Day 2 – To Vancouver
N49° 17.242’ W123° 06.778’
Sunday dawned early and beautiful. Actually, it dawned really early. Too many nights of getting up at 6am, combined with a time zone change, meant my eyes cracked open at 5am and weren’t going to close again. At least, not in any way that was going to be productive.
Vancouver from the south side. Low rise and high rise.
Resigning myself to the reality of a short night, I was able to get a few things sorted out, and be packed, fed and on the road by 8am. According to the GPS, my scheduled arrival time in Vancouver would be 12pm exactly. Which was pretty good, because 12pm is pretty much exactly when I needed to be there to meet my mother’s flight from Toronto.
The roads were empty – apparently the rest of the world doesn’t suffer the same need to crack their eyes open when the sun peeps over the horizon. With an empty highway before me and one of Dianne’s playlists merrily blasting away in my helmet, I was genuinely in my happy place.
The roads through the mountains were wonderful. Well maintained, fast and without a straight edge in sight. What was genuinely astonishing, though, was the scenery. Beautiful yes, but ominously so. The swaths of red trees stretch to the horizon over much of the ride between Kamloops and Merritt. This is not because it was a beautiful fall ride, mind you. This is June. The red was a result of the mountain pine beetle infestation that has been laying waste to much of the forests in BC. What I had no idea of is how extensive and how absolutely, mind bogglingly vast the problem already is. Anyone trying to deny climate change needs to give their head a shake, and then go travel Highway 5. All that fixing this problem would have taken was a sufficiently cold winter to kill off the bugs. It just doesn’t get that cold anymore.
Environmental devestation was actually kind of a theme of the day… Riding in to Kamloops last night, it was astonishing the amount of forest that had burned in the forest fires of two years ago. As close as 8km out of town, there were charred trees that ran down the slopes all the way to the eastern side of the roadway. Clearly the highway itself acted as a fire break. One side is barbecue, and the other is an idyllic plain of green.
Sunset in Stanley Park. You could get used to a view like that…
This afternoon, we rode through Stanley Park. Again, it has had its share of devestation. A raging windstorm a couple of years ago blew over many of the trees. Riding through the park, though, finaly brought home just how much was ripped from the ground. Where there used to be dense wood there is now a clear view to the sea all along the point that faces the Pacific. The storm must have been incredible – these weren’t little tiny trees that got knocked over, but massive redwoods that were hundreds of years old. Even now, there is a huge amount of work to clear the remnants of the storm. Tragically, while the clearing is necessary, it makes parts of Stanley Park look like it’s been clearcut.
Getting together with Mom was great. As I was arriving at the airport, she called to let me know that she was off the plane and to see where I was. Quite literally, she walked out the doors as I pulled up at arrivals. Her journey started several hours and several thousand kms earlier in Guelph. Mine started over 4 hours and 400 kms earlier in Kamloops. And we arrived within seconds of each other. How’s that for timing? And people tell me I’m always late.
After picking up Mom, we headed out West Broadway to find some food. On an off chance, we checked to see if Benny’s Bagels were still there – a funky, extremely hip and slightly out of the way place to get home made bagels and awesome coffee. Amazingly, it still is. The first time I darkened its doors was in 1991. Today it feels exactly the same. Same food, same lattes, same tables and same décor. It doesn’t feel like it’s changed a bit. Which isn’t so bad, because my inner me feels about that age too. It’s nice to have that feeling validated once in a while.
Bikers, Broadway and… Bagels? My Mom, the hip biker.
So far, it’s been a nice relaxing day, apart from being attacked by a homicidal parking gate at the hotel. As we got back to the hotel after driving around Stanley Park and trying to get to the south of the city (major road closures preventing us from accomplishing this, despite the creative use of some bike paths… I am on two wheels after all) we tried to access the parking garage. We got the ticket, the barrier went up and the parking attendant ran over and told us to pull up along the wall. My initial reaction was “There’s no parking there”, followed by “what kind of bureaucratic inertia are we now going to encounter?”, while nonetheless pulling over to comply with the request. Only to have the parking gate come crashing down, coming to rest between me and the windscreen, right over top of the tank.
So that’s why he wanted me to pull over. Some seconds later, Wolfie was freed and we were free to go. Fortunately, apart from a quick shot of adrenaline, no one was harmed. Wolfgang is unscathed, and put away for the night. The only thing for it is to take a shower, and find a drink to counteract the effects of the adrenaline. A French 75 in the lobby bar sounds just about right.