Day 5 - Duncan to Vancouver

Duncan to Vancouver (Tsawwassen)
110 km. Sunny at first, then overcast for the day.
Sunny in Victoria and the rest of the day.
17-20 degres.

Allo, privet,

Last night I took a picture of my “appartment”. I'll eventually post it. I am technically homeless – no house, no appartment, no job (until my contracts start in early August), and only 1 key to my name (a car that I just bought a few days before the trip). Fun. So, will I stay in a car when I get back, or find a house to buy or rent an appt/house? Any leads out there that you guys know of?

I also checked out my bank account the other day. I am not used to that amount in there. Nice to see. Odd.

Alright, enough of those side notes.

I had a coffee with Kurt this morning. Nice guy, quite genuine. I can't wait to see his work. He gave me tips on heading to Victoria to avoid construction, and how to get into town using a bike path – the Gallopping Goose. He also gave me heads up on a few hills that I was going to face – 6-8% (my guess), but a few km long. Nice little grinds.

On the ride to Victoria, while I was climbing, some cyclist snuck up beside me and said hi. It startled me, I dropped an F bomb (reaction, not at him), and then I felt bad. Luckily, I eventually caught up to him when he was resting somewhere and I had a chance to appologize. He was alright, he knew he startled me. Good guy.

A few moments later, I reaped the rewards of the climbing I did. For a few km, maybe a good minute's worth, I was doing 70 km/hr. The shoulder is 1 metre wide, another metre to my right is the rock wall, and to my left were the cars doing basically the same speed as I. The road was a few “S” curves, so just cuising down the road leaning side to side, trying to avoid little rocks. To make things a bit surreal was the music in my ear – Apoptygma Berzerk (industria techno). It was a rush. If it wasn't for the long climb to get back up, I'd do that in a second.

In the suburb of Victoria, on the way to the Gallopping Goose Trail, I saw an inviting sign - “New Angus Burger”. I had to try it. McDonalds, of course. Tasty, on a foccacia bread. Afterwards, it felt like my lungs were full of crap. I had to cough fairly hard for a minute to feel better. Was it the burger, or the years of me smoking cigarettes? I dont smoke cigarettes, so it could be the burger. Maybe it'll teach me to not eat at McD*cks.

The Gallopping Goose Trail – found it. Tricky. I stopped to make myself a peanut-butter sandwich. As I went to use the ditch as a urinal, I saw a little gartner snake move. I dont like snakes. I quickly GTFO, and stayed in the middle of the path. Reminds me of a story. Near Thunder Bay, I was biking on the road. Up ahead, I see what appears to be a dead snake. I am about to ride a couple inches beside it. At the last minute, it starts moving, that snakey movement. That scared me quite a bit. My right leg started to shake, and didn't stop shaking for another 5 minutes. Biking with a shaking leg was odd. I even get that reaction when I see a little gartner snake in the Gats while mountain biking. I'll take bungee jumping over being close to a snake, anyday.

Victoria. Beautiful spot. If I would have more time, I'd like to spend at least an entire day here. I spent a lot of time in Beacon Hill Park – lots of variety of flowers, trees, statues, and ducks/geese. The camera was quite busy in there. Actually, it was quite busy everywhere. I also tried to capture lots of totem poles, but the sun was basically directly behind them. I hope they turn out. The parliament building, Emress Hotel, the Helmcken House (possibly the oldest building that is still in use in Canada – that fact has to be checked out), and Bastion Square (old English town) were spots I spent most of the time there. I also had a nice English Breakfast tea with a bruschetta (with red peppers and pesto) at a little shop called Munchies (est. 1894 or something). Very nice shop – lots of variety for coffees, teas (all fair trade), and treats of all kind. Hmmmm. I also had to visit a chocolate shop that frequently supplies Buckingham Palace. I bought some chocolate (variety pack). Quite tasty, a lot better than Caramilk or Skor bars. What do they say about chocolate being better than sex? Sex, well, never mind. Next topic.

Victoria – lots of eye candy of all sorts. Very nice looking folks (and a fair amount of punks too, which I like the balance), and tons of nice and expensive cars. I guess they like driving nice vehicles when the lowest it basically goes for temperature is 7 degres. Someone was telling me that they had an inch of snow this year. The last time they had snow was a few years ago. Intersting. We're in Canada here?

After visiting Victoria, I headed out of town to reach Sidney, where the ferry would take me to Twawwassen (30 km South of Vancouver). I will have to find a cheap motel to stay for the night. I am currently typing this on the ferry, while recharching the computer battery.

As soon as I find wireless internet, I will upload this, maybe a picture or two, and then check my email.

Well, another entry done, another day done.

Tomorrow is technically a rest day, which consists of me biking through Vancouver to visit spots. Biking spot to spot is a lot faster than walking. Efficient.

So, I hope you guys have a swell day.

I also hope that these entries are not too long. Keep in mind that I dont have much contact with people throughout the day. I do miss seeing you guys here and there, but at the same time, this is a heck of a trip. We'll see what happens on the loneliness factor in a few weeks.

......

Change of plans. After biking a good 15 minutes in the dark, in an isolated area, I didn't reach a hotel. What came first was a RV camping sign, so I went in that direction. No one at the reception (11pm), so I snuck in. I found a spot to put up my tent, and we'll see what happens tomorrow. I hope it's ok.

Luckily, at this “camp site”, there's access to internet. I was able to catch up on emails, and read the comments on the blog (from the beginning, as there was some that I missed). Funny requests (especially MJ). No can do, as that stuff can not be done on the spot. We'll see what else I can do.

Kilkenny, I will have to enquire about that.

One big request though. Please be careful with curse words during posts. I would hate to be red-flagged or something. MoFo is ok, others, please use discretion.

Well, I delayed going to bed to read the postings and upload stuff. No biggie, I enjoyed it, and no regrets.

Now, let's see what happens in the morning with this camping situation...

Cheers,

p2