Donald and Mimi ride their bikes all the way to Vancouver Canada part 3
It was very exciting for Donald and Mimi to be riding in Canada. We loved the gardens and the different styles of houses. They even had different horse farms. I saw lots of standardbreds. We still had a lot of farm country to traverse too. Ruth stayed with us for the rest of the trip, and she was a great ride partner. We had to cross the Frasier river on a little ferry. That was a lot of fun too. Here we caught up with all the faster riders and stood together on the deck of the ferry like cattle while it crossed. It was a fun little interlude.

Ruth found a wonderful restaurant for us to eat lunch at. It didn't hurt that the gang sitting outside of it were all our friends! Of course, they were finishing just as we arrived, but we knew we'd eventually all be at the finish line, only 18 miles away.
Next stop VANCOUVER
From here we could see the city center. This was the last photo we remembered taking when we got to the finish line and as we manoeuvered our tandem down the ramp to the bottom floor of a 3-level basement parking garage and got off in the dark abyss, surrounded by cars, mimi looked down at the bar bag and couldn't find the camera. This meant backtracking through the last 2-1/2 miles of extremely busy downtown Vancouver pedestrian and car traffic, looking for a needle in a haystack. When we rode back to this spot, we still couldn't find the camera. So we headed back... Where Mimi remembered..
the famous accordion player along the waterfront. She had taken a photo of him too! She had also thrown some coins in his pile of change and once we passed him again, Donald reminded Mimi where she had carefully deposited the camera (in her jersey pocket). NOW we could start to party!!!

  
We made it!!!Ice cream would be nice!

Redmond Cycling Club AT LARGE in downtown Vancouver.

We ate dinner in a very nice little Italian restaurant, famous for their homemade panini.

Donald outside our hotel with SHERMAN

The case of the lady in the white hat.

Since Sunday was British Columbia day; the street our hotel was on (Robson) was being cleared; no parking and no buses. Imagine if you would, an 80 year old woman in a little white hat, a lovely flowery dress; tan oxfords and matching purse out in the middle of the right lane of the street hitchhiking. She was at the bus stop, where the sign said no buses were coming from 9 am to 3 pm and she couldn't get even cabs that would stop so she was trying to wave down every car that went by, unsuccessfully. Finally a parade vehicle came, a 1953 Chevrolet Sheriff's patrol car. She waved THEM down and they stopped, and she got in. You can see her in the smaller image to the right. Below you can see her getaway car. They even sounded their siren! We're not sure if her destination was the parade, home or jail, but at least they didn't handcuff her on the spot.
Then there was this incredible Volkswagen!
and a farewell to our BikeJournal.com buddies, Kirk & Kathi..