Ready for our Alaska cruise

In terms if traveling tales, we do not have much to share about the last couple of days. After we left Hyder, we continued south towards Vancouver. We alternated curiously between very nice bright sunny days and miserable super rainy days: just extremes, nothing in the middle. We reached Vancouver on Saturday and headed over to our friend Michael, the Canadian rider we had met in north Canada and rode with for a couple of days.

Establishing base camp in Langley, BC

Since we had a couple of days before Stanley's arrival (Chad's Dad), we took this opportunity to buy some motorcycle parts we needed and do needed maintenance on the bikes. Michael helped us running into town and finding the parts we needed. Bur before starting the work, sheltered from the rain in his garage, we just relaxed together, sharing some traveling and motorcycle stories over dinner. Michael fixed such delicious dinners during our stay here that we are having a tough time leaving now. He proved to be an expectational hosts on many levels, making us feel blessed again to have met him and be able to share more time with him.
The next day: all business and no play. While Caroline caught on all the errands we had late due to lack of Internet connection, Chad started working on her bike. It was due for an oil change, air filter change, spar-plugs change and the clutch had to be adjusted. That took a whole day of work. Chad was going to focus on his bike the next day: oil change as well, bleeding rear brake fluid (it looked like there were air bubbles in it) and spar-plugs change. Air filter would be changed later, once we get the part. After the second day of maintenance, we all shared a home made dinner by Caroline to thank our host and the hard-working husband.

Relooking session before the cruise

Tomorrow, we will be heading out for a cruise to the Inside Passage, AK on a big ship. We can't wait to see Chad's Dad tonight: we are picking him up at the Vancouver airport before heading downtown and do some sightseeing. In preparation for the cruise, we needed to “brush up” Chad's current Mountainer look (see picture above) and make him look a little “cleaner”. Well, we went for much cleaner, almost military look. Caroline is so happy: not only did she do the honors of getting rid of the extra hair with our travel clipper set but she also loves the result!!! It is like getting a new husband. Chad thinks it is a little short but hair grows back so fast anyways. In a couple of days, he will have the hair lenghth he wants:)

We are also getting some “fancy” clothes that Monica, Chad's sister, has prepared for us to take on the cruise so that we would not look completely out of place, waering motorcycle clothes, especially on the formal night. It will be interesting for us to wear again these clothese we have not had for almost three months: buttoned-up shirts for Chad, and high heels and dress for Caroline. It will be nice to take our break from the road a on cruise boat and share this special moment with Chad's Dad. None of us have ever taken the cruise: we are all so excited about it and can't wait to share this different experience over the next week.