Early Tuesday morning on July 2nd, in front of our home in Kits in Vancouver with my good friend and Co-Pilot Rich Galan. We are about to start a journey from Victoria, BC to St. John's Newfoundland and then back to Vancouver through the USA. It's raining but nothing will dampen our spirits. Rich will be with me for the first leg of Mary Ann's Electric Drive from Vancouver to Calgary. I'm so happy he's joining me. Since Mary Ann passed away in June of last year I needed the support of my friends and Rich has been a true friend and I couldn't be more pleased that he is the first of many co-pilots to accompany me on this trip that will most likely last for 9 weeks. Side note: When I say our home I am referring to Mary Ann my late wife and me as in OURS) Mary Ann is not physically with me but she is with me in Spirit and she will be always with me, espescially in my heart! So this start is quite emotional as I take this trip as we planned a few years ago and I can't wait to get started and I encourage you to follow along.
The blog is a great way to do this but an even better way is for you to:
1. Download the app on your smartphone called "POLARSTEPS"
2. Once downloaded please go to www.polarsteps.com
3. Please subscribe and enter the requested info like your name and email address as this way you will not have any delay in getting the latest photos and stories as they happen in real time. Then search for Harvey Soicher and request to follow my trips or simply click here and you will get right to Mary Ann's Electric Drive. https://www.polarsteps.com/harveysoicher
You can also use this app for your own trips. Check it out it's amazing!!
Or simply follow along with this link without subscribing. https://www.polarsteps.com/harveysoicher/1873708-mary-ann-s-electric-drive
When I first started thinking about going coast to coast I imagined putting the car into the Pacific Ocean and then do the same on the other side of Canada into the Atlantic. This was step 1. Rich was a bit nervous as their was lots of construction and debris around this location at Ogden Point just a few minutes from "MILE 0" but he was totally for completing this task and he took a great photo!
Now I just got the front wheels wet but not the whole car as I didn't want to short it out! I dared not going any further!!!
Well here it is the official start of Mary Ann's Electric Drive. The next sign post identifying the mile designation will be in St. John's Newfoundland. The journey will take approximately 5 weeks. So stay tuned.......
Just to make sure you know that My new Audi is not fully autonomous here is a photo of Rich and me.... Rich doesn't know this yet but he will be doing most of the driving but I'm sure he will not be complaining as this new Audi drives like a dream and those are his words.
Right after taking photos at Mile 0 we went to the Beagle Pub and to comermerate the start of Mary Ann's Electric Drive. Front left, Maureen, a good friend from North Vancouver and her girl friend Patti who she was visiting in Victoria and Rich and your's truly!
After lunch I had an meeting close to Bear Mountain Golf Course so since we were so close and the fact that there was a charger there we headed to the course for twilight golf. Bear Mountain is an amazing Golf Resort and one of the best in Canada. There are 2 courses the Mountain Course and the Valley Course. The views from the Mountain Course are amazing.
Here is a shot of us on the 14th green a par 3 with one of the best views of Victoria.
This is the green on the par 3 # 16.
After our round the staff of Bear Mountain Adam and Daniel took care of cleaning our clubs and brought them up the car for us. Super nice guys!
We had a nice dinner at the club served to us by Alan who entertained us during our dinner. We had a full day went to our hotel and crashed. That's it for Day 1 Sorry about the delay you will get updates much earlier tomorrow.