Several phone calls to Greyhound and we finally have our trailer and the camping gear that was also in the box! We are very relieved but we probably won't begin our trip until tomorrow morning because we haven't picked up our bike yet. The bike is still at the FedEX depot here and we didn't want to get it for two reasons. The first is that all our tools were in the box with the trailer so we wouldn't have been able to put our bike together and thus, would have had to figure out someway of getting a giant box back to Garrets house. And second, if our trailer box did get lost or took too long to arrive we may have had to cancel our trip and would have needed to ship our bike back home and that is much easier done with our bike in the box and located at a FedEX depot.
So, for the past couple days we've just been hanging out with Garret and his roomates and seeing Vancouver. Our first day here we bought a transit day pass and rode a bunch of buses and trains around the city(which is much larger than we realized). The olympic village was about the only "touristy" thing we saw. We also walked around UBC for a while and went to a beach there. Garret took us out for delicious Thai food and also to a coffee shop - this temporarily dulled the pain of not having our trailer. Other than that we mostly just frolicked and randomly walked around in various parts of the city. We also phoned Greyhound several times during the day and didn't get much information. It seems the strategy Greyhound uses for locating lost luggage is to passively wait and hope that it arrives at the station. This concept was very hard for us to accept since everything we needed for our trip was in that box. We would have much preferred an active searching strategy.
We have been calling Greyhound since we got here. Yesterday morning a lady said she would go down to the bus loading area and see if our box had came in and call us right back. She never called us back so we left a voice mail about an hour later. We didn't hear anything for the rest of the afternoon. We decided to call back around 4'o'clock and we learned that they had our box! So, we got to the station as fast as we could(~a 40min transit ride) and got our box. Now that we had our tools we could go get our bike :-) But, FedEX closes at 6 so we took the SkyTrain towards FedEx which is also the SkyTrain to Garrets so if, when we got to Garrets stop there wasn't enough time to make it a few more stops to the FedEx stop we would just get off at Garrets. By the time the train got near Garret's stop we only had ten minutes so, we just got off at the stop to Garrets house. We got subway and then put together our trailer and checked over all of our gear...everything was there and it all looked in good shape :-)
The plan for today is to get our bike when FedEX opens at 11am then put it all together and ride it back to Garret's house. Garret has gone to work at his new rowing coaching job so, Patricia and I are just having a lazy morning until 11 when our bike arrives. We estimate bike assembly to take at least a couple hours so, that would put us leaving in the early afternoon which wouldn't give us much daylight riding time. We will most likely be spending one more night here(much thanks to Garret and his roommates for putting up with us ;) ) and leaving bright and early tomorrow morning. Our goal is to make it 150km to hope but, that may be a tad ambitious for our first day...we'll see.
Now that we have our trailer and know our bike is safe we are in a much better mood. Some of the previous posts may have came off as being slightly bitter towards the trip but, we have met lots of nice people so far and the scenery along the entire bus trip was amazing. It really is an eye opener how different the terrain, culture, and the people are across the different parts of Canada we went through. Thats about all I can think of for now so, hopefully the next post is from us safe and sound in Hope, BC tomorrow night!
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Bike Trailer Missing
Hello All!
It seems our trip has been delayed - we've made it to our destination at last, however it seems Greyhound has lost our bike trailer, which was packed with a good amount of our gear, including tools, clothes, spokes, spare tires and tubes, and lots of other stuff - so we are stranded in Vancouver until this is resolved.
Sorry we haven't updated the last couple days, but we've been running low on battery power. So last you've heard from us, we were just entering the Prairies - nothing new to report there, the picture pretty much covers that whole stretch of the trip. We did have some excitement once we got to Brandon, MB when this sketchy looking guy was accused of stealing a girl's wallet.. Chris and I are on the fence however, as to whether or not we believe her - she was the only one that saw anything, and the circumstances just seemed fishy. Regardless, the police showed up and checked the bus for the wallet (which was never recovered)and the man was allowed to stay for the rest of the trip.
That was pretty much our only substantial excitement until we got to the middle of nowhere, Saskatchewan, where the road was completely flooded over!! We had to switch lanes and drive through a few inches of water(as seen below), which was kind of neat. Everyone had to sit really still so the bus didn't lean over enough to let water in the luggage compartment(That was the bus drivers joke).
And their solution is to cut a giant hole in the road so the water drains. Then once it's drained, they fill the hole in as quickly as possible with cement. Below is the hole, and just to the right there were a few cement trucks ready to fill in the hole once all of the water was drained.
Flooding was also pretty bad in another town we went through and the roads were lined with giant sandbags. There was a soccer field and all you could see was the very tops of the soccer nets...and apparently the flooding is over so I can't imagine how bad it was before.
Later, we made a stop in Indian Head, SK where (fun fact) the show "Little Mosque on the Prairies" is based. I've never seen the show, but it was cool to find out.
Saskatchewan was also home to another great milestone of our trip, which I refer to as the "Great Food Massacre". We reached Regina and had a short stop there for dinner, which was fantastic because I was STARVING! Chris and I walked around for what seemed like ages tryign to find a grocery store, since eating out for every meal was starting to get quite expensive. We finally found a Chinese grocery store, however all we bought was bananas and oranges since there wasn't much else we recognized. We decided that we still needed something small for dinner, and found a Tim Hortons, but it was lined up out the door... not a problem, except that neither of us have a watch, and we didn't want to miss our bus. So we walk back to the terminal, which had a little cafe and settled on getting something there. Chris ordered a Jumbo Chili Dog, and I ordered chicken strips (yumm!). Chris's hot dog came pretty quickly, so he went to keep an eye open for our bus while I waited for mine... and waited, and waited... they anounced that our bus was bording, and Chris came back looking for me so I asked the woman at the counter how long my chicken would be. Turns out, the chef never even started them - it was the end of his shift, so he just left. I got my money back and we ran to the bus. We made it, but I never did get dinner. Chris (being the fantastic boyfriend that he is) offered me half of his Chili dog, which we quickly discovered was not a chili dog at all - it got switched, and they made him a cheese dog instead (just a hotdog with shredded processed cheese on top). Overall, not a good food experience in Regina.
All along, the trip picked up and dropped off many interesting people, but I thought it would be fun to give you guys some of the highlights as to the crazies we shared our bus with. I already discussed the potential theif, who remained creepy and sketchy throughout the ride. There was also burnt hair lady, who got caught smoking something in the bathroom twice that STRONGLY stunk like burning hair... ew... and she was never actually kicked off, though the bus driver did break the bathroom door so she couldn't go back in - and then there was this little senile old man, who had been on the bus all along since Toronto - he spoke French, and talked to himself a bit, and seemed pretty confused a lot of the time, but he was totally harmless and seemed friendly enough. Well we made a quick break to drop off some people, and this poor old man was escorted off the bus by three RCMP officers - not one, but three... because the little old man who can't walk very well without assistance is apparently this much of a threat - the bus driver came and talked to the people around him, basically just saying that he needed a break and wouldn't be continuing the trip because he was talking to himself and whatnot.. which made little sense to me, since burning hair lady and the potential theif were allowed to stay, not to mention this guy who would occassionally start doing random karate/ kung-fu moves, and elaborate stretches at the bus terminal... poor old man. Lastly, there was a girl in Kamloops, BC who was just a pain in a behind - she was asing around the terminal for money and to use peoples' phones, not to much avail - she then tried to convince the bus driver to let her on the bus without a ticket - not super successful. She eventually borrowed a phone from a guy on our bus, but before she finished her conversation a woman from the terminal started talking to her - and eventually told the bus driver she could come on the bus as long as she behaved. Wierd! So she steps up, and proceeds to ask the busdriver for money - doesn't work so she wants to get off the bus. he opens the door, she leaves. Two seconds later, she is back - wants to come on the bus again. He opens the door, lets her on - he still won't give her money, so she leaves again and the bus driver takes off. What a waste of time.
Clearly its been an iteresting trip thus far, and we haven't even started biking yet! The wildlife has been fun to watch, so far we've seen two live moose, one dead moose, a fox with a rabbit in his mouth, a mama black bear with two cubs and a couple groundhogs. Cute :)
So that covers the last few days - stay tuned for more on the missing trailer, and hopefully the beginning of our bike ride.
It seems our trip has been delayed - we've made it to our destination at last, however it seems Greyhound has lost our bike trailer, which was packed with a good amount of our gear, including tools, clothes, spokes, spare tires and tubes, and lots of other stuff - so we are stranded in Vancouver until this is resolved.
Sorry we haven't updated the last couple days, but we've been running low on battery power. So last you've heard from us, we were just entering the Prairies - nothing new to report there, the picture pretty much covers that whole stretch of the trip. We did have some excitement once we got to Brandon, MB when this sketchy looking guy was accused of stealing a girl's wallet.. Chris and I are on the fence however, as to whether or not we believe her - she was the only one that saw anything, and the circumstances just seemed fishy. Regardless, the police showed up and checked the bus for the wallet (which was never recovered)and the man was allowed to stay for the rest of the trip.
That was pretty much our only substantial excitement until we got to the middle of nowhere, Saskatchewan, where the road was completely flooded over!! We had to switch lanes and drive through a few inches of water(as seen below), which was kind of neat. Everyone had to sit really still so the bus didn't lean over enough to let water in the luggage compartment(That was the bus drivers joke).
 |
| Flooded Road Beach |
 |
| Draining the water |
 |
| Sandbags |
Later, we made a stop in Indian Head, SK where (fun fact) the show "Little Mosque on the Prairies" is based. I've never seen the show, but it was cool to find out.
Saskatchewan was also home to another great milestone of our trip, which I refer to as the "Great Food Massacre". We reached Regina and had a short stop there for dinner, which was fantastic because I was STARVING! Chris and I walked around for what seemed like ages tryign to find a grocery store, since eating out for every meal was starting to get quite expensive. We finally found a Chinese grocery store, however all we bought was bananas and oranges since there wasn't much else we recognized. We decided that we still needed something small for dinner, and found a Tim Hortons, but it was lined up out the door... not a problem, except that neither of us have a watch, and we didn't want to miss our bus. So we walk back to the terminal, which had a little cafe and settled on getting something there. Chris ordered a Jumbo Chili Dog, and I ordered chicken strips (yumm!). Chris's hot dog came pretty quickly, so he went to keep an eye open for our bus while I waited for mine... and waited, and waited... they anounced that our bus was bording, and Chris came back looking for me so I asked the woman at the counter how long my chicken would be. Turns out, the chef never even started them - it was the end of his shift, so he just left. I got my money back and we ran to the bus. We made it, but I never did get dinner. Chris (being the fantastic boyfriend that he is) offered me half of his Chili dog, which we quickly discovered was not a chili dog at all - it got switched, and they made him a cheese dog instead (just a hotdog with shredded processed cheese on top). Overall, not a good food experience in Regina.
All along, the trip picked up and dropped off many interesting people, but I thought it would be fun to give you guys some of the highlights as to the crazies we shared our bus with. I already discussed the potential theif, who remained creepy and sketchy throughout the ride. There was also burnt hair lady, who got caught smoking something in the bathroom twice that STRONGLY stunk like burning hair... ew... and she was never actually kicked off, though the bus driver did break the bathroom door so she couldn't go back in - and then there was this little senile old man, who had been on the bus all along since Toronto - he spoke French, and talked to himself a bit, and seemed pretty confused a lot of the time, but he was totally harmless and seemed friendly enough. Well we made a quick break to drop off some people, and this poor old man was escorted off the bus by three RCMP officers - not one, but three... because the little old man who can't walk very well without assistance is apparently this much of a threat - the bus driver came and talked to the people around him, basically just saying that he needed a break and wouldn't be continuing the trip because he was talking to himself and whatnot.. which made little sense to me, since burning hair lady and the potential theif were allowed to stay, not to mention this guy who would occassionally start doing random karate/ kung-fu moves, and elaborate stretches at the bus terminal... poor old man. Lastly, there was a girl in Kamloops, BC who was just a pain in a behind - she was asing around the terminal for money and to use peoples' phones, not to much avail - she then tried to convince the bus driver to let her on the bus without a ticket - not super successful. She eventually borrowed a phone from a guy on our bus, but before she finished her conversation a woman from the terminal started talking to her - and eventually told the bus driver she could come on the bus as long as she behaved. Wierd! So she steps up, and proceeds to ask the busdriver for money - doesn't work so she wants to get off the bus. he opens the door, she leaves. Two seconds later, she is back - wants to come on the bus again. He opens the door, lets her on - he still won't give her money, so she leaves again and the bus driver takes off. What a waste of time.
Clearly its been an iteresting trip thus far, and we haven't even started biking yet! The wildlife has been fun to watch, so far we've seen two live moose, one dead moose, a fox with a rabbit in his mouth, a mama black bear with two cubs and a couple groundhogs. Cute :)
So that covers the last few days - stay tuned for more on the missing trailer, and hopefully the beginning of our bike ride.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
A New Province!
Chris here, reporting in for an update:
Its been about 24 hours since our last update in the bus station in Sudbury.
We borded the bus in Sudbury and just about every seat was full. We've been slowly losing people in the various towns across northern Ontario.
We've also picked up a few people as well but, most people have two seats to themselves now. The terrain we've seen the last few days has been beautiful and we're surpised how hilly northern Ontario is. We saw lots of trees, lakes, and rocks. There were some pretty neat looking cliffs too.
We have seen snow every where that the sun couldn't reach yesterday which was quite surprising. And, most small lakes were still covered in ice and snow.
Around Wawa we heard the bus driver beeping the horn so we jumped up and saw a big moose standing on the side of the road looking like he was going to cross.
Speaking of moose, I lost count of how many Moose Crossing signs we seen in the past day.
We had a rest stop at an A&W in White River - The proud birthplace of Winnie the pooh. Here I learned that Winnie was actually a girl, though I'm still not convinced. Patricia also coerced me into eating a baby tomato - which I an safely say I still don't like - as evidenced by my facial expressions right after eating it(The things that amuse us after 30 hours on a bus :P).
In Marathon, ON we saw gas at 149.9! Thankfully our bike doesn't need a drop of that liquid gold. We also spent an hour in Thunder Bay's bus terminal which wasn't to eventful besides me spending the entire stop on the toilet(too much information?).
We seem to be getting better sleeping on the bus which is good and makes for a quicker and more enjoyable ride. Patricia wasn't feeling too good last night(a little nauseous) and that wasn't helped by the girl two seats in front puking into a bag several times during the night and the smelly smokers who suck back a cigarette every rest stop and then stank up the bus.
Oh, and we've played just about every road game/paper game we can think of so if you have any suggestions let us know. What we've played so far is: Tic Tac Toe, Dots, Hangman, Circle Game, Alphabet Game, Maze Drawing, and Someword guessing game I made up
We're currently on the Highway somewhere between Kenora, ON and our next stop in Winnipeg, MB. I just woke up and Patricia woke up from the flash when I took this picture:
I think we slept through the Ontario-Manitoba border because now the highway looks like this:
Flat, straight, and boring :P
Its been about 24 hours since our last update in the bus station in Sudbury.
We borded the bus in Sudbury and just about every seat was full. We've been slowly losing people in the various towns across northern Ontario.
We've also picked up a few people as well but, most people have two seats to themselves now. The terrain we've seen the last few days has been beautiful and we're surpised how hilly northern Ontario is. We saw lots of trees, lakes, and rocks. There were some pretty neat looking cliffs too.
We have seen snow every where that the sun couldn't reach yesterday which was quite surprising. And, most small lakes were still covered in ice and snow.
Around Wawa we heard the bus driver beeping the horn so we jumped up and saw a big moose standing on the side of the road looking like he was going to cross.
Speaking of moose, I lost count of how many Moose Crossing signs we seen in the past day.
We had a rest stop at an A&W in White River - The proud birthplace of Winnie the pooh. Here I learned that Winnie was actually a girl, though I'm still not convinced. Patricia also coerced me into eating a baby tomato - which I an safely say I still don't like - as evidenced by my facial expressions right after eating it(The things that amuse us after 30 hours on a bus :P).
In Marathon, ON we saw gas at 149.9! Thankfully our bike doesn't need a drop of that liquid gold. We also spent an hour in Thunder Bay's bus terminal which wasn't to eventful besides me spending the entire stop on the toilet(too much information?).
We seem to be getting better sleeping on the bus which is good and makes for a quicker and more enjoyable ride. Patricia wasn't feeling too good last night(a little nauseous) and that wasn't helped by the girl two seats in front puking into a bag several times during the night and the smelly smokers who suck back a cigarette every rest stop and then stank up the bus.
Oh, and we've played just about every road game/paper game we can think of so if you have any suggestions let us know. What we've played so far is: Tic Tac Toe, Dots, Hangman, Circle Game, Alphabet Game, Maze Drawing, and Someword guessing game I made up
We're currently on the Highway somewhere between Kenora, ON and our next stop in Winnipeg, MB. I just woke up and Patricia woke up from the flash when I took this picture:
I think we slept through the Ontario-Manitoba border because now the highway looks like this:
Flat, straight, and boring :P
Monday, 2 May 2011
Grrrrr Greyhound!
So it's really early in the morning, and we've been on the bus all night. What an adventure already. Our bus that was scheduled for 11:10 didn't arrive at the terminal until midnight (fantastic) meaning that our connection bus (at 1:00am) had to wait for us. Upon talking to a fellow passenger we learned that the bus driver stopped for coffee in the U.S. and then got held up at customs (lame!). So in the end we found our connecting bus, and loaded our trailer underneath it, only to be instructed to go on a different bus, which was going to the same place, so we wouldn't have to transfer buses! Bonus right? Well no, because that bus was packed to the rafters, and our trailer couldn't come with us. We weren't too thrilled leaving our trailer on a different bus so we opted for the transfer and stayed on the original bus. GOOD CHOICE! Neither of us have slept more then a few minutes so far, and we're both pretty tired - we're going to have to learn to take short naps multiple times a day, and forgo the sleeping at night luxury.
We'll keep you updated :)
We'll keep you updated :)
Sunday, 1 May 2011
We leave tonight!
Our bike is shipped and as of midnight last night the tracking number said it was in Mississauga.
Our gear list seems to keep getting longer and longer but, here is the final copy:
Here's what it looks like all laid out:
And, all packed up and ready to load on the Greyhound:
Our gear list seems to keep getting longer and longer but, here is the final copy:
Here's what it looks like all laid out:
And, all packed up and ready to load on the Greyhound:
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