Duncan, Vancouver Island, BC - Kristin's House

Today I left camp at Skutz Falls and cycled to the nearest large town, Duncan, to get food and some seriously needed R&R.

As I got up in the morning and began to pack up my things, a truck pulled up to the campsite right beside mine. It was the addict woman whose tent was confiscated the night before. She had abandoned her campsite for seven days, and given such, last night the camp ranger took away her tent and all her camping gear to put in holding. If she hadn't returned today, all the goods would have been thrown away. The reason I dreaded her return was that the camp ranger had actually given me a bag of her food -- and that food was sitting right in front of me on my picnic table. However against policy, the ranger gave me the food in the moral right -- I was nearly dead of dehydration, exhaustion, and starvation when I rolled lifelessly into camp the night before. But today, there would be a different ranger, and if the woman saw her food on my table, I figured things could get messy pretty quickly.

As I suspected, when the woman found all her belongings were gone, she became furious. Seeing that I was wearing a reflective vest, she asked me if I worked there. "Nope, just cycling through."

I immediately had a strong internal urge telling me it was time to get out of there. I packed up my things as fast as I could and peeled out of there, stopping at the camp well to fill up my bottles before I left. As I was pumping water at the well, I saw a ranger pull into camp. I quickly turned to hide behind a nearby tree, and as soon as she passed, I booked it for Duncan. Relief.

The ride to Duncan was on downhill highway nearly the entire way, and was a huge relief to the loose gravel and forested dirt roads I nearly killed myself in the day before.

When I arrived in Duncan, I stopped in the city's Visitor Center and inquired about hostels. There were none. Motels - about $75 a night. Ouch. After sometime of silent thinking and not knowing how I could afford to stay in this town, the representative said "Well...I do have a friend you could probably stay with. She'd be happy to host you". Surprised and relieved (although slightly skeptical), I replied,"Well, yeah. That would actually be excellent".

After meeting the representative, Stephanie, and her friend Kristin at a local pub to gain Kristin's approval, I soon learned that Stephanie is not just a representative at the city Visitor Center, she is in fact, Miss Vancouver Island. In other words, she is like a mini-mini Miss America. After a drink or so, Kristin extended her invitations to host me for the night.

And so I came to stay at Kristin's place. Kristin ended up being possibly the most hospitable person I have ever met to date. She bought and cooked me dinner, coffee, drinks, you name it -- and was always making sure I had everything I needed, from a towel to a pillow.

I met several people through staying at Kristin's. Her roommate, friends that would pass through, etc. Kristin's place was like a little Vagabond Inn. I loved every minute of it -- meeting the new people, and being completely immersed in an actual Duncanite residence, rather than experiencing a detached stay in a cheap motel room.