That was just awesome.

I’ve dreamt of scooting in/around Victoria for a very long time, and we just spent four days doing exactly that. It was amazing – roads I’ve traveled a thousand times before take on an entirely new dimension when you’re on two wheels instead of four. Hell, we ended up in places I’d completely forgotten but somehow instinctively knew they would make for incredible scooting – and they did. While I could have easily spent another 3 or 4 days just riding around with a big silly grin on my face (as was noted by my riding partners more than once), I am wholly satisfied with how our trip turned out.

Thursday – Starting KM: 4852.2

We got up a little later than I intended, but as we were already packed, we just had to shower and feed the cats. We were on the road by 11am, and made the 1pm ferry with 25 minutes to spare. The ride there was a little unnerving; neither of us had traveled past the 99 North entrance off Bridgeport (which coincidentally is where the freeway starts and the speed limit leaps from 60 to 90). Oscar and the Dio handled the speed very well though, and while I wasn’t thrilled to have semis blazing past me at 100, I was able to keep a steady 85 the entire way.

I *hated* riding through the George Massey Tunnel, though. I didn’t have a chance to take my sunglasses off, and the tunnel was just a surreal experience of speed and large trucks and darkness. Also, I’m just plain afraid of that tunnel. It wasn’t until I was 30 or so that I realized those doors in the tunnel are NOT holding back the ocean and that I probably wouldn’t drown if those doors should ever crack or be opened, but that doesn’t mean that shiver of fear I get when traveling through it is gone.

Then we saw dolphins from the ferry, and who the hell can have any worries when you get to see dolphins playing?

We landed on the Island around 2:30, and made our way to my mom’s place. We took one of the most beautiful routes to get there, and one of the roads I had always wanted to ride. It was fantastic. We hung out for a bit to rest, then took off for some more riding and a yummy dinner at Romeo’s Place before returning for some “sleep” in the walnut-strewn basement.

Friday

I woke up with a horrible headache. Something about sleeping on a 6” pillow made of cement .. anyway, after my mom left for work I crawled into her bed to try and sleep off the unholy pain in my head. It didn’t work. I wasn’t about to let a migraine ruin my day, so I struggled through it and made my way outside. The day was gorgeous, so we rode forever. We even went to visit my dad, something I hadn’t done enough of. Tears flowed, but I felt a lot better after the visit and we enjoyed the rest of our afternoon. I was almost eaten by enormous mutant swans, and we hung out at the beach for a while before heading back home to go out for dinner with my mom.

It was time to check into our hotel, so we gathered our things and went to the really skanky room we were to call home for the next two days. I didn’t really care one way or another, but it WAS pretty disgusting and I had to make an emergency late night trip to Walmart to buy a hair dryer. We made it through the night and weren’t eaten by any of the horrible mystery stains, so I call it a win.

Saturday

Saturday morning was all about the errands. We had to visit my mom’s lawyer to sign some papers giving me power of attorney (which I later found out wasn’t supposed to be disclosed to anyone – oops), then off to the bank to sign MORE papers giving me power of paying mom’s bills if she suddenly decides to stop. We were finally done with the paperwork around 12:30, so we rode downtown to check out Scooter Underground. It was really cool – all the shop guys had boners over Ed’s Dio, and I bought a set of sexy saddlebags for Oscar. We stopped for lunch at a Mexican café, then headed back to the hotel to wait for Josh and Shan.

They rode out from Vancouver to come scoot with us, and I am super glad they did – we had so much fun. I got to take them on all my favourite Victoria roads and we were a mighty force to reckon with in all our scooter gang glory. We made another stop at Scooter Underground, and Shan bought an awesome armoured jacket and Josh a new helmet. Properly bedecked, we rode along the coastline and through Uplands before stopping at Romeo’s again for dinner.

On the way to dinner, I was hit by a bug. This isn’t anything new, but this time the bug decided to attack – whatever it was stung me on the side of my neck, and it HURT. Luckily we weren’t far from our destination, so I made it to the restaurant and immediately took an allergy pill and applied a topical bug cream. I was a little worried, as the bite had noticeably swelled and turned red – not to mention the stinging, burning pain and the weird body sensations radiating from the bite area. I was experiencing rolling waves of strangeness that left me with goose bumps and a bit of vertigo, but I seem to still be alive so all is good. My neck is itchy, though.

After dinner: more riding. We went out to View Royal and through Esquimalt and into downtown, where we stopped for a bit to enjoy the entertainment on Government Street. I love downtown Victoria at night during the tourist season. A crazy man treated us to a strip show, we had some gelato, and I was cold so I bought a hoodie. Good times!

Our sleeping arrangements were a little strange, but we eventually turned in for the night after a goodly amount of fun times.

Sunday

You can’t really go to Victoria and not visit Don Mee for dim sum, so we did just that. Afterwards, there was some wandering – the street market was on, so Shan and I did that while the guys went to MEC. While there, we found ourselves in the middle of Victoria’s Pride Parade! It was awesome, and I had no idea it was on. Shan and I watched from the market while Ed and Josh watched from across the street. SO COOL! I desperately want to dress Oscar up in rainbows and scoot in a Pride parade; I wonder if there’s a way to make that happen. It was completely awesome, and if we had known about it, we would have followed the parade to the park for the after party. Alas, we had to make our way towards the ferries to eventually head home, but it was still super cool to see.

The ride back to Swartz Bay was a blast. We tried to avoid the highway as much as possible, so we took almost any road that looked like it would get us there. We only failed at one point, necessitating a shoulder ride until the next exit. We also found ourselves trapped on the wrong side of the highway with no way out or to the ferries, so we rode up a bike bridge that crossed the 17 and walked our scooters over the road and past a bemused old woman with a bicycle. It was absolutely hilarious, and probably one of the trip highlights – I only wish we could have seen what we looked like from the road below; these four scooters and their riders in full safety gear walking high above the bridge and looking down upon the traffic, laughing.

Riding the ferry on a scooter is great. You’re automatically bumped to the front of the line, and you get to board first ahead of all the cars. It’s expensive – in fact, two scooters and two riders is exactly the same cost as a car with two passengers ($69 one way), but I would absolutely do it again. Right now. Let’s go!

Seriously, the whole trip was just amazing. I’m still a little giddy, because it was pretty much everything I had hoped it would be. I think our next adventure is going to take us to the Sunshine Coast, but after that I’d like to go to Victoria again – there’s a Warhol exhibit at the Victoria Art Gallery that I’d love to see, so why not. Scooter trips, hooray!

So much fun. And after a good night’s sleep in my own bed, my ass doesn’t even hurt any more!

Ending KM: 5241.2