Big horse camping diary entry

Prepare to be bored. Sorry.

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Thursday. I drive to Port Alice to buy two used Apple HomePod speakers. There are some nice sights on this drive but there is still something about it I hate. It’s kind of the drive equivalent of Port Alice in that it’s got some cool aspects but is overall still too shitty, kind of gross and sad. Get to Port Alice, what a dump. Lots of cool 70s houses I’d love to root through and find cool light fixtures and shit but the community is too depressing even for me. Get to the seller’s house, car port has a mobility scooter and a bunch of detritus everywhere. Buddy answers the door, strong animal odour wafts out. Smells like a pet store, like full litter boxes and bird cages. Two little yappy dogs come to the door with buddy, they must shit and piss in there. Buddy looks about 30 yrs old, is very friendly in the way that white trash are that I consider a red flag. It’s a thin veneer. He is wearing a maroon-coloured housecoat that looks like one your grandfather would wear, and it looks like it smells like his house. He brings out the speakers, turns them on, Slipknot starts blaring from them. “Oops, hehe, just my Slipknot there, sorry about that…” You just know he relished that moment and thought I’d be like “WHOAH what is that psychotic scary music, why is he yelling so much?” I spend too long there figuring out how to connect my phone to the speakers to test them. I only manage to get one working with my phone but I’m too annoyed to spend any more time there so I say ok and buy them despite them costing way too much to be this blasé about the price. I’m immediately angry at myself for being so impatient and worry they won’t work and I’ll have to eat the $450 loss. The drive away from Port Alice sucks just as bad as the drive in.

I get to Hyde Creek and grab a sandwich and a tea at the gas station. I enjoy this ritual.

The drive down to Campbell river is uneventful. My shitty car stereo is acting up so I can’t listen to music and am forced to listen to a few podcasts. The Dateline one is ok, the Stuff You Should Know one about widowhood is boring.

I get to Jenn’s horse camping site where she is already. I help her with a few things then head into town to do errands. They go pretty well, surprisingly. I exchange a riser for a septic tank lid, and return two truck batteries at Canadian Tire for the $40 core charge refund. I go to Home Depot (one of the nine circles of hell in my opinion) and grab a bunch of shit we need. Most of the staff is surprisingly helpful here, I can’t believe it. I go to Superstore and grab dinner for Jenn and I (a chicken taco kit) and some Celebration cookies (Jenn’s favourite). Then I pick up bubble tea from a pho place in town. I am furious with myself once the lady hands them to me and I realize I forgot to specify NO ICE. Too late now. I bring them back to jenn, she likes them despite their obviously inferior quality (the drinks and boba, not just the ice). We have tacos and listen to a true crime podcast and hit the sack.

Friday. We wake up early, have some ok muffins for breakfast that Jenn got yesterday. Jenn does horse stuff, I walk the dog and immediately come across two small bears scampering up a tree. I wonder if they’re small enough to indicate a mama bear being somewhere close by, then hear huffing and crashing foliage near the base of the tree. The dog starts barking, I tell her to can it and we vamoose, opting for a less exciting but safer route. We finish packing the horse stuff and leave for Courtenay.

Nice short drive south by comparison to all of yesterday’s driving. We get to Courtenay, I help Jenn set up her stuff. Once I’m free I begin today’s list of chores/errands. A very nice guy brings his ride cymbal to me, I try it and buy it even tho I feel like a hoarder with all the fucking cymbals I currently have that I need to sell. I go buy a large shag rug from a very nice woman but as I load it in my car I notice a big stain mark on the underside. Then when I get in the car with it i notice an overwhelming dog smell. Great. I’ll probably use the pressure washer on it at home before I put it in the house. I go to Price’s Locksmiths and get a key for the Tercel made from the code on the lock cylinder. The old key was so worn down that it could slide out of the ignition while the engine was running, but this fixes that. I didn’t expect it would actually work so I’m surprised and pleased at this affordable, effective fix. I go to a grocery store to get lunch at their deli, find the deli has one of those cafe/restaurant areas that you used to see in department stores way back when. It’s deliciously sad and empty, with only one old woman sitting in the vast space, surrounded by countless unused tables and chairs. It’s perfectly liminal. My wrap isn’t bad. I plan on coming back here in the future. I go to Value Village, don’t find anything on my thrift store shopping list. I visit Boba Island for the first time after years of wanting to try it and am very pleased with my mocha bubble tea. Far superior to yesterday’s boba experience. I leave them positive reviews online.

I come back to the horse show grounds and help with setup for the show. That’s surprisingly nice. I met a lot of these horse people in the last year or two and it’s pleasant to see them again, and it feels good to take part in their event and be positive and productive in a community. Jenn and I take the dog for a walk and get dinner from an El Salvadoran food truck. Our order is up fast, and it’s fantastic. We meet a nice woman and her daughter walking their dog and talk with them for a while. We get back to our camp and spend a relaxing evening chatting with Heather and her daughter Mia. I sleep well despite someone walking their horse around the grounds at 1:30 am which riles all the other horses up. I wake up to horses calling and the sound of horse hoofs on gravel so my first thought is that one got loose. I wake Jenn up and she goes to check on Marvel and finds all is fine. Phew.

Sunday. Get up at 6:00 am. Take the mutt for a walk through the woods. Go to town to get breakfast for Jenn and I, and head to a coffee shop called The Mudshark Cafe because it has good reviews but I hate it. My tea costs about $4 (which is almost the cost of a box of 20 at the store), their calorie-free sweetener situation is a messy joke, my Earl Grey tastes awful and nothing at all like Earl Grey, and the breakfast bagel sandwiches I order take so long that I wonder if someone else has taken mine by mistake. On top of that, the tip prompt on the debit machine pisses me off — my light breakfast order already costs over $30, and there is zero table service, yet the minimum recommended tip is another $3+? Hogwash. Balderdash. I tipped $1, and after how bad the overall experience is I’m glad I didn’t tip more. Not over-tipping is about the only part of my Mudshark Cafe experience I am satisfied with.

I return to the horse show. Now Jenn has to call the tests for other riders and can’t eat the hot breakfast I got her until it’s cold. I hate hot food getting cold. I move the dog’s pen out of the sun and right then another dog walks by and our dog takes a run at it. I’m on her instantly, she doesn’t actually touch the other dog but still obviously terrible. I hold the dog on the ground for a few seconds, then when I go to put her back in the pen she won’t get up, and keeps yelping when I tug on her collar to try to get her up and in to her pen. I can’t reach her leash so I’m stuck looking like the worst dog owner in the world, like I have an aggressive dog that I abuse. Wonderful. Jenn asks me to help tally the scores for some of the riding tests so that some of the other volunteers can have breaks. I’ve never done this before so I’m nervous but it turns out to be quite easy, and I’m once again happy to be contributing to this event. Next time we do this I will volunteer more time for marking tests.

It’s now 11:15 am and I have to leave so I can do all my errands for the day and catch the 4 pm ferry home. Right then, Sebastian texts to tell me a bunch of the electrical stuff we need for building the next barn is in at the electrical supply shop. I planned my day pretty tight but if I don’t get it now it will be a week and half before I can get it again and that’s no good so I begin racing around like a maniac. I get that stuff and jam it into my already very full car, then get gas, then back to Canadian Tire for a light fixture part, then to Superstore for groceries, and then I begin the trip north. I get to Port McNeill right on time and am able to pick up some stuff I ordered at the auto parts store and get cash at the bank before getting in line for the ferry.

It was a great trip, and I’m happy to be home. I spend forever trying to figure out the fucking HomePods, I finally get them working and they sound great. Thank goodness.

***

Epilogue: that was my first time “coming home” to Sointula. I wondered if it would really feel like “coming home” after only being here a month, and no, it didn’t quite feel like that. In that realm, and obviously on its way to becoming that, but it’s just too soon and there are still too many things I’m still just getting familiar with for it to feel completely like home yet. In time.

the last 72 hours in my life

Early evening. I go borrow a flat deck trailer from our neighbours so I can load my 4wd Tercel parts car onto it and take it up to Sointula. I park the truck and trailer in the horse riding ring, and go try to start the parts car which hasn’t run in about six months. I have charged the battery in preparation for this. I put the key in the ignition, lights come on. I turn the key, absolutely nothing happens. Clearly a starter issue, which is bad because I don’t have a spare starter. I try gently hitting the starter with a block of wood because sometimes that can get a marginal one working again temporarily, no luck. The neighbour who loaned me her trailer texts, I mention the parts car is being difficult. She sends her two young adult kids over to help me, as they are both into shitbox cars, hit-to-pass racing, etc and can probably help. The boy, Tanner, brings a hammer and hits the starter harder than I did, and it responds. Great. I spray carb cleaner down the carb and turn the key, it fires but won’t stay running. Eventually we manage to back it out of its spot but it won’t stay running long enough to move from this spot. Jenn, Tanner, and the girl, Alanna, are pushing while I’m trying to get the engine going. I feel stupid sitting in the car while a small girl is pushing so I get out and suggest she try driving it. She hops in, we push a bunch, get it rolling down the hill. It gets going a bit too fast and I’m convinced Alanna won’t make the sharp turn onto the driveway and is going to destroy our fence, just a few weeks before the new owners move in. Thank the devil himself, she negotiates the corner and then the next two as well and gets the car right down to the trailer. Alanna and Tanner basically load the car onto the trailer and strap it down for me. Such fucking nice and capable kids. Jenn and I are wicked impressed.

Next day. Jenn and I spend most of the day jam packing shit in the box and back seat of the truck, in the Tercel, on top of the Tercel, and on the car trailer around the Tercel. It literally looks like The Beverly Hillbillies. That’s a fairly obscure reference these days I guess, so here’s a picture of what I’m talking about.

It takes a long time and it’s stressful because I keep finding shit I don’t want to bring to Sointula so I keep posting ads on marketplace to sell the shit, and Jenn and I are arguing about what to keep and sell, what to pack, how to pack it, etc. Eventually we get it done and the truck and trailer are loaded to the gills.

I have to head to work for a night shift but Jenn needs the car for soccer so she drives me to work and is going to pick me up the next morning. She drops me off, ones and plays soccer, and goes home. At 6:00 am the next day she calls me and says the car won’t start. She tries a bunch of stuff and it just cranks, won’t fire. I rebuilt the distributor several weeks ago and noticed the igniter seemed damaged so I suspect it has given up the ghost. This is terrible timing because I have to take the truck and trailer to Sointula and won’t be home till the next evening, so now Jenn won’t have a car while I’m away. Luckily she has no plans during this time. Anyway, I’m stuck at work so I have to ask my co-workers to drive me home, which I hate doing but they graciously do it. I get home and pop the hood on the Tercel. I pull a spark plug wire and get Jenn to turn the key while I look for spark. No spark. The problem is in the distributor. Will have to deal with it when I get home the next day.

I leave for Sointula. Long drive. A young guy at a gas station comments on how cool the Tercel is. I beam. At the same time, I bump into one of our north island friends and I marvel at how quickly we are settling down/in up here. It’s good. I listen to metal and podcasts (it was my first time downloading and listening to podcasts on my own, and it was alright — more on that later), take caffeine, eat snacks. Get to Sointula, unload all our crap, unload the car which still doesn’t run so that’s a time-consuming headache. I have dinner and watch a depressing movie. Then I remember I still have to download the Starlink app and check something for Jenn so I do that at 11:00 pm. Then I remember I need to remove the distributor from the parts Tercel and bring that home to fix our car back home but it’s late and I’m tired so I set my alarm for early so I have time to do it in the morning.

6:00 am today. I get up and remove the distributor from the Tercel, start heading home. Get breakfast at the Hyde Creek gas station. More metal, podcasts, caffeine and snacks. I want to stop for a milkshake or bubble tea but exercise restraint — too busy today, no time. I drop the trailer off with the neighbour. Get home and fix the distributor in the Tercel, it fires up and runs fine. I was right, it was the igniter in the distributor. Next I load garbage into the truck and take it to the dump because we can’t have a bunch of shit on the deck if we’re having people over for a bbq tomorrow. On the way home I get gift certificates at a local food truck for Tanner and Alanna, and drop that off with some cash for their mom as thanks for everything with the trailer.

Now I’m listening to chillwave and drinking creamy vanilla and mint tea (caffeine free) and trying to slow myself back to a normal pace, but the house is filthy and I can’t relax in a filthy house, plus I need to go shopping for the bbq tomorrow, plus I need to pick up some vintage shit in Duncan and sell some more stuff on marketplace.

This is just kind of a crazy time in our lives right now. I’m stressed to the tits but soon enough we’ll look back on this brief period and laugh.