Day 2After breakfast we explored Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park Campground and discovered a playground, nature house and fantastic hiking trails. We accessed the beach right from the campground and the children happily scoured the beach in search of treasured rocks and shiny clam shells. Anxious to get back on the road we headed for the Port Alberni Highway.
As I drove through Parksville I vaguely heard a "thud...thud...thud "but thought nothing of it, as I was still becoming accustomed to the sounds of the motorhome. Then my husband sweetly said “honey why don’t you try and stay in your lane and I replied “ I am”. Then he said “oh, can you see the yellow line in your left side mirror and the white line in your right side mirror”. I looked into my left side mirror and could see the yellow line but on my right side mirror I could only see the shoulder of the road. I said to him “weird I can’t see the white line, I think I have been driving too far to the right…driving on the shoulder”. Then my husband calmly replied “yes you have been driving too far to the right. Back in the construction zone didn’t you hear the flag person yelling “Hey, hey, hey” as you run over the pylons? I couldn’t believe I had run over pylons and hadn’t even noticed! Thank goodness pylons are malleable and don’t cause damage!
After a while I started to relax and I started to reach the speed limit and keep steady. We had planned to stop at Cathedral Grove Provincial Park for lunch but as I approached the parking area I could not find a parking spot that suited my driving skill set. This is when I had discovered an essential RVing necessity…flexibility. We changed lunch plans to “let’s find another picturestique spot along the way”. However, this plan did not pan out either as the highway pullouts approached far too quickly for me to pullover.
When we arrived in Port Alberni I found our beautiful pristine lunch spot, a huge parking lot with lots of empty parking stalls. Cathedral Grove it was not, but at least I could park my big rig. It was ironic that our stops were being dictated on parking availability. However, I convinced myself that it made perfect sense to stop for lunch in a parking lot because we could buy some groceries at the same time…killing two birds with one stone! I now had learned another RVing lesson that rest stops are dependent on space not on the view!
After lunch the drive from Port Alberni to Tofino was intense, as I white knuckled the steering wheel and concentrated on the narrow road with suicide corners. Finally after listening to my children’s chorus of “how much longer?” infused with my husband’s punk rock music we arrived at Bella Pacifica Campground in Tofino.
When I pulled into our campground I knew that I had to face my worst fear backing into our campsite with what I thought to be the seasoned RVers watching in nearby campsites. I told my husband that I was unsure on how to back into this seemingly narrow campsite. He replied “ you need to come up with a game plan”. That was why I was asking him, I had none! I said “ well, I think I should pull forward on an angle”. He agreed that this was a good idea. Getting behind the motorhome to guide me in, he hand signalled, left, forward, backward, right and straight. Afterwards, I was amazed at how easy it was to back in an RV with aid of a helper!
2 comments:
As my wife was backing into the campsite I had no idea what her plan was and what she was talking about. We should have rehearsed our signals because each time I signalled right she would go straight. Then when I signalled straight she would go left and claimed that she was going straight. I signalled to stop, at least she knew what that signal meant and walked up to her window and asked “ do you know how to drive straight?” and she said “ ya I am going straight” Then, I said “ look at your wheel does it look straight?” She peered out the window and saw that the wheel was still cranked to the left and as she straightened she said “ ohhh!” At this point I realized we had a lot of driving practise ahead of us.
the biggest task in rv camping is to drive the camper van safely and according to traffic and campground rules.
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