SIDNEY, B.C. -- Into every 16,000-kilometer motorcycle ride, a little rain must fall.
In the first real precipitation two weeks into this ride, the Beemer and I boarded BC Ferries MV Spirit of British Columbia heading back to Vancouver from Victoria after sun- and fun-fillled days in the subtropical rain forests of Vancouver Island.
I love how bikes get priority on and off the boat!
I stayed with Mindy’s cousin Diane and her husband Artie jn beautiful Langford. I sometimes forget other people are still at work, so we didn’t have a lot of time together.
But I’ll be back and it won’t be 10 years till my next visit.
I also stopped in to see Mindy’s Aunt Elaine who gave me a copy of a photo of her late husband Syd as a 17-year-old astride a late ‘40s Royal Enfield.
Elaine said her parents weren’t too thrilled to see their daughter clutching Syd on the back of what looks like a 250cc motorbike. Elaine told me their major objection was her wearing trousers!!
I think we both know exactly how Mindy’s folks must have felt when they learned I, too, ride a bike.
Both doctors, Mnndy’s parents probably weren’t happy about their daughter riding a “donor mobile” either!
Speaking of Royal Enfields, the new ones being built in India these days are solid, reliable machines. My friend Jim, a retired Edmonton Journal reporter, rides one when he’s not on his venerable 600cc Honda TransAlp.
For two days, Jim squired me around Victoria as we swapped war stories about our time at Oakville‘s Sheridan College J-school; our experiences as poorly paid scribes for the billionaie owners of Thomson Newspapers; and the folks we know in common in Edmonton and elsewhere.
We fed herring to seals in Oak Bay marina, checked out the boats amassing from all along the West Coast for Victoria's annual SwiftSure regatta and rode along the scenic waterfront with its twisty roads that reminded me so much of the Antrim Coast Road that runs up the east coast of Northern Ireland from Larne north of Belfast, to the Giant’s Causeway near Portrush!
At one point we stopped for a pint at The Bard and Banker, a pub dedicated to Canadian poet Robert Service, who had worked in the building when it was a provincial bank. My mother-in-law is a great fan of Service!
A young crow had fallen out of its nest and the two parents were relentlessly dive-bombing passersby.
I escaped unscathed, but Jim’s bald pate proved irresistible to the maddened crows. He got as few deep scratches that bled profusely for a few minutes.
Single and in his 60s, Jim has climbed mountains, dived on ancient Roman wreck and ridden Bucephalus as he calls is TransAlp from Edmonton to the tip of South America and north of the Arctic Circle, across Asia and India. He’s currently taking a sailing course as he looks for a boat he can take single-handed to Hawaii! If it was anyone else but Jim, I’d have my doubts, but I expect to see him posting pics from Maui in the not-too-distant future.
Now on to Vancouver where I’m going to try to see a few folks I haven’t touched base with in a while.
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UPDATE -- Haven't posted in a few days due to a major breakdown in White Rock and a complete brush-off by the local BMW dealer. But Jim immediately offered to drop everything, drive to White Rock and trailer the Bike-a-Lounger back to Triple M Motorsports in Edmonton. Not sure what i'm going to do, but first call today to BMW Canada to see if they can get me back on the road. More later. 
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