Day Eight
Start – Victoria, BC, CA 10:30am
End – Astoria, OR 6:60pm
Back in the land of the free and the home of the Whopper. Got right on the ferry this morning, literally 0.2 miles from the hotel to the boat. (Too Good accidently left his shades in the room. Room service brought them to the front desk lady, who ran, I repeat ran, out to the terminal to give them back to him. These people are SO NICE! And we barely made the boat. Stupid private company, Black Ball, overbooked it. We were squeezed on last, filling small spaces. I missed Canada already.) We noticed something: American border patrol guards are way less friendly than their Canadian counterparts. I understand, it’s a lame job and repetitive and boring, but they are the first Americans someone coming into the country meets. We’re trying to improve our image here guys! Come on! (I mention this because as we were getting on the boat we were checked by a border guard. He was a douche. If I caught his name I would write it here: ______ is a douche. But I didn’t. They guys who checked us in again in America were also humorless automatons.)
Two more quick things on border patrol: First, yesterday we were welcomed into Canada by a guy in a turban! Awesome! We all agreed you would never see that in Amerika, the land of the free. Where all men are created equal…unless some who looks vaguely like you fucks with us, then you’re fair game.
Secondly, when we were getting off the ferry in Port Angeles, WA Too Good was stopped and searched. I, for one, was very concerned. The root of my concern was that they may have discovered he is a super-secret spy for the Nova Scotian mob, which contacted him during our brief stay in Victoria using his mob name: Pokey, and that would royally screw our time-table. Luckily they were just doing their pig thing and soon we were on our way. Lillypad took some pictures of the strip search behind the gate. Great.
Just because I don’t think I mentioned it enough yesterday, I can’t stress how much we all loved Canada. Victoria was so clean, the people were so nice. All of us seriously discussed taking the last ferry out tonight or staying an extra day. Not to be, but we will be back. We fell in love with our neighbors to the north. No more Canadian jokes for me! Well…I’ll try to cut back. Love live the land of Rush and Shatner. (Ed. Note: They should get the damn queen off their money though. Come on, Canada, grow up!)
All this Canada love I in no way meant to cut down Washington, which is a beautiful state. Our ride today was pretty short but very nice. We rode through long, huge corridors of trees leading to the Puget Sound. Lots of 4th gear sweepers and minimal cager interference.
Stopped for lunch at the T-Bird, not too bad. I think I got screwed on my meal, but it happens. Was tired of burgers. Got to use my reverse gear, I call it Stitches, to get out of some gravel. Speaking of reverse, the road we were on today seemed to be a favorite of Gold Wings, musta seen a gaggle of them, and crotch rockets. Big pack of sport bikes pulled up behind us as we were stuck behind an old guy on a Hardley, a red car, and a pick-up. Eventually the truck moved over to let them pass but they were unable to because the other car wouldn’t get out of the way. Too bad, wanted to see them make the jump to lightspeed.
We also passed a massive amount of felled trees. I think I saw a sign that said 100 acres of trees had blown down. (Ed. Note: I have no idea of I read that sign right. Maybe they were all cut down by loggers. But I prefer to think wind did it.) Crazy. Looked like Paul Bunyan on crack had been through. Passed a few lumber yards too. Smelled good, what I could smell.
I think I’m fighting what Stitches has and Too Good had. Getting a runny nose and trying to blow it at 70mph in sweepers is not recommended. Even if you have a handkerchief. Dayquil is good.
I love coming to big bodies of water when riding. Almost always it’s a huge reveal, a big dramatic moment of cresting a hill or coming around a corner. (Ed. Note: Hence, why I love living where I live. All roads lead to the ocean. I win!) Today was no exception. We left the trees on our right and there was the ocean. And the bridge.
Papa Rocket has been talking up this bridge for days now. He’s been so excited and now I know why. Riding over water is a special experience. And good bridges, when you look to your left and to your right and see nothing but water or, better still, nothing at all, are incredible. This bridge was better.
Half a mile into it we crossed from Washington into the great state of Oregon. Means only California’s border crossing is left on our ride. Damn. But look back at that distance. A bridge a half mile long? Oh yeah. All told, from the start on the Washington side to where it became an overpass on the Oregon side it was 3.8 miles long. This, my friends, is a looooooong stretch of concrete over water. We wanted to turn around and do it again. (Ed. Note: This was a very cool experience. I want to do it again. Not the whole Oregon part, just the bridge.)
In the rooms now. Everyone knows the shortening days and southerning heading mean the end is approaching and no one is happy about it. See Lillypad’s family tomorrow, then Too Good’s in a few days.
We went border to border on motorcycles. It’s a trip. I miss Canada. I know it’s been said (by me and others) but it’s an amazing country filled with really nice people. On the ferry looking back at the slowly shrinking island of Victoria (Ed. Note: And right before Too Good fell asleep again. I swear, every time we stopped that wasn’t for food or gas he passed out.) the only two adjectives I could bring to mind were “nice” and “pretty”. Maybe not bad ass biker sentiments or the vibe the country is going for, but I can dig it. If they only did something aboot the snow. Brrr.
240 miles today
2835 miles total
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