It was a beautiful day for travel. Ben drove as fast and as skillfully as he knew how. I was impressed.
The Rabbit could make about 80 miles per hour up hill and about a top of 120 mph
going downhill. These hills were not hills, but long mountain climbs. The Rabbit's ride isn't as good as most cars, so it felt quite hair-raising when we went down the long, steep slopes.
We managed only to stop once in the approximately five hour drive. That was at
a rest stop where there was a big map, and Ben was able to somewhat confirm his
route to the dock.
Everything went smoothly. Fortunately the VW Rabbit is well-maintained, and we
had four brand new tires, so it was as safe as could be.
We knew that we would only have minutes to spare, and that we didn't have any to
waste! It was nip and tuck whether we would make it, or not. We visualized ourselves watching the ship disappear into the distance.
In the outskirts of Vancouver there is a bridge called The Port Mann Bridge. It
is a real bottle-neck. We didn't expect all the traffic there was piled up there. It was at that point that I nearly lost hope of making the ship as we
sat in backed up traffic, waiting. People from Vancouver later told us they were surprised by all the traffic in Vancouver for a Sunday afternoon. I suppose there was some event happening that called it forth. At the Port Mann I think was where Ben and I each decided that if we made the ship it would be because it was acceptable to God, and if we didn't make it, then we would be content. We would spend a few days in Vancouver and drive home again and lost would be the costs of the trip, I suppose. I don't know how that works.
At last we inched our way forward and passed the worst of the bottleneck, and then things went well from there. We began to look for streets to the right that
led down to the docks. At last we came to the unmistakeable area leading down into the huge entry to the docks and asked our way to the Veendam. There was a longshoreman right there, and no other cars, so we had plenty of room to back in
to unload and he assured us that he would take the bags right to the ship. Ben
went below to park the car. He found a space immediately as someone else left.
The whole place appeared otherwise full. I waited inside by the elevator doors
from parking and when he appeared we both were quickly assistedthrough the huge and empty hall from one person in a red jacket to another, until we got to the American Customs Agent who checked our passports. He said he knew what had happened at the Vancouver airport, but was not at liberty to say. He implied that the hold-up at the airport had lasted for two twenty minute stretches, which was patently untrue. But it's no use contradicting a Customs Agent
with all the power. So we said nothing. We waited longer than that on the plane, and in the holding lounge in Kelowna.
So by being so late we missed out on the huge line-ups in that great hall, and
went straight through and up the gang-plank and onto the ship. The ship'sgangplank was drawn up at most, ten minutes after we arrived. We were so
thankful to be aboard at last!
It wasn't until we arrived home that I was able to check with my own knowledgeable source to discover what had happened to close the Vancouver airport.
I'll tell you something about that next time.
All good wishes, Mary
