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By Johnny, December 22, 2009 12:42 am

This past Sunday, I had the privilege to be part of a conclusion to an incredible journey made by Victoria Merriman. About 4 months ago, Victoria set-out on a journey which began 4,000 miles away in Boston Harbor. Victoria’s adventure brought her through 12 states and multiple blog entries which she took the time to give us a play-by-play description of her journey. I should know because I’ve been reading her blog since she was traveling through Texas. I actually went back and read all her posts since the beginning or even before the trip so when I met her I felt like I already knew her. Of course, I was teased for being the “super fan” of the night, when in reality it was a privilege just to meet someone so courageous as herself. Did I forget to mention to you that she did all this by herself? Yup, something that myself and many out there would be scared to death to do, she courageously accomplished.

I was invited to welcome her at 3:30 – 4PM on Sunday. The welcoming party consisted of friend’s of Victoria as well as folks she had met when she was in LA 6 months ago. We were informed by text that she was 3 miles away and she would arrive by the bike path. We hustled down from the pier to the bike path and waited for 15 minutes. She arrived to a roar of cheers and applauds. Here’s a quick video I took of her approach.

She quickly got off her bike and greeted everyone. Her emotions then got hold of her and she was crying with much deserved tears of joy. She celebrated her arrival in similar fashion as her departure by dipping the “Supertour” and submerging into the Pacific ocean. I remembered reading how she loved swimming and recalled from her recent posts that she hasn’t done much of that so it was nice seeing her getting in the water.

After a few minutes of soaking in all that is happening, we finally made our way to a public bathroom so she could “freshen up” for our celebratory meal and drinks. We decided to go to a restaurant in Santa Monica which was about a mile away called Library Alehouse. I had the pleasure of riding her bike over to the location for her. As predicted, I was the first one there since everyone still had to walk to their car, find parking, and walk to the restaurant. Isn’t bicycling great! I must digress.

While we waited to be seated she was interrogated by everyone about details of her journey. Something she must have done through-out her journey so I’m sure she was used to it by now. I confessed to her my favorite story was when she got to fly a plane without even planning for it. She obliged and entertained the crowd with the step-by-step account of that day. It was like I was reading her blog again.

We eventually got seated and ordered our food and drinks. More stories were told at the table and more questions was asked. It was great for me to hear a voice to the written words on her blog. It was even better to get a sneak peak of what had happened after her last blog post. At the time of this post, I didn’t know what happened to her from San Diego till now. We had mentioned to the waitress what we were celebrating and she congratulated the accomplishment by comping us 3 dessert plates for us to share. The manager also came by to chat with Victoria about her trip.

Our meal ended close to 10PM. We exited the establishment and took some group photos and got some solo shots with our heroine. Here is my shot.

Everyone said their good byes including myself. She is such an inspiration that I can’t wait to go on my camping trip next week. That’s right, I’m going on a 4 day excursion to Lake Cachuma up near Santa Barbara by bike. Even though the trip is only 200 miles, Victoria was excited for me which I know she’s taking pity on my meager mileage given the fact she just finished 4000 miles.

Read her blog to find out more about her journey at http://www.victoriasblog.com. She’s a great writer and you will be entertained as much as I was.

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By Johnny, August 14, 2007 11:37 pm

On this day, we had a quick breakfast at McDonalds. Funny to see that there is a “Canadian Idol” ad on the walls of the restaurant. We took the ferry across to Victoria. Endured a 1 hour ride into town and walked all over the place. Almost got stranded there due to a bomb threat on the way back. Luckily they loaded everyone in a huge cruise ship and we made it back ok.

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By Johnny, July 29, 2007 10:14 pm

We’re back at Tammy’s place right now. We decided to grab some dim-sum this morning in Richmond, British Columbia. It’s like a Alhambra or Monterey Park of Canada. The dim-sum experience was pretty different. First of all, there isn’t any carts perusing the aisles of tables. Instead, you order from a sheet of paper similar to a sushi menu. Of course, none of us knew how to read or write Chinese so we had to dictate to the waitress what we wanted. Before we went to British Columbia, I was told by many people that the best dim-sum in world was in BC. It was even better than San Francisco or even Hong Kong. Bold statement until we had ours. It was in fact the best dim-sum ever! The har gow and shui mai was large and plump. Every order was excellent!

Victoria, British Columbia was also a good experience. We rode in and out of Victoria to our ferry on the local bus. We only had 3 hours to walk around town. I know we didn’t see all of Victoria but we had to get going. It was mass chaos getting back on the ferry. At first, they did not allow anyone to board but eventually they sent us all in without even charging us a fare. Apparently there was a security issue so they had to load the last ferry. We were exhausted when we got back to the hotel after a late dinner.

We’ll be going home tomorrow. Before that we’re planning to check out the Chinatown in Seattle since we haven’t been there yet. It was a good vacation and I’ll definitely visit these places again. Next time, on planes instead of our 2,000 mile drive.

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By Johnny, July 28, 2007 11:15 am

I’m onboard a ferry from Vancouver to Victoria. It’s suppose to be an hour and half boat ride. We decided to leave the car here and go on foot and public transportation over at Victoria.

We arrived in British Columbia yesterday. Took the “Big Bus” tour around the city. The city seems more busier than any of the other cities we’ve been. There seems to be more asians up here. From Chinese to Vietnamese. My sister noticed that there were 2 types of people: tourists and the Canadians who hate the tourists. Needless to say, she’s not liking it. Me on the other hand can see myself living here. Of course I don’t have any issues living anywhere. Except places of high humidity and heat. I must digress.

Canadian money is interesting. San still don’t know how to use it. I think I got a good understanding. It’s basically like American money except that dollars are in coin and they have $2 coins are also used.

Alright, were well on our way to Victoria! I’ll write more when the chance presents itself.

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By Johnny, July 20, 2007 12:04 am

For my first major trip of the year, we will be going to watch the Moto GP Round 11 race in Laguna Seca this coming Sunday. Rossi for his first win! We will then drive through the Bay Area to finally reach Beaverton, Oregon. After a couple of days, we’ll be going to Seattle, Washington. We will then go to Vancouver, British Columbia and Victoria Island. We’ll then take a one-way flight back at the end of the trip. This will be my first attempt to blog on the road. Stay tuned for updates!