Victoria to Campbell River – September 12 2022
By the time if came to leave Victoria we were itching to move on. We were both fully recovered from COVID and looking forward to a “vacation” at Campbell River. We had tried to get into our favorite RV resort – Pacific Playgrounds but unfortunately it was full. That resort has special significance to us as it was where Odin our Bernese had passed. Instead we were booked into Salmon Point RV resort which was just down the road.
Salmon Point is situated on the Ocean with magnificent views especially in the evening when the sun is setting. They have a walkway around their marina leading to an area where you can sit and enjoy ocean views from chairs. There is also a lovely nature trail along the ocean which ends up opposite the Pacific Playgrounds RV.
It was during this time that Jolene, our daughter, started having severe anxiety issues. Derek drove up to Whistler to fetch her and bring her back to decompress at the RV. She was not in a good place and physically quite ill. Our eldest daughter, Lucinda also drove up from Victoria to stay with us. About a week later we got a phone call from our youngest daughter’s boyfriend, Sam, to say that Caylin had fallen from her horse and was badly injured. We decided it best for all of us to pack up everything and drive back to Victoria to be with her. Turns out she broke a few ribs and it was touch and go for many days as to whether she would need to have her spleen removed or not. She ended up staying in hospital for about a week while we stayed with friends Kristy and David and visited her every day.
Meanwhile, Jolene had just moved into a new house in Whistler and needed her furniture which was in a storage unit in Victoria. So Derek and I rented a uhaul, emptied the storage unit into the truck and drove it to Whistler. We stayed overnight at the Pinnacle hotel and had a nice meal to decompress at the Brickyards restaurant. The following day we manhandled her couches and other stuff up the stairs to her house and then left to drive back to Victoria. Lucinda stayed behind to help Jolene get organized and on her feet again. It was an exceptionally long day.
The next day, we fetched Caylin from the hospital and got her set up with a nice lift chair in Lucinda’s apartment. I moved in to take care of her and Derek left to go back to Campbell River to do some maintenance work on the RV. After a few days he moved the RV from Campbell River to Fort Victoria so we could continue to help Caylin before moving the RV across to Vancouver.
September will always be remembered as the “Caregiving” month, with no time for exploring or the vacation we had anticipated.
