Last week in Canada

Note: I just copied this in a very strange way at some sketchy corner store on Main. I think it worked properly, but if there's any thing that seems edited or misteken, it was probably due to the transfer. Hope it's alright. So I just woke up from a night spent at the Legion on Main St. in Vancouver, drinking $1.45 drafts and listening to karaoke. Some of the singers were talented, and most of them were better singers, than Adam and I were snooker players, because we were absolutely terrible (I the worse). This is also the fourth day we have spent with our new friend and roommate Sarah Young, who is Jessie E-B’s friend, whom we came to visit. The trip to Vancouver from Calgary was pretty sweet. Leslie gave us a ride from our Calgary stopover to some Petro-Can station on the Trans-Canada on the west side of Calgary at about 1:30. Being that it was a Friday, our hopes for success were high. Of course when we got there, there was another hitch-hiker, so we had to waste a few minutes by playing hack. Which turned out for the best, because as soon as we started walking towards the highway, I heard a honk and some sort of yelling coming from behind me. I turned and saw a huge truck pulling a boat, with a dude hanging half way out the window telling us to join them. As we’re throwing stuff in the back of the truck, he’s asking us if we want beer and beef jerky. Turns out the passenger just broke up with his girlfriend, and has been drinking for two days, and hasn’t slept more than an hour. Now their on a fishing trip for the driver’s birthday. Spencer, the drunk one, rants and raves for the next 20 minutes, singing country tunes and slammin’ beers, and trying to get us to go fishing with them. Eventually they have to turn off the highway, and we wisely choose to keep hitchin’, and leave the fishing to them. Of course they left us in the middle of Canada’s biggest highway. We walked to an on-ramp to give drivers more slowing down space, which shouldn’t have been a problem because they probably could see our massive three-fold VANCOUVER sign a mile a way. So soon enough we have a ride in a black Grand Am. This fine young gentleman is Troy, and he is going to Revelstoke, which is about 400 km through the Rockies, almost half of out trip. So we’re stoked and set, and get to enjoy the Rockies, with a few explanations here and there from Troy. Turns out Revelstoke is a pretty nice place, and we get to have dinner there. After eating we head back to the highway to try our luck. The first luck we got was being honked at by a 4-door Honda loaded with girls smiling and waving. The second stroke of luck was getting picked up by Dorsey in some old Dodge jeep type thing, who could drive us to Salmon Arm, another 100 km up the road. Another super nice guy, and experienced hitch-hiker, he drops us off at the beach in Salmon Arm, figuring it’ll be the best place for us to crash. We decided to stash our bags and go tour the town, but nothing was really happening so we headed to bed early. Little did we know that had we walked another 10-15 minutes down main street we could have caught the Maxim girls at some local pub. Ah well. So we are awoke by the sun bright and early, and play some Frisbee as the tent dries from the dew, which was super heavy because we were playing in puddles. Anyway, we made our way down to the end of town (where we discovered the Maxim girls bus, and a water slide park that was very tempting, had it been open) and waited. And waited, and waited. Finally a big truck pulls over and we jump up with joy, finding out that A) we’ve been waiting there for almost 2 hours, and B) we’ll never have to do that again because this guy was going to drive us to Vancouver. He was a very angry man. He cursed everyone on the road, which was everyone because he was driving 140 km/h the whole way. He was a logger on his way back home for a few days, and really wanted to get there. His truck was a sweet ride because it had enough space for Adam and I to crash for most the way. Once you’ve been through the rockies, the interior (especially around Kamloops) is not nearly as spectacular. By the time we made it almost to Vancouver, the driver is just pissed, and of course we’re now in the Langley traffic jam. But finally we push through, and have to choose where we want to be dropped off. Well I had no idea where Sarah lived, so we got dropped off at the PNE, which is on Hastings. We call JEB and find that she has no idea what’s going on, so we’ll just go to a park and chill for a while, and meet up in a few hours. We talk later and find out where to go and start our trek, which consists of getting off the bus at E. Hastings and Main, which is probably the squirreliest corner I have ever been on. I think all the people I saw there, lived there. And instead of taking the bus down main, we decide to walk. Four blocks down we get propositioned by a prostitute, and decide that E. Hastings is not my kind of place. Turns out we had to walk quite a ways to get to King Edward on Main, but we eventually find it. And after calling JEB one more time to actually find out where Sarah lived, we finished probably the longest day of our travels. They were out for dinner, so we readied ourselves and went to Helen’s Grill for dinner. That place is spectacular. Sarah hates it, but when a place has good food AND personal juke boxes on every table, I’m in. (not to mention the best veggie burger I’ve ever had) This being Saturday night, and the day that Sarah moved into her new place, naturally a party ensued. So we go and get 1.5 L of wine each (which of course ends up being a bad decision) and start meeting a whole bunch of people. Turns out our legacy came faster than we did, and everyone was asking us about our stories and about hitch-hiking in general, so we get to recount some of our tales. As I mentioned, by the end of the night the 1.5 L of wine idea had gone sour, and kept us down until almost 1 pm on Sunday. But we ended up making the best of that day too. It was something like 34 degrees, so we went to Wreck beach. Wreck beach is a nudist beach, and so we had our first nudist experience. You don’t have to be nude at this beach, but to eat at some of the ‘restaurants’ you do. We chose to go naked in the spirit of the beach, and it was surprisingly comfortable, especially considering we had just met most of the people we went to the beach with last night. So after a long, naked day at the beach, we came back for dinner, and just as we’re finishing dinner, Red (which is the cute cute pitbull that Sarah is dog-sitting) decides to fight the skunk that lives behind the shed and ruin our night. It was terrible. Just awful. So we have to deal with that for hours, and we all slept in Sarah’s room because it was the only place the eluded the smell. The next day happened to be Jessie’s last, as well as Adam’s birthday. So we went to Helen’s for brunch (despite Jessie’s best efforts not to), and wished Jessie good bye. And so began our days of squatting at Sarah’s. We really don’t do much. Cities have less to offer in the way of free stuff. We went for a huge walk on Tuesday, which consisted of trying to get into a local brewery tour, but showing up 3 minutes late, and so we walked along English Bay to Stanley park, toured through there a little bit, walked up Robson (which is supposed to be sweet, but is just crowded with people going into the expensive boutiques) and then walked all the way back to Sarah’s, which is a super long way. We probably walked 20 km that day. In reward, we spent all of yesterday doing nothing but reading. In fact Adam is 80 percent done the only book he brought. Today we’re supposed to meet Randy Butler, who is Adam’s uncle Pat’s friend, and he just happens to be a consultant for those adventurous types who like to teach English in other countries. Imagine that. So at that I will end this update. It has been rather long and detailed. I doubt there will be another until we arrive in Hanoi, so be prepared for a break. Adios North America! See you soon. Vandyk and Stevens (who is still sleeping)

***sorry no pictures this time***