After going to the Bike Show and being all happy about talking to the Marin Bikes Distributor, I followed up with him on several occasions for 2 weeks, (2 emails+1 phone call) that were NEVER returned :/ so I finally gave up on the option of doing my Cross-Canada Tour on the Marin Four Corners.
This sucks big time since I had my heart set on that bike and it delayed me for about 3 weeks, now i have sold my commuter bicycle so I can't ride/train for the trip until Friday March 16 I was dealing with Insomnia and around 2am I saw on craigslist an ad selling an used 1993 Trek 520 Touring Bicycle for $700 up in Thornhill. The pictures weren't clear and right away thought "well, an old bicycle is better than no bicycle" so I emailed the seller just to receive a reply right away (I guess he had insomnia as well)
The next day it was going to be a crazy day because I had to work in the morning and then play a gig at night for St Patrick's. On top of that I was hoping my buddy and boss Trevor could drive me all the way there to pick-up the bicycle before someone else would show up first and get it. I kept on emailing the guy to hold the bike for me (which he did) and once I was there I saw although the bicycle was 20 years old it looked like it had never been ridden at all. The condition was mint with not even a scratch and all the components were almost new. It was my size (56 cm) and Dark Forest Green. I took it for a spin around the block and it felt great. Once I was back I offered the seller $650 which he accepted kindly and put it in the back of Trevor's truck.
I got myself a top of the line Touring Bicycle handmade in USA which is 20 years old but, at the same time I saved myself almost $600 from the price I was willing to pay for the Marin so now I can buy more accessories or use it towards the trip.
Like that old Rolling Stones tune says: 

"You can't always get what you want...
but if you try sometimes, well you just might find....you get what you need"

This whole last minute lucky strike reminded me of a particular scene from my favourite show "Long Way Round" when Charley Boorman has his heart set on KTM for their motorcycle adventure while Ewan McGregor likes BMW, they get denied the sponsorship and bikes from KTM based on the conception that they would fail to complete the round-the-world trip and then they decided to go with BMW just to prove them wrong. At the it was a better choice and they succeeded on their adventure.
But I felt so identified with Charlie's rant, hahaha, bye bye Marin, hello Trek 520!
Pictures and name of the bike to be revealed soon....

Countdown to the Trip = 76 Days left.