushy coming down into Revelstoke.
After that the roads were excellent until the last few km’s of the Cocquhalla, and then just rainy into Vancouver.
I made it in good time to easily catch the 7pm ferry, even with the slow driving in a few spots on the highway.
I called up Granny, to let her know when I’d make it in, and on the boat we went. It was pretty uneventful boat ride, not a lot of people on it (only the middle 2 lanes of both levels were partially full). But the last half hour coming into Nanaimo was pretty rough. Windy, cars shaking through the now wind tunnel of the car decks, and the bobbing of the big ferry made is slightly uncomfortable, as well as ears popping from the pressure differences with the wind.
I made it in and settled in for the night for a nice deep nap.