Dave through the Americas - 9.28.02 A day with a great friend

I got a hold of Emily shortly after waking up. We decided to meet for fish and chips down the road. We had halibut with some nice dipping sauces. It was a delicious start to the day. After our meal, we checked out a couple bike shops for a good deal on a new saddle for Emily. I also showed her how to change a tire when I replaced my old one with my new thinner Schwalbe for the front. We found a nice split saddle for 30% off and she quickly snatched it up. Right away Emily noticed a difference as we rode our bikes over to her car to get her helmet for some safer cycling. Across the street I noticed a pet shop so we checked out their parrots. Emily also has an interest in tropical birds and I was very impressed by her knowledge about them. Next we went over to a nice bakery and had some coffee and strawberry rhubarb pastry. We had a great personal conversation and discovered we had quite a few things in common. After the bakery we rode over to a park to play some hacky sack and enjoy the sunset. Today was cooler than the previous days in Victoria and the wind had picked up as well. We checked out the nice view by the water and watched a guy playing with his remote control glider. The glider sailed around in large circles and rode on the wind like a seagull. It was quite mesmerizing. As it got later, we thought about what to do for dinner. It was a toss up between cooking in and eating out at a nice vegetarian restaurant. We decided to spoil ourselves and went to a restaurant called Rebar. We feasted on tasty squash soup, smoked salmon quesadillas, stuffed mushroom, and veggie curry and washed it down with deliciously blended vegetable juice. We didn’t even have room for the tempting tiramisu we were eyeing on the way in. After dinner, Emily decided to go home and I was pretty tired myself. I called up Kelly and realized she wasn’t home so I went and saw a movie to kill some time. I saw “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. It was a pretty good comedy/romance. I saw Derek, who I met on Hornby Island. He was working near the theater. We had a nice chat and a smoke and then I took off in the rain. I gave Kelly a call but she wasn’t home, so I started making my way towards Emily’s place. She told me I’d have a place to sleep if I couldn’t get in touch with Kelly. I had to walk my bike for most of the night because the chain locked up around the chain ring and fused together. I got my hands very greasy trying to fix the problem only to realize I’d need my tools that were at Kelly’s to do the job right. As I neared Emily’s place, I decided to try Kelly once more so I would have the chance to stay there instead of bothering Emily. Kelly was home so I headed back to her place. She had been out and about with her new friend Andy who came in on a fiber optic cable-laying vessel a few days ago. We talked for a bit and then I went to bed. (10 miles)

Peace

Dave