Stop and Smell the Ditch Daisies

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I took a quick work-related road trip to the Island on Friday; it’s been 7 months since I last set foot over there, and it seems like a lifetime. Not since 2003 have I spent that much time without a trip across the Strait. Because…COVID.

The out-of-region travel restrictions were lifted on Wednesday the 15^th and, almost instantly, the BC Ferries website was crashed; everyone wanted a reservation. 

It’s weird, but after 15 months of COVID and 7 months of not visiting the Island, I had a bit of a sense of anxiety around making a trip. It was almost easier to find excuses to not go. 

In the end I made an appointment with someone for a lunch meeting and made the commitment to myself to make the trip. The work vehicle is downtown, likely dead, and was having problems last fall anyway. I’d already given up on that transportation and had been renting vehicles for work related travel last fall. 

But now it’s no longer fall. The weather has changed, the days are long and warm, and the motorcycle is insured. 

It’s a no-brainer when ferries become the bottleneck to things. With the motorcycle I bypass the line to pay, go to the front of the que to load, and am the first to disembark and get on my way….getting ahead of the plug of traffic that is disgorged on the other side. It saves time, a lot of time. It also saves anxiety over whether or not I’ll get on a certain ferry since reservations aren’t necessary; I just need to be there before they start loading cars and I know I’ll be on the boat home…..whichever one I opt for. 

I can’t tell you how many ferries I’ve “not” been on because I was too cheap to make a reservation with a truck/car. I’ve managed to get over that by reminding myself that a) it’s not my dollar on the reservation because I am reimbursed for my travel and, b) missing a boat means lost time…and time is money. They don’t make reservations for motorcycles on my route, so no concerns about missing a cut-off time. 

So Friday morning I was up early and out the door for the 6:15am ferry. I got going a little later than I wanted, but still had enough time, but I was still a little agitated about what sort of traffic I was going to find at the terminal. 

It was BUSY! All lanes for Nanaimo were full and about 20 cars deep waiting to pay. A flagger stopped me and asked if I was travelling with a car… 

“No”. 

“Great” he said, and gave me two thumbs up…. “Take Lane 8, for Bowen”. 

Lane 8 was devoid of any traffic. Awesome…this is why I love going to the Island on the bike. Straight up to the window, tap to pay, down Lane 1 and past all the cars waiting to load…. To park with the other three bikes ahead of me. 

Less than five minutes later the light went green and the, now five, motorcycles were directed to load…ahead of everyone else. At the other end, two cars were let off to make room for the bikes to get past, and out and down the ramp we went. 

The ride was good. I’ve missed the freedom that it brings. When you ride you’re part of the environment; you hear it, you smell it, and you feel it. Great, so long as the weather isn’t bad. 

A quick stop in Nanoose for fuel, a stop at Big Q hatchery for a visit and a run up the incubation road, then another run up to Comox for my lunch date. After lunch a quick ride to another hatchery for a short “hello”, before heading back down Island to catch the 5:55pm boat home. 

My photo challenge for the week was “Natural white”, as in…. white in nature. 

Along the ride I’d noticed great swaths of daisies sweeping across the sides of the highway, like drifts of snow. They are weeds, but they still bring a smile. So, given that the challenge group is for posting on Saturdays, and the group is called “Smile on Saturday”…and the daisies were making me smile behind the helmet and met the “Natural White” challenge….it seemed like a tidy fit. 

There was only one problem….I would have to stop.

I inherited a trait from my father when it comes to travel…..I just “go”. You know…’destination rather than journey. I try to change that, and I used to be pretty good about stopping a fair amount to just enjoy the camera and the world around me. We miss a lot in life when we don’t slow down now and then.

I can’t say exactly how many times I said inside my head “Oh, that’s a nice patch and would make a good photo”…and didn’t let go of the throttle, but it was a fairly high number. Finally I realized I was going to end up getting to Nanaimo without a photo so saw a patch in the distance, geared down quickly and came to a rapid stop. 

Perhaps I was just trying to find a place where I could be a bit farther off the road, maybe even find a sideroad to edge off onto; it’s uncomfortable being that small on the edge of the highway with rigs barrelling along past. All you need is one tired driver with a little bit of target fixation…

Once I was off the bike and pulled the camera out of my tail-bag I realized it was a nice break and a chance to have a drink of water. 

I like daisies, enough that I had a little photo series going. But I stopped for some reason.

So yes, sometimes it’s good to just stop and smell the ditch daisies, if for no other reason than, well, they are kind of pretty 🙂

Roses are nice….but Ditch Daisies deserve some love too.