Day 6 - Monday July 14, 2008

This morning, Ben and I packed up the van and made our way back into Sooke, BC for some food and supplies. Our plan is to fix the flat bike tire, get our fishing situation legal and to fill up on propane.

Propane offers the first "WTF" of the day - the tank isn't taking on any new liquid and I've been using the tank regularly for the fridge and for cooking. I had expected to be in need of at least a gallon. But when at the first propane fill up station (there are two) the woman managing it couldn't get my tank to take on any more gas. Huh...more later.

We head to the grocery store where we stock up on some good bites. During our shopping experience we bump into Kathy, a 46 year old soon-to-be divorced house wife from San Diego who has been living here in Sooke for 13 years. She is quite open with her life details and I notice an overwhelming sexual energy about her. In fact, her nipples rise to glass cutting stiffness within the first five minutes of our conversation. Both Ben and I notice quickly. I try to remain respectful, listen and contribute to the conversation, Ben looks ready to pounce. :-)

After loading up the groceries we head to the bike shop for repair goodies and then onto the "other" propane pump where they too had trouble putting LP into my tank...huh. We stop at the outfitters for our fishing license and then make our way to Lake Cowichan via the logging roads.

We stop at Sombrio Beach and again at the Botanical Beach on the Juan De Fuca trail...the wind is still blowing hard and the sky still socked in a marine layer. The hikes are magical, with beautifully carved wooden bridges alongside boulders and huge pieces of drift wood placed along the beach by the power of the sea. I am in awe.

Our travels take us toward Lake Cowichan where we will make our way to Gordon Bay Provincial Park for a few nights. At $24/night this is a luxury as we will have full shower facilities, onsite wood and ice and flush toilets...and yes, a beautiful lake to sit by, swim in and hopefully, if the cosmos shines on us, some fish to fry.

We settle on site 104, however, it has come to my attention that there is a bear in the park.

He is an adolescent roughly 4 feet tall when on all fours and abut 6 1/2 feet tall when standing. Heather, the camp manager, says that he is not aggressive and that he simply wants food. Oh, and that he looks like Baloo the bear in Disney's version of the "Jungle Book" - small head and big body.

All along our path the residents have a story to tell of the bear visiting their campsite. They had one thing in common, they all had a cooler outside for him to be curious about. (Note to self, bring ALL food items into Annabelle Lee for the evening.)

One lady, outside the washroom, is telling this lavish tale of the bear sitting in my site (before I moved in) going through a load of coolers that he had dragged there. In one he found a gallon of milk, she witnessed him pick up the gallon, smell it, bite a hole in it and drink the entire gallon down in nearly one swill. When did bears begin to like cows milk?? Anyway, the image of a bear drinking a gallon of milk out of a hole he bit into the carton makes me giggle.