Day 2 — Saturday, June 21

Surrey to Chilliwack — Approx. 75 km
ihop to iHope . . . almost.

Despite making it to Chilliwack as scheduled, it was not the most enjoyable riding I’ve done. Once again, on the tandem with Vanessa, we had a difficult time reaching decent speeds. By the way, the tandem is not a road bike. It has mountain bike tires and a frame that outweighs the van Allan is driving for us. I’m certain we look like clowns riding this thing around, but without it, we’d still be in Victoria. The bike has given my knee an extra couple days of rest.

We ate at an ihop in Langley for breakfast, which was a real treat. No meal is ever complete without locals giving us funny looks as we stroll in with bike shorts and helmets on. After a worker (perhaps the manager) gave us a spiel on how we should start up an ihop on Vancouver Island, we kept moving.

Today we were in Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, and now Chilliwack. After exhausting our efforts to find a campsite, we are now staying in the van outside of the Wal-Mart. Pure luxury. At least it offsets the hotel expense from last night.

We can’t wait to get out of the urban centres as lights, traffic, and streets with names that are different than what the maps say, complicate things and slow us down. We’re looking forward to Hope, where we can turn down Highway 3 and not worry about getting lost. I hope my knee feels better so I can make this trip more enjoyable for everyone.

I may try my own bike tomorrow, but because tomorrow is a big day, we may fall behind schedule a bit as I don’t want to push my knee too hard. Not only that, I also need time to develop a business plan for an ihop on Vancouver Island.