If you haven't been to Vancouver, B.C., it's time to bust out your Bucket List again. I'm serious, this is a must-see place.
I slept like crap last night. After sleeping in so late, I tossed and turned all night, eager to get back on the road. I finally drifted-off at about 5:00 a.m. and got up at 9:00 a.m. I went to work mounting my new XM radio antenna and tried out various configurations: on the clutch reservoir, on the front fender and finally on top of my windshield. The latter sucked-in signals better than a...let's just say it worked well. I went to Whole Foods and got a picnic lunch for the road. At about 11:30 I set-off for Vancouver, B.C.
I decided to stop for lunch at a rest stop at around 1:30 p.m. There was a huge Red Cedar stump from a 1000 year old tree that died in a fire back in 1893. I sat down at a
bench and started my picnic when and old dude on a 1983 Honda Sabre 1100 pulled-up, He came over and I asked him about his bike. I told him that a high school acquaintance of mine had died in a crash on the same bike many years ago. He sat down and we started to chat for over an hour. Robert is a Vietnam Vet who saw combat as a 50mm gunner in the central highlands during the Tet Offensive. He keeps a stable of 5 bikes at all times and he had purchased this particular bike on Ebay from a guy in Monterey, CA for $1,528. He flew down to Oakland to pick it up and he was riding it back to his home near the Canada border. We chatted about everything from the Vietnam War, Illegal immigration, medical marijuana [he has a card], Obama, taxes, you name it. He suffers from effects of Agent Orange that was sprayed on him in Vietnam, but he refuses to quit riding. He rides to live and he lives to ride. It took him 2 weeks to get from Monterey to up-state Washington and he stayed with his Vet friends along the way. He is bitter about the piss-poor way our government treats Veterans and I empathize with him and all who have served, only to come back to nothing. Anyway, I ate my turkey and avacado on wheat while he smoked a pack of Marlboro Golds and then we set off on our separate ways.
The ride up to Vancouver was mostly fabulous. Perfect weather - 75 degrees and sunny and the scenery is breathtaking. It was also nice to listen to classic rock on XM radio without interruption. A Neil Young "triple-shot" was particularly fitting given the ride up to Canada. The only bummer was about 10 miles outside Vancouver, there is a tunnel where the highway bottlenecks from 5 lanes into 1 lane. Traffic came to a virtual standstill for about an hour. The one problem with my bike is that it's horsepower comes at a price - LOTS OF HEAT. Not bad when moving, but when stopped for long periods, the electric cooling fan blows scorching engine heat that turns my tender bits into huevos rancheros.
I checked into my hotel in downtown Vancouver at around 6:00 and proceeded to take a cold shower. At around 7:00 I rode down to Stanley Park, which is a large park on a peninsula surrounded by the sea. This park is on par with Golden Gate Park or Central Park and it has old growth trees and stunning vistas everywhere. Tonight, I slowly rode the entire perimeter of the park and stopped periodically to take pictures. To the east there were vistas of the city and a full moon rising. To the west was a beautiful sunset. Tomorrow, I plan to explore the park's interior.
For dinner I picked-up a mini personal pizza and a beer at a local joint and ate it while writing this post. Not bad for take out.
Cheers, John
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