Last Day on Vancouver Island, Nanaimo BC!
Nanaimo was the tour’s last Island stop and it did not disappoint in the usual R41P tradition of being a very full, very enthusiastic day, filled with 3 school presentations, a fun run and one final food event to round it out!
The day began, as always, with a 4:00am wake up, some very stroooooong coffee (at this point in the journey, the coffee seems to be getting darker each morning). We, (Amber at the wheel), Steph, (typing another set of team emails), our Knucklehead posse’ (camera’s charged and ready to shoot) and I charging out of the gate for the 1st of 3 at Brechin Elementary.
We entered by way of a song sung by Nanaimo’s newest gang of “pint-sized you know what’s”, welcoming us to another enthusiastic event to spread the tour’s message of Action! We were almost losing it when they broke into “how it was them who will help the Earth and heal her wounds”. Thanks kids, you started the day off on the right (foot)!
School 2 was, Aspen Grove set in the woods along a section of the Trans Canada Trail. We were thrilled to present in the woods surrounding this eco-aware elementary school and run along the trail afterwards, capturing the magic moment with our eager gang of peeps and peep-ets! Again, the emotion almost broke as they presented us with loonies they’d collected and hugs we received in thanks for doing what we’re doing.
Presentation #3 was, Sea View Elementary and our after lunch crew of mini eco kids made our final school event on the Island magical, as they too, sang an original song they had practiced in honor of us being there. Even Steph’s Mom and Dad, Steve and Mish were there to witness, with Mish even answering (on the spot) one of the tough questions on “why it’s a good idea to bring your own bottle”!
Way to Mish, you were grrrrreat and didn’t miss a beat!
After saying a heartfelt “see ya later” to the amazing kids at Sea View, we were met by an awesome group of about 15, to run the 5km’s to our other final event on Vancouver Island. They ran us to Island Naturals, where were welcomed in like (you know what’s), from Rhonda and Company! We got to enjoy some tasty, cold smoothies from Rhonda and were greeted by a group to give a short talk on the RV (and what we did to lighten the foot print), show off the worm bin (and tee up some new wormie buddies for the ones working hard inside) and, just relax a bit, to enjoy these last moments of Island running and presenting to more incredible “eager to live green” kids.
Thank you Vancouver Island, for your hospitality, your warmth and belief in us and giving us some fresh energy to get the remaining miles run!