Alice Vs. Captain Hardy

Sunday

Mike wants to know if I'm still willing and wanting to go to Port Hardy to Visit Ried
"lets shoot for four o clock tomorrow."
It is decided.

Monday

"Want Coffee?"
"Yea, that'd be sweet"
"Snacks"
"For sure"
Werther Originals and Twizzlers accompany bad tasting gas station coffee as we pull out from filling up in mill bay. Five hours to go.

We are warned of Elk before we get to Cambell river. We discuss the immensity of Moose and I imagine how awful it would be to hit one- and how much the moose would notice if you did.

We call Reid when we get cell service. This is about 10 km out of Port Hardy. Mike has neglected to tell him that we were coming so he sounds confused when we tell him that we're just outside of town. Ried has the ability to shake his head with his voice. He's a cop. But he lived by practical street sence long before that. He wouldn't be one to drop in unanounced to a friend who may be working one of any uninteruptible shifts at the time when he expected homage. Fortunately we expected nonesuch, and fortunately Ried knows us. He'll shake his head with his voice and be glad to see us at the same time.
"we just figured we'd light a garbage can on fire or something if you were working."
"Yea that'd be great" Ried returns unconvincingly.
Conveniently, Ried has the next couple days off.
"So what do you want to do?" Ried offers, "We could go see Sharon."

Fortunately Sharon does not live far away. We hop into Ried's car and drive to her place. Partially thanking the fact that Port Hardy is a large abandoned parking lot, we can still see my Toyota from her place. She greets us with the kind of enthusiasm reserved for kids on the last day of school, turned up a few notches.

We decide to Visit Caleb. He lives in Port Alice. Port Alice is a stones throw by thrown stone and 40 minutes of windy narrow road by car. Caleb doesn't expect us either.


We sit at his place and chat untill its considered late enough to trek back to Hardy. When i hit the floor I stay there until late the next morning.

Tuesday

Breakfast, shooting range, Salmon burger, Hockey Juniors for the gold, Canada Juniors take silver, Pie, Game Cube, twenty minutes of M*A*S*H*, Loosing to sleep, Lost.

Wednesday

Nobody serves breakfast after eleven. However, there are cinnamon buns left at the diner, and they are big ones.

Ried wishes me well, I said goodbye to Caleb and Sharon last night. More gas, more coffee, more junk food. We make the trip in five and a half hours. Its beautiful how much ground you can cover when you don't have to take a ferry. Its a beautiful drive.
Mike is home and I am home; tired but unready for sleep. I take my time and begin to plan my next trip. A target from a tactical set at the firing range reminds me of this one.
It was good. It was very good.