Well, so much for getting a super cheap, 60$/month parking pass! As it turns out, the pass takes a week to process, so I would have had to pay for a full February pass and daily parking for the first week, and there is a three month minimum contract, with a really arcane cancellation policy. That said, I calculated how much it would cost me to pay for daily parking vs. the bus and it’s only a 15$ difference. Moreover, I just checked my Petro-Points balance and discovered that I have enough for a couple hundred dollars worth of free gas (and this after redeeming some in December for Miranda), so I don’t need to worry about gas for the toad this spring (and I’ll have plenty of time to rebuild my balance for the next time Miranda needs a fill). I am therefore going to suck up the 15$ difference and enjoy my extra 40 minutes a day!

Petro-Points are worthy of a sidebar. For several years now, I’ve used a Citibank MasterCard linked to the Petro-Points reward programme. All my purchases earn me points which I can then redeem for gas or other goodies. I didn’t drive much for about a year, so every month or so I would redeem points for a 25$ amazon.ca gift card! These days, I save my points for gas (gee, I wonder why), and even though I can’t possibly spend enough to fully cover my gas expenditures (well I could, but then I’d rack up debt which would negate the point of the exercise!), I do spend enough to take a huge bite out of the gas budget. This is truly ‘free’ money seeing as I pay off my MasterCard in full every single month. I belong to quite a few rewards programmes and Petro-Points is by far the most rewarding. I also like that I can double up on points by getting gas at Esso to get both Petro-Points and Aero-Points or at Shell to get the Petro-Points and Airmiles. I don’t buy into the ‘2 cents off per litre’ hype from Petro-Canada, though, seeing as their gas tends to be more expensive. I only get it with gift cards! I highly recommend the Citibank Petro-Points MasterCard to anyone who is disciplined enough to pay off their card in full each month (since the card has a hefty 19.5% interest rate!). No, this paragraph was not sponsored by Citibank. 😀

Random RVing thought of the day, as I lit the stove: “There is something delightfully primitive and elemental about needing fire to cook.”

I missed my bus sort of on purpose this morning. I was having a really mellow morning and by my leave time of 7:20 I was still in my pjs! I decided that this was going to be my first day of attempting to drive to work and that I could use up my last bus tickets Thursday or Friday.

Getting to New Westminster was extremely easy, with just a few slowdowns, but I once again got confused by all the construction. I’d looked at a map ahead of time knowing that Majel would be useless once downtown, but I still got led astray onto a side road that took me straight through the downtown core, past my parking lot and my office building. It took forever (or so it seemed) to get turned around and back onto the correct street. Once there, the parking lot was easily accessible and finding a space was painless as there was tons available right near the inbound ramp. Getting to work, driving around in circles not included, took about 45 minutes door to door, 15 minutes less than taking public transit.

This evening, I followed the ‘exit’ signs in the parking lot until I got to what looked like the off ramp. But there was a great big arrow telling me not to turn right there and to keep going straight. I did so and got to the end of the lot, where I had to execute some ‘fun’ manoeuvres to get myself turned around. I was really confused as to how to get out of there and followed the exit signs right back to that turn off where I realised that the sign telling me not to turn right was actually mis-oriented!!! So, that was the exit and, conveniently enough, it led to a one way road, making a left turn onto a busy road a piece of cake. I followed the highway signs to get onto the freeway, laughing as Majel got so confused that she just shut up and let me figure things out for myself. I got home in 38 minutes, compared to the 70+ from public transit!

(Never in my life would have have thought/dreamed/believed/imagined that I would one day have to commute a route for which the last stretch is to follow the signs marked Seattle!)

In other news, Translink called me today to ‘apologize’ for the bus not showing up on Friday, giving the usual excuses of weather (not an issue that day), traffic (not an issue that day), bridge closure (no reason for it to affect that route), etc. I’m still not impressed.

While I’m working very hard at trying to find a way to support myself on the road that would not involve commuting to an office, this assignment is thus far proving itself to be enjoyable and an acceptable way to fund the next part of my journey. I hope that things do not degenerate as they did last fall. 🙁

Well, I’ve crunched the numbers and weighed all the pros and cons and decided to remain at Pacific Border for at least the month of February. I think that when I add it all up, the main reason is that it’s secluded. Living in the GVR reminds me of what it was like to live in the Montreal area growing up, and all the reasons why I left Montreal without looking back. There are just too many people and too much traffic. Going out to do anything shouldn’t be a chore and I like living in an area where I can go run errands without having to plan around rush hour. Also, the difference in price between this park and the runner up amounts to only about a hundred dollars spread out over four months. I’d rather spend that extra money and have access to the pool here where it’s much nicer and quieter.

My commute today was fine. 55 minutes in the morning and 70 minutes in the afternoon because you can’t catch the freeway southbound from the park ‘n ride (who designs these things; just about everyone goes south from the park and ride!). That said, I really hate having to rush out of work at the stroke of 4:30 and the Pattulo Bridge has reopened (three weeks early!), so traffic is going to be much less dense. I’m going to finish up my fare coupons on Wednesday, then I’ll drive Thursday and Friday and make the final decision then as to whether I’m buying a bus or parking pass on Monday.

There is an RV show in Abbotsford this weekend and I will be attending on Saturday as there will be a seminar on RVing in the Northwest Territories! I cannot believe that I attended my first RV show last February and now, less than a year later, I’m attending one as a full-time RVer who is not just dreaming of going to the NWT, but will be going! Have I mentioned recently that I love this life?

Well, Translink gets a huge thumbs down.

Last night, I discovered not only a shortcut to the park ‘n ride, but also that there is an ‘express’ service from the park ‘n ride to the Skytrain station. That should merit an exclamation point and it would have… if tonight’s fiasco hadn’t happened.

This morning, I caught the express and was at work in what amounted to an hour’s absolutely painless transit door to door.

This evening, I arrived at the Skytrain station just in time to see my express bus drive away. It was a half hour wait to the next one, so I had to decide if I should schlep the two blocks to catch the local. I decided that if I was going to spend an extra half hour getting home, I preferred to stand outside and get some fresh air.

Five minutes before the next express was due, it showed up, dumped off its passengers, and sped off with a ‘sorry, not in service’ sign. The bus that we were expecting at 5:15 never showed up.

The next bus arrived right on time, a full hour after I saw the first one speed away.

As I wrote to the transit company, this is inexcusable for a so-called ‘express’ service.

I’ve got three round-trips left, so I’ll use the express in the morning and the local in the evening… while I investigate my parking options at work.

It’s such a shame that the day ended this way because until 5:15, it had been a good one. Work was so nice, just like it was at the job from which I’m taking my leave; with no clock watching and no micromanaging, not to mention that my new manager showed up this morning with some books for me to read about living and cooking on boats, figuring that the info would translate well to living and cooking on an RV. How thoughtful! Oh, and I got my first pay cheque!!!!!!

Thank goodness I have access to a hot tub tonight; I’m still frozen solid from waiting at that dang bus stop!