The Winds of Change

It was Queen Elizabeth who determined our Southerly route from Jasper through British Columbia to Vancouver. She won the toss over the moose of the Canadian quarter that we flipped. That moose's tail would have sent us Northwest to Alaska. Now another tale may once again change our course. This tale begins with a dollar sign at the VW dealer in Nanaimo B.C., 100 miles North of Victoria.

Curisoity is what made us pull off the road. We were wondering what the price is of a new Vanagon camper (just for kicks). $40,800 Canadian (approximately $30,000 US) for a loaded van sounded reasonable. What wasn't reasonable was the price tag on the used Vanagons. A 1983 camper was tagged at C$12,000, and another at C$13,000. The dealer made a rough estimate on ours at C$14,000, even though he might know of a buyer.

We had figured that Vanagons were hot here. Almost every fifth vehicle on the road is a VW bus of come sort. But these prices weren't hot, they were boiling. Time to re-think.

We plugged the available data into our optimization algorithm. With the resale on our van in Canada that high, our routing needed revision. Then from a random call to a dealer in Anchorage, we learned that Alaska prices were as good, or better. Alaska was back in the equation.

Our options were this. a: Continue on our original route and hope to sell the van in L.A.; b: Take a ferry into Alaska, sell the van there and fly to L.A.; or c: Drive to Alaska, sell the van and fly to L.A. With calculators and maps in hand, we worked out the cost, mileage and van resale value for each scenario. We factored in the wear and tear to the van, as well as to ourselves. But like many algorithms this one had bugs. We were torn - stuck in an infinite loop. The Answer is Blowing in the Wind

Well for all our calculations, we have chosen what wasn't even on the list; option 'd', with provisions for 'e' and 'f'. We are going to head South into Washington state to see Olympic National Park and eventually drive back to Vancouver to sell the van. Options 'e' and 'f' aren't defined yet, but they will enter into the picture if we happen to change out minds.

So South it is. For now, however, we have settled into the Pacific Rim National Park on the Western edge of the island. As we drink our tea tonight we have cause to celebrate. The Pacific waves are breaking off the shore in front of us. We have traveled coast to coast.