Our first 2 days at Pedder Bay: rain, establishing a routine, and learning to leave things alone

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and much more. It's been about two and one half days since we finally got everything out of our apartment. Since then, we spent the first day in our tent listening to the rain beat against the roof, wondering where our cat Isis disappeared to after deciding the motion of the tent's walls in the wind was too much for her to bear, and then today finally taking advantage of some blue sky and sunshine to consolidate or dispose of more of our stuff so we can actually travel in our car without having to shuttle things from campsite to campsite. Having crammed everything we can into storage or lavished mountains of stuff on Victoria's thrift stores, we are finally down to a manageable minimum.

Henry David Thoreau said "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." This past year has convinced us he was right. We began our Canadian adventure trying to leave everything alone except what we could fit into a 17 foot long U-Haul truck. Preparations for this trip have us putting everything we can into a 14' X 4' storage unit, bringing with us only a trunk full of camping supplies along with our dog Zeus and cat Isis in the back seat of our Jetta. If ever we needed convincing George W. Bush's "ownership society" was really a pitch for slavery, mission accomplished.

We'll be making this up as we go - both the journey and the blog. We call our blog "Travelling with Zeus and Isis" because their vastly different personalities and approaches to life will, we hope, be a source of insight and inspiration along the way. Regardless, besides each other they're the only family my wife Chris and I are bringing along. Isis is currently off on escapade #2 in the woods, after being found nearby in a forest clearing some 20 hours after first disappearing to escape the movable walls of our new home. However, having found her the first time, we now feel fairly confident she'll turn up again and will still be joining us on the trip.

Our opening days are being spent at Pedder Bay on the southern tip of Vancouver Island just down the road from our old apartment in Metchosin, BC. Here we will take as much time as we need to establish a routine, relax, and take care of last minute details we had put off or forgotten during the hectic days leading up to our departure. We wouldn't mind making it all the way across Canada to see the tide retreat and return at the Bay of Fundy, but this is about the journey, not a particular destination. We hope our friends and family enjoy this blog. We encourage comments. Campsite suggestions or simple camping recipes are especially welcome. Until next time!