On the ferry

It's a grey day with a dark and white capped sea, and I'm happy to be inside at a computer terminal.  All systems are working except Skype which says I am not connected to the internet, but I am because I just downloaded an enormous photo file from Paula.  The girl's got talent; she managed to get at least 2 pictures of me, Bill, mom and dad in which we all look like people you might want to meet.

I left Bert and Peg's at 9:03 and felt proud of the fact that I was on time and firing on all 6 cylinders.  But I soon reverted to my default position.  I decided that I would do what I always do to get myself going on a kind of big move, take the line of least resistance to begin with.  That involved going to the Tim Horton's that I know best and is closest to Bert's, filling up my going away mug and buying a multigrain, egg, bacon and cheese bagel.  I didn't even risk parking in the Tim's lot which was crowded with caffeine starved late workers.  I left my car nearby and enjoyed the walk.  I stood in line and stared into space.  I heard the man in front of me order pancakes and thought that I had never heard of pancakes at a Tim's.  I looked up and saw a big yellow M, except more rounded, and slowly clued in that I was in MacDonald's.  I left and wandered a bit farther down the line of generic buildings to the real Tim Horton's, picked up my order and returned to the car knowing that things weren't looking good for the success of the trip.  But all went well.  There was a blanket of low cloud over the lanky snow-laden conifers as I approached the highest point on the 97 connector between Kelowna and Merritt, so I decided to pull in behind a transport that I had been watching.  It seemed to be either deadheading or lightly laden because it was going up hills quite quickly.  It was good I did that because very soon after the cover became a duvet and we were driving blind through it. I just stayed behind my big buddy  and made it through the section around the Brendon Mine without a hitch.  By the time we got to Merritt, the sky was clear and the highway dry.  The road after that had some sandy slushy parts, and I now have the dirtiest car on the ferry, but all went well until I made a wrong turn off Hwy.10 and on toHwy. 99 just before the ferry dock.  I got off  99 as quickly as I could.  I was in  a Mercedes dealership in White Rock.  A nice young man got me back on track, and I was parked in the ferry line by 2:30.  Now I'm on the 3:00 p.m. ferry to Victoria.  The rest should be smooth sailing, and I'm feeling pretty confident about getting around the city this time.