June 22, 2019 – Today I awoke to the humpback whales still spouting and showing me flukes. I took that as a sign hat it was going to be a great paddle day.
BABS and I paddled out of Grenville Channel into a maelstrom of waves and wind. I’m getting better at finding the eddies when going against the current so we made pretty good time. I paddled over 18 miles today, ending in Hartley Bay. I’ve been following Dennis Dwyer (Inside Passage guru), and he published the GPS coordinates for his camp sites on two of his IP trips. One of them had Hartley Bay in it. I think I actually stumbled across it when I was looking for towns along my route, but had forgotten about it in context to Dwyer’s GPS list.
The Gitk’a’ata fishermen in the harbor were kind and told me I could camp wherever I wanted. One suggested I camp in the covered picnic area behind the longhouse which is where I am right now, sitting at a picnic table, looking out at streetlights. Don’t be fooled though – there are no cars here. Many little ATVs. No roads – all wood boardwalks. It’s fantastic. There is a large gym where young folks are practicing basketball. There is a community garden complete with hoophouse. It’s raining and I am under cover. Happy. Tired.
By the way, it’s been eight days since my last blogs were published because I was counting on my satellite hub to work. It hasn’t for a number of reasons. FYI, I am cancelling the outrageous service plan starting July 1st and will try to sell the thing when I am back home. This means that it may be another week or so before I publish more posts. After that I’ll be in areas of Canada and the US, such as where I am now, that have cell service and I can use that as my wifi. And even with AT&T’s crappy international plan it will still be cheaper. Know that I am still writing one each day and will publish them each time I get a signal. It is taking some getting used to doing this on a tablet. Almost my whole adult life I have journaled at the end of the day but that has always been written. Since I can type faster than I can write, and it’s a boatload more ledgible, I think I may continue with this method even after this journey is over.
Alright. Bed time. Thanks to all for the thoughts, prayers, well wishes, encouragment, and love. It is working.
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