Thursday, August 4, 2016

CANADA!! Bike Yeah!!

Day 59 - August 4th
40.6 miles
Total: 2409.3 miles
Moving Avg: 9.3 mph
Overall Avg: 5.4 mph

This morning we woke to a clear sky, and a very dew covered tent. We set our tent fly out to dry as we packed up. The sign at the camp said sprinklers turn on at 7:30, so we aimed to have camp broken by then. We did, but no sprinklers ever turned on. No matter, the early rise gave us time to hit up a diner before hitting the road.

Fueled up, and ready to enter Canada, we made the eleven mile ride to the Canadian border. The "entering canada" side had a single man in a bounty hat who asked us a handful of simple questions. The "entering usa" side had about twenty thousand laser guided cameras, heat sensors, and terrorism antideterrants mounted for each of the four lanes entering the state of Montana.

We were told that when we arrived in Canada we would see more bears, and I can definitively say that after one afternoon in Canada, this is simply not the case. No bears for us today, just lots of beautiful scenery. Our route took us along a farmed valley before briefly cutting over a very clear Elk River to Lake Koocanusa. Koocanusa is a word Mashup of Kootenai  (The National Forest we were passing through), Canada, and USA.

In the afternoon we made a lunch stop at the Dairy Bar, where we had a Canadian Classic dish of poutine for lunch. Naturally, I downed it with an ice cream treat (my second of the day). For being a very "wild" area, there sure is a lot of opportunities to be semi-civilized. Then again, I don't know how civilized one can be if they have ice cream two to three times in a day.

When we finally arrived in Elko, we decided to get a hotel for the night. We figured that it might be nice to get a shower, and spoil ourselves for making it to Canada. We still have a couple hundred miles to go, but this will likely be our last hotel for this vacation.

As the afternoon wore on, I heard a cyclist roll past the window. It was Audrey, from back in the days of Colorado.  Audrey was the kind soul who stole us off the highway in Colorado and brought us to the fourth of July celebration outside of Steamboat Springs. She is now tackling her southbound battle of the Great Divide Route. We had an enjoyable evening of catching up and sharing trail stories before calling it a night.

Tomorrow is our first full day of Canada riding, but it will still be mostly civilized.

Live life at a slower place.

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