Trip Report - 840 miles and Vancouver Island
First off, let me apologize for NOT taking many pics and none of the island :( In part it was just raining all the time (nearly anyway) or we were so busy that we just didn't get many pics.
We left Wednesday as soon as we could (about 3:30pm) and after I'd made last minute adjustments and checks on the suspension upgrades (set the front shocks to 7 and the rears to 9 and checked on the sway bar install etc).
Rush hour through Seattle was, as always, a bear but we made it and soon found ourselves at the border crossing with no one ahead of us! No questions beyond (weapons? alcohol? tobacco?) and no inspection either! We were through the border in a flash and made the ferry at Tswassen with over an hour to wait for the last ferry (10:45PM). First we made a trip to the 'wash rooms' at the little strip mall (not sure what they were calling it) in the terminal and were rudely (yup) escorted out because "we're closed, get out". No problem, we used the camper bathroom instead and took an hour long nap.
Once on the ferry we ignored the 'you can't be here' signs because of the rude ferry worker and took a long nap in the camper in stealth mode :)
Once on the island we headed to Cabela's where we'd heard that we could boondock. Just to be sure we 'stealth camped' and later learned that no, you can't boondock there (I called them the next day).
Had a wonderful day with my dad and stealth camped on the street (a busy one but flat) that night. Everyone left us alone though and that's the key :) Friday we met with an old friend I hadn't seen in 25 years and then went to my little sisters in Comox and camped in her yard. It was her 50th birthday party and we had a great time at a pub called the Whistle Stop in Comox.
Saturday saw us back in Nanaimo and visiting friends and family until we checked the ferry schedule and realized we either had to leave on the 10:10pm out of Departure Bay or leave later in the morning on Sunday (the next day) than we really wanted to so off we went, tired but knowing we could catch naps as needed.
We slept for nearly an hour waiting on the ferry and then loaded up with the few other oversized rigs that there were. Cost was $139 CAN for our 26 foot rig.
Normally we're rule followers and this time we decided to try to get some walking in up top and left the truck instead of stealth camping (you're not supposed to). Might have been good, not sure, but at least I was ready to go once we arrived in Horseshoe Bay.
The trip to the border was easy enough and amazingly enough we were through again in about 5 minutes! I never expected that!
Next stop was the Walmart in Bellingham where a few others were camped out. There was a triple slide Host camper in the lot too and I was amazed at how big it was. We slept about 5 hours and then took off again, this time in search of Dutch Bro's in Everette before heading homeward.
Our last stop was at a rest stop near Cle Elum so we could dump the tanks before making it home.
840 miles and no issues :) I'd say the suspension mods were WELL worth it and although the ferry ($111 on Wed and $139 on Sat) was very expensive and fuel (about $5/gallon) we enjoyed the visit and will do it again in the spring I'm thinking.
Maybe then it won't be raining! ha!
We left Wednesday as soon as we could (about 3:30pm) and after I'd made last minute adjustments and checks on the suspension upgrades (set the front shocks to 7 and the rears to 9 and checked on the sway bar install etc).
Rush hour through Seattle was, as always, a bear but we made it and soon found ourselves at the border crossing with no one ahead of us! No questions beyond (weapons? alcohol? tobacco?) and no inspection either! We were through the border in a flash and made the ferry at Tswassen with over an hour to wait for the last ferry (10:45PM). First we made a trip to the 'wash rooms' at the little strip mall (not sure what they were calling it) in the terminal and were rudely (yup) escorted out because "we're closed, get out". No problem, we used the camper bathroom instead and took an hour long nap.
Once on the ferry we ignored the 'you can't be here' signs because of the rude ferry worker and took a long nap in the camper in stealth mode :)
Once on the island we headed to Cabela's where we'd heard that we could boondock. Just to be sure we 'stealth camped' and later learned that no, you can't boondock there (I called them the next day).
Had a wonderful day with my dad and stealth camped on the street (a busy one but flat) that night. Everyone left us alone though and that's the key :) Friday we met with an old friend I hadn't seen in 25 years and then went to my little sisters in Comox and camped in her yard. It was her 50th birthday party and we had a great time at a pub called the Whistle Stop in Comox.
Saturday saw us back in Nanaimo and visiting friends and family until we checked the ferry schedule and realized we either had to leave on the 10:10pm out of Departure Bay or leave later in the morning on Sunday (the next day) than we really wanted to so off we went, tired but knowing we could catch naps as needed.
We slept for nearly an hour waiting on the ferry and then loaded up with the few other oversized rigs that there were. Cost was $139 CAN for our 26 foot rig.
Normally we're rule followers and this time we decided to try to get some walking in up top and left the truck instead of stealth camping (you're not supposed to). Might have been good, not sure, but at least I was ready to go once we arrived in Horseshoe Bay.
The trip to the border was easy enough and amazingly enough we were through again in about 5 minutes! I never expected that!
Next stop was the Walmart in Bellingham where a few others were camped out. There was a triple slide Host camper in the lot too and I was amazed at how big it was. We slept about 5 hours and then took off again, this time in search of Dutch Bro's in Everette before heading homeward.
Our last stop was at a rest stop near Cle Elum so we could dump the tanks before making it home.
840 miles and no issues :) I'd say the suspension mods were WELL worth it and although the ferry ($111 on Wed and $139 on Sat) was very expensive and fuel (about $5/gallon) we enjoyed the visit and will do it again in the spring I'm thinking.
Maybe then it won't be raining! ha!
