Hawkins Cheezies, the pride of Bellville Ontario. This exclusively Canadian snack-food has always had a special place in the arteries of this family. In Bamfield, BC, on our final night in Canada, we had the concerning realization that we might not see Cheezies again for a long time. It was 6:50pm. The nearby general store down the inlet would close in 10 minutes, and was at least that far away.

We jumped into our dinghy and shoved off, with cries of “Give’er a biscuit!”, requesting maximum throttle from the helms-person, Nyah. Maximum throttle on our tiny electric trolling motor can be very unsatisfying when you’re in a hurry. We also rowed madly, achieving perhaps a brisk walking speed, and managed to arrived at the store just in time. We purchased 3 bags of Cheezies to see us through our absence from Canada.

On the return trip to Mandolyn the sun was setting and we had a beautiful evening to contemplate how we would make the best use of these precious golden resources. Maybe we’ll open a bag to celebrate a big milestone in some far foreign port. Maybe we’ll meet another Canadian traveller some day, desperate for a crunchy taste of home dusted in cheese powder. As we pondered these weighty questions, we ate one of the bags.

Our next jump would be a big one. An overnight passage from Bamfield, down the granite bound Washington coast, across the dread Columbia River Bar, to our destination of Astoria Oregon.

The Columbia Bar is another one of those notorious coastal features vying for the title of “Graveyard of the Pacific”. YouTube is full of fun videos of boats being flung to their doom by the massive breaking waves which can develop there. Over the summer when we’d see a sailboat from Astoria or Portland, we’d marvel that they were still alive, then row over to ask for bar crossing advice.

At dawn on August 17 we ventured out on another daunting passage. One extraordinary aspect of this leg is that our land based neighbours from Salt Spring were right there along with us, on their own sailboat, the mighty Harmattana. They had become our boat based neighbours, on a similar route towards Mexico. What are the odds!? Are they stalking us? Are we stalking them? Only time will tell. In the waves and the darkness off the Washington coast that night, it was comforting to know our neighbours were out there too. You never know when you might need to borrow a cup of sugar.

Once again our imaginations were nine times more ferocious than the conditions we encountered. The passage was windy and cold, foggy and dark at times, but never terrifying. The dread Columbia Bar was basically flat as we motored across. Not a single boat flung into the air.

We’d made it to Astoria! Let’s celebrate with some Cheezies!

No. Too soon.

We loved Astoria. All the quaintness I remember from the movie Goonies, combined with an artistic community with lots of breweries and funny t-shirts.

I bet you’re wondering, what about the crosswalks!? How seriously do drivers take crosswalks in your community? Back home on Salt Spring, pretty seriously. When we visited Houston Texas on the other hand, the crosswalk lines only served to let city workers know where to collect the bodies. But Astoria… If you so much as glanced at a crosswalk all traffic slammed to a halt. The first driver in line might roll down the window to ask if you need a ride. Maybe the second driver just throws you their keys with a wink and walks away. Astoria out crosswalked anywhere else I’ve been.

Away from crosswalks, we experienced kindness and generosity several times in the few days we stayed. We took a coach bus to see Surfside and Canon Beach, for free, because kindness. We hit the local pool for showers and hot-tub, at a kindness discount. When I did a poor job tying off our kayak on a windy day, a kind stranger returned it from across the bay. When the bus skipped our stop by accident, the transit supervisor hopped in a shuttle and chauffeured us personally. Astoria was a really nice introduction to the USA.

We enjoyed exploring the town and the scenic riverside boardwalk. We spent a little time on some boat projects, updates based on our experiences sailing in the bigger waves thus far.

We decided to skip the nautical disaster exhibit at the museum. It’s nice to a see a community embracing watery death, but we still had to cross the Columbia Bar one more time to get out of there. Didn’t want to ruin the surprise!