It started yesterday... Thursday, I suppose. My first day of holidays. I intended to spend the day packing, and getting ready for my 9am flight on Friday morning. And I did spend the majority of the day doing just that. But around 5pm, things got interesting.
My bike had been carefully bubble wrapped and stuffed in a box. My camping gear was packed, and half my clothes were laid on the bed, ready to pack while the other half hung in the basement to dry after being laundered. And it's a good thing things were so organized.
Around 5:30pm we heard on the news, and were alerted by circling Police helicopters and a barrage of sirens that part of my neighborhood of Bowness was under an immediate evacuation order with the risk of flooding. The heavy rain over the past day had caused the level of the Bow River to raise past its banks, and the waters were starting to take over the streets. Our house is maybe 6-blocks off the river, and was not in immediate danger, but the water was rising and police officers were going door-to-door to make sure people were getting out. This video gives a little glimpse of the extent the river swelled.
I didn't sense there was an immediate danger of our house going under water, so I took ten minutes to madly pack all my clothing (wet and dry) into my suitcase, loaded my boxed bike into the car along with both duffel bags, then got out of the area.
Through the afternoon I was trying to coordinate getting a bike box to Ava so she could pack her bike, but she was experiencing all sorts of travel delays coming into Calgary from southern Alberta because of flooding in other areas. She finally made it to Calgary right around the time the evacuation order came down, and couldn't get into Bowness to retrieve the box. Without the box, there would be no getting her bike on a plane to get down to California to start the tour.
So... I somehow crammed a second bike box into the back of my little Subaru, and made my way over to her cousin's house where she was staying the night. She boxed her bike while I caught up with a few friends' whereabouts and well-being. I ended up crashing on her cousin's floor, and leaving my car on the street until it's safe to return to my house in Bowness.
Needless to say, all this hoop-la really threw my organized self for a loop. While I would normally have triple-checked my packing list, I barely glanced at it as I was stuffing clothes into my bag. (Having unpacked already, though, it looks as though I have too much stuff and nothing serious is missing).
With the flooding, plans to get to the airport Friday morning went out the window. Instead of catching a ride, we hired a cab to get us to the airport. It was about 25 minutes late picking us up, but we made it to the airport and checked our bags and bikes with time to spare. Definitely a stressful morning.
By 9am we were leaving the flooded city behind us, and on our way to Vancouver. Before long we were in blue skies.
The bike survived the journey, and was assembled with minimal difficulty. I've met a ton of folks who are also riding, but none of whom have had a harrier time getting here than me!
After dinner, a few of us went to Patrick's Pub for a little "Canadian Bible Study", as one American friend called it.
We were back at VU by 10pm, where Sara B had just arrived. We all sat outside for another hour waiting for Ava's parents to show from LAX. It's a beautiful thing to be able to sit outside on a nice evening 'til the later hours of the night without being eaten alive by mosquitoes or freezing to death!
Anyway, now it's late into the evening and I need sleep. After crashing on the floor last night, I'm short on Zzzz's and need to catch up.
Tomorrow will be a lazy day, but it'll take much energy to meet all kinds of new faces.
One logistical note - my cell phone is with me, but will not be turned on to send or receive texts. If you would like to get in touch with me - send me an email: stephen.byl@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment