welcome to califonia

after a few phone calls we were heading south with 4 strangers to san francisco, california.
the driver, some kind of naked elvis impersonator from LA. A later 20's girl from oakland, a dominatrix/humanitarian. a younger girl, 18, also from LA, real essentric. and a hesh skater/chef from portland. we stopped a few times for snacks and pisses over the 10+ hour drive. the ride was quite enjoyable. we're in san fran now. bright vibrant city. lots of colour, music and interesting people. street skating is dangerous.

in a hurry... explain more later.

portland

after 12 hours of travel by bus, train and foot,
we finally made it to our Portland accommodation ONLY TO BE DENIED.
the hostel was full. so were the others. it appeared we were sleeping on the
street this particular night. luckily, we got tipped off by a nice motorcycle enthusiast.
colin used his godlike-public-transit-navigation skills to get us out to the country.
it was as if we bused from dtT.O. to oakville. morale was at an all time low. we werent
even in portland anymore. low and behold, the accommodation turned out to be gatsby's
american dream. a huge estate featuring its own vineyard, brewery, distillery, spa, golf course, vegetable garden and JERRY GARCIA sculpture. we laughed like dracula for awhile in our white
robes, soaking it up in the huge hot tubs. that night we wet our whistles with some seattleites and a selfproclaimed kewi. wake up was followed by a 12 oclock wine tour - ha!

pictures to come.

boarder patrol

some conversation highlights between
the boarder patrol officer and myself:

bp "do you know anyone in denver?"
jl "...what? ..why?"
bp "do you know anyone in DENVER!?!!"
jl "no."

after tearing apart all my belongings, the bp officer
pulls out a ziplock bag full of multivitamins.

bp "so what do we have here"
jl "multivitamins?"
bp "that's what i thought. im going to send you
back to canada."

i was eventually granted access to the US, not before
a long drawn out affair. me alone, and the drug sniffing dog.

vancouver in words

people dressed in black.....scenesters

girls in tights

exercise

flowers(cheap)

sushi(cheap)

"green" condos (expensive)

glass buildings

people arent fat....just asian

everything is new

everyone is really rich....or homeless

starbucks

bye-bye canada

yesterday i stepped on a young girls toes.

she was standing eerily close to me as i made a quick pivot to the side.

my momentum kept my weight back and i couldn't 

step off; her cries of anguish were extended for longer than i 

would have liked.  to make matters worse, she was wearing barebone

flats.  her toes must have been destroyed - i refused to apologize.

some highlights....

mark emory in the flesh, a free man.  

18 pieces of sushi for $6.

street skating

the foundation - veg. cuisine

colin and i getting MEC tech.

  

can't escape the great white north

we're still in canada.  

some unexpected news from the mainland

had us flee vancouver island in a hurry.  

two more nights in the city and we're off

for PORTLAND, OREGON by train.

tofino pics

Mears Island -

the pacific rim coastal temperate

rainforest.  its got some really

big trees.

 

clayquot sound/tofino

yoyo.
we're in tofino after a long ass bus ride
it hasnt stopped raining yet since we've been here (a day and a half)
the tree are ridiculous....they look like apartment buildings (we'll post some pictures)
we're spending way too much money...canada is too expensive
gotta pick up the pace and get out of north america....

this place is dope though....so lush and tropic-like
just rains a lot.....doesnt look like we'll get to surf in tofino...but whatever..

we ate chinese food from Garys kitchen last night..
afterwards we decided its the last time we'll ever eat chinese food

vancouver

two nights in vacouver so far.

had to buy backpacks and repack.

we got too much stuff.

goodbyes to leah and the katia.

lots of walking, lots of eating.

heading west to victoria and tofino.

close call

as a final fairwell to jasper, we climbed our favourite viewpoint, old fort point. uptop, a heard of bighorn sheep grazed the grassy meadow, almost unaware of our existence. 40 minutes later upon our descent we stumble upon the heard at a lower elevation. they were occupying an area that formed the shape of a bottle neck. beyond them was the long stariway to ground level - the only safe passage down. we cautiously side stepped the heard only to find another renegade further down. he looked spooked by something out of sight. suddently, without warning, not one, but two well developed males come barreling over a hill 20 feet from us. we were trapped in a 10 foot gap, backed by a steep incline stariwell and parallelled by two cliffs. there wasnt anywhere to go. last second, the sheep took a sharp turn left, one after another. they were being chased by dog. all three animals bolted out of sight leaving me breathless, bent forwards, hands on both knees. if i were struck at the speed they were running, i would have been sent into outerspace. close call..

jl

final day in jasper

last day of an 11 day homeless

sprint. bedhopping is tiresome.

tomorrow morning at 1:2o am we journey west to vancouver by bus with two friends, brooke and sally.

JL

we hate work

2 more days of employment at maligne lake.
we're cold, tired and ready to leave.
the plan is Amerika. 30 days. train.
than central america for as long as possible.
staying warm. living messily. hopefully some tennis.