Day 16 and (back) on the road again

Well if Willy Nelson is reading this, I have to apologize. We butchered his song this morning and I am glad nobody else could hear us. But to catch up, let's go back to Cloverdale. Mike, Karen, Vanessa, Brandon and Jazz the dog were the best. From the open arms, the hospitality, the food (oh man, the food..my bike whimpers when I sit on it now), the friendship, and definitely best of all the warm acceptance and welcome. It was truly the high point of the trip. Many thanks to Karen for taking time out of her busy schedule to tour guide us around. Our first visit Monday was a walking tour of Cloverdale. Vanessa and Brandon were very good tour guides. Next we were off to the waterfront community of White Rock. We had a great afternoon walking on the pier, scoping out the local architecture, and keeping an eye out for giant squids!

Tuesday we got the bikes out from under the garage, and Karen very adeptly led us to one of our chosen focal points. After all this riding, we wanted a picture near the Lion's Gate Bridge and Stanley Park in Vancouver. Those who know North Vancouver will hopefully recognize Ambleside Park and it's view of the bridge.
After the bridge and inner harbour tour, it was off to Metrotown mall. Apparently, one cannot visit Vancouver without checking out this 3 storey homage to modern shopping. Man would Kate ever love this place!

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and so it was with our visit. Wednesday saw us loading up again, despite the threat of rain. After all the hugs and kisses poor little Nolan could stand, some last minute tears and hopefully some lasting memories, we struck out for home. The first stretch is along the the mighty Fraser river, past Hope and up the Trans-Canada Highway to Hell's GateTo say it was windy there is an understatement! Apparently Linda has some history here, so rather than dredge up the past, I just made sure she was well secured to the rope, and stayed away from the edge. Shortly after we left the Hell's Gate area and less then 60 Kms north of the very verdant Hope, we stated to notice a definitive change to the landscape. Gone were the lush trees and green everything, and back to sage and desert

I still think some of these places look more like Arizona than Arizona does! A little late and low on fuel we pulled into Kamloops and collapsed for the night. Tomorrow we should be in Jasper and visiting with Jeff and Gloria. Unfortunately, we will be without internet access for a couple of days so our next post will be a couple of days late. TTFN.