After Inge arrived in Calgary Henk showed us around and so we spend another two days in Calgary. Henk was so friendly to bring us over to Banff. There's not much in between Calgary en Banff, so we could not refuse this offer. In Banff Henk showed us all the good parts of the touristy, but very picturesque town. On the campground we met up with Toshi, Jody and Randy again: I couldn't get rid of them ! Then the biking trip started for Inge: to Lake Louise. We saw a bear in day 1, just down the road. In Lake Louise we did a very good hike to the 'plain of the 6 glaciers'. After Lake Louise we continued to Golden, 92 km, but basically downhill. Golden was not interesting at all, though biking through Yoho NP is very good !! From Golden the Rogers Pass starts. This is serious climbing, but the scenery is beautiful. You go through Glacier NP, the park where it rains two times a week: once for 4 days and once for 3 days/ We had clear sky though !! The climb was very heavy. We camped on the summit (1327 meters), where it was just above 0 degrees ! From Rogers Pass we went down to Canyon Hotsprings, nice warm swimming pools: holidays. This was some sort of rest day.... Today we started early to continue to Revelstoke, a nice city, and again clear sky !!

In Revelstoke we went to the movies, as I didn't see a movie since I left Anchorage. The next day we headed to Sicamous crossing the low Eagle pass. Though it is a low pass we had a enormous headwind and it turned out to be very heavy !! Even downhill was heavy. The scenery is very good though. It was clear sky again (5th day in a row). On the way to Sicamous you feel like leaving the high rockies and going to a more hilly environment. From Sicamous we went to Mara, with a long break along Lake Mara. From Sicamous it's one lake after another, very scenic. Entering the Okanagan Valley you feel that the temperatures are going up. The Okanagan Valley, or better Sun-Valley, gets more sun than Hawaii !! So with 31 degrees we went to Vernon to visit family, Lora and Mathias and their two daughters Marina and Nahanni. We were welcomed with a nice cold beer and had a good shower and a nice normal bed !! Today we take a rest day and we gonna visit the beach here and have a look around.

Vernon was great, thanks to Lora en Mathias. The day after we left to go south via the west (!) side of lake Okanakan, like Herb recommended us via E-mail (as he was days ahead). The trip was good though steeps up- and downhill. The second day to Kelowna was rain, just rain, all day... Not very nice, so Inge and I took a hotel and went to the movies. Like a sunshine valley supposed to be, we had sunshine the next day on the way to Summerland. We met some old trees on the way, but the trip was good again! From Summerland to Keremeos was very scenic, but serious uphill. Climbs for 6-7 km, over 5%, 30 degrees Celsius. But no complains, we made it. At 15.00 hours I had my birthday in Holland and so we celebrated!! The day to Princeton started with an enormous headwind, headstorm better, but a year older, a year stronger, must have been enough to make it to Princeton. Not much to tell about the place, apart of the fact that the lowest educated person in the world works at the visitors center in this place. I've seriously been thinking about writing a letter to minister-information-center, as it is very poor all over. Herb had warned us for the difficult road to Manning, and he was right. Man... Never forget Sunday-summit: 24 km up-up-up-up-down-up-up-up-down and finally uphill, 8-9 % and very difficult. For me it was the hardest hill since I started off. Compliments for Inge who made it all the way by herself without walking!! Minning was very cold, below zero, but nice to drive through. We didn't want to spend to much time here as Vancouver was waiting for us. The good thing about Sunday-summit is that a serious uphill, also has a serious downhill. 19km without peddling, 5 km flat, than 15km downhill again. On the flat part we met a Belgium guy who was glad he had had the uphill part...... Not really... Hope was hopeless, so we continued to Mission whatever the meaning of that name might be. For me it felt like the start of greater-Vancouver, good Chinese food though. Family again !! In Maple Ridge we visited Margereth and Arnold. She is a cousin of my dad. We had dinner at their place and she offered us a ride to Vancouver so we didn't have to go through the busy traffic!! And so we went to Vancouver to visit Len and Gerda (Len is a cousin of my dad). They made Vancouver unforgettable. A good bed, proper food again en perfect tips to see the city. Len took us out for sailing, the best way to see Vancouver. We have been biking around in Vancouver, did some shopping and loved every minute. Inge had to leave Vancouver on Saturday, after having biked far over 1000 km in 4 weeks, a good job would say. I continued two days later to Nanaimo, Victoria Island. I said goodbye early in the morning to Len and Gerda. On the ferry I got a flat tire, ever heard of that on a ferry?? Anyway, I'm by myself again, first time since I arrived in Anchorage...

In Nanaimo I met up with Mandy, she is also from Holland, but is a bit lost in this big world. She has biked 7000 km in the last 4 months, but has no idea where to go. As I used to say: What is the difference between a tourist and a traveler ? A tourist doesn't no where he has been, a traveler doesn't no where he's going...... So we biked to Victoria together, where she'll stay a few days. I head on south tomorrow, by ferry to the States....