The sale of a vehicle should be a relatively straightforward and unemotional experience; this was not to be the tale of the Cream Dream.

The Dream was a constant driving force through the last 7 years of our lives. Arriving from distant sunny shores into the cold, dreary winters of Vancouver, BC, the Dream adapted to it’s new habitat with winter tires, a roof box, bike racks and months of damp ski-boot smell. Pretty soon, we had ventured from the beachbreaks and green expanses of the Pacific Northwest to the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains with barely a whimper from our trusty Swedish brick. A perpetually-evolving collection of badges provided the character and immediate street credibility required to secure priority parking from Sombrio to Kootenay Pass, and cut through any simmering localism with a smile and a wave and Bob Marley blasting from the speakers.

I bought into the Dream a scant year into the budding relationship with my now wife, and became invested with much more than money and aftermarket parts from iPd. There’s never a shortage of excitement when you’re living the Dream, but all the detours and surprises along the way are just new plot twists in the story. Logging roads, sand dunes and the interlocking cobbles of Lombard St. were all just interesting developments in in a story that continues to be written.

There’s nothing quite like a wagon for the effective transport of gear. Our Dream was regularly shared with others, and it wasn’t uncommon to find upwards of 4 people, 4 pairs of skis, 4+ surfboards and/or a canoe to be found rumbling down some remote road. Maximum capacity for mountain biking was either 3 people and 3 bikes (completely contained inside the vehicle,) or 5 bikes and 5 people (with roof racks). The little 4 cylinder engine wasn’t always happy in second gear powering up Seymour, but we invariably arrived back home in comfort and style.

The recent sale of our Dream was bittersweet but for better or worse, life moves on. Or, more accurately, the Dream has been passed on to friend and now fellow Dreamer. It’s tough, but it seems reasonable to be upset by the loss of this inanimate member of our family. It’s only hard to let go because I now know we won’t be on any more adventures in this particular Dream… Life moves on, and we just try to keep up. Also, life moves fast, so we’re trying to get ahead of it with a truck and a snowmobile.

Goodbye Cream Dream, may you roam the wilds roads of North America forever.

With love,

Sterling and Caroline