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Chapter 8

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Well we are now in Vancouver and almost ready to go. The flight up was the usual long haul so to lighten up we did put our helmets on -




In case of severe turbulence!

However I might add that we deemed it a good idea to take them off before we met land of Uncle Sam immigration and Customs in San Francisco even found that my lens cleaning cloth in my pocket was regarded as a suspect item!

We have now cleared our bikes through Customs and got them off the wharf. Clearance through Canadian Customs was interesting. Because the bikes are classified as personal effects you have to front up in person at Customs head office in downtown Vancouver. This was an interesting exercise in itself! When we went in we were met by a receptionist who was wearing a bullet proof vest. In addition she had her can of pepper spray and a big truncheon hanging from her belt. And this was just the receptionist! Ken was intrigued. "Are you armed as well?" he asked as he tried his best to charm her. She replied that some officers in each office were. Ken was intrigued. " Have you had to use a gun?" he asked. Her answer had us smiling as she said that Customs right across Canada had only drawn a gun once to her knowledge and that was to shoot a moose that had been hit by a car near a border crossing. I had visions of a herd of mooses ( or is the plural mice? ) stampeding into the downtown Vancouver Customs officer and being put down by the gallant front desk receptionist.

Anyway on the same day as we cleared Customs we got to the bikes and uncreated them , put them together and rode back to the hotel. They are now in the car park and all ready to go.




Getting ready to hit the road

So the next despatch should be on the road and Day 1 is about to start!

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