Month: May 2016

Hope – Rambo, First Blood

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With the temperatures rising and Summer around the corner I decided to take a little trip. The destination: “Hope”, a tiny town in the British Columbia woods North East of Vancouver which would not probably go unnoticed if it wasn’t for Sylvester Stallone and Ted Kotcheff who created one of the most iconic and well known movie characters of all time in this little town in 1982. The movie filmed there was First Blood which kick started Silvester Stallones movie career.

 

The Canadian town of Hope was chosen for it’s somber, triste feeling and remoteness and the fact that nobody had ever heard of it let alone knew it was in Canada. It was supposed to be just any random unimportant small towns in the US.

Before we begin a tour through the town let’s set the mood with Dan Hill’s First Blood end credit’s song.

One of the first scenes shows John Rambo entering the city which welcomes its visitors with a giant 100 years anniversary log sign that reads “Gateway to Holidayland”.

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Though the sign isn’t in its original location anymore it still exists a few hundred meters past that spot.

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The Shell gas station you can see in the picture above is later being blown up by Rambo. It was rebuilt in the same spot.

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After entering the town Rambo soon meets his nemesis Sheriff Teasle (Brian Dennehy) for the first time. Teasle feels that being a Korean war veteran himself he was forgotten and never got any recognition by the American public while Vietnam veterans like Rambo were getting all the attention. This unspoken premise sparks the madness that ensues across the following two hours of movie history.

Note the Chevron Gas Station in the back (blue-red arrows).

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Teasle was blocking Rambo’s path coming from the exit on the right.

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A little ahead the Chevron gas station also still exists.

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Later Rambo shoots through it on a motorcycle trying to escape from Teasle.

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Leading up to this chase Rambo gets arrested by Teasle for bogus reasons (vagrancy and resisting arrest if I recall correctly) and brought to the local police station. The movie featured the real police station of Hope.

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Note the white building outside with the red letters. (Also young Horatio Caine/David Caruso from CSI Miami in the background.)

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Like Rambo does, he later blows up the police station too which is why this building is gone today and in it’s place there is a little park with a wooden sculpture. Looks to me like the city of Hope abandoned the concept of ‘police’ after what happened in 1982 because I haven’t seen a new police station in the town. I don’t blame them.

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After having been arrested Rambo soon bust out of jail and steals the motorcycle mentioned earlier. (Yamaha XT250)

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The same location today. (Kawasaki KLR 650)

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Looking the opposite direction: Rambo takes off. In the back, the white building with the red letters.

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Rambo’s perspective today. The building which could be seen from the police stations window has been repainted since.

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To avoid road traffic and to shake off Teasle (who follows Rambo in his police cruiser) Rambo drives on the sidewalk at high speed. Stallone did most of his stunts himself and also got badly insured when jumping from a cliff onto a tree. Several times.

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The sidewalk today. In the frame above Rambo just passed the red car to my right.

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Rambo (John J.) heads for the mountains in hopes of losing Teasle there.

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The same railroad crossing he passes in the movie is still in operation today.

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The production didn’t bother repainting the ambulances of British Columbia which deal with the wounded that Rambo leaves behind. Unlike in the book Rambo never actually kills anybody in the whole movie. Stallone insisted on this change to make the character more likable and identifiable and to not send the wrong message about returning Vietnam war veterans, dehumanizing them on camera even more than the public was already doing.

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BC’s ambulances still look the same today.

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After having been chased through the woods Rambo is back in the town looking for refuge. This time he is not unarmed.

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The same location today.

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This is where I ended my Rambo tour. It was getting dark and I still had a few hundred km of riding ahead of me. If you haven’t seen the movie go watch it! It’ might surprise you.

I left Hope one more time passing the spot where Rambo makes his first appearance.

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New motorcycle and center stand install

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I decided to get a Kawasaki KLR 650. The cheapest powerful enough dual sport bike on the market. As you can imagine it’s balance between power, quality and cost. But it does what it is supposed to do and has proven itself over the past two decades during which this model has only gone through one major update which to a large degree was a cosmetic one. Never change a running system Kawasaki probably though. It’s the most popular dual sport bike in North America.

My brother (who also lived in Canada until recently) had a KLR and since he happened to move I was in luck and ‘inherited’ his bike.

Motorcycle insurance is stupidly expensive in British Columbia. It’s so expensive that if you were to get full comprehensive coverage for two years you’d be better off buying a new (used) bike every two years. The cost drop by 80% (!!!) if you have had your car drivers license for 10 years (I still need 3 more years). Yes, don’t ask me how that makes sense.

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My brother had bought old (empty!) ammunition cans from the US and mounted them to the bike as panniers. They are just the right dimensions, surprisingly sturdy and even water sealed. Just a lock is missing but there’s a solution for that too.

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To get the bike ready for adventures I installed the SW Motech center stand he had gotten but not yet mounted. Having a center stand is crucial for maintenance work on the road like changing tires, changing the oil, adjusting/changing chain and sprockets,…

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The procedure was simple. I took off the foot pegs on both sides to put two mounting plates between them and the frame which would serve as attachment points for the stand.

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This was quickly done and the only thing left was to attach the two springs which keep the stand off the ground when the bike is not currently sitting on it.

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To lift up the weight of the bike there is a leaver on the stand on which you can place your foot and put your whole body weight on it while simultaneously yanking the bike up and backwards with your right hand.

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With the necessary force and leverage the bike slides back lifting the rear wheel off the ground. And because the stand is almost exactly in the middle it is also possible to easily tip the bike to the back to access the front wheel allowing maintenance on both wheels.

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Welcome to beautiful British Columbia

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This is the undeniably true tourism slogan of the most western Canadian Province bordering the USA, British Columbia. After a few months of working in Germany I signed a contract with Image Engine, in Canada. I decided it was best to leave my BMW at home in Vienna and look for an alternative in Canada.

 

Like most major Canadian cities Vancouver borders the US in the South. The city is know for it’s rainy climate during fall and winter. There is no such thing as London weather once you have experienced Vancouver during this period. Spring and summer however make up for it big time.

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The ‘little’ green peninsula on the center right on the image above is Stanley Park. It’s one of the biggest city parks in the world and unlike most parks it is not perfectly cultivated. It’s the same kind of rain forest you can find anywhere else in B.C. The park is named after Lord Stanley who was one of the first kind of prime ministers of Canada. He is also name giver to the Stanley Cup, the big final tournament of each season of the (North American) National Hockey League (NHL).

 

The look of the Vancouver skyline is dominated by apartment buildings of which each floor has balconies, surprisingly all the way to the top.

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Vancouver is ideal for any kind of outdoors sports. Lot’s of biking routes and hiking opportunities. Kayaking and rowing are also very popular. Some people even play hockey!

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While Vancouver globally speaking is a very new city it is astounding to find out that tall buildings like this brick building below can be up to a century old.

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The city has one of the biggest China Towns which is often used for movie shoots to double as Asia.

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Because the the city faces the sea in the west there are no mountains to block the sunset which is often very colorful.

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Fishing is also big in Vancouver and naturally all along the coast like in the little fishing village of Steveston just a few dozen km south of metro Vancouver. Surprisingly in Vancouver fish is quite expensive. However here in Steveston the prices are very competitive. Freshly caught salmon is just a tad more expensive than chicken by the pound. (Unlike the US Canada seems to be on the fence about whether to use imperial or metric units so they use a bit of both..)

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