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Published: June 15th 2009
June 4, Thursday
Today I had a mission to get all the way to Vernon BC. Sheila indicated about 8 1/2 hours of riding though she doesn't figure in gas and coffee stops with that, so I was packed up and on the road, with jacket plugged in, at 41 degrees, by 8:00 am. Riding through absolutely gorgeous country, I crossed into Idaho and with a few coffee stops, rolled up the Canadian Border. The agent, with less than steller attitude started asking me questions. "Where were you born, where do you live, what do you do for a living?" (All typical) "What other states have you lived in?" (not typical). I think I made a mistake telling him simply that I was retired, rather than saying I am a retired "air traffic controller" because he stayed very suspicious and told me to pull into a parking slot and that he'd bring my passport out to me. I did so, and knowing that a standard procedure is to observe one under stress, I stopped the bike, got out my book and started reading. Stress that Mister Not-Polite Canadian. About 15 minutes later he brings out my passport and says "
You're on your way." I wanted to ask him what was the point, but thought better of it. Let them have their little power trip since it really didn't matter about the 15 minutes. I pulled in at Creston BC for another coffee and to get some advice for a good riding route to Vernon. Armed with both, I headed north for Nelson BC, running along through lakeshore and mountain roads. The scenery was even better than this morning. This part of Canada is simply overwhelmingly beautiful. Eventually one is simply overloaded with amazing sights, and each burst through the mountain pass opening onto a new vista is just another WOW moment. Cameras can not do justice to the views, kind of like watching the Indy 500 on TV as compared to seeing the cars whip by in real life. On through Nelson, and Nikusp, a short ferry from Fauquier across Lower Arrow Lake to Needles, and west to Vernon. I pulled in within 5 minutes of my original ETA, greeted Deb, and had a good stretch. We had a picnic supper at the beach, a nice ending to a long day, about 10 hours including stops.
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