The ferry that would take me to Vancouver Island left Port Angeles on time, and together with a few other riders who were all visiting various parts of Canada, I had ridden the bike onto the slippery deck to have it lashed down before we set sail…
Strapped down and ready for Canada…. This was the first of many Canadian ferries we would be making use of over the next few weeks….
I had been looking forward to this day ever since leaving Arizona to make my way up the west coast of the USA…
Leaving Port Angeles… It would be a few weeks before I crossed back into the USA…
My great friends, Trevor and Chenty Wilson, who I had last seen in Malaysia more than a year ago, would be there to greet me, and together we would make the run to Alaska and Prudhoe Bay…
Canada would also be the last “new” country that I would visit on my journey… The Canadian flag would be the last one which I would put on my pannier, completing my North American “full house”…
Once we had completed the Alaskan trip, I would in all probability ship the Big Fella back to South Africa from the east coast of the USA… Maybe it would be New York, and maybe it would be from a lot further south… Time would tell…!!
It took a little less than 2 hours to cross the Straights of Juan de Foca, and we arrived in Victoria harbour just before noon as I recall…
As I rode up the sloping deck and off the ferry onto Canadian soil, I heard my name been shouted, and as I looked up, I saw Trevor and Chenty waving frantically from behind the chain link fence of the ferry terminal…
Trevor was all smiles as met again, eager to get back on the road for the trip we had planned over the last few months…
The grins on their faces told me that they were as excited to see me as I was them…
To say that I was overcome with this excitement and high emotion, would be an understatement… These two people had come to mean a great deal to me, ever since our chance meeting in Syria in December 2010… And of course, they would forever be dear to my heart for inadvertently introducing me to my future wife…!!
I cleared customs and immigration from the seat of the bike, by handing my passport through a small window in an even smaller office, and promising not to get up to any mischief while I was in Canada…!! I had my fingers crossed at the time, so my promises did not count…!!
Then I rode the short distance to where my friends were waiting…
Standing around them were a Canadian TV crew, and they had been filming me since I rode up the ramp and out of the ferry…
I ignored them as I rode up, jumped off the bike and rushed over to hug Trevor and then Chenty… I can tell you that a few tears of joy flowed as we stood back from each other and shook our heads at the fact that we were reunited again after such a long time…!!
Standing quietly nearby, was Mark Piff, Trevor’s brother-in-law, who would be riding with us over the next few weeks… I was hurriedly introduced to the jovial man who I would soon be calling “Roomy” and “Bear”; the first because we would share accommodation on our ride, and the latter, because that was what he reminded me of, … a big bear…!!
Neither Chenty or Trevor looked any different to when I had last seen them… It seemed that life back in the rate race had kept them in good health…!!
After a brief interview with the reporter from the TV station, we mounted up and made ready to leave the harbour terminal… We were filmed as we rode away for our appointment at Island BMW, where our bikes were to be serviced before our ride to Alaska could begin…
Mark “The Bear” Piff, making his GS look like a 250…!! Over the next few weeks, we would spent a lot of time laughing about one thing or another…
There were a number of things I needed sorting out on the bike, and having had such poor service from the BMW dealer in Phoenix, it was back to the drawing board for the Big Fella and I, with regards to the various ailments I sensed were troubling him…
Riding through the bust streets of Victoria, Vancouver Island… Chenty had wedged a Canadian flag onto the back of the bike to go with the two that were already flying there…
At first glance, Canada seemed no different from the USA was, but in time, I would see the subtle differences that set Canadians apart from their southern neighbours…
They seemed more laid back and fun-loving for one thing, and as friendly as heck for another…!! Over the next few hours, we would have many a laugh as the guys at BMW worked on the Big Fella…
Mark though would not be laughing by the time he got the bill for his service…!!
©GBWT 2012
Hard commenting in reverse, butgreat to get the fillers. Hope all is good!