floating a bus

 heh, we did it, we came across the water.  I have left north american soil and am on an island in the pacific.  Granted, still politically connected, and on the continental shelf of Canada, but heck, it feels so cool to be off the continent, and for good this time. I will have to go get my car somehow, but damn, I need to get established here.  See, importing this bus to this province is currently not possible. Much more work needs to be done to accomplish it.  That means maintaining nominal residency back there is needed until I accomplish said repairs.  However, there is now time to work on these things, and to find work also.  Dan found an ad for work that looks really attractive, and is putting out an ad.  I've been on the local listings from the mainland and there is a lot of work around for a man who can move.  "have bus, will travel."  I do need to check listings around here but let's see if that island gig happens, if we are able to get onto the little island of my dreams, it's a smarter place to hunt for employment or sales options for my work or something. honestly, I know the main island isn't really going to embrace me, I need a quirky community who appreciate the things I do.  Biking, minimalism in needs but maximal in decoration. Wool and hand made things. Hard work and play. Social interactions and community. Nature and gentleness.  Folks like that usually wound up on the gulf islands, frankly.  I knew a few who went here and currently know one via the internet whom I knew long ago that was an emigre to the gulf.  I carry a painting of his in my bus, enjoy it daily. constantly, really, it's right in view of my seat.  

I am so stoked to be here.  We made it. We goddamn well actually made it and the bus still works.  I can tell she's tired.  All her seams have opened a wee bit more and she needs fluids checked, manifold resealed, grease nipples greased, and if possible, real mechanical work done. 

the job Dan found is a $12k gig, he says. !!!!  That would pay off the credit we used getting here and cover a month of paid camping plus living necessities.  The room he's looking at is a fast job, too, he says.  Well, we'll just have to see if he gets it.  He has yet to respond to it in the first place.  Anyway, I am going to look at general labour as well as painting jobs.  I don't want a steady job, I want unsteady work. Let's see if I can find part time work, eh?  Not in a 7-11.  I mean, I haven't got a problem with shop keep work, just abuse from overlords and I think most franchise jobs come with a healthy helping of abuse. I'm a solo dude, I work best on my own. I get the job done faster without distractions and I focus better if I can whistle and sing while I work, so I need not to be distracted by conversation nor silence.  Heh, maybe I can become a ship painter.  I love boats more than anything else in the transportation world. I have dreamt of doing my father's dream and living on the water ever since he told me his dream. He wanted to live in the Caribbean. His wife engineered a "reasonable excuse" to say no, and his life kind of went dark.  He sort of lost a lot of his verve. But the MS and the serious accident with lost organs and brain damage didn't help either. It wasn't all her fault.  He lost a lot of what he needed for adventure. I know I'm 60 now, and that's often a time to settle down, but I feel like I'm just a teenager in my new life, and need to reach out and stretch and dream and chase hard right now.  Dan, I think, is getting a benefit by being my engine, because it's getting him out of that miserable and pointless place of endless snow shoveling and breaking vehicles in -30. It's activating and stimulating his brain to help keep it healthy.  It's giving him exposure to new people and new ways of thinking that perhaps can open his mind back up.  he's closer to family should he really wish to see them. They could come here more easily than where we were, if he can't go there. 

I'm finally not suicidal all the time.  Don't think about it at all.  Not the least bit concerned about if I can stand my future.  Only worried about something going sideways, as usual. And how to get my smart car out here.  Do I arrange to have it shipped?  Probably more $$ than a plane ticket and the fuel back.  However, there is so much crap in her I am not sure how comfortable she is to drive. Plus I don't think I can do it in one stretch.  I think I need at least one stopover. Hmmmmmmm  Good thing I have all winter to think about it. I will be, too.  I need to locate the ups in nanaimo, get an address going.  Unless there's one on that island and dan gets that job and we station there.  or just effing go there anyway and make it work somehow? No, must not assume that's the right island for me.  Higher power is definitely involved in this journey so no specific decisions like that just yet.  Wait for the news to come down, the reveal, the final scene of the journey, the opportunity. 

Now there's the question, do I want to travel?  Hmmm. Yes and no.  I love to drive (and sail) and I love to stay put too. I'd love to be a trucker, but am also happy to sit by a garden and spin and knit and weave, which is where my sitch is at right now anyway.  what is true, however, is this bus can't adventure off the pavement with the current build. Dan's can't either.  It's all just cobbled badly together. I had to put in a screw to fix a tool wall today, it was this >< close to crashing down.  All because I whacked a curb on a tight turn.  I found some very narrow and tight streets today.  I was trying to find a grocery store.   I didn't.  We relocated the route to the ferry and discovered that it is always impossible, from Hope to Horseshoe Bay, to tell what's outside the freeway in terms of structures and businesses. Not even a golden arches rising past the treed berms.  Housing, yeah, sure, but urban areas saw us either sunk below street level or walled off from it or just the blank backs of industrial buildings without signage.  From the bridge through burnaby to the end, there was even less view of surroundings, and a lot more traffic and lanes to worry about.  Impulse exits do not happen in a system like that, with that many lanes and that much complexity.  It's got left hand exiting HOV lanes and right hand parallel freeways that aren't collector lanes but do share off ramps.  constant lanes arriving and leaving and hills where I had to climb at a stately pace of 30km/h with my flashers on. always a truck around doing the same, though, making me feel ok.  I rarely got anything like a peek at the view even when there was a view. I really missed out on seeing vancouver.  I'm so over cities anymore, that's ok.  When I have a sail boat, I'm going to go there to play every few months if I like.

oh hell yeah I'm getting one. I don't care how illegal I have to be to use it, I'm getting one. If I can, I'll follow the rules, but I won't let being too broke stop me.  I'll start with something free. Driftwood, if not a beached boat.  Maybe someone will give me one.  Happens often enough.  

Ocean. OCEAN!!!!!!!