Day 21 – June 26 – We drove further up Vancouver Island to the town of Port Hardy where we will catch the ferry to Alaska. The drive ran through even more remote country, dense forests backed by snow-capped mountains and fast-moving rivers. We pulled off the road (literally, through the trees to the river edge) where we had a tailgate picnic and Ross threatened to take his T into the creek. A short day of only 150 miles allowed us to catch up on laundry and enjoy an excellent dinner at a local restaurant in Port Hardy. We picked up our ferry tickets and went to bed knowing that the morning would put us on the way to finally getting to Alaska!

626e – Bill Capps drives his father-in-law’s Model T Touring past the tree holding a climbing baby bear.. Several of us had already spotted the bears and stopped before the Capps and David Johnson arrived. The momma bear had sent her baby up this tree and soon followed.

626b – Momma sent the baby on up and then followed up herself to observe us from a safe distance. She never appeared threatened or apprehensive about us, just cautious and mildly curious.

626n – It looks like momma bear is ready to pounce on Ross but we think she was actually just inerested to find out more about the Model T right-hand drive roadster he was driving.

626f – A lot of this road went through densely-forested hills. If you could have gotten though the brush, you wouldn’t have been able to see five feet ahead of you. This is an excellent road and well-maintainted but there are very few towns or people along it. It was a perfect Model T road – scenic and very little traffic. This is Ken and Joyce, riding with their top down and enjoying the sunshine.

626g – Jennifer Hardeman has driven the majority of the time in her 1926 pick-up. With her blue cloche hat, she looks like the women depicted in the Ford ads of the 1920’s, which heavily promoted the Model T as a car a woman could drive.

626h – The pleasures of driving on a beautiful day, on a beautiful road. The drive up Vancouver Island was enjoyable from start to finish.