Journey in the YL Van

In my most recent trip to Langley I had the privilege of exploring the area in the Young Life van. The van is a 15 - passenger monstrosity with a dark blue paint job, and Young Life logos plastered on all four sides. You can't miss the aluminum cargo box on top, which, at the time, was carrying a random bike just in case. No doubt it belonged to one of the YL kids, and was placed there to give me a good scare when I hit a bump, and the thud of the bike crashing back to the aluminum echoed through the roof. Anyways, I was really excited for the opportunity to drive around the area, and to kind of get myself used to the roads in Langley. I left my hosts' home, Dave and Christina's, around 9 with the goal of picking up the fundraiser programs from Staples, and then making my way to the Sonbuilt office to continue the search for an apartment. The day before Carmen helped me pick out a really nice looking map of Greater Vancouver. It was colorful, in book form (not one that had to be unfolded, and then folded again) and seemed to have everything from parks to shopping areas. With my sweet map, I hopped into the monster, and was off.

I kind of felt ridiculous leaving the driveway with 4 rows of of empty seats behind me, but oh well. My first mission was to reach Staples, and luckily I had been there before, so I at least began the day with a solid idea of where I was going and how to get there. I reached my first right turn, and after almost completing the turn, one side of the rear end rocks up and slams down. My first curb casualty of the day.  No big deal, I was used to driving large trucks with trailers attached when I worked at the cemetery and landscaping company. Just as I reminded my self that I could get used to the van, I gazed down at the speedometer and quickly moved my foot to brake. The gauge read 43 mph, and I was in a residential area. Immediately I began to wonder what would happen if I got a ticket in Canada? A few moments later I remembered I was going 43 kilometers per hour, which is just over 25 mph. Metric is weird.

After reaching Staples, I continued to my next destination, the Sonbuilt office. I had been there a couple of times before, but never driving myself. I knew that it was east into Aldergrove, but other than that I knew nothing. Its not fun to explore and can hardly be considered an adventure if you know all the details, right? I know its not manly to admit, but I got lost. Not just a little lost, I lost my bearings for a solid 3 hours. I saw the same intersection multiple times, drove past the same city workers on a few occasions, found some cool curvy roads, gawked at the mountains to the north, but never got remotely close to the office. Probably the most embarrassing part is that people began to recognize me, then again who wouldn't notice a monster van with logos spread on every flat area.

After burning through a lot of gas, and asking for directions at a variety of locations, I stumbled into the office parking. Although it took me over four hours to complete a trip that should have been less than one, it was a success. I definitely got used to driving the ginourmous van, learned more about the roads/areas of Langley, trained my brain to accept metric, and took some cool pictures!

When Liz and I were both in Canada in August there was a solid curtain of cloudy smoke covering the mountains. Suprisingly, August is very dry and there are many forest fires, leaving the horizon hidden. Outlines were barely visible, but Jonathan and Carmen promised they were there. Yeah they were! As I was blundering around Langley I took many pictures to bring back and show off.

This is Mt. Baker in Washington. It dominates the horizon when driving SE out of Langley on the Trans-Canada highway.

Here's a picture of the Fraser River, which is the northern border of Langley Township, and the Golden Ears Mountains hanging out behind the fall foliage.