Before Leaving Canada

Before breaking through customs into the US,  I was fortunate to connect with an old friend of mine Leah,  and stay with her and her great housemates, Nishira and Suzanne.   They live on the doorstep of the Pacific Ocean in Victoria, British Columbia.

One of The Oldest Sustainable Systems:  The Ocean

Crafty Plastic Bag-Drying Line

Plastic bags + Ocean = Check Out 'The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2528

The above two photos are of the Kimchi Leah and I prepared together. Good books for fermenting recipes are 'Wild Fermentation',  by Sandor Ellix Katz,  and 'Nourishing Traditions', by Sally Fallon.   

Closet Full of Food

Bulk foods and home-made preserves from fresh in-season local veggies and fruit make this home extra hype.

Leah has also been instrumental in a campaign to protect the wild forests of Cortez Island, British Columbia.

The Fundraiser CD is available through:
http://wildstands.bandcamp.com/album/wild-we-stand-

Major gratitude to Leah,  Nishira, and Suzanne for hosting me.   Major gratitude also to Jeremy and Steph in Vancouver, British Columbia, who kindly hosted me for a long time before Victoria.

Much love,  Steve

Vagabonds in Vancouver and Victoria

Hello Everyone, Lucas here, writing from atop the Pacific Ocean!

We have made it to the West Coast, currently on a Ferry between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island.

What a great week it has been, let me catch you up on all the happenings and what-have-you’s.

We left Delta on Thursday, biking into the city.  We crossed a giant bridge, loaded bumper to bumper with traffic (we walked the steeds across the bridge).  Then Justin and Viera split off on an adventure to find a good bike trail, while Kristi, Garrett and I loosely followed the google map instructions we had to make it down to near Granville Island.  We ended up taking a pretty busy road all the way through Vancouver, but it wasn’t as bad as we would have expected, and actually quite a bit of fun.  Riding through such a big city always tends to take a lot of time, but you never seem to notice.  We ended up meeting up with Steve (the newest member of the group) at his brother in law’s house near Granville.  It was great to finally meet him, but we had to depart quickly, going up to a friend of Justin’s, named Arno.  Kristi had to make a phone call so she went ahead, while Justin and Viera stayed to catch up with Steve.  Garrett and I made our way towards Arno’s, when we stumbled across one of the most amazing things we have discovered so far on the trip: bike lanes.  Vancouver has an amazing display of roads dedicated to cyclists all over the city.  We were on a street with probably a hundred cyclists and it was an amazing feeling of community and excitement that we shared.

We settled in with Arno, his wife Jean, daughter Laura and son Ian, who were all incredibly hospitable to us.  In the morning, Ian took Justin and I for an amazing adventure and tour of the downtown.

We started by going down to the Olympic Village (pretty dead and empty now).
We headed across a bridge and into downtown Vancouver.  Ian had an Ipod and a set of speakers so we were rocking a combination of funk music, classic rock, and latin jazz as we cruised the busy streets.  It all had a very urban feel to it, and we found ourselves full of energy as the rain held off for a little while.

We stopped at a music store downtown, and for the first time on the trip we were dwarfed by something other than mountains; skyscrapers of varying size and utility looming all around us.

Then we rode down through Hastings, which for anyone who knows the area  (one of Canada’s most poverty ridden areas) was a bit of a culture shock for Justin and I.  We walked our bikes up the street and talked about some of the challenges the area had, and mused about possible solutions.
Next we rode through Historic gas town, a ritzy area of town now (ironically only about a block from hastings.... what does that tell you?)

We took a right turn from there and suddenly were at the Olympic torch right by the waterfront.
From there we followed the beautiful Urban coastline down into Stanley park.  It started raining on us, but it was hardly a deterrent as we took the coastline trail, and took in the amazingly luscious sights.

When we finished the trail we went back into the downtown core to dry off and grab some sushi for lunch.  Then we headed over into Granville and back home.  It was so stress free and fun, riding in a big city.  I had such negative expectations on how riding in the city was, but with an amazing cyclist system it was the most fun riding I have had on the entire trip!

That evening Justin, Viera and I went to an event called Bike to Work Week.  It was the last day of the week so they had a wrap up celebration in a park.  It was interesting to see so many cyclists, some with disco lights, lasers and stereo systems all installed on their bikes.  I seriously considered putting a radio on my bike after all the fun that we had with those bikes.

Then we all went out for some Ethiopian food to celebrate our arrival on the West Coast.

The next day we went for yet another ride, this time to U.B.C. to check out the beaches.  We went with all of Arno’s family and it was yet another nice cycle (so much for taking a break from cycling, but it was just to nice).

We met many interesting people in Vancouver, and by the end of a couple days, it felt like a small community.  I was really surprised by how intimate it felt.  We ran into people we had just met in the city multiple times.

On Sunday Garrett and Kristi made their way out to the island to see Garrett’s family, while the rest of us waited two more days to get some stuff done in the city.  

Finally, on Tuesday, Justin, Viera and I made our way out to the island.  Steve was waiting one more day on some last minute supplies, but was going to ride out with Chris, a friend of Viera, who will be riding with us for a couple weeks.  

Arno led us out to the sky train in the morning, and bid us adeiu.  After that we rode the sky train over into Delta, then rode down some busy truck roads trying frantically to make the ferry in Tsawwassen in a torrential downpour.  We were cutting it close with the wind in our face, biking like crazy to catch the ferry.  I had a flat, so Justin and I sent Viera on ahead while we rapidly mended the flat, all while seconds ticked away in the back of our heads.  We ended up repairing it in under five minutes, an impressive feat.  We took no time to celebrate though, as we started tearing down the road for the ferry.  I remember seeing a sign on the side of the road saying 13kms to the ferry terminal, then looking at my watch and seeing we had about 17 minutes.  We would have to bike at about 50kms an hour, or have a small miracle to get on the ferry.
We put our heads down and raced into the wind like we had never raced before.  I remember looking at my watch every once and again, and thinking “damn, were going fast”.

We ended up turning a corner to the ferry after about 8kms of straight fighting the wind down the highway, and suddenly the wind was at our backs and strong.

With the hope remained and we searched deep into ourselves for any remaining energy we had... and found it.

I was still thinking it was just too short of time to make it when an overhead sign announced that the ferry would be possibly delayed.  This only added to our energy, and I was excited by the slight chance that we could make it within these near impossible time constraints.

We moved faster then I ever had before, and as we came around the corner we saw the last staight stretch to the ferry.

I would love to tell you that we made it onto that ferry.  That we made an impossible distance in less time than it could rightly be done in.  It would have made a great feel good story, and probably brightened some
hearts out there.  

But the truth is, we were late.  That ferry left without us.  It meant we would be biking in the dark on the other side, from Sidney down into Victoria.

We could have been mad or upset, yet when the lady at the ticket booth told us we had missed the ferry, I was happy.  We had tried our absolute best to get on that ferry.  How could we be disappointed with that?  We had pushed ourselves more than we ever had, and though we didn't achieve a goal that was most likely unreasonable, we pushed our boundaries more than we ever had, and in the process learned just how much we could really do... much more than we expected.

As good as that little revelation felt, it didn't change the fact that we were riding in the dark and rain on the other side.  

Fortunately Garrett’s Cousin in Law came to the rescue.  She drove up to Sidney and picked us and our gear up, while we left our bikes locked up in Sidney.

When we got to Taylor and Sue’s house, there was yet another amazing meal waiting for us.  We feasted with Garrett’s family (his Uncle and Aunt also being there).  It was really great to all meet up again, and share a warm house, warm laughter and warm food!

The next morning we all jumped into a couple of cars, and made our way over to Salt Spring Island,  via another ferry.

It was the first beautiful day we had seen in a week, so we were basking in the glorious sun that had hid on us for so long.  We stopped at a bakery off of the boat, and enjoyed the amazing culture that came with the island life.

After our breakfast we made our way into town for a full day of finding different individuals who were building different types of houses on the Island.  

First we met with Andrew, who had built his house out of Hemp bale, and was powered entirely by solar off of his property.  He also harnessed an amazing resource that we have been subjected to since we made it to the coast: rain!

He had enough storage to use only his water the entire year round.  His home was also heated by trees on his own property, and with the thick hemp made walls, was very efficient.  
Then we went to meet with a representative of Island pathways who explained to us the recent additions of pathways for cyclists around the Island.  

Finally our last stop of the day was at an institution called Eco-Nest, an architect-builder team who worked together to make incredibly efficient, yet comfortable homes.

The whole day felt like a glimpse into our future as we enjoyed the novelty of warm weather by the sea.  Who knows when we will get to that perpetual summer I have been dreaming about, but this was an incredible taste of what is to come!

We made our way back to the Ferry as the Sun started to go down.  By this point we still have not fully realized that we are travelling over pacific water, it still seems like we are going across large inland lakes.

The next day was Remembrance day, and I took the opportunity to bike down to the legislative buildings to watch the Remembrance Day ceremonies.  It was quite different from all the small town ceremonies I have been to in the past.  Instead of 100 people there was thousands and thousands of people crowded upon the streets to remember the sacrifice of those who have left us.  There were many soldiers and veterans, and it was quite the sight to see planes flying overhead and a naval ship firing the traditional twenty one gun salute.

The next day we packed up and left Sue and Taylor’s house.  They had been such amazing hosts to us, and we were so thankful to be able to stay with them and talk about so many different things, while enjoying such amazing food.

That day Viera and Chris made their way over to Orcas Island to check out a Permaculture Institute, while the rest of us moved to our couchsurfer friends Mike and Josee’s house to work on our website.



 As I write this we are all working towards getting our website content up and running.  It has been a hard couple of days work, but I am so impressed by every ones hard work and determination to get meaningful content from across Canada up on the web.

We haven’t had much time to enjoy this beautiful city, which is too bad, but unfortunately we just have too much work to do right now.

And now for the injury report:
Viera and I have both been having some big knee problems lately (why is it always the knees).  I went in to see a physiotherapist on Friday, which was helpful but a little disappointing as they mostly told me ways to treat the pain, not the actual issue itself.  We have a lot of big riding to do through the states now for a while, so we will see how the knees treat us.

Sorry to all for a lengthy wait on the update, I will keep them regular through the next little while. If you havent done so, please read the Blog Garrett wrote just a couple days ago, it has some really amazing things.

And now for the most exciting news of all:

The Garden content of our website is finally operational and has some articles posted through our mediawiki.  

The crew has been working hard trying to get this working with our website and I am super impressed at our ability to figure these difficult technological problems out.

Please check out our web site and see the new additions.

Thanks for reading again, Lucas and the PEDAL team!
and like usual a little teaser at the bottom:

You want us to feel better

On these darker trails

With the light revealing holy grails

To hike through dangerous weather

You need twilight eyes

Guided by Voices, "Twilight Campfighter"

At The Edge

Garrett here, writing from the western edge of the continent!  A few more kilometres east of here, actually, and I'd be sitting soggy in the Pacific.  Yes -- after 5500 km of cycling, we're in Victoria!  For those keeping track, this marks the completion of the first third of our tour.

It's probably redundant to explain just how much of a milestone this is to me -- the opportunity to visit long-unseen family and to reconnect with west-rooted friends, the finale of our Canadian trek, the exploration of a sudden and surprising coastal ecosystem, the chance for a great deal of reflection, and the addition of our newest tour member, Steve O'Brien -- so I won't elaborate.  I will, however, mention the surprise with which our arrival sunk in.

Justin and I were cycling from North Delta, southeast of Vancouver proper, north to Burnaby to check out Canada's largest allotment community garden (it was big).  As we crossed the Pattullo Bridge (the cheerfully-orange but hyper-trafficked twin to Ontario's Skyway), one of Vancouver's iconic robotic SkyTrains cruised over a towering concrete suspension bridge beside us towards a congregation of high-rises to the west.

With rumbling trucks, blaring horns, and choking exhaust fumes accompanying us over this bridge to a shiny blue-glass tower horizon, I felt as though I were moving into some over-stimulating futurescape amusement park.  The mountain towns, tamarack stands, and cedar groves of the past several weeks hadn't prepared me very well for this populous profusion of people or the associated smells and sounds.  It was while I was watching the SkyTrain head for those skyscrapers that I really appreciated the significance of our situation.  This was the edge.  The river below us?  It became salt water in a few scant kilometres.  I recalled seeing a sign in northern Ontario indicating that Wawa was only 180 km away, and I remember thinking, "Golly, we're really out there, and we've come all this way on our bikes!  I mean, gosh, Wawa!"

To tell the truth, the distance between here and Wawa doesn't seem any more significant than the distance between Wawa and home.  I can vividly recall the mountain passes, the thrilling descents, the cold mornings, the sunny days, the rainy days, the furious headwinds, and the innumerable warm people of our journey thus far, and it all feels like a logical progression.  Having reached the coast doesn't suddenly make everything that came before an "endeavour"; the endeavour has grown each day, and in most cases it's been as understated as just about "day in the life" scenario.  But our arrival here helps turn all those experiences into a tidy "past," and the future feels embodied in a cardinal direction: South.  In a few days, we'll be crossing the Canada-U.S. border and hitting the pavement in Washington!

Backtracking now a little: in getting this far, I've been biking through surreality.  On descending into the Okanagan Valley towards Osoyoos... well, it's not that the sight is unprecedented in its drama; it isn't the highest, the steepest, the most vast, the most lush, or the most stark landscape.  It is, however, unprecedented in its character.  The hills in the valley are undulating in gentle, irregular slopes.  The mist among the slopes is very disperse, more like a broad, fine veil than a discrete body of vapour -- transluscent and homogeneous, I suppose.  It gives the light passing through it a very unusual and beautiful quality as the sun penetrates in ghostly shafts.

Farther down, the descent becomes one of the most dramatic of any: the most immediately thrilling and impressive (considering the impression it left on me) experience yet.  The city of Osoyoos opens quite suddenly to our front-right as the valley expands upon passing a rise in the terrain.  A lake swells to fill my vision south of the city, far below on my left.

The road down to the city concedes completely to the landscape in a way that is nowhere near so evident anywhere else we've been.  The hard petroleum line traces the top of a sinuous, descending ridge stretching out before us; out of necessity, the road follows the shape of the hills precisely.  No straight lines, no great gashes through the hills, no elevated causeways.  The ridge switches back on itself repeatedly in graceful curves, and the speed with which I ride its back should demand my full attention -- but I'm stunned by a scene that reanimates often in my memory.

Justin is perhaps six or seven hundred metres ahead of me, and he's barreling around a switchback beyond which the ridge drops precipitously to the valley bottom.  I know he's moving fast -- 50 km/hr or more -- but to me, he's moving in slow motion.  It's the landscape behind him... it's so vast.  It's so deep below us, I realize with a rush, and it stretches far off towards the horizon behind Justin.  Whereas many vistas become subtle and understated as they recede towards the edge of perception, this valley celebrates its enormity.  It just keeps going, off into the distance.  The slopes are shimmering with golden grasses and musty purple shrubs, and the dry vegetation accentuates the land's stoney complexion.

So, I have this image of Justin careening around this switchback, and his size and speed are dwarfed -- overwhelmed -- by the world around us.  The Okanagan is the northernmost extension of an arid stretch originating in the Mojave Desert, so if this landscape is a precursor of the US southwest, our new southward orientation holds a great deal of promise.

:)

Its a warm wind

Hi Folks, Lucas here yet again, and like always hoping you are all doing great.

We have been quite busy over the last few days, unfortunately my camera’s batteries are dead, so until tomorrow when I can buy some new ones you will have to just imagine what we have been doing.

We left the beautiful town of Hope, (and I do mean beautiful).  It is nestled in the coastal mountains like a baby in a crib; the steep peaks towering around the entire city.  We left on Sunday morning heading west, roughly following the mighty Fraser River.  It was a nice Halloween day and we managed to not get rained on. 

Perhaps because it was Halloween or perhaps because it was just convenient, Kristi, Garrett and I had lunch in an interesting old graveyard on the side of the highway. 

We were headed to a friend of Kristi, Garrett and Justin who lives just south of Chilliwack in an area called Ryder Lake.  We didn’t end up getting there until way after dark.  We thought we had put mountains behind us for at least a few weeks but we ended up pushing our bikes up a steep mountain road in the dark.  Couple that with no lighting, many recent cougar sightings, a bit of fog, and Hallows eve, it is probably safe to say we were a little spooked.  We made it to Gina’s eventually however, and she had some dinner waiting, and was very kind to all of us.  We stayed up late talking and laughing, all while a huge storm was being unleashed outside.

The next morning we slept in, and relaxed with Gina.  Then Justin, Viera and I saddled up and rode down the mountain and west to a place called Yarrow Eco-Village.  The folks there were very kind and on the account that it was raining torrentially outside we helped out doing indoor volunteering instead, which was much appreciated.  We ended up setting up our tents in an old barn there.

I was fortunate to meet up with an old friend, and he brought us some fresh vegetables which we used to make a delicious dinner with Anne, the lady who had invited us into her home at the village.  Kristi and Garrett arrived right at dinner, and we all felt bad for them as they had rode through very high winds and a huge downpour of rain.

That night my friend Pete, and one of the inhabitants of the village Joé, stayed up late talking about his plan to rid the local stream of invasive plants.  It was a very elaborate plan, and it made me appreciate the huge amount of science and planning that goes into even a small area of forest/stream reconstruction.

The next day it was as if a storm had never passed as the sky was blue and beautiful.  I even found myself taking off my sweater for the first time in my B.C. portion of the trip. 

Anne gave us a tour of the Eco-Village and we video taped a few interesting things.  Look for it soon under the garden section of our website: http://pedalacrosstheamericas.com/index.html/the%20garden.html

And a related note is that we will be in Victoria within the week, where we will be finally be editing and posting all of the interesting things we have seen across Canada on our website.  We are really excited to share some of our experiences with you, so please check that out in a week or so.

After the tour we left for Delta, BC which is just across a branch of the Fraser River from Vancouver.

We left just before lunch, Viera, Justin and I taking old farming roads, while Kristi and Garrett jumped onto the Trans-Canada and then the Fraser Highway.  Justin, Viera and I got to see some amazingly beautiful country but ended up changing our route quite a bit, which pretty much automatically resulted in us getting lost coming into Delta.  We ended up doing a lot of city night biking which isn’t fun, but fortunately Delta has a pretty impressive bike system (lots of bike lanes and bike routes).  We arrived at my Aunt Joan and Uncle Larry’s house and were thankful to enjoy an amazing meal with many fresh vegetables from their backyard garden. 

Today we are going to a large Community Garden, armed with our video camera, so look for that in the next week or so. 

Our current plan is to stay in Vancouver for at least a couple days, then head out to the Island and get our work done before we head south into the states and (hopefully) perpetual winter.

We are absolutely blessed with another warm, sunny day today, which is apparently pretty rare for the coast. 

Thanks to everyone who voted for us on www.youth4sustainability.com.  The voting is now closed, but we are happy for all the support, and excited to see the outcome.  We will keep you posted as we hear more about it.

We have had our first visions of the coast last night, just as the sun was setting.  It feels like we have accomplished something amazing, and we are still so early in on our journey. 

One of the most important parts of this trip is to show the public what we have been learning, and we are all very excited to be organizing and sorting that information out in the next few weeks and presenting it to you.  Please ask lots of questions if you have them; which reminds me, our forums are now up and running at http://pedalacrosstheamericas.com/index.html/forum.html.  Please sign up and join our forums.  I hope that it can become an interesting area of discussing, debate and most importantly sharing.  It is void of content right now, but look for it within the next couple of weeks to start up.  Feel free to post and add interesting things yourself.

Once again, thank you very much for reading and take care out there.

For a while, Viera and I were memorizing poems on the road to share.

I memorized this one and found myself saying it often when thinking ahead to the west coast (and also home in Rossland).

I find it particularly fitting today so I will share it with you if you have the time:

The West Wind

It's a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries;

I never hear the west wind but tears are in my eyes.

For it comes from the west lands, the old brown hills.

And April's in the west wind, and daffodils.

It's a fine land, the west land, for hearts as tired as mine,

Apple orchards blossom there, and the air's like wine.

There is cool green grass there, where men may lie at rest,

And the thrushes are in song there, fluting from the nest.

"Will ye not come home brother? ye have been long away,

It's April, and blossom time, and white is the may;

And bright is the sun brother, and warm is the rain,--

Will ye not come home, brother, home to us again?

"The young corn is green, brother, where the rabbits run.

It's blue sky, and white clouds, and warm rain and sun.

It's song to a man's soul, brother, fire to a man's brain,

To hear the wild bees and see the merry spring again.

"Larks are singing in the west, brother, above the green wheat,

So will ye not come home, brother, and rest your tired feet?

I've a balm for bruised hearts, brother, sleep for aching eyes,"

Says the warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries.

It's the white road westwards is the road I must tread

To the green grass, the cool grass, and rest for heart and head,

To the violets, and the warm hearts, and the thrushes' song,

In the fine land, the west land, the land where I belong.

John Masefield

Thanks for Reading, Lucas and the PEDAL team.

And the embers never fade, In your city by the lake

Hi Folks, Lucas here again.  Hope all is well out there.

I have lots to tell and a few pictures to share. 

When we last left you I believe we had made it to beautiful Keremeos.

We have been blessed lately with amazing and abnormal weather for this time of year, and the last few days have been no different. 

We left Keremeos with an appreciated tailwind blowing us up the slight incline along the river up to Princeton.  We stayed at the Princeton Pentecostal Tabernacle, where pastor Tony Essex kindly and trustingly gave us a key to the church, and let us set up for the night.  Viera and I had a chance to take a quick walk around town and enjoyed the quaint feel of the alpine town. 

On Thursday we left for the park.  It was yet again another beautiful day, with blue sky and warm sun.  We headed towards Manning Park, and put our heads down and sweated hard. 

We ended up climbing and climbing.  It ended up being the most challenging day of the trip yet, despite only going 50 kilometres.  Despite all the hard work we got to witness some beautiful scenery.

We got to the gas station before the park in the early evening.  There was really nothing between there and Hope, BC, which was about 90 more kms.  Garrett’s dad had kindly donated some emergency money for if we ever needed a place to stay.  We were going to stay at the hotel in the park, when we noticed a sign for a B&B.  Garrett and I ended up riding up the hill to ask the people about rates.  They ended up being incredibly kind to us.  Their names where Kristina and Brittanie,  they ended up putting us in a cabin, (which would more adequately be called a house).  They also let us come up and have a soak in there hot tub, which to a sore cyclist seems like about the greatest thing on the planet.  We had a spaghetti dinner in our cabin, with a nice fire going in the fireplace and classical music playing from the speakers of the sound system.  How Romantic!  Despite the love in the air we all gathered around the fire and watched Space Odyssey: 2001 and eating a whole load of popcorn.

  We slept great and in the morning were thankful we had a warm place to cuddle up.  The temperature had dropped to about -10C overnight and our bikes outside were thoroughly frosted. 

We took off into the park, with the knowledge that the next 90kms to Hope were actually somewhat easy, and that we had done all the hard part the night before.  As cyclists we were naturally sceptical of the reconnaissance, but our intel turned out to be correct.

We reached the Allison Pass Summit at a little after lunch time, at 1324 metres above sea level if I recall correctly.  We knew Hope was pretty close to sea level so we were happy to think of the descent we would have.

Honestly I could not have imagined how amazing it would have been.  Talking to my father in the morning he had suggested to fix my breaks.  Well sorry dad but I didn’t heed the advice.  Justin and I were riding together, and when we crested the summit we stopped to bundle up, then plummeted down the amazing valleys.

We have found that our bikes naturally hold us bck to about 60-70 km/h.  To us that is pretty much the perfect speed.  Other than a slight cold rain in the eyes, I was in near perfect bliss.  We raced down the mountains, and as we kept thinking we couldn’t get any lower, another valley would appear.  It is quite literally mountains on top of mountains on top of mountains here.

At one point I believe I experienced my soul try to escape, and I found myself shouting guttural yelps of joy and delight like a young puppy caught up in a game of fetch.  We were on top of the world as we dropped from the top of the world.  It’s funny how our bodies are capable of understanding so much joy from experiencing the rare combination of thrill absolute and beauty absolute.  And sometimes your only response is to hoot and holler at the giant cedars passing you by at 70 kilometres an hour.

I was so impressed by those trees, they covered every mountain from tip to toe, unlike most mountains you see with patches here and there of grass and field, and the mix of different deciduous and coniferous trees.  These were completely green, like the deep pits of a glacial run off.  We thundered down through the deep canyons for literally hours (how often in your life can you change elevation for the long).  As you can probably tell I would like to ramble on all night about that ride, but my words cant do it justice anyways (Neither can these pictures but hopefully they help a little bit [my camera ended up dying half way through the ride).

We made it to Hope at dusk, and a kind lady named Gail brought us to an Anglican church here to stay the night.  I guess it is Halloweens Eve, and probably a fun party night for many of our adult readers, but we are sitting here quietly in our church basement.  I bought a bag of candy at the store tonight to give to kids tomorrow, but have yet to devise a way to give the candy to kids without coming off as a weirdo.  The kids may have to settle for taking candy from a weird guy on a bike, or we may just end up eating the leftovers on Monday.

As for the next few days:

We head to Chilliwack tomorrow, then an eco village near there the next day.

Then we will probably head to Vancouver the next day, where we will most likely finally meet up  with Steve, the newest member of our group, who has been patiently waiting for us for a few days now, since he got in from Ontario.

I think there is a sense of excitement within the group to see the Ocean and the Coast.  It will be a very big psychological victory for the group.  Everyone has been riding hard for what will be 4 months on Wednesday.  Garrett informed me tonight that we have reached 1/3 of our total distance (5327 of about 16,000 kilometres).

I am proud of this group.  There has definitely challenges along the way, and there will definitely be challenges over the next 8 months, but I really believe in this group of youth, and we all feel lucky to be a part of this amazing journey.

Thank You all for reading, Lucas and the PEDAL team.

And if you have time to read a little more, I would like to share possibly my favourite lyrics.  I find myself thinking about these words when contemplating the distance of a journey, or the bittersweet changes of our lives.

Time is never time at all
You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth
And our lives are forever changed
We will never be the same
The more you change the less you feel
Believe, believe in me, believe
That life can change, that you're not stuck in vain
We're not the same, we're different tonight
Tonight, so bright
Tonight
And you know you're never sure
But you're sure you could be right
If you held yourself up to the light
And the embers never fade in your city by the lake
The place where you were born
Believe, believe in me, believe
In the resolute urgency of now
And if you believe there's not a chance tonight
Tonight, so bright
Tonight
We'll crucify the insincere tonight
We'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight
We'll find a way to offer up the night tonight
The indescribable moments of your life tonight
The impossible is possible tonight
Believe in me as I believe in you, tonight 

Viera and Justin from Golden to Rossland

Here is the story of Viera and Justin, before Rossland.

On our way out from Golden, Viera and Justin lost track of Kristi and Garrett, and finally reunited in Warfield just a few km before Rossland.

We had an alternate experience, staying in various churches, a roadside diner yard in Wasa, couchsurfing in Creston, the Yasodhara Ashram on Kootenay Lake and then a friendly woman in Nelson.

The first night away from Golden, Viera and I were looking for an indoor place, so in Brisco we stopped to ask at a general store about space. We were invited to stay in the old wooden United Church across the street. We ate raisin bread that Kristi baked and items that were donated by the church from the general store. It was a warm place for the night.

The next day, riding through the beautiful Columbia Valley with misty mountains to our left and right we made our way to Fairmont Hot Springs for the night. On the road we left chalk messages on the pavement for Kristi and Garrett. My relatives in Golden talked about a free hot spring just down the hill from the newer resort in town. Viera and I went to search for it after climbing a long hill upwards from the town. Asking along the way, we were getting comments that the old springs have been fenced off for liability issues. At the top we were without luck trying to find the springs, instead we were lucky with good radio reception to call Garrett. They were in Invermere about 10 km behind us and because it was getting dark they looked for a place to stay there. We also managed to call  Lucas using Google's phone call option! He was happy to hear from us and informed us about the potluck planned for our arrival in Rossland!

The next evening we had difficulty finding groceries in Wasa (after another day of beautiful riding) so we ended up stopping to have food at a small diner that was closing soon for the night. We ended up being offered space in the backyard. While hanging out inside to enjoy the warmth before sleeping in the tent out side we were also offered to share a pizza with them, then as a dessert we helped finish some end of the season ice cream.

After a cold night we packed up and set sails for Cranbrook, hopefully going to meet up with Kristi and Garrett, as we had discussed. We attempted to organize a couchsurf, but with little luck we decided to phone some churches as a backup. With some contacts on the Lutheran Church answering machine we were able to connect with a clergy man, and the best way to meet him was to join the evening's bible study. The bible study wsa interesting and was also an opportunity to meet a women who offered us warm showers, beds and meals. We met her husband and were given left over Thanksgiving dinner and toast. We left them with the last Batik painting from HELP International and gave them the ukulele. They had been looking for a Uke for a while since traveling to Hawaii, so it seemed like a good opportunity to lighten the load.

From Cranbrook we rode to Creston. Around Yahk we found a house to ask for water refills. We met a friendly women who offered to drive us in her truck over the next major hill, due to the time we had left of daylight. We loaded our hefty bikes into her truck and then made our way over the large hill. About 3/4 of the way to Creston, we found a place to continue the ride when I realised all my water bottles were missing. After some discussion, our driver decided it was best to drive back to get the bottles. We also went to eat spagetti and play with Thai, her grandson. We then drove back, and because it was getting too dark, she drove us all the way to Creston, where we had yet to figure out our accomodation. With luck we contacted a couchsurfer, Kristen, who drove to meet us downtown and we walked back together to her house. We made diner and talked about Katimavik and Canada trivia. In the morning on the way out we enjoyed concord grapes growing on a vine outsied her back door. My first time eating sweet grapes off the vine, organic too!!

The next day Viera and I set off for Kootenay Lake for a 2 day stay at the Yasodhara Ashram. After a beautiful ride along the waters edge we found a ride to take us to the Ashram for the evening. Our ride shared stories of hitchhiking and local issues.  At the Yoga Ashram we gardened and learned about the sustainable projects happening on the property. www.postcarbonmeal.com and www.lightwaves.cc

After allowing some time for Kristi and Garrett to meet up, we headed to Nelson to see if we could the find them. The ferry across lake was beautiful and the ride along the road was also enjoyable, lined with artisans and creative looking properties. In Nelson, a woman and her guest saw me stopped for a few moments to wait up for Viera. She invited us over to make some calls to warmshowers hosts. With little luck, besides finding the host for Kristi and Garrett (who could only take 2 guest), we were offered to stay at her place in the studio. We enjoyed a warm meal and hospitality.

Finally after Nelson, we were now close to Rossland and made our way to Warfield so we could meet with eveyone and stay at Lucas's brother and family. It was sure good to see Lucas's face again and ready ourselves for the next adventure!