one

Well here it is finally. Blog travel entry number one. It is nice to type on something that is not the Black Berry, although this keyboard on Ian's mini PC is pretty small too. Right now we are in Princeton BC. It has taken us a few days to get here. Back a week ago Neal and I flew into Vancouver and got to see where we'll be biking all in one go. Patrick met us at the airport with bike tools and my BOB trailer he picked up for me. Without too much difficulty we assembled our bikes and then literally rode out of the airport. Pat flew into Vancouver a few days early to see the city and to spend some time with Kate.

Neal and I headed out to Victoria. The ferry ride was great but sadly we did not see any whales. Some seals and eagles made apperances though. The ride was beautiful through all the islands. Karin and Peter, my aunt and uncle, met us on the otherside and took us to their place. They fed us a nice BBQ dinner and then it was early to bed. We spent the next day touring around Victoria and went to Mile 0! we also got to splash around in the Pacific ocean a bit. I got to see my cousins Gavin and Brett over the couple nights we were there. Gavin on male athelete of the year at his high school!

We came back to Vancouver via the ferry and I got my first flat tire on the way so we missed the 9 o'clock ferry and had to take the 11. There were more tire issues once on the other side and Neal had to do some biking and searching to find a replacement tube. We saw lots of great blue herons nesting in trees! We made it to Kate's place and had lamb shanks and stout beer for dinner. Pretty hearty for June. The next day we did some errands and then headed out to Mission. The errands took longer than expected so it was looking like we wouldn't make it all the way. We met a lady who took us to a campsite and then set up for our first night camping. Since then we have traveled through Hope and up and over the Allison Pass (1342m)! Biking up mountains for literally a day is pretty nuts. We camped in EC Manning Park, our first night in Bear country, and survived to tell the tale. It was cold up there at night. Alas, the ride up was well worth it because you can guess what happened next. We got to bike down some mountains. It was awesome and insane. We cruised well over 60 kph down some of the steeper portions. All the days so far have been filled with stunning views and scenery. Every turn on the road brings another photographic moment. If we stopped to take a picture of everything we wanted to photograph we'd never make it home. Gazing out over valleys with mountains everywhere is really awesome. Especially when we considered that we had to bike up the mountains. There haven't been too many problems besides a few flat tubes and one tire blow out issue, that left me stranded on a boring section of road for nearly 3 hours. Tomorrow we are heading out to bike 114 km to Osoyos. It should be another amazing day of adventuring and stuff to look at. To appreciate the climbs and the bombs you really have to get out here and try it out for yourself. We miss everyone at home and hope things are going great! Willem, Neal and Patrick. Dictated but not read. But not really. Jokes. But seriously. Bye!