Delicious calories

Food was always a big concern. There were some stretches where food was scarce and sometimes very expensive. We had to make do with our pathetic budget and keep enough calories in us to survive.

Our usual stash of food consists of bread, nutella, nature valley breakfast bars, and clif bars. We ate that for dinner, lunch, and on breaks. Bread was the miracle worker there, because it filled us up and gave us that rocket power to pedal.

If we ran out of food for lunch, McDonald's would rise from the horizon and feed us for a good $4. But McDonald's were rare on the coast. Fast food restaurants were rare in general.

Dinner was a combination of instant boil-in-a-bag rice or pasta. We would usually use alfredo sauce, or in dire times red sauce. The meat of choice was usually SPAM. Delicious SPAM. Sometimes it would be chicken, beef, or--even better--hot dogs. Then we'd jsut mix everything in a big pot and chow down.

We always had to eat a bit more than we were able to handle. We needed to get as much carbs, calories, and protein we could for the next day. We had some arguements because we'd always force Heidi to eat her 4th bowl of food. Oh fun times.

End of the Canada tour

Everything was better the next day. We headed out to a ferry that took us to Vesuvius where we met a fellow cyclist, Tim. He told us that there was this nice farmer's market that was happening today in the city of Ganges. He sped off after the ferry landed because he wasn't carrying anything close to what we were.

The terrain was nice, but the hills would come out of nowhere. We tried to make for Ganges quick so we could catch the peak of the market. When we got there, the whole city was about at the park. It reminded me of Davis's farmer's market.

We spent our lunch there, trying new local food. When it was time to leave, we were faced with this enourmous hill. It was slow going, it was so slow that I had a conversation with a pedestrian.

We made it to the next ferry that'll take us back to Vancouver Island. The ride to Victoria was easy going and very sceneic. I had to stop so many time and dig for the camera from my pack and take pictures. We had to ride fast because the clouds were gaining on us and George didn't want to have his only pair of clothes wet.

We got into Victoria and will be here for until Monday. Then we will leave for the US, yay!, and head down Washington. Canada has been good to us and we all felt that the tour should've consisted more of Canada. Maybe one day I'll do the tour cross country tour of Canada. We've met many cyclists that were starting it.

So now Victoria. It is nice to stay in a hostel for a day and a half. Going camping for four days straight was fine considering I've never been camping in my life. But we're going to rest up a bit for Washington and just walk around Victoria for a bit.