The holiday is over and the adventure begins

As I write this it is 9 on Saturday night and we are committed to leaving at 5am tomorrow for our ten or so hour road trip to Banff. As Trystan has already explained Caitlin has come to the rescue in a big way - a days driving for us really is quite something. Caitlin, you are officially awesome.

I wish I could tell you that we are all packed up and ready to go and have just enjoyed a great bbq dinner with Trystan's, and Ben & Simon's family and friends, but that is far from the truth. Well the packing part anyway. The final feast was everything it should have been - a relaxing dinner and if it wasn't totally obvious before it became abundantly clear then that there will be many people closely following our progress on both sides of the Pacific, with no shortage of anticipation to keep us motivated along the way.

But now to more pressing matters. Yesterday the crew assembled - and at what better location than MEC - the greatest outdoor gear shop I have ever seen in my life. With the three page gear list in one hand and the credit card sitting itchy in the pocket the store did not stand a chance. Two return visits were required, with a brief interlude at the bike shop which was conveniently placed across the street. And yes, we all bought a can of bear spray each.

Right now the Glynn-Morris lounge is a bomb site and we have several hours of work to do before we will be ready to hit the road. The power tools are a constant background noise as rack extenders get fabricated in haste. Trailers will no doubt be packed and repacked to make sure everything fits - don't forget the food has to go in there too! And then somehow we will make the gear plus the five of us all fit into the Subaru. It will happen, but I suspect sleep might be measured in minutes rather than hours tonight.

Before I go I should make mention of the week I have had in Vancouver. Trystan, utilising all his logistics coordination skills, arranged for his uni friend Caroline to "adopt a kiwi" for the week. This became two kiwis when a week before the trip I learnt of another Taupo local Andrew coming to Vancouver on the very same flight. From the moment we were whisked away from the airport to leaving in far too much of a hurry on Friday the hospitality was top notch. I had close to a week to play tourist with Andrew, and a very recent addition to Vancouver, Emma, and we had a great time checking out the city - including biking Stanley Park, a climb up the Grouse Grind and an encounter with (caged) grizzly's. We even made it out to Whistler. To the disappointment of many we did not make it to the aquarium - which is apparently a must see especially now that they have a new baby... or something like that. And I cannot not mention Paige's dinner party - excellent. They do things pretty well here in Vancouver. All in all, terribly relaxing and but now it time to stop gushing and get stressing. See you somewhere in Alberta.