89 miles Thetis Lake - Parksville

Started the day off with lakeside breakfast.  Everything was looking good, but then in the first minute of riding Chris broke his chain.  we took out a link and got it back together.  Riding with all of that gear is NOT easy!  Felt good to make it so far on our first day.  Met another cyclist named Marcus today.  He gave us a bunch of tips and advice on places to see and go.  Oh, for lunch today Chris got a can of coconut milk.  pretty weird craving.  We had it with blueberry jam and french bread.  Found another great little camping site right beside the road on what looks like a dirt bike trail.

and so it begins...

10 miles Victoria - Thetis Lake

Today we finally headed out of victoria.  on our bikes for the first time with all of our gear!  We spent most of the day finalizing our visa documents which we'll hopefully be picking up on our arrival in Anchorage.  Before getting on the road we made a final appearance at Green Cuisine (awesome vegan buffet) and stopped at the Butchart Gardens with my parents.

We made it about 2 miles before Chris realized that we had left our spare tires back at the hotel we stayed at.  We went back, but they had cleaned out the room and thrown them away.  While I sat in the lobby Chris had a dumpster diving adventure.  When he returned with the tires we headed out for the second time, making a pit stop at 'Noodle Box' so that we could have dinner in style.  With noodles in hand we began to ride on the Galloping Goose trail.  We stopped for the night at Thetis Lake.  Set camp up in the woods and ate our noodles atop a high hill overlooking the lake and distant city.