Sunday, April 14, 2013

Uraling to Alaska - Day 8: Vancouver, British Columbia

I left the home of Jerry W. and his family around 11:00 AM today, having spent the last two days with them sorting out things on my rig and just prepping for the continuation of the ride to Alaska.

 Dapple and Hashiko (sp?)
The not even the slightest bit spoiled dogs belonging to the family.


Left to Right:
Alexis, yours truly, Chelsea and Kelly
"Thank you Ladies!"

It started raining shortly after I left Everett, WA and didn't really stop till just short of the border with Canada.  Even got snowed on briefly between Chuckanut and Bellingham, with snow/ice slush collecting on the road's shoulder but the roads themselves just being wet.

I got to the Canadian border a bit after 1:00 PM and it was about a 30 minute wait till it was my turn at the custom's booth.  I got grilled by the woman from Canadian Customs, she did a walk-around the rig and I must have answered questions correctly as I was directed to proceed.  I didn't get told to pull up to the inspection site like many cars had already been told to do.

I took Hwy 99 all the way into Vancouver, and thanks to Bobskoot's previous directions was at his house 45 minutes.

 Bobskoot graciously made space on his covered parking spot for Valencia to sit under

Yours truly and Bobskoot at the front of his house.

We then piled into Bobskoot's car and he took me on a whirlwind tour of Vancouver.  Quite the city actually, I can see how its so popular.  But, as Bobskoot pointed out, there's no highways through the city, just a lot of surface roads so traffic is somewhat "complicated".

 Shot from the waterfront of False Creek, the Vancouver Downtown

A nearby marina, I took the name of the fishing boat above as a good omen.

Tour over for the day, we picked up Mrs Bobskoot: Yvonne from her workplaced and made our way to the restaurant where we were to meet with SonjaM and her hubby Roland.  Parking was a bit of an issue but then we were parked and a short walk later led us to the restaurant.

Dinner was a pleasant affair with much discussion of varied things.  It was really nice to meet SonjaM in person along with her hubby!

Left to right:
Roland, Yvonne, Bob, Sonja and yours truly

I am overnighting in Bobskoot's place, such a generous guy....tomorrow afternoon, I'll visit with SonjaM and Roland over at Port Moody.  I hope to be able to give SonjaM a ride in the sidecar, she's mentioned she'd wanted to do that.

Previously: Uraling to Alaskan - Day 7: A Visit to URAL HQ

10 comments:

BeemerGirl said...

Well met and having fun. Nice slushy roads, bug good friends and warm places at the end of the day. Great adventure.

Canajun said...

Dom, I'm really enjoying following you on your trip to Alaska. It's been a while since I've been in Vancouver so your pictures were a nice reminder of what a beautiful city it is (even if the weather leaves something to be desired - I'm not a big fan of 200+ days of rain a year). Nice that you were able to meet up with some fellow motobloggers on your way through Vancouver. As an aside, have you posted your planned route to Alaska, or did I just miss it?

redlegsrides said...

Hello Canajun and thanks for commenting. I didn't realize they get 200+ days of rain a year here....I think I'll stick with 300+ days of sun a year that we get in Colorado. :)

As to my route, I posted a rough outline of it on SovietSteeds: route.

redlegsrides said...

BeemerGirl, the roads really weren't too bad....now the drivers....

SonjaM said...

Can't wait to get that ride in the hack. See you later...

RichardM said...

Looks like you had a beautiful day to enjoy the city. And wonderful company as well. Do you have a rough idea on transit time through Canada?

RichardM said...

Andrew Thomson said...

Nice! Enjoying following the ride North...want to be there...

redlegsrides said...

RichardM, I believe I'll be in Tok o/a 22APR.

As to the spot tracking. apparently "display the last seven days" really means, display seven days worth of data and then stop.

I've started another share and updated the link on the blog's right hand corner....sigh.

Also added a complete trip link using spotwalla....

redlegsrides said...

Andrew, thanks for your comments....I go away from civilized Vancouver area tomorrow and into the interior .....