DAY 30 OF THE AROUND-THE-BLOCK SUMMER JOURNEY - JULY 30,08

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July 30, 2008 - Wednesday - Day 30
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
  -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 180    - Total Miles - 6655
Victoria,BC,Canada- to Hope,BC,Canada
(-staying at a Red Roof Motel-)
(BC,Canada)
- ANOTHER FERRY - HEADING EAST -

   I awoke at 5:30am. I had some thoughts about rolling over and sleeping more, but I got right on the MacBook and happily caught up on emailings and some journal entry writing. The sun was pouring in on me from the window right beside the bed.
  Around 9am I went downstairs. I was sorry Mackenzie had to leave for Acting Camp.
  Linda prepared for me some oatmeal and I had some peanut butter toast. It was fun to watch Boo slice soooooo very carefully around her bread to take off the crust. I asked her if I could have those crusts, and then I eagerly gobbled them down.
  It was another hilly run, but my legs felt strong. And in the superbly refreshing mountain air I breezed along the tree-lined little roads.
   It was genuinely hard to leave here. It was another home in which there was a real warmth for the family, and not just a house that happened to have some people in it.
   On the way to Naimano and the Vancouver Ferry over to the mainland, there were lots of fields with cows or horses. The little towns had shops were advertising a lot of handicrafts including wicker and totem poles.  At one point there was a big ad for chicken manure.
    There were billboards for the All-Canada Indigenous Games to be played next week. (Which could impact my motel stay availability.)
  I enjoyed watching the different billboards and sale signs as they flew by on the highway. It was interesting dealing for the first time with the metric system re miles on the road and gasoline at the pumps. 
  The view from Malahat Peak was just outstanding. A giant-wide vista that seemed miles down - dots of white boats bobbing amid a miles-round blanket of azure blue!
   The ferry ride was smooth as silk. At one point the captain came on the squawker and announced that one of the roads on the other side was closed due to a rockslide.  (Not a road I was due to take though.)
  I spent most of the hour and a half ride in the comfy passenger seat typing. It was a huge ship - more like an ocean liner, I thought. The cavernous inside carried hundreds of cars, trucks, campers, and people. In fact, the ship measures 560 feet long (picture two football fields back-to-back), and these vessels can accommodate up to 2,100 people and 470 vehicles.
  Don Gilmore, a fellow mc'er on the ferry, heading out for his own little adventure, and I traded pictures and enjoyed chatting with each other…  He's a record produce who recorded Ravi Shankar about fifteen years ago. 
  Soon it was out of the ship's belly and rolling onto the highway. Then through the big city of Vancouver - and a magnificent swooping bridge over a wide waterway.
  In Abbotsford I stopped for gas. And man, I thought my luck was high, because there was a Honda dealer right across the street. (It's been about time to have the bike checked and the oil changed.) But they didn't have the filter I needed, nor would they fit me into their schedule to change my oil anyway.
   Outside the Honda place a fellow approached me and asked about my license plate which reads, "JOEL1".  He looked at it, looked at me, and asked, "Is that your name or a scriptural reference?"  I got a good chuckle out of that one!
  Then…. the  luck continued as there was a Kawasaki dealer right in the middle of town. I tooled over there and found a wonderful family-owned business. It was Gateway Powersports and they were most helpful. Jim, the dad, Ryan the son is the mechanic, and Nicole and her sister behind the counter were all friendly. I had the oil changed, the tires checked, and other parts looked over.  Jim gave me other ideas of places to ride, but I told him I was only interested in fulfilling my goal of riding the length of the Trans-Canada Highway.
   Leaving around 5pm, I couldn't resist stopping at "J's Pure Vegetarian Pizza".  The slice I had was superb. 
  For much of the rest of the day I rode into the dark-clouded mountains. It never did rain on me though, and I finally alighted in Hope.  It was a little early to stop, but I with the ferry ride taking a chunk out of the day, and the bike store taking another chunk I was pleased. I decided to end the day sooner, and then head out early tomorrow for the ride through the next range of mountains.
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Note 1:  I just don't know how dependable email contact will be now that I'm in Canada. So if you don't get a journal note edition for a day or so, don't worry.

Note 2: To view the many photos from today and the whole trip, you can visit
http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=45&user_id=42473&event=196141
    Some folks have reported trouble with this link, but most find that it works. Sometimes it takes two tries… Also, you can check out the past day journal entries by going to joelperlish.com, and clicking on the appropriate trip down at the bottom on the left hand corner or just going to http://www.joelperlish.com/blog/blog.html)



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