Well….the fifth day of our camping trip, we left Seal Bay for the next camping destination. First we made a brief stop at a winery we found nearby. We had a bit of tasting, and bought a bottle of full-bodied Meritage. We stopped at a gigantic grocery store in Campbell River, then headed to the Alder Bay Campgound which is about 2 hours drive north of Campbell River.

Driving Hwy 19 was pleasant. We drove through such beautiful forest and lakes, no sign of human settlements. What we didn’t notice was that our cell phones showed “no service”. This is one of those areas where our cell phones don’t work.

Soon after we left the rest area, I heard a weird sound, huewww 〜〜 like a whistle.

What is that sound?

Uneasy feeling came to my head. What if…. We stopped the car and checked the tires. Oh no…. the back left side tire was blown out. Not quite flat yet.

Oh my God, what shall we do?

This was the moment we noticed that our cell phones were not working. The phones might start working if we could get back closer to Campbell River, we thought. So, we started driving slowly and super carefully towards Campbell River. Within not even 10km, the tire blew out completely, totally disfigured, and we could not continue any more. The cell phones were still out of service. We took out the manual and read the instructions of how to change tires. Looking too difficult….

So….what shall we do….?

There, a pick up truck was coming to our direction. Neil waved his arms big and hard. Luckily the truck stopped right away. A 77 year old driver with his grandson and a dog coming back from their hunting, kindly offered Neil a ride to Campbell River. When he gets to town, his cellphone would work, and he can call BCAA which we have been members for a long time. There, I can see a bit of hope…

When Neil was gone with some strangers, our dogs started to show uneasiness. They were anxious, nervous, and scared. I thought I should pretend like everything was alright, or else the dogs would panick. I took out my book and started reading, tried to stay calm. From time to time, huge commercial trucks zoomed by with incredible speed, shaking our camper hard, as if they could run over or blow us down. What if the truck driver was looking sideways and hit the rear end of our camper? Or even just touched our camper even a little would be enough to end our lives…. No, no, no, that can not happen…. I took my book in my hands and tried to focus on reading.

Maybe I read about an hour….. oh no…. I need to go to toilet. What? Toilet? Of course there is no toilet. I looked around and around, over and over, and found a spot behind some bushes entering the forest area where I might be able to go without anybody seeing me. I pushed my courage up, opened the door, stepped out the car to the road side, into the grassy area. It looked like grass, but actually it was way taller than I thought, and thorny. I walked to the bushes getting so many bloody scratches…. but my mission was successfully completed!!

It felt like forever. But, it might have been about 2 hours…

While waiting, two trucks stopped by, and offered some help. They were both young boys. I really appreciated their kindness.

I saw a big tow-truck coming toward us with the flashing lights, and parked in an angle behind our camper. A young skinny boy jumped off the truck waving hands to me. He removed the broken tire and replaced it with the spare tire in no time. He told me to drive to KalTire in Campbell River. He said he will follow me and make sure I will be alright.

When I finally arrived Campbell River, and finally found my cellphone working, I looked behind. The tow-truck was already gone. Too bad, I wanted to say one last “thank you” to that young boy…. Thank you so much for coming to rescue us!

We were united with Neil at KalTire. I would never forget the joy our dogs showed when they saw Neil at the tire shop. They were overwhelmingly happy and expressed their joy with their whole bodies, jumping and dancing around.

Poor Kafka and Lulu…. they must have been worried so much.

It was after the business closing hour when I arrived, but the guy at KalTire waited for us and changed all the tires for our truck swiftly without complaining, and not minding working overtime. We really appreciated their kindness.

By that time, it was too late to head again to the Alder Bay campground. I phoned all the campgrounds near Campbell River and Comox. Every place was full. What if we take the ferry back to Powell River? We had an hour to the departure time, and my GPS said it takes an hour and 3 minutes to drive to the terminal. We took the gamble. We drove as fast as we could to get to the Comox ferry terminal and got there 5 minutes before the departure!!

We made it to the last ferry to Powell River!!

Then we got onto the last ferry to Texada Island. Since smoke from wild fires in the US was so densely covering the ocean, the boat was delayed and slow. We arrived our cottage close to midnight, exhausted, but relieved!

Both of us and our two dogs all slept so well that night.

It made me think about two things. I really appreciated how strangers helped us and showed sympathy for us. Do I help strangers enough? No…. I really should be way more helpful when I see somebody facing problems.

Another thing was how our dogs reacted. They knew very well something was wrong. They cannot speak words, but they were so worried and scared. And when we were all united, their overwhelming joy exploded from their bodies. They understand very well. They have way more understanding and sophistication than we think. If dogs can sense so well, all other animals can sense as well. I wonder how pigs and cows are feeling when they are taken to the slaughter house. My heart aches when I imagine that.

さてキャンプ旅行５日目、Seal Bay を後にした私達は次のキャンプ場に向かって出発。まずは近くのワイナリーで試飲して赤ワインを購入。キャンベルリバーという町で食料品を買い込み、2時間くらい北上したところにあるAlder Bay Campgrounds に向かった。

ハイウエイ１９を北上、素晴らしい森や湖の景色、でも人が住んでいる気配はない。気がつかなかったのは私たちの携帯がno serviceと表示されていたこと。つまり携帯が全く使えない地域なんだ。

レストエリアを過ぎたころぴゅーっと笛を吹くような音がした。

何の音？

私の頭を不安がよぎった。もしかして…？　　まずは道端に止まってタイヤをチェック。　　不安的中！　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　後方左側のタイヤがパンクしている。

うわ〜　ヤバイ❗️

そこで初めて携帯が使えないことに気がついた。少しキャンベルリバーに向かって戻れば携帯がつながるかもしれないと思ってパンクしたタイヤのままゆっくり注意深く走ってみた。10キロも行かないうちにタイヤは完璧に変形して使い物にならなくなった。携帯はまだつながらない。トラックのマニュアルを出してタイヤの交換の仕方を読んでみる。とっても私達の手に追えそうもない。

どうしよう…

通りかかったピックアップトラックにニールが大きく手を振ってみた。嬉しいことにすぐに止まってくれた。狩からの帰りだという77才のおじさんと孫と犬がキャンベルリバーまで乗せてくれるという。町に着いたら携帯が使える。こんな時のためにメンバーになっているBCAAに助けに来てもらえるかも。少し希望がもてる…

ニールが知らないトラックに乗って行ってしまうと犬たちが不安そうにソワソワしはじめる…これは私がしっかりして何の心配もないような顔をしてないと犬たちがパニックになるかも…と思って、落ち着いたふりをして本を読んだりし始めた。時折、大型のトラックがもの凄い勢いで真横を通り抜ける。そのたびに我々のキャンパーがひっくり返りそうに揺れる。もしトラックがよそ見していて追突してきたり私達のキャンパーをひっかけでもしたら、私も犬達も終わりだなあという考えが頭をよぎる。いやいやそんなことはありえないと言い聞かせて本を読み続ける。

1時間以上そうしていたらトイレに行きたくなってきた。え？トイレ？こんなときに？もちろんトイレなんてないしどうしよう。何度も何度も周りを見回した挙句、森の入口の木陰に隠れて用を足すことにした。勇気を出してキャンパーの外に出て足を踏み出す。思ったより道端の草が深くて背が高い。しかも棘だらけ。森まで傷だらけになりながら歩いて用を足す。成功。

永久に待っていたような気がしたけど実際には2時間ぐらいだっただろうか。

通りがかりのトラックが2台も止まってくれて「どうしたの？大丈夫？」と心配そうに声をかけてくれた。どちらも若い男性、親切な心遣いが本当にありがたい。

そのうちに大きなトウトラックが点滅しながら近づいてきた。トラックをキャンパーの後ろに斜めに止めると私に手を振りながら若い男性が身軽に飛び降りて来た。あっという間にパンクしたタイヤを外してスペアタイヤを取り付けると、後ろからついていってあげるからキャンベルリバーのタイヤ屋さんまで行きな、と言う。

やっとこさキャンベルリバーの町に着いて携帯がつながると後ろのトラックはいつのまにかいなくなってた。最後にもう一度お礼を言いたかったのに…。助けに来てくれてありがとう。

タイヤ屋さんでニールと再会。ニールを見た途端の喜びに溢れた犬達の顔が忘れられない。身体中で安心と喜びを発散させて飛び回って喜んだカフカとルル❣️

かわいそうに…心配させちゃったな。

営業時間を過ぎているのに私の到着を待っててくれて、トラック全部のタイヤを快く交換してくれた親切なタイヤ屋さん。ありがとう。

もう遅くなりすぎて予定していたキャンプ場には行けない。キャンベルリバー周辺のキャンプ場に片っ端から電話をしてみる。週末だと言うこともあってどこもいっぱいだという。じゃあいちかばちか、この際、コモックスまで戻ってパウエルリバー行きのフェリーに乗ったらどうだろう。フェリーの時間まで1時間、私のGPSによるとコモックスまで1時間3分。賭けだ。全速力でハイウエイを飛ばしてコモックスのフェリーターミナルに向かう。

滑り込みセーフ❗️

それからタクセーダ島への最終のフェリーに乗って私達のコテージに到着する。折しもアメリカからの山火事の煙が立ち込めてフェリーが遅れ、しかも超低速スピードだったおかげでコテージに着いたのは夜中に近かった。疲れた〜〜　でもホッとした〜〜

その夜は私達２人と２匹、すぐに眠りについて朝までぐっすり眠った。

それにしても色々考えさせられた。今回知らない人に随分助けられたけど、私は普段知らない人を助けてるだろうか？忙しいからとか危ないからって知らん顔することが多くない？これからはもっと積極的に手助けしなければ…

犬達のリアクションにも考えさせられたな。犬たちは完璧に尋常ならぬものを感じて言葉にはならないものの不安と心配で胸がつぶれそうだった。そしてニールの顔を見た途端、安心と喜びで体がはじけていた。ここまでよくわかっている犬たち。犬たちがここまでわかると言うことは豚や牛などの動物も同じようにわかるんだと思う。屠殺場に連れて行かれる動物たちがどんな思いで行くのか想像しただけで胸がキューンと痛くなる……