Day 98-105: 17-24 Oct 2008: ferries & friendly people, from Vancouver, CA, to Seattle, USA via Victoria

17 October 2008: Vancouver to Victoria, 75 km

The weather gods did not want us to leave Vancouver, maybe they thought I should rest more. Wind and rain pounded on us when we made our way to the ferries in the Southwestern point of the mainland of Canada. we had taken the monorail East first as the direct route would have led us through the George Massey Tunnel, off limits for cyclists. The shuttle for cyclist had stopped for the season and we did not think that any bus could take our heavy bikes on their frontloading rack. we could not lift them up there anyways 🙂

After about 30km through mainly flat and wet land we ended up at the ferry, just in time for a 14.00 departure. It takes about 90 minutes to cross the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver Island, the largest island on the West side of North America.

The Lochside Trail, turning into the Galloping Goose trail later on, starts right outside the ferry terminal and is a great way to see a bit of the island. It is an old rail track, sometimes unpaved, sometimes crossing roads and even wooden trestles but always very scenic for all its 35km. We saw deer along the car-free trail, many flocks of geese and fields full of pumpkins. we enjoyed it so much that we ended up entering in Victoria in the dark…

We stayed 2 nights with our great Warm Showers list hosts, Mark & Cathy. They took us to a nice little Farmer’s market, one of the last of the season. It is nice to see that more young people are supporting the local farmers and eating healthy produce, even though it costs more than the preprocessed and mass-produced ‘food’ from the larger supermarket chains. I feel that our generation (at least a part of it) realizes that we should value fuel for our own system more than that for our cars… Read more

1000 Americans: John Williams, Suquamish, USA

John Williams is a filmmaker that has captured the wonderful colourful life under sea level. He has shown flora & fauna of all sizes, colours and types, but maybe the most interesting thing is that most of this was shot jus in his own ‘backyard’: the Puget Sound, the busy body of water separating Seattle from the Western Part of Washington State.

Many of his films are used for educational purposes, which might help preserve the wonderful world that so few people know about…

See more about John and the programs he made, on his website http://www.stillhopeproductions.com/

1000 Americans: Guy & Megan, California

It was great to see how Guy and Megan used a small van for their trip. No need for a huge RV, all they needed was inside this totally rebuilt van.

Even their two bikes were on the back of the van, and -unlike the ones on most larger RV’s- they were used as they were both avid sporters, true Californians!

1000 Americans: Beth, from Bend, Oregon

Beth works for one of the tour companies in Alaska and visits Wiseman regularly. I noticed the tattoo aroudn her wrist: a bicycle chain with a tooth.

‘Yeah, I crashed hard one time on my bicycle and lost some teeth, this is to remind me. I run a Bicycle coop in Bend, Oregon. We try to promote cycling, repair bikes and teach about road safety.’

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Now there is a real biker-chick! Thanks for making the world a bit greener, maybe others can follow in promoting cycling.

Day 0: 11th July 2008: from Fairbanks to Deadhorse

Again, we had no sleep, but our bodies seem to have gotten used to that by now and anyway, it doesn’t get dark here!

We left Ericka’s place at about 4.30 in the morning as we wanted to be sure we would arrive in time and cycled through the empty streets of Fairbanks. It is strange but nice to be in a place where it never gets dark, it makes many things so much easier. We cycled past the airport until we found the office of the Northern Alaska Tour company. We were welcomed by a bunch of very friendly people, who were all interested in our trip. They mostly do trips to the Arctic circle and places like Wiseman & Coldfoot, but also regularly all the way to Deadhorse.

Our driver was Michelle, a great girl with much knowledge about everything. she had been driving the roads for many years and was a joy to talk to. Our other passengers were Dan & Curt. Dan was a politician, working for Condoleezza Rice -so unemployed soon- going to his family’s cabin ear he Yukon River.

Read more

Unexpected dangers in Alaska

We are very busy preparing for our trip and as we start in Alaska, we are focusing on all that awaits us there. We are already aware of the bears, wolves and moose that might want to taste or maul us, but now there is a quite different type of threat.

Apparently, the Alaska state is giving our hunting permits for the blind. Though I have always supported blind people as much as I can, but the thought of a blind guy or gal legally carrying a gun around and enthusiastically shooting any approaching object does frighten me 😉

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