Hey Hunter!

This one is going to be short, because my stay was really short. From Wednesday to a Monday. The shortest gig yet. I found someone on HelpX, they called me back to say their place was full but gave me the # to Al, who owns the Prancing Horse B&B in Malahat, BC. Turned out Al & Co are on HelpX too, so the whole deal was pretty serendipitous. Also, maybe you think the Prancing Horse is kind of a lame name, like I did at first, but apparently it’s a Ferrari reference, which re-cements it’s kewl factor, no?

This is place is right out of movie. Or even a dream. Or MAYBE a movie within a dream?!?! That seems more ethereal. It sits on top of a mountain, due south the Pacific Ocean dips between two more mountains/huge hills/whatever into a river form below with the white-tipped Cascades Mt chain keeping guard over it all way in the distance. Even though it doesn’t seem like good business practice to me, the HelpXer are allowed to stay in the suites when the room is available, as opposed to the room above the barn. I got to stay in Suite One only on my first and DANG I didn’t get any pictures of the one. Someday, when my peak salary hits, we can then multiply that number by ten, and then maybe, maybe, I could afford to stay in this room. Classy joint.

Also w/me HelpXing was a really cool Aussie duo, Kym and Luke. Because the joint got pretty busy, we all relocated to the room above the barn and got pretty close working together all week. And these guys had really good work ethic. We all know us Americans can be a little on the lazy side so I had to be in top form. It was mostly Luke and I working together fixing up the HelpX room in the barn throughout the week, as Kym helped out cleaning rooms in the B&B. Way to break down those gender stereotypes Prancing Horse.

Luke and I worked pretty hard all week. We used long iron pikes to break up stone to widen a mouth of the newly-installed septic tank outside the barn. I felt like Paul Newman from Cool Hand Luke. We also completely flipped the HelpX room above the barn, painting every painstaking inch and getting all the mechanics working around the room. We joked for days we wished we had gotten some before-and-after pics of our work. This room was a God-forsaken shed when we showed up, now it’s a hillbilly-approved God-forsaken room. Any lady would be lucky:)

Al is one of those country dudes who has (or had) some serious money at some point and his life and loves to collect [junk], and you can see a great view of that into what we put in the room. He had well over 100 beer light advertisements that went up in bars back yonder and we preceded to cover the walls in them. Just…fantastic. Al also owns a classy amarillo (spanish anyone?) Ferrari sleeping in one of the garages. I like to see he’s committed to the name of his B&B.

Even though we got worked pretty hard at this gig, the food was great, we ate together for lunch and dinner, which was a first among my travels and everyone there had a “pretty bitchin’ sense of humor”, as they say.

LOOK at this nothing-short-of-legendary VHS collection

They brewed their own Prancing Horse Pilsner (which was branded to match the company but wasn’t ever given to customers, which I found confusing) that were passed out with dinner. We would all talk about the problems in our home countries and laugh about the different ways we said and experienced the same words. The Aussies share all kinds of slang with New Zealanders (Kiwis) and Canadians, all because of the British. You can see it in the currency, the flags and (kind of, but not really) the governing bodies of these countries/continents/MASSIVE land masses. Australia is bigger, but go look at Canada on a map. It’s much bigger than you think it is.

We had one afternoon off (which I kind of had to fight for) to go out and have some fun. The Aussies had been there for almost three weeks so had seen this and that, but I wanted to get to a bit of the area. It was nothing super special -a little time on the ocean coast then a walk around the lake next to the B&B on the way home- but the three of us had a solid time. They’re really good people, the Aussies, w/o a doubt some of my favorite to have met on this trip. We laughed and teased and conspired like old friends. Hopefully I will run into them in the future sometime. I know Luke wants to travel more so perhaps I will proposition him for a planned trip abroad in the future…? All I really know right now is I want to travel more and not settle down. The in-betweens are flexible. Make some money??? Flexible.

At least the second-most awkward photo in this travel blog

And just while I’m thinking of it, 91.3 FM The Zone is a fantastic radio station broadcasted out of Victoria, BC. I heard exclusively songs I didn’t know but loved all the time. Check it out if you’re looking for new jams. No doubt they stream online.

Lastly, the farm structure underneath the hillbilly room we stayed in was pretty sweet. There were three sassy horses, two good-natured pigs and an almost-comatose cow w/her calf. That last pair was cute in a weird way I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit.

That’s it Malahat, BC! I head back into the city of Victoria to stay w/Adria and Josh Blades, who are friends of the Hunter Homestead that I met on a choice beach trip.

More to come!

So I get across the San Juan Islands and land in Sydney, BC. Now it’s illegal to “work” in Canada w/o a work visa, which I’m not getting. But, I’m going to work for this couple so I can stay at their house and be fed. Now I can’t tell the CA custom jerks that, it’s all over the blogosphere that worldwide, you never tell customs you’re HelpXing, because that’s working and they will deny you entry. However, when customs asked me how I knew these guys, I got flustered, and instead of just saying we met online, which I thought would seem sketchy, I made up a story that Blake (the dad) used to work at an insurance company with me. Customs got their phone# out of me (one of many, many mistakes I made w/these people) called my new hosts up, who of course knew nothing about the “insurance gig” and I was hauled back into the office being caught in lie #1. I also stubbed my toe really bad in the office.

After about an hour of questioning and pulling basically everything out of my car they ended up letting me in. I have a sheet of paper I give US customs on my way out saying I left, and if that doesn’t happen (as in if I stay past 30 days) a warrant goes out for arrest. Yay Canada.

ANYWAY, I got into the country and made my way the to Hunter Homestead. My fist hosts for Canada have the last name of Hunter! How could this NOT work out? It’s like we’re related or something. They are maybe a few years older than I, Blake and Kirsten, but she goes by the Putu as a nod to her First Nations roots. We say Native Americans, they say First Nations, now you know.

I’ve been on a great streak for hosts and they were no exception. Right off the bat we were laughing and teasing each other and all other jazz old friends do. Blake runs his own business selling help seeds and oils (which is produced off of his family farm in Saskatchewan) and Putu works for BC dealing in human trafficking issues.

This was my first “in the city” gig. The last one in Bellingham was outside of the city proper and still very much has a country vibe. The Hunter Homestead a little outside of Victoria proper but quite residential nonetheless. I have a bike with me and got the most use of it of any gig yet. They live next to what’s called the Galloping Goose bike trail which runs all over Vancouver Island but more importantly runs a direct trail from the Hunter Homestead into downtown running next to a road for maybe 200 yards tops. This thing intersects the city like a champ.

This city is quite old and it shows. Canada is interesting because of the influence the UK, France and America all have on it and the resulting culture. Music was all over the place (a la ATX) and the weather was totally fabulous everyday. Further, I read on a blog that Victoria has four women for every guy and it shows. Gorgeous women were everywhere.

I went to something called the Bug’s Zoo while in Victoria and it was pretty slick. Even though I was a little disappointed to shell out $12 to walk into one big room, they had some really bizarre stuff and if you followed the guide you could hold almost everything. The highlights were a stick bug that was about as long as your arm and a katydid who was about the size of a small horse. They also had a particular cockroach who has made a visit to my nightmares every night since. He was huge and he hissed and it was horrible. The thing would quiver as it hissed and I’m almost certain it was silently chanting my name. I’m going to change the subject..

So mostly for the week I hung out with the Hunter Homestead crowd, biked downtown and did begrudgingly kept up with my insurance work. At first I was totally bummed that these hosts didn’t have internet, but that made me go different locations to get my work done and the work was much easier. Turns out I waste tons of time on soul-sucking sites such as Facebook and TheChive when I’m sitting around with nothing to do. Instead, while at home, with no internet, I practiced guitar like never before and read a bunch. Just started Fools Die by Mario Puzo, the guy who wrote The Godfather book. Good stuff people. To the left is Asher, the Hunter’s SUPER CUTE son. We bonded like WHOA and I’m positive I had a pivotal influence on his life. If we never speak again, I fully expect to be credited in his Best Picture speech.

The baby looks uncomfortable for reasons completely unrelated to me holding him. He told me.

Thanks again to the Hunter Homestead for hosting a fellow Hunter. Favorite HelpX so far! From here I head to the Prancing Horse B&B in Malahat, BC.

More to come!

First off the house I stayed in. THIS. HOUSE. Right off Samish Lake, a dock that’s pretty attractive (as a Floridian, I can get pretty snobby about docks) a trampoline right at the end, and a sailboat and water skiing boat to boot. There’s also nice deck at the top of the hill sporting a constantly-on Jacuzzi. The hosts, John and Catrina Bremer, rocked the house with precision and awe. BFFs all around.

I know this picture is almost cliche Washington State, but the weather was actually quite nice the entire time. Apparently these guys have about three months or so of good weather then the rest of the year is doomed to cloudy, cold weather. I tried to make a few Sleepless in Seattle jokes but they were over it lol. Oh well. Anyway, John and Catrina, plus their daughter Gina were all a lot of fun to stay with. I’ve always found that people who live on the water tend to more fun than others and that view doesn’t seem to be limited to the East Coast. These guys knew how to open a bottle of wine:)

Every morning I would wake up around eight, grab a Mountain Dew (I know, absolutely pathetic, but I’m weak around soda) and woke up to a dip in the Jacuzzi. Their son lived down the lake and seemed like him and his friends had been born into skis and were pretty slick out on that lake.

Apparently people who are pretty good usually do what’s called slalom, which is two feet on one ski, and that gives you more mobility. I was able to get up on two skis, the standard you’re probably thinking of right now, but I tried the one ski deal and couldn’t manage to stand up. Only, fall and embarrass myself. The usual. We didn’t do as much sailing as I would have liked, but this first-world warrior will soldier on despite not getting exactly what he wants all the time.

I know this is kind of weird, but LOOK hw cute this slug is:)

I know this is kind of weird, but LOOK how cute this slug is.

Washington State is different to me because of how much it rains. I come from places where we get together in groups and dance around cul-de-sacs until the rain comes. The mountains here (they laughed at me when I called these mountains) are covered in green. Not a spot you can see that isn’t a tree. Rainforests aren’t at all limited to the tropics, they were all over the place here.

From what people say about the weather, I think I would hate hate hate this place if I was visiting at any other time of the year. And Vice-a-Versa, if this area was like this all the time, everyone would want to live here. That pic to the right is a view from the boat up to the house, which is the residence to the left. You can’t really see, but if you squint I am at the end of that rope. Water skiing came pretty naturally to me, as far as getting up. I went once in middle school and all I remember is I couldn’t stand up. With (hopefully) a little more upper-body strength since then, I was able to get up the third time around. Apparently most people who are pretty good don’t ride the doubles (except for jumping) but use the slalom, which is two feet on one ski. I tried this for a few and didn’t manage to stand. Lack of upper-body strength rears its ugly head once more.

There’s a picture of me to the left looking rightfully awkward in those skis. I’m skeptical that this is correct, but the Bremer son who lived up the lake told me that waterskiing burns the most calories per minute of any sport. Now, I could believe it, b/c your whole body tenses up and there’s well over 100lbs pulling you from the front, but it would just seem to me that some other activity besides this would burn more.

I mean, to play the other side, all your doing is holding on. But it is hard, and my arms were hella sore after each session. Though, falling was my favorite part:)

Thanks to oh-so-cool John and Catrina Bremer for hosting. Understand my shirt??

So I am in Canada as I type this but I will end this post with leaving the US and start the next with me arriving in this great country.

Alas, my time comes to an end w/John and Catrina and I head to the Hunter Homestead (more on that soon) in Victoria, BC. Now, check out this map below. That isn’t the exact route I took to get there, but I wanted to show you that there’s a portion of Canada that dips below the top of Wash St and further West. I didn’t know that either! Just so everyone is up to speed, that black line running through the image is the line where our nice country ends and their’s starts. So, some of you gifted children might have noticed (or already knew) that Victoria sits on an island. Or, easier, the route to the left shows the path crossing water. Ferry? Heck yes! Though it was a little pricey, Nancy and I boarded a ferry in Anacordes, WA and landed in Sydney, BC. Good times were had.

Good Lord I can’t get these photos to align properly. Anyway, right above you can see old girl Nancy nestled into a ferry quite nice. She was quite a hit aboard the ship, I must say. The ferry took about two hours, was $65-ish and weaved through the San Juan Islands the whole time. I was just surprised how fast is went. We outran every boat we came up across. Average speed of…30 knots? (I completely made that up)

Aboard the ferry! This is it for me and States for the next month…

If you still don’t get the shirt…think BLT…

More to come!

In an effort to get north fast, I’m going to stay with a family in Bellingham, WH. They do a lot of sailing, live right on the water, and sound pretty nice over the phone. Check, check and check. My rationale for all this driving is wanting to explore Canada some, but not wanting to do so late in the year. I’m not (more importantly, my car isn’t) ready to be that far north around November and December. I need to be heading south again towards the end of the year, and seeing as it’s already almost half way through June (of ’13, seriously when did that happen?) I pushed through by far the longest single drive I’ve done so far. From Ellicott, CO, where I was, through Salt Lake City, UT, onto Seattle then into Bellingham, WH, my final destination. This was 1,553 miles, about 24 hours of actual driving time, and completed in three legs over the course of a few days, each being in between the letters to the left. This was five new states I’ve yet to visit and connected with some old friends.

All my drives are done at night. Both longer legs were started in the evening and completed the following afternoon. Nothing super exciting happened over the drives (except me not getting in a wreck and dying, which I think is pretty sweet) but driving by myself for 8-hour legs is getting easier all the time.

I generally think saying things like, “The road is a funny place” is a really gross thing to put on paper, so I won’t. But in those long long legs in the middle of the night, when of course the only stations coming in the FM are country, and when of course your CD player is on strike for whatever reason, something is talking to you. Not really in words you and I speak, but more of a weird vibe pumped through some spiritual IV.

When you have nothing to listen to and only a very boring task (not hurling your car off the cliff six feet to the left) to complete, you just start going through everything in your mind. Your to-do lists are revised until you convince yourself none of it even needs to get done anyway. You run through all these different fantasies because you have the time to. When else, besides on the phone with your parents, do you have tons of time to zone out and contemplate just about everything.

It washes you out, sort of shakes the spiders out from the spaces besides your brain.

Ok. THE TRIP!

“Uncle Ed” as he’s so called in certain circles of the Kennedy family, was nice enough to put me up at his quite-fabulous Salt Lake City estate. I’ve met him once, at a family reunion, but I don’t remember. He’s closest to the Steevers and we spent our evening driving to some of the choice skiing hotspots of Salt Lake, though it wasn’t quite the right time of year. He drove like a race car driver with something to prove and confirmed my suspicions the Utah drivers are of a tougher cut than, at least I. Literally, in that state, every one was passing me all time. Maybe when you learn to drive in a state with a disproportionately high number of elderly, you just drive like one anyway. Hard to unlearn methinks.

Also, earlier in the day I drove out to the Great Salt Lake, which I highly recommend you not do if you’re in the area. It has a smell that puts the Bay of Tampa to shame. It’s the second saltiest body of water in the world, which peaks it at about 7 times saltier than the ocean. I was sticky for days, don’t go.

The Great Salt Lake. I went so you don’t have to.

Also, the library in Salt Lake city is one that puts all others I’ve seen (I’m talking to you Washington DC) to utter shame. I took a bunch of pictures of it, but you could imagine. I stayed with Ed just long enough on Wednesday to complete my TSLCI work before hitting my longest leg, Salt Lake to Seattle, about 13 hours.

It went really well as a whole. It’s pretty amazing how actually getting a good nights sleep helps out so much. Only then end was rough. Through some weird cosmic event, I rolled right into Seattle in rush-hour traffic and my (lovely, always has my back) GPS took me right through downtown, even though I later figure out we could have just stayed on the highway and gotten off later. It’s funny now, but for about 30 minutes I was flipping out in the car. It was the end of maybe 17 hours of driving and some sleeping too. But I finally got a to Cameron’s house! This guy I haven’t seen since the Plant High days, and we haven’t hung out since our glory days of underclassman. This was my first really good friend in life, and though our time chilling was brief, we had some good times. I can’t believe I was biking around South Tampa with this cat maybe 12 years ago. Essh I’m getting old.

The rest of the Seattle trip was pretty standard. Spent waaaaaay too much money on drinks, I dragged Cameron up to the Space Needle and went to the famous marketplace.

So I just got to my current gig this afternoon. Bellingham, WH, with John and Katrina, who live right off Samish Lake and promise tons of sailing while I’m here, which looks like it will be about two weeks or so. This is my fourth set of strangers to stay with and I think it’s going to work out real well. More to come!

Thanks again to Jim, Darlene and Hal for putting up some weird stranger in their house. Great people.

Hey Hunter!

Tag Archives: HelpX

Prancing Horse B&B

Canada Hey!

Bellingham Success!

The Biggest Leg yet…