Moving Day W(h)ine

White wine has helped to soften the rough edges of moving from Edmonton, Alberta to Nanaimo, British Columbia. It was one heck of a two-day journey. Actually to be fair, the scenery was magnificent, and the vehicles (a U-Haul truck and my aging car) performed brilliantly.

The trouble we had was entirely down to Rogers Communications. My son was driving the truck with his stepson riding shotgun. Our plan was to text and phone each other en route to liaise on meal and gas stops. Unfortunately, my phone is with Rogers and Rogers chose that day to crash spectacularly. I could not phone, text, or use Google Maps. I was flying blind.

My son was using an Android phone on the Telus system, and his stepson was using an Apple phone, also on Telus. I was using an Apple phone on Rogers’ system, and I was only able to text my grandson. I don’t understand why, but there it is. All other communication failed.

At the lunch pitstop on day one, I figured out that I could use restaurant wifi, and so from then on that is what I did, periodically. I also discovered that in a box in my car I had my old Garmin GPS and so I plugged it in and prayed for satellite reception. The satellite reception was not always reliable because I was driving through mountains, and each time I stopped for a pee break, the GPS cut out and didn’t always reconnect.

When driving towards Kamloops the GPS cut out for about an hour. We had booked into a hotel there, but I had no idea how to find it. So, I drove into the city centre and then, out of the blue, the GPS spoke! It said, “Turn right at the lights”!  I have never been happier to be told to turn right at the lights.

The following day, we all managed to arrive at the Vancouver ferry terminal at about the same time, and both vehicles were booked onto a ferry earlier than the one we had reserved, so we felt a small triumph in beating the ferry odds. Despite failing communications, treacherous single-lane mountain roads, immeasurable miles of highway construction, and the occasional deluge of rain, we all made it. And what is even more impressive, we arrived with all my goods and chattels intact. Nothing in the truck was damaged along the way.

The wine is, in these circumstances, both celebratory and medicinal.