dreirad

Victoria was our last place in Canada, wrapping up our last paper wokr before leaving Lars’s place and heading to the ferry to Port Angeles, USA.

Of the first people waiting to go through US customs, we were the last one’s bording the ferry because the officer kept asking Florian questions. Questions because he didn’t have a return flight  and because we couldn’t show any proof of our safeings in Switzerland. Then the ferry horned for its departure. The officer said: “You have five minutes.” But she still kept asking more questions about Flo’s profession and then mine. Then she put the wrong date on our papers twice. Finally she let us go. On deck, the ferry slowly left the port of Victoria and we looked back at our home for the past four years.

Port Townsend was our next stop where we met up with Liberty, an old room mate from Vancouver. We camped at a beach, hanging out for one day. The next few days were longer riding days. Now we were anxious to make some distance south wards. Chan was quite patient, a good travel mate, choosing his times in the bike seat and the trailer. Altough somtimes the days were long for him and he needed much attention and playtime with one of us in teh evenings at the campsite, while the other put up the tent and cooked dinner.

So far we’ve been lucky with the weather, sometimes though I wish, the wind wasn’t quite as cold. In Shelton, WA, we stayed in a motel for the first time. That town, although county seat and the biggest in the area, didn’t have a campground. But we needed our laundry done and wanted to put some updates on teh blog. But there was no i-net place either and the library had access only for 30 minutes not allowing to upload pictures. For the first time on this journey too, we were invited for dinner by a woman, Debbie, who overheard Flo talking swiss german to Chan. She served us home made quiche and showed us her family’s home with goats, sheep chicken and geese.

We left Shelton on a nice and quiet backroad against the advice of Debbie’s family. It was one of the best roads we travelled in Washington State!

At least we reached the Pacific Ocean at the Cape Disappointment State Park in the very southern tip of Washington. We took a day off biking and enjoyed the beach. In the morning, thick fog hid the big water under a white blanket. The waves looked scary and wild. Seagulls and Pelicans were waiting for their catch in the sand. Finally the sun unwrapped the beautifull coast and Chan had a blast running at the beach with Florian and flying his kite.

Our next stretch will be the Oregon coast which is supposed to be amazing and a ciclyst’s dream.

Nun sind wir also endlich unterwegs! Und schon mussten wir an unserem Anhaenger zwei Platten flicken. Auch den ersten richtigen Regen haben wir hinter uns.

Bis jetzt liebt Chan das Unterwegssein. Wenn wir mal anhalten, um etwas kleines zu essen oder zu trinken, sagt er uns, wir sollen weiterfahren. Heute morgen waren seine ersten Worte:” Ich wett jetzt fahre mit em Velo. Goemmer uf Mexico jetzt!”

Der erste Reisetag brachte uns von Vancouver nach North Vancouver, wo wir eine Nacht beim Squamish Nation Powwow uebernachteten. Den Nachmittag verbrachten wir mit Kelley und Eden, Freunden aus Vancouver.

Am naechsten Tag nahmen wir die Faehre von Horseshoe Bay nach Nanaimo. Weil wir ein paar Tage spaeter einen Freund bei den Sooke Potholes (In einem Bach ausgewaschene Becken; im Sommer erwaermt sich das Wasser schoen zum darin baden) treffen wollten, nahmen wir unsere zwei ersten 70km Etappen unter die Raeder. das war fuer uns alle drei recht anstrengend. Der zweite lange Tag gefiel uns aber trotzdem sher gut, da wir auf fast den ganzen Tag auf einem Veloweg, dem Lochside Trail und dem Galopping Goose Trail reisen konnten. Am spaeten Nachmittag begann es zu regnen, wir waren muede und hungrig. So schafften wir es nicht mehr bis zu den Potholes, nur noch bis Sooke, wo wir auf einem Zeltplatz in einer Huette uebernachten durften. So mussten wir das Zelt nicht im regen aufstellen!

Now it is for real and we are on the road. Already we had to fix two flat tires on the trailer and got pretty wet in the first real rain.

Chan loves to be on the road. Whenever we stop to drink or eat a snack, he is telling us to ride on. This morning when he woke up, the first thing he said was: “I want to ride on the bike, I want to go now, to Mexico.”

These first few days brought us from Vancouver to North Vancouver, where we spent
the night together with Kelley and Eden at the Squamish Nation Powwow.

Chan taking some time to adjust to a new place, enjoying the safety of his trailer. A traditional powwow dancer and Chan and Eden fooling around with Florian.

The next day we took a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Because we wanted to meet up with a friend at the Sooke Potholes a few days later, we rode our first two 70km days, which were quite strenous for us. The second day though was beautiful on the Lochside and Galloping Goose trails. In the late afternoon it started to rain, we were exhausted, cold and hungry. We didn’t quite make it to the potholes, but to a campground in Sooke, where we could stay in a cabin – no putting up our tent in the rain!

Minutes ago Rebi, Flo & Chan started their journey, for real. They left my place with two well-loaded bikes en route for a powow in North Vancouver. I was asked to share their first journey photos with you.

posted by Christine (which means there will be no Swiss-German version to this post for now). Have an amazing trip!!

Gestern zogen wir aus unserer Wohnung am Salsbury Drive in Vancouver, Canada aus und uebergaben die Hausschluessel unseren Nachmietern. Dann packten wir die letzten Taschen auf unsere Fahrraeder und fuhren die ersten ein, zwei Kilometer zu unserer Freundin Christine.

Der Abend bevor wir auszogen. Chaos!

Nun haben wir kein zu Hause mehr. Unsere Raeder, das Zelt und die Strasse sind nun unser Heim. Fuer wie lange wohl?

Fuer ein paar Tage bleiben wir noch bei Christine und ihrer Familie um noch ein paar letzte Dinge zu organisieren. Unsre Fahrraeder sind schwer bepackt, vielleicht muessen wir uns noch von ein paar Sachen trennen bevor die “richtige Reise” Freitag oder Samstag morgen beginnt.

Leaving 1132 Salsbury Drive, Vancouver

Yesterday we handed the keys over to the new tenants, packed the last bags on our bikes and pedaled the first one or two kilotmeters to our friend Christine.

The evening before we moved out of the suite. Still a chaos

So we don’t have a home anymore. Our bikes, the tent, the road will be our home, for how long?

While staying with Christine and her family, we still have to organize a few last things. Our bikes are heavily packed. We might have to leave a few more things behind before the “real” journey starts on friday or saturday morning.