So long Calgary! We’ll be back…

Hey all… So leaving Calgary ended up being more difficult than anticipated… Not because we’re letting wounds heal (well maybe some of that:), not because our bikes are in repair and not because we’re not ready to go… It’s because we’re at home, already paying rent and sleeping in our own beds… Yes, you guessed it… We got comfortable!

Braden and I agreed before the trip started that when we arrived in Calgary we had to be careful not to get too comfortable so as not to disrupt the overall feel of the trip… I think the problem started with the fact that Calgary is perfectly situated in one of the biggest changes in terrain on our whole trip… So, in essence, Calgary was an end-point of sorts before taking on the rest of the journey…

Anyways, I’m not making any excuses… Truth is we’re using this time to rest, to finalize preparations and planning for the road to Nova Scotia…

We plan to leave tomorrow (Sunday, July 26th) in the morning and though we’ve technically been ready to leave for a few days now, Tomorrow is THE day!

I want to say thanks again for all of you who are supporting us… I don’t think we can make it without you guys…

As for now… I’m going to read… And then maybe later watch The Princess Bride (which I have no shame admitting that it’s my favourite movie)

Until next blog

One Province Down, Many To Go

Day 10: Chase To Sicamous: Woke up in nice cozy bed at Aunt and Uncle’s house. Had a great breakfast cooked for us and said goodbye to Aunts Kathy and Judy and Uncles Steve and Marsh. They took pictures of us as we rode away. We climbed a hill and then most of the way to Salmon Arm was downhill. We had a nice view of the Shuswap most of the way and I pondered what it would be like to be house-boating or sea-dooing. Reality kicked in. We stopped at Tim Horton’s. Left Salmon Arm by climbing another giant hill. Legs hurt. Sun was scorching. Managed to peddle our way to Sicamous and stay at a campsite. Paid 50 cents for my shower. Got shampoo in my eyes while adding the extra quarter. Took a swim in the pool. Forgot to put on bug-spray. Received the biggest mosquito bites known to mankind.

Day 11: Sicamous to Revelstoke: Woke up itching bites. Oatmeal for breakfast. Left early morning. Repaired flat tire halfway to Revelstoke. Scorching heat. Eventually rolled into Revelstoke and realized how cool of a city it is. No Dairy Queen though. (I might have forgotten to mention that a DQ blizzard is an awesome treat after a long day of biking). Spoke to receptionist with amazing Aussie accent at cheap hotel and got free passes for the local pool. Rotated between pool, hot-tub, kiddie-slide and sauna. Shopped for food. Ate at hotel. Fell asleep to really loud air-conditioner.

Day 12: Revelstoke to Rogers Pass: Fairly smooth day. Still hot out. Beautiful mountains though. Stopped for some lunch at a resort along the way and paid $7.50 for a sandwich that I could have made better for $1. Made it most of the way to Rogers pass before stopping at a rest stop off the highway and meeting three hardcore, leather wearing bikers. We stopped and asked if there was a place ahead to grab some water. One of them opened up a cooler in his trunk (it’s a motorcycle, not a bike:) and gave us some ice cold soda (or pop if you prefer). We travelled maybe another 5 km to a campsite and realized there was no room left. Then a guy from Edmonton named Paul with a girl from New York named Avery offered to let us use their site with them at no cost. We thankfully said yes and had some good coversations with them. Cooked soup for supper. Fell asleep to the soothing sound of a rushing mountain river.

Day 13: Rogers Pass to Golden: Woke up and said goodbye to Paul and Avery. Biked not far to the visitor center at Rogers pass and got free hot dog and bottled water. Fed a fat squirrel some bread from my hand and had tourists in four different languages comment on how amazing that was. But really it wasn’t amazing. The squirrel was fat. Fat squirrels will eat anything. Watched a lumberjack use a chainsaw to make a chair out of a solid piece of wood (I think they were celebrating something here). Left to start on Rogers Pass expecting it to be all uphill. It was all downhill! One of the best days for riding. Pretty sure I got to over 70 kph. Beautiful scenery. Stopped at a resort at Heather Mountain for lunch. Had one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Made it to Golden from there with relative ease. Noticed a Dairy Queen. When we arrived a nice lady told us the power went out in town because of a thunderstorm. No blizzards. But we talked to the nice lady and her family and they wished us well. We rode over to the Husky station and ate what we had in our packs. Fed another fat squirrel (seriously!). Prayed in my head that the power would come back on in town and 2 seconds later it came back on. We got our blizzards. Stayed in another cheap hotel where you can hear everything going on in the next room.

Day 14: Golden to Lake Louise: Woke up and showered. Started the day by climbing a giant hill. Followed that by climbing some mountains. Baked in the sun. Finally got a nice long downhill stretch and had to climb right back up another one. Stopped at a waterfall and dunked my head. Got pretty soaked all over. Dried off pretty fast. Climbed more mountains. Stopped in Field. Ate a Buffalo burger. Started on the next pass to the Alberta border only to realize that I thought Rogers pass was where all the uphill was, but no, it was here… And it was called 10-mile hill… No joke. Climbed every mile. Was easier than anticipated and we got to the border. Literally after passing the sign for Alberta the shoulders on the highway got worse. It felt like I was going over train tracks and I was dodging pot-holes and glass shards all the way to Lake Louise. But at least most of that was downhill. Arrived in Lake Louise only to find that campsites were full. Had to dish out the dough for a hotel. We saved $50 though.

Day 15: Lake Louise to Canmore: Ridiculously easy ride. Mostly downhill the whole way. Gorgeous mountains. Popped another tire though but replaced it and stopped in Banff for lunch. Arrived in Canmore early and set up our tent at a campsite near the highway. Biked around Canmore and checked it out. Before going to bed I broke out the journal and wrote a poem of a dream I keep having. Tried to fall asleep. Fell asleep and then kept waking up. Apparently this campsite is perfectly situated to maximize noise. Multiple train tracks. Major highway. Major off-ramps from highway. Semi-trucks all through the night.

Day 16: Canmore to Calgary: Woke up… sort of… Packed up and ate breakfast. Started the climb out of the mountains. Realized the climb doesn’t really stop there. In fact most of the way to Calgary is uphill, however gradual it is. Baked in the sun. Stopped for some soup at a Native reserve. Biked basically the whole day in the blazing sun, against the wind, and uphill yet we managed to accomplish 110 kms to get home. Arrived at home. Key is lost. Waited for sister to arrive with key. Talked with mom on phone. Had spectacular shower and was treated to pasta and cake at my Sister Amber’s and her husband Ian’s place (same building:). Slept oh so well.

Day 17: In Calgary: Woke up… sort of… Read my book. Watched some TV. Read more. Watched more TV. Avoided any contact with the sun or the living world. Had some awesome BBQ at sisters’ place. Cake for Dessert. Went out for movie. Got back late.

Day 18: Still in Calgary: Woke up this morning early (though later than I usually wake up for work). Packed up bike and gear for a trip to the food bank. Arrived at food bank and volunteered and really got to see what goes on there. Met some amazing people, very supportive. Got pictures taken with bike and received my most painful injury of this trip: I cut my leg on the Calgary Food Bank sign. It was my fault, I wasn’t looking, I won’t sue. Talked with Nollind and others about our trip so far and Brooke the lovely media lady for the food bank (who also took our pictures) graciously gave me medical attention for my leg. It’s just a scratch, really.

We’re planning to leave tomorrow for the rest of our trip although I might be inclined to stay an extra day and get everything in order. Especially with rumors of thunder showers on the horizon. We’ll see if I can convince Braden. But honestly I think we both want to get going again before we get too comfortable. But hey, why not put on another few pounds to burn off, right?

Oh, I almost forgot. Speaking of burning off pounds: I’ve lost 8 pounds in 2 weeks on the “Bike Across Canada” System, and I feel great! I’ve always had strong legs, but now instead of being able to kick goblins and leap great distances into moving rafts, I fell like I can kick through the Black Gate of Mordor itself! (that one’s for free guys)

I’m still trying to find a way where you can leave comments all together on a page because I’d like to know you’ve visited… So look for that in the future… But for now, I will go… Love you all!

Braden and I arrived in Calgary yesterday after a grueling climb up hill after hill from Canmore… But I suppose it was nothing compared to the mountains we’d climbed in BC… Anyways, I just wanted to update you briefly that we’re home for a rest and that I will be spending time updating this site while I’m here… But not yet… I mean hey, I just got here, give me a break…:)

I will say one thing… After baking in the sun all day, climbing hills, wiping tears from your eyes from the dirt, bugs, sunscreen, bug-spray and wind and then getting home only to realize the key you had to your place is nowhere to be found and then postponing that “Home Sweet Home” feeling by an hour by waiting outside your door playing solitaire, waiting for your sister to arrive with your key… Well, it feels all kinds of spectacular to take a shower in my own place and to sing to my hearts content!

Thanks to all of you who have generously given for our cause so far, we really appreciate it…

It has been a while since we’ve had some time to update this site, but we are in Chase BC right now under the hospitality of 2 sets of Aunts and Unlces who live next door to eachother… Thank you so much Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve and Aunt Judy and Unlce Marsh for putting up with us for a day!

As this is our first day of rest, it was well needed, let me assure you. So let me give you a brief update on our time so far:

Day 1: Vancouver to Misson: Woke up to wet and cold. Planned on taking the #1 to Abbotsford. Crossed a bridge we weren’t supposed to over the Fraser river. Faced certain death. Faced traffic fine. Walked through jungle to change route. Zig-zagged through Surrey to find a bridge to the #7. Found bridge. Found sign telling us not to cross bridge. Found rocks to throw. Found kind old man on bike telling us about bike path across bridge. Crossed bridge. Found the #7 through Maple Ridge to Mission. Found hotel but no camp site.

Day 2: Mission to Harrison Hot Springs: Woke up to wet and cold. Ready to go. Walk out to street. Find front tire flat on Jordan’s bike. Braden repairs tire (not because Jordan doesn’t know how;) Leave Mission and find that terrain is relatively flat. Get chased by loose dog and then yell at dog to go. Dog listens. Travel 6 kms off the highway to Harrison Hot Springs. Find campsite. Pay to put up tent. Receive generous offer from kind lady to sleep in fifth-wheel for same price. Accept offer. Go to hot springs next door. Relax.

Day 3: Harrison Hot Springs to Hope: Woke up to wet and cold. Bike up hill for 6 kms to get back to highway. Bike half way to Hope and stop for a packed lunch. While stopped, a young couple from Ontario stops by on their bikes and we chat about our trips. Thomas and Emily are their names and they are very nice. Jordan realizes his chain has been troubling him and Thomas helps him fix it. Braden and Jordan finish their ride to Hope with relative ease and meet Thomas and Emily again at the local Subway. Stay at cheap hotel for the night.

Day 4: Hope to Boston Bar: Woke up to the sun for the first time. Showed off my skin tight shorts for the first time. Left Hope on the #1 and started to climb mountains. Went through numerous tunnels including one of which was called “China Bar”. This was the longest tunnel and it was the only one without a sidewalk for pedestrians/cyclists. Oh, but there was a button to push to illuminate to dull flashing yellow lights to alert any would-be drive-by assassins that we might be lying dead in the tunnel somewhere. We waited for traffic. Started through tunnel when we thought it was safe. Immediately passed by 2 semis. Got through most of the tunnel. Passed by another 2 semis. Jordan actually says outloud, “God my life is in your hands.” God listens and lets the brothers live. After exiting the tunnel, we contemplated life and continued on. Beautiful scenery. We climb a large mountain pass and arrive at a restaurant dedicated to Elvis. The manager’s name is Norman. Norman gives Jordan an ice-cold Coca-cola and tells him of a campsite called Canyon Alpine just outside of Boston Bar. While at restaurant, we run into some cyclists from California heading to Jasper and then meet them again at the campsite. After arriving at Boston Bar we find out the campsite is several kms down the road. We make the journey and chat with a sweet old man who runs the site. We set up our tent for the first time and slept well.

Day 5: Boston Bar to Lytton: Mostly uneventful except for the beautiful scenery once again and climbing more mountains. Met a kind Chinese lady working at a restaurant at the top of a mountain pass. We camp at a provincial park outside Lytton next to an ant hill. The ants are amazingly accomodating and stay out of our stuff.

Day 6: Lytton to Cache Creek: The heat wave comes. We consume a lot of water. We stop at Spences Bridge for lunch after replacing another flat tire of Jordan’s and stopping for a bag of cherries for 50 cents. After leaving lunch we come to a bend in the highway where traffic is backed up for miles. We stop and ask what’s up. Two young and attractive females get out of their vehicles and engage in conversation. Time stands still. Half an hour later we leave and pass by all the vehicles until we reach the accident point. A small, smashed Yaris is all that remains and an ambulance leaves the scene. We follow the Ambulence for a few kms to a helicopter. Apparently the helicopter couldn’t land so close to the cliffside. We wait and watch the accident victim get transported to the chopper and then it takes off. We escape traffic long before they are allowed to leave. Traffic catches up. They all honk at us. We climb an enormous hill in terrible heat. Jordan needs water. Jordan gets water from kind family man’s water bottles. We make it to Cache Creek, eat blizzards at DQ and they go to our campsite where Jordan lounges in the pool and talks to a schoolbus driver from Vancouver for an hour. Jordan gets pruny.

Day 7: Cache Creek to Kamloops: We knock off 30 kms before we even realize it and then it gets tough. A lot of hills to climb. Excruciating heat. We stop half way for lunch. Climb another big hill. Need more water and stop at a farm house where no body was home. We poured from the tap on the side of their house. Thanks. We make it into Kamloops and stop at a hotel. Jordan enjoys the hot-tub, Braden enjoys the TV.

Day 8: Kamloops to Chase: We realize that we’re not aloud to be on the freeway through town. We ask directions from a few locals and get through quite easily. Mostly down hill the entire way to Chase. Except for the heat, it was an easy day.

Day 9: In Chase for rest.

We leave for Salmon Arm or further tommorow and I just have to mention again that we might not have internet access for a while. We recently added some pictures (although I need to add captions) and some videos too.

I hope to add a section for comments soon.

Thanks to Matt Morrison for updating our Trip-Tracker daily.

And last but not least, we remember that though this trip is an adventure for us with highs and lows, we want to raise awareness for those in Calgary who use the food bank. This is a good cause and we want to support them as much as we can. Please help us!

I just want to say to my friends and family that I miss you guys and love you all.

So our first little venture outside Vancouver yesterday ended up being quite the ordeal… We figured out after a long trek on the #1 that it was illegal for us to be on the #1 until Hope… WE climbed and survived a heavy traffic bridge and then got pulled over and fined by friendly officer J.A. Jenkins…

We were left traipsing through the jungle of high grasses and thorns in the wet windy weather until we found a new route… One of our original plans was to take the #7 to hope, but we were on the other side of the river… We managed to find our way to the only bridge across and were met with a sign that said “no bicycles”… To our amazement, a kind older gentleman on a bike strolled by and told us where the pedestrain bridge was!

We crossed the bridge, hooked on to the #7 and found ourselves in Mission, BC instead of Abbotsford… Now that we’re out of the main city, things should be less complicated, except for all the uphill…ugh

Well, we’re planning to get under way for our second day and I don’t think I’ll be able to blog for a few days… Also, it’s hard to add pictures with hotel computers, but we’re finding a way around that, so please be patient! Wish us well and keep us in your thoughts and prayers…

Hello all… I find myself today in the beautiful city of North Vancouver on the eve of our fateful adventure… Our bikes are in our hotel room overlooking the bay and the sudden realization that our journey we’ve been waiting and planning for is about to begin…

I just want to say thanks for those of you praying for us and thinking about us…

I consider myself an optimist, yet I always expect bad things to happen… Sure enough, my laptop crashes when it arrives in Vancouver after a long drive from Calgary… I had intended to use it to write this blog and add pictures, but I ended up using my local good friend’s laptop instead… Oh, and my cell isn’t working properly… But at least I survived my drive down here on three hours of sleep! Monster energy drink is literally a life saver…

Today we took a ride around Stanley Park without all our gear just to enjoy one last joyride before the long haul… I found it interesting that we were surrounded by so many children on bikes, tourists, people walking their dogs and rollerbladers and then I thought of how we won’t be experiencing much of that at all throughout our trip… It really starts to become clear how unique a trip like this is… Not many try it, and most would never dream of doing it…

I think Braden and I have the right mind-set heading into this… I think we have the right amount of people supporting us in the background… I think we have faith… All I know is when my foot hits the peddle for the first time tomorrow, my eyes will be facing east, and though we fully intend to enjoy this journey along the way, our goal is set, so it’s East here we come and so long to the West!

Hey all, I know a lot of you are waiting for something substantial to stimulate your brains whilst burdened with bordom at home or at work, but soon we will have much more to look at… My brother Braden and I have decided to drive down with our bikes to North Vancouver on Saturday, July 4th and depart on our bikes for Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia on July 6th!

Feel free to add comments so we know you’ve visited…

Take care