the first one was when i was 10 and camping at a boy scout jamboree in Goshen, NY. camped out in canvass tents, we got hit with hurricane-force rains. the water was coming into the tent as fast it was raining, maybe faster. my hand-me-down WWI cloth sleeping bag was worthy of a merit bag for excellence in public service in that it sopped up all the water in the tent from the other scouts. i forget how that incident ended probably because my brain cells that create long term memories got waterlogged.
the second experience was during my three-week expedition deep into the Kamchatkan wilderness with my Russian guide, Sasha Lebed. just as we reached the magnificent Mutnovsky volcano, we got hit with a violent windstorm that was soon accompanied by freezing rain. we wisely decided not to cross the narrow pass into the volcano, mainly because one side of the path overlooked a very steep cliff. it was getting too late to make it back to our previous camp, located in sort of a safe harbor zone. through my binoculars we spotted an abandoned workers' camp miles down the valley from the volcano, and so we made our way to it, eventually reaching it hours later. as good luck would have it, the doors to one of the several dilapidated sheds was open, and so we invited ourselves in. if it not been open, i am sure one or both of us would have kicked the door in without bothering our consciences. as dilapidated as the interior was, due to the weather outside, that place was like Four Seasons for us for the next two days until the storm abated and we got on our way, emboldened to take on anything, including the grizzly that charged us three days later.
the third experience was on my and Sonntag's return trip home from alaska in 2000. i was thrilled that i had just finished setting up the tent in an open area besides some trees on the. highest spot at Birds Hill Park near Winnipeg when the rains started. but soon after, the rains intensified, and then, first the thunder and then the lightning. before long, there was no gap between the thunder and lightning as the storm centered itself directly over us for almost an hour. i could tell when the lightning was coming, seconds, not minutes apart, because the tent poles crackled from the charge. every time i thought the storm was passing, it came back again. huddled with Sonntag to reduce our footprint for the lightning, i wrote feverishly in my journal. i haven't looked at that journal yet, but when i do, i will probably discover it contains a long list of names of others i wished that was happening to and not us.
in all honesty, it would have taken a lot more for today to scale the heights of those three prior experiences, but it was pretty bad. fortunately, i have those three, any other, experiences so that i can say, it could have been worse.
our day started at 2:30 a.m. when the ferry docked here in Prince Rupert in light rain and wind. After we got through Customs, i set off for an RV camp just down the road from the, which was to be our home or the next 30 hours. it took an hour just to set up the tent in those conditions, but after i did, and then dried it out, i was all set for a cozy night's sleep. but then i detected that one of my dogs might have just had an accident, until i realized he or she did an hour before and i had been stepping in it the whole time. no big deal. these things happen. just clean things up and move on, even though it is almost 4:00 a.m. on a cold, rainy morning and you're sleeping in a tent 5000 miles from your warm bed, amidst a half dozen RVs running their generators solely to piss you off. it didn't help that i chose a site that turned out to be ground zero for the water runoff from the nearby RVs or that it had more hidden or attractive nuisances than Poplar Grove.
the truth is, i got a good night's sleep for four hours, thanks to St. Ambien and the patter of rain on the tent, and then, after what looked like a nice day, but didn't turn out that way, in the rain, set off for downtown Prince Rupert to do the usual errands, e.g, wash the Defender, do the laundry (mainly to dry things out), replenish supplies, buy treats (read, bribes) for the dogs, etc. the rain broke for a bit and we took a walk in a lovely park in the center of town.
i searched the entire town looking for an open garage to install my headlight, but found that all two of them were closed on the weekend. at least the town has some, and gas stations, too. Skagway had none.
when i got back to my tent at the camp in a light rain at 5:00, i looked up at sky. Plan A had been all along that i would retire at 8:00, get up at 4:00, and after breaking camp, head to the ferry terminal for the 7:30 a.m. ferry 522 km south to Vancouver island. Plan B, if the weather looked liked it might be more miserable in the morning, was to get the hell outta the camp now, so that is what i did.
getting the hell outta camp as fast as one can even in the best of weather is not as easy as it sounds. but try it when it's raining and you have another situation altogether, especially if you want to keep things dry, which is a reasonable wish. Add to that two big dogs and you have added a new dimension. Throw in a paralyzed dog and you are talking about rocket science. and remember, if you read my prior postings carefully, i have been blessed with little experience in breaking camp in the rain. doing Rubric's cube for the first time would be easier. you have to plan each move of scores if items very carefully, and some distant bystander who has nothing better to do with his or her time might think you are going around in circles. fortunately you have a very concrete measure, that is, how dry your stuff is at the end, except the tent, if course, and you really don't care about that. i am happy to report that i broke camp without getting a single thing wet, including the dogs, especially Leben. but as a reward for something i must have done in a prior life, even Erde stayed dry, despite her proclivity for escaping from the Defender at every opportunity.
so, here we sit at the gate of the ferry (see photo) at midnight with seven hours to go. the rain has let up, but not the wind. it promises to be a miserable night, especially with a temperamental heater, but as i reflect on those prior experiences, i am thankful that it is not worse.
Google Weather (see photo) reports that i should not expect much improvement in the weather on Vancouver Island until Wednesday. that's fine with me. when we arrive at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, i'll set up camp at a pleasant nearby regional park and stay in my tent reading, writing, treating he dogs, and sleeping until the weather improves. that's the positive side of these return trips with no schedule to meet. but i may be too optimistic since I'll be exchanging rain for wolves, if the reports i have been reading are correct.
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