I've Got Your Back: - Part I of Taking a Break with Arta

Catherine Jarvis requested the longer story of the ride home to Victoria, so here it is and it comes in two parts.  This is the first part:

The Longer Story of the Break / or
The Sunday Road Trip / or
Taking a Break with Arta

December 29, 2020

After 2 weeks in the Interior, Arta and I were ready for the return trip to Victoria. We had practiced getting her in and out of the car without pain, as well as learning how to put on the seat belt so that only the lap belt was engaged and the shoulder strap could go behind Arta’s head, rather than across her broken shoulder. So that was part of what was holding us there at Annis Bay. If you can’t get in and out of the car, there will be no going home to Victoria.

The car was loaded up and the house shut down, or closed up for the season. Moiya brought us sandwiches for the road. Glen and David Wood had ploughed out the driveway. The day before, I tried to drive out but I couldn’t get enough traction to get up the hill from the large snowfall. Our water had stopped running as well, so I was melting large buckets of snow on the stove. (Five ice cream buckets of snow melts into one pan of water on the stove.) But now the electric car was charged up and we hit the road.

We arrived at Merritt with 70 kilometers left on the battery. I will confess that I had been a bit worried, wishing I had stopped at Kamloops for a bit more power, but the final approach to Merritt was all downhill so we arrived at Merritt with plenty of power. On the trip out here, I had arrived at the lake with exactly 000 on my GOM (guess-o-meter) and steve, who was following my progress on his phone app (since i was driving his car), was freaking out.  After running it that close to the line, i felt i should be commended.

I knew we would have a 45-minute wait at Merrett to charge up before crossing the Cocquihalla (the  formerly toll road through the mountains built in 1986). But we had been watching to see that condition across the Cocquihalla would be good. According to the forecast, it looked like Sunday would be the best day. I was also wanting to drive it during daylight hours. The prelude to our stopover in Merritt coincided with Zoom Church with the Jarvis family. So, we phoned into Montreal from the car to listen in. They had 2 great questions for their lesson.

Question 1: 2020 has been a year that we have spent in large measure "socially distanced." How can we close those gaps in 2021? What will you do in 2021 to be less socially distanced from others? 

Question 2: What lesson did you learn in 2020? What words of wisdom can you share with others about surviving a pandemic?

Everyone from the oldest to the youngest shared their answers to the 2 questions. The first invited us to reflect on ways we had managed to stay connected with people during a time of social distancing.

The second invited us to imagine advice we would give to our grandchildren, 100 years in the future, about strategies for thriving during a pandemic. 

We had a lovely time listening to the thoughts of others and we pulled up to the charging station just as the phone call was ending.

With the car fully charged and Zoom church over we headed off. Steve phoned in to the car as soon as he saw we were driving again. We updated him on our progress as I headed off to the highway and I was reminded that I often can’t do 2 things as the same time and one of them is to remember which direction I am actually going. Thus, I took that turn off back to Kamloops instead of going onto Vancouver. The moment I made that choice I had a flashback of doing the same thing while driving with Duncan and Ben and I knew I had a 32-kilometer drive ahead of me before I had the opportunity to turn around.

Curses.

Thirty- two kilometres up the mountain and 32 kilometers back down. I knew this would mean stopping in Merritt again to fill the car back up to make sure I had power enough to get through the mountains and back to the other side. I knew this would add another hour to our time in total. We have a rule on our road trips. There are no mistakes, only detours, so I did try to hold the increasing anxiety I was feeling at bay, trusting that we still had adequate daylight hours ahead of us.

... the eye continues to blacken ...

We had already taken a bathroom break the first time we stopped in Merritt.

And we had successfully negotiated the ritual of getting in and out of the car and safely negotiated the icy parking lot to the gas station bathroom, so on this 2nd trip, Arta stayed in the car and I decided a coffee ritual would be good for my driving.

I headed into the gas station with my supersized Tim Horton’s mug and made the worst possible health choice: the super syrupy English Toffee Coffee Beverage.

I paid and headed back to the car, coffee in one hand, wallet in the other. And then the moment of choice: shall I take one more bathroom break.

Something in the switch of my eyes from the car to the bathroom door on the right led me to a miscalculation involving ice and the curb.

Down I went.

The Tim Horton’s mug managed to provide a cushiony barrier between my head and the sidewalk, dosing me from head to lower chest with warm syrupy, wet deliciousness. Yes, my first words rhymed with ruckedy, rucking, ruckity, ruckiness. I was astonished both by the volume of my expression and the creativity even for me of my conjugation of that famous f-verb. I am sure there were also past particles and subjunctives in the string of words as well. 

I guess I could add that the fall was somewhat painful and I was conscious that my left wrist particularly took a solid blow.

I rolled to a seated position on the ground but I was not yet able to stand. I was approached my someone who worked at the gas station who wanted to check on me and who offered to give me a free refill on my coffee. Two people were there, both with masks. 

The woman who stopped to help me looked somewhat familiar to me, from the nose up to the extent it is possible to recognize people in face masks times. I could see she was wearing a jacket emblazoned with the Secwépemc Elder’s Council logo. Her name was Esther. I didn’t catch her last name. She works for one of the Court Assistance Programs in Merritt and had a granddaughter going to UVic. I told her I was working on the Secwépemc law projects and we both agreed we had met at some gathering. She washed out my mug for me, though I was prepared to throw it away since the meeting of my head with the mug had knocked the handle off. I wanted to throw it away, but she told me it could still be useful. That left me too embarrassed to throw it out, so into the car with me it went. She also brought me some wet paper towels so I could wash off some of the syrupy mess dripping off of my face. I thanked her and returned to the car which was still charging. 

While it is generally a 2-hand-job to attach the electrical charger, my left arm did not feel useful, but I successfully detached the charger with one hand. I took off my coat before getting in the car to throw it in the back seat, since it was still dripping with coffee. 

I said to Arta, “So did you see any of that,” and she said, “See what?” She indicated she was only surprised by how wet I looked and had wondered if I had taken a shower inside the gas station. My head was soaking wet. I don’t know if there is any way to capture that.

So, we headed off again.  Take Two, this time involving the correct turn off towards Vancouver and the Cocquihalla. As we drove, I filled Arta in on a few of the details so we could strategize options. At this point I could see a massive contusion around my wrist and I was pretty sure I had broken something. I was also pretty sure I didn’t have any pathway forward, except for forward. I momentarily contemplated us taking a hotel room in Merritt, but Arta has spent the last 3 weeks sleeping in a medical recliner chair and I knew there were 3 more such weeks ahead of us. It would be difficult to move her into a lying position on a bed. To do that I would need both arms. I thought about going to the hospital in Merritt but knew that if I did that, we may wait 4 or 5 hours and it would be difficult to get us through the pass, so I decided to keep going, and take advantage of the daylight hours.

Warning: Partial Nudity
(with consent)
If Rebecca took a faceplant,
then how is it that she has large scratches
on her back that went through her ski jacket?

The scariest moment in the fall was if I had broken my glasses when I smashed my face on the ground for then I would not have been able to drive. My glasses were crooked but not broken. By now I had a contusion on my forehead, a black and blue nose, skinned knuckles on one hand and a large swelling at the wrist of my left hand.

The Cocquihalla Road.

In the Coquihalla, the weather was clear though it was a bit slushy. 

I kept myself a solid 20 kilometers under the speed limit, pretending I was a truck. 

I also suspected that I had sufficient adrenalin in my body that the pain would hit later, so I could take advantage of the adrenalin -- which was true. 

I was also conscious of not wanting to drive off the highway and take my mother and me out in a fiery ball of death. 

I was pretty sure that would leave my siblings very mad at me.

Throughout the drive we knew that the next stop would be Hope, which is always ironic. We did stop in Hope to recharge. That was more frustrating. Plugging in the car with one arm was a challenge, though I figured out how to wrap the chord around my shoulder to assist me, credit card tucked into my bra. By this time, it was raining, but my syrupy soaked wet coat was in the back seat and I thought it would hurt too much to negotiate my arm back into it. So, I hooked in the electric, got back in the car, and about one minute into the charge, I could see the message on the tower reading, Charging Stopped. Assuming I hadn’t pushed the charger in hard enough, I hopped out to restart the process. Within one minute it gave me the message, Tower Failed. So I disconnected the charger, hopped back in the car, backed up and moved over to the next station and tried again with a new machine. Again, I got the message, Tower Failed. There was a number inviting me to call Petro Canada to tell them that the tower was out of order. But I was finding it a challenge to use my phone with one hand while standing in the rain. I think by this time, some of the adrenalin had worn off because I had quite a bit of shaking in my body, so I got back in the car, and phoned Steve. 

I had not planned to tell him about falling until I got home because he tends to get panicky if I get hurt. Why worry someone if there is nothing they can do? But I did phone him to tell him to find me the address of the next closest charging station. I had tried for this information inside the Petro Canada station but the attendant had no idea.

(to be continued)