Reasons 1248 – 1347

On Tuesday morning we had a far more successful ferry crossing back from Langdale to the Horseshoe Bay. No flubs or mess-ups. We pretty much came back into downtown Vancouver the exact way we left. But, this time we made a pit stop at my new-time favourite restaurant that Joel showed me once, Meat & Bread. We had some over-the-top delicious porchetta sandwiches made with home-baked bread and a side of homemade mustard.

Jealous?

This time around, we used the Central Valley Greenway trail to cut around Burnaby and through New Westminster with relative ease and safety. We did have to climb the tallest, most steep hill of our tour yet in New West’ though which nearly killed us. We’re pretty much convinced that with all the biking we did in and around the city that we conquered Vancouver.

We rolled all the way through Surrey to White Rock/South Surrey/Ocean Park, where we stayed with Seth Fraser and his family. Seth is good friends with my friend, Will through their work in YoungLife. The night before, Will phoned ahead to Seth to ask if we could stay with him and he was totally into it.

When we arrived, Seth and his family were so incredibly kind and positive. They opened up their garage for us to store our bikes and then brought us in and fed us a hearty, home-cooked meal. They bombarded us with all sorts of thoughtful questions about ourselves and the tour. We were super tired from the nearly 100km we put in that day, but it felt great to be surrounded by new friends who sincerely cared.

Take one: Dainty Collin, Drunk Me and Stoic Seth.

Take two: Melancholic Collin, Drunk-yet-alert Me, High-on-life Seth.

While we were there, I was able to get a hold of my old friend, Carrie who lives nearby, but was unable to host us. We had got into White Rock fairly late, so the only time that would work for us to see Carrie was early the next morning before we headed out. So, at 7am Carrie came to get us in a jeep she had borrowed from her aunt. It was kind of funny. The jeep didn’t have seats in the back and the roof cover was broken. So, one of us had to sit sideways in the back fully exposed to the cold morning air. Carrie treated us to breakfast at Cora, and the three of us had a bunch of laughs intermingled with eggs and bacon. It was purely fantastic to connect with one of my bff’s. Before saying goodbye, Carrie prayed for us which was very much appreciated, especially because we were a little bit nervous about crossing the Canadian-American border later that day.

Old friends together again. Carrie and me.

Carrie dropped us off back at the Frasers for 8:30am. We packed up all our gear and checked Google Maps for our route for the day. Then, the Frasers prayed for us too. I was actually quite moved, because they all sincerely thanked God for bringing us to stay with them. It was really lovely that we were the ones who were given such wonderful hospitality, and the Frasers were thankful for hosting us.

Then we headed out for a new country and our longest distance travelled in a day yet. Yay! America! Yay! Adventure!