Last Day in Vancouver

Day 2 - Coping with surprises Last Day With Dave Since Dave isn’t coming along on the trip I was glad to have some more time with him. It turned out to be a wonderful day. After another night of insomnia and waking up at 4, I packed up and left my wonderful hosts Jason and Graham who would really have deserved a nicer farewell on my side … Thanks, guys! I took the water taxi to North Vancouver and rode the few miles up to where Dave’s hosts, Sven and Dorothy lived – unfortunately I only had a vague idea where. After stopping at a viable candidate for their house I got into a nice conversation with a friendly guy. After we had established that he couldn’t help me with my endeavor and since I didn’t have a clue as to how to continue my search, I let myself be drawn into a discussion of the merits of different types of gearshifts, brakes, navigation systems ….. when suddenly a car honked and Dave, Sven and Dorothy stood in front of me. I hadn’t been far off! These wonderful people asked me to join them to take Dorothy to a 10 km race so I quickly put my bike into their storage room (filled with what felt like a whole bike shop!) and hopped into their car (sadly, they didn’t offer me a ride in their beautiful T2 Camper Van, cry cry) and off we went to an MEC-organized runners’ meeting. It turned out Dorothy did very well, although she hadn’t been training due to spending the month of May on a cycle touring trip in Northern Germany, where part of Sven’s family lives. A hike up a hill to get Dorothy a good leg stretch, and a sightseeing tour up Cypress mountain with a stunning view of Vancouver and, finally, a homemade feast of chicken wings with three delicious sauces plus a tasting of Sven’s excellent homebrewed beer (I didn’t know how creative you could get with beer) ended a day which once again reminded me of the perks of touring: you meet people and often connect in an unexpected way! Wow, what a nice day! Thanks Sven, thanks Dorothy!