When Leah arrived at work directing traffic at a construction site, she didn’t expect to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colors and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.

“I think it’s great,” she smiled as she took photos of the vehicle. “I think it’s very unique.”

Although many people who have stopped to admire this one-of-a-kind vehicle call it “artistic,” its creator initially did not.

“I didn’t consider myself an artist,” says Lyle Brown-John, adding that he worked as a grocery store baker for 35 years. “We were getting a bit creative with decorating cakes and such. »

But her cakes have never made so many strangers stop and take countless photos.

“I’m like, ‘Whoa!'” A woman laughs after taking a drive-by photo of Lyle’s van. “‘What was that?!”

It was a 1951 Austin Panel Van, until Lyle heard about art cars and, rather than decorating a cake, began embellishing his vehicle.

“I put the roof racks and the boxes on,” says Lyle. “And I extended it with a chair.”

And on that chair, Lyle put a stuffed moose — wearing boots, jeans, a plaid shirt and boxing gloves — holding a shuttlecock.

“I call it ‘the moose on the roof,’” Lyle says. “But now people are encouraging me to change it to ‘Moose on the Loose’ because I’m on the road.”

Lyle says he has traveled almost all over British Columbia, up the west coast to California and across the Rockies to Saskatchewan.

“I’m trying to give it a Canadian theme,” Lyle says.

That’s why the van features nearly a dozen provincial and territorial license plates, a statue of a Mountie holding a hockey stick, a painting of totem poles recognizing this place, the First Nations, and dozens of stickers representing places across the country.

And there’s more to come. Lyle plans to take a cross-country trip in his moose mobile to Newfoundland.

“The odometer doesn’t work, nor does the fuel gauge,” Lyle says. “So I say it’s smiles per gallon and not miles per gallon.”

While the moose’s motive is fueled by smiles, Lyle is fueled by spreading positivity.

“It makes everyone smile,” Lyle smiles when another person stops to take a photo and asks about the moose’s motive.

“Yeah!” the woman smiles. “This is what we need!”

“I’m really happy to see him today,” agrees another man.

“That makes you happy,” Leah laughed as she took another photo. “It reminds me of Christmas!”

And it turns out to be a gift of sorts, wrapped in an unconventional vehicle and tied with a bow in the shape of a moose head, Lyle strives to give strangers a gift of pleasure all year round .

“We only have a limited time left here,” Lyle smiled. “Then try to do your best.”