Courtenay is located in the Comax Valley and is the rough-around-the-edges-sibling-of-Comox-with remnants of its logging and fishing industry past intact.
Like big trucks.
I saw trucks big enough to lug a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but which lugged one man, and occasionally, one
woman and child around the block.
In other words, downtown.
And the loudest motorcycles outside of a Hell's Angels Convention.
Courtenay is now known for year-round sports, including an ability for visitors to ski, fish, and golf in the same day.
Shops close very early on main street.
I couldn't find anything open after 5:30 p.m.
I did find a few recovering AA and NA addicts, who helped me find a grocery store to buy dinner.
They explained they were in Courtenay thanks to the provincial government, which sponsors 25 and 43 day rehabilitation programs--the best in British Columbia, attracting addicts keen on reform from up-island, down-island, and beyond.
I would have gone to their Laughing Oyster Bookstore, which I heard is great but it was closed.
I met this couple from
Victoria, the only couple I saw on main street, who bought a retirement home in Campbell River, which is a salmon capital and where people go to get to Quadra Island.
For clean air breathers, Campbell River has a paper mill and coal mine nearby. Good for jobs and tax revenue, but bad for lungs.
The coal mine reportedly makes 1.2 million metric tonnes of high volatile coal per year for domestic and foreign use. They want to provide coal to California and Alaska now. We get almost half our electricity from Utah coal and I hope we'll find the way to go renewable instead.
As a recovering Angeleno, I'd pass on Campbell River as a possible home but as a temporary tourist, I'm there.
Quadra Island is about 30 miles up-island and photos of the island look amazing, with blue water hugging lush green land. I plan to go when I return from Hornby.
This couple told me handguns aren't allowed in Canada, which makes me feel good since I'm here alone typing right now at a friend's office.
Female alone in L.A.--you'll need twenty bolts, a doorman, and bug-killer spray in order to feel safe.
Anyway, this is how my evening began:
It's 6:00 p.m. and man-friend is taking me to Courtenay to drop me off for my big review of town for Chasing Clean Air.
I'm reading a book in this chair, but ready to go when he arrives, for I don't want to waste one moment getting into rush hour and making him late for next appointment.
I'm from L.A. I understand timing.
Rush hour = 15 miles. 2 hours. Books on tape. Cell phone and email use. And for the really adventurous, putting on make-up, filing nails, eating dinner, and having babies when stuck in traffic. (Maybe making babies, too)
I know Comox to Courtenay, isn't going to be rush hour 
like an American city but I didn't expect 6:05 p.m. to look like this.
They don't have a vocabulary for rush hour.
Though man-friend said, they acknowledge rush-minute, which I can tell you passes in a Porsche second.
You'd never see a Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus in Comox Valley, which is a refreshing change.
What you see are a lot of BIG trucks.
Everywhere.
And they smell bad, making me wonder if they have old catalytic converters or use different fuel than Californians. All diesel? I know Texas uses dirtier fuel than we do.
California has some of the cleanest fuels because we have, by way of example, 11 million cars and 17 million people in the South Coast Basin--L.A. and surrounding counties--which if memory serves me is about 10,000 square miles.
Before I sign off, you should know one of the big happen'in and happy events in Courtenay is coming soon.
Vancouver Island Musicfest, July 11-13, 2008 It sounds fun, and the line-up includes The Wailers, Taj Mahal, Earl Scruggs, Sparrow Quartet, Jerry Douglas Band, and Todd Butler (Oh! I just met Todd's talented brother who writes songs with him) to name a few highlights of the 75 concerts to take place on 6 stages.
Kids are welcome but if you suffer from claustrophobia, like many city folks do from too many years jammed up against one another, who knows... but then again, look at Comox Valley traffic. I'll bet this concert will be a perfect summer treat. And then you can walk along the marina in nearby charming Comox.
