Are We Amused?

A motorhome is a wonderful vehicle for exploring the vast expanses of any continent.  The wide open road, the mobile domestic environs, the sewer backups… what’s not to love?

Our first stop in Victoria was Beacon Hill Park – my personal choice, as it is the start of the Trans-Canada Highway, complete with Mile 0 marker.  Although we were actually heading in the complete opposite direction of the highway, it seemed fitting enough.

After a bout of thoroughly looking like tourists in downtown Victoria, we made our way to the RV Park we had reserved, which turned out to be more than we ever expected from an RV Park.  Built on a small peninsula on the Western Edge of the Victoria harbour, all the lots were either on the waterfront or across the driveway from the water.  It looked like most of the RV’s hadn’t been anywhere in a long time, and I could see why.  You would have to pay millions for this kind of real estate, and these guys were probably getting it for a few hundred dollars a month.  Maybe motorhomes weren’t such a bad thing after all!

I managed to get the water line and the electrical hooked up, which meant hot water, and the electric/gas heater to keep us warm at night.  All the conveniences of home contained within our nomadic waterfront palace.  Life was good!

The next morning, I decided to do a thorough cleaning of the place.  Lots of dirty dishes, and dirty cupboards kept me busy for a while until my coffee was done brewing.  I popped off to the loo, and I believe my exact words on entering the small closet/bathroom were “Oh shit!”  This had nothing to do with my reason for being there.  I noticed that the bottom 3 inches of the small shower stall was full of water.

Now this may seem inconsequential, as none of the water had overflowed the rim of the shower, and it seemed to be only the “grey” water and not the more ominous “black” water.  In my opinion, any water that’s not crystal clear is somewhat suspect, and I’m not sure why there is a need for any distinction, but I was at this point relieved that someone somewhere had drawn the line.  The cause of my concern was our luggage soaking up this mystery brine.

Earlier the night before, we had decided that we weren’t going to use the shower, so it seemed to make a perfect stash spot for all of our backpacks. With them all tucked neatly out of our sight, we could enjoy what little space we had all the more.  Our brilliance was rewarded with near disaster when the shower became the overflow for the water tank after washing a few too many dishes.

As it turned out, the only real casualty was a small colouring book.  A few articles of clothing got damp, and we learned one of our first valuable lessons of the road:  anything that you would like to keep dry should be kept in a Ziploc bag.  Thanks, Cruise Canada!