Kim Kalyn Photography

I like to think that I am pretty wicked driver.  I follow the rules of the road, I am considerate, aggressive when I need to be and always aware of what’s going on around me.  Well, my drive up to Tofino last Friday night sucked all of my driving confidence right out of me.

The plan was to head up to Tofino after work on Friday with a friend of a friend, who I had only met once before, and I think I was more concerned that we were going to have awkward silence upon awkward silence and just generally not enough to talk about over the four hour drive, than the actual road conditions themselves.  Well that was my first mistake my friends (not trying to sound like John McCain there!)  Heidi and I totally hit it off and got so carried away chatting that we even thought we missed a couple of our exits, which unfortunately for our other friends who we were meeting up there was the case (for those of you who know how far Port Hardy is from Tofino, you can understand how severely lost they were….achemm pardon me had a cough there…achem 5 extra hours lost).   Oh doorbell just rang…hold on a sec.

It was Heidi !  Coming to pick up her bags that were held hostage in my car for a few days.  I’ll get to that later.

So anyways…Heidi and I set off around 4:00pm from downtown Victoria with an anticipated 4 hour drive ahead of us.   These days it’s getting dark around 5:30 or so, so basically from Naniamo on we were driving in the dark.   Driving in the dark in Nanaimo = no problemo.  Driving in the dark past Port Alberni = BIG FREAKING PROBLEMO !!! Those roads up to Tofino are insane !!!  I have driven them in the daylight and know how intense they can be, but I guess I just never thought of the third factor which made this drive hell.  SNOW, and plenty of it.  This damn white stuff, mixed with 2 ft visibility and blinding highbeams -seriously people are inept when it comes to turning them off – were all factors that were strongly challenging our ability to survive this drive.  I am not kidding people, it was that bad.  If Heidi wasn’t someone I had only just met, there would’ve been tears to the point of ugly sobbing.  My knucles were white, and I started seriously questioning whether I had developed cataracts overnight as I literally could not see 2 feet in front of the car.  I don’t think I am explaining the sheer terror well enough, so let me elaborate.  Picture 2 lanes for traffic, 1 coming and 1 going.  No room to pull over.  Sheer rocky cliffs on one side, where we would plummet to our death and rock croppings overhanging the road on the other side.  Now imagine not being able to see the centre line, or the edge of the road for that matter.  This = Kim going to vomit or cry.  Guys I held it together.   I was screaming on the inside, but held it together.

We finally arrive in Tofino 5.5 hours later.  And meet a couple of the other girls who were staying for the weekend as well.  We share war / survival stories  about the ride up and I proceed to down a bottle of wine faster than I thought humanly possible.  One hour passes, two hours pass and our other friends haven’t arrived yet.  We’re starting to get worried, when we finally get a phone call.  They ended up pass Woss BC, and into Port Hardy.  They wouldn’t arrive in Tofino until 11:30 pm.  They left at noon.  This is typically a 4 hour drive.  You get the picture.  Finally they arrive and more and more wine is consumed.

We ended up heading to bed somewhere in the wee hours of the morning.  And giggled like school girls for another few hours until we were told to be quiet.  Felt just like grade 7 sleepovers!

The next day in Tofino was just beautiful.  Sunny skies and mild temperatures.  We did some beachcombing.  Had a fabulous brunch.  Best baked french toast EVER.  Explored the town and hit up Breaker’s Deli for some coffee and a treat.   Then back to the fabulous Middle Beach Lodge where we were staying to do some more eating and drinking.  I think I consumed my weight in triple creme brie, goat’s cheese, french bread and wine.

Sunday I needed to leave fairly early as I had a photo session scheduled later that afternoon.  We were on the road with plenty of time accounted for in case we needed to drive extra slow again.  At least this time we could see the road.  Well about 20 minutes out of Tofino it starts snowing big time.  So everyone is creeping along.  Slow and steady wins the race though….right ?!  By the time we are almost at Nanaimo I started noticing that my clock was fading.  Hmmmm.  That’s weird I thought to myself, but didn’t really think anything of it.  Then it starts POURING and I go to flick on my windsheild wipers.  Nothing.  I had noticed earlier that they seemed a bit sluggish, but once again just thought – oh the motor just must be cold, and didn’t think anything of it.  I asked Heidi to pass me her cell phone, so I could call my 24 hour on call mechanic…AKA Darren.  Thank god he answered the phone, as his band practice was just about to start and there is NO WAY they would’ve heard the phone ring.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, while I am on the phone with Darren my car proceeds to die in the middle of the highway and Heidi and I have to push it over to the side of the road in the pouring rain.  A nice gentleman with a fabulous Scottish accent pulls over to help us push and offers us a ride back to Victoria.  As we are contemplating whether to accept this ride with a stranger…going against all the lectures my mom has provided over the years, we accept.  We both make note of his license plate and hold tight to our cell phones, as this man is wearing leather driving gloves, and our fear tells us that this is because he wants to chop us into little pieces and throw us into the river.  I have watched way too many horror movies, and I hate horror movies.  But to our pleasant surprise he drops us off at Woodgrove Mall in one piece and wouldn’t even accept our money for his trouble.  We hit up Blenz in the mall and wait until our other friend Cara can come to Heidi’s rescue.  Darren made it up to Nanaimo in record time.  This man is prepared. He arrives with 2 fully charged batteries, his tool kit, and is ready to go.  God I love this man.  He was my knight in shining armour.  We head back to my poor car on the side of the road and Darren tries to revive her to no avail.  We have to call a tow truck to tow us to the nearest car repair shop, which is closed, as they all are on Sundays.  I must have done something terribly wrong as karma is kicking my ass at this point.  We ditch my poor car and head back home.

A few days later my car was ready to be picked up and I am happy to report she is in perfect working condition.

That is officially my longest post yet.  I hope I haven’t bored you to tears.  But if I did, here are some pretty pics to lift your spirits 🙂