The travels of the Rambling Roses: Oh! Canada....My home and native land...... Aug 22

August 22-----100.82 in 8:30. How in the hell did my Atlantic to Pacific tour, turn into a Mexico to Canada tour? As soon as I waded across the Rio Grande into Mexico, the seed started to grow. Today it came to fruition. We were only 62 miles from Canada, and we were stuck just sitting in Sand Point waiting for the RV to get finished. I was going to do it anyhow, so today was the perfect day. I got a late start, because it was cold out (in the fifties), and it looked like it was going to rain. I headed north on US 95/US2, and the first ten miles were brand new asphalt, so I was loving the great road and smooth surface. After that, the road got skinnier and rougher, and the poor road continued all the way to Canada. Idaho is just not a bicycle friendly state. Any place there was a shoulder, it had those foot wide rumble strips in them, which is great for sleepy drivers, but is terrible for bikes. I went through one town of about 2000 people, Bonners Ferry, and the road was worse there than in the country areas. It was about thirty miles into the ride, and I stopped there and ate at Subway. There was lots of farms on the route, and they were all harvesting their grain or hay, so things were busy. Logging trucks were also flying by in both directions. This is one of the very few ways to get into Canada in this mountainous region, so all truck traffic, and camper traffic, kept me alert on the narrow road. As I got closer to Canada, the road became more desolate, with forests and mountains replacing farms. I climbed over 4000 ft again, with three significant climbs, amongst the rollers, but I also descended over 4000 ft, so it was up and down some.

When I got to the border, I went past the US border, but I didn't actually go through Canada's border station. I took my picture, and went back to the US border station, a way that I shouldn't have, I guess,because I got their attention, and as I parked by bike, I was approached by a US border agent, and she questioned me, gave me hell, and checked my ID. The border stations were between two steep mountains, and it was a very isolated crossing, unlike what the eastern border crossings are like. After a quick snack and water refill, I turned around, with my Mexico-Canada tour completed. I retraced my pedals, and before long I realized I wasn't going to make it back home before dark. I called Pam, who was dealing with the RV people and putting pictures onto the blog all day, and after making it back through Bonners Ferry, Pam and the Jeep found me right before dark, and right after riding a century, my second in two weeks. We stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken on the way home, and I feasted on the greasy calories, but it was GREAT! Now, back to the Atlantic to Pacific thing!