BACK IN THE USA

Since before my previous report from Winnipeg, I had been advised by various sources that the Trans Canada Highway through parts of Ontario Province was narrow, busy, and hilly. It would therefore be better for me to cycle across the border, back into the USA for the stretch Eastwards, South of Lake Superior.

There were various options regarding where I could cross the border, but the day I left Winnipeg the wind was from the North, so I went due South. I was kindly escorted to the city limits by my Warmshowers host Art, on his reclining bike.

Although my US visa is valid for 10 years. I still need to get an entry permit at the border, and I had one for 6 months when I came into Arizona from Mexico. Now I entered the USA again, even before the first permit had expired, but because I had handed that card in when I entered Canada, they gave (sold) me a new permit which is valid for another 6 months.

On the Southern side of the border I found myself in North Dakota state, and I kept going South for a while until I caught Hwy 2 East at Grand Forks. Things in the grocery store were cheaper than in Canada once again, although I didn't really have the money to splash out. I then cycled through the Northern Mid-Western state of Minnesota, there were a lot of farming communities and people were very friendly. On the outskirts of the small town of Deer River I had a puncture late in the afternoon with the threat of an approaching storm, I asked to camp at the nearest house, and Wade Wilson suggested I sleep in his caravan to escape the rain - he also fed me and gave me a bag of snacks for the road.

There are also many lakes and Indian Reservations in the area, such as Red Lake and Lake Leech communities. The legendary Missisipi river has it's source in this region, where it is just a small stream which I crossed a few times.

Apparently the most Western American port accessible from the Atlantic Ocean is Duluth, a city at the SW tip of Lake Superior. There I arrived in the rain at Warmshowers hosts Leah, husband Jeray, & hound dog Sasha. We had a good bratwurst dinner, my laundry went into the washer for the first time in a while, and the following morning Leah escorted me on the bike paths and back roads to the bridge where I could cross over from Minnesota to Wisconson state. It was still somewhat rainy, so I was not surprised to be the only cyclist on the bridge-bike-path that day.

It didn't take me too long in the rain to reach the small town of Poplar, Wisconson. There I stayed with another Warmshowers host! (sometimes I'll spend 2 weeks filthy dirty, camping in the bush, now I have 2 luxury accommodations in a row!). Scott Lundberg owns the local hardware store (as well as some other interests in the area). I had the run of his personal "den", which is built off the garage/workshop where I could spread out my stuff to dry. Scott's wife was away and he wasn't going to cook for me, so he took me out for the best prime rib I can remember eating (and of course we made a turn at the local bar afterwards). The following day the weather had not yet cleared, so I decided to stay and work on Old Saartjie in the workshop (constant attention to the bike is necessary at this stage). Well, of course I was taken out again that night, this time for a "river bottom" gourmet pizza! I realized that this was a close community when we bumped into the lady from the visitor centre in Superior city, where I had obtained a road map when I entered Wisconson. When I said goodbye to Scott the following morning at his hardware store, he went overboard and even gave me some money to see me on my way (and I'm extremely grateful - although I wasn't supposed to say anything about the luxury treatment either, as other cyclists may expect the same!).

There is also a lot of Finnish and Swedish heritage in that region. Many Northern-European settlers arrived there generations ago (I guess they were bred to deal with that kind of weather), and they are still somewhat proud of their heritage. Even in Minnesota, where I stayed with (German) Leah and Jeray, they still maintain their roots. In those few states (Minnesota/Wisconson/Michigan) there were more Lutheran churches than what I have previously seen in total).

Mostly the road didn't run flush alongside Lake Superior, but sometimes it did. I was lucky one day, when on leaving the town of Marquette it looked like rain again. The sky cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. I found a nice secluded spot on the shore of Lake Superior, and set up an early camp. I could have a wash in the chilly waters of the largest fresh water lake, and also rinse out my cycling gear.

Lake Superior apparently has a big influence on the weather in the area. One afternoon in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan the sky suddenly darkened, and I quickly found shelter in the workshop of a logging camp (I'm particularly scared of the hail, which has nailed me a few times already). I chatted to the truck mechanic there while I waited, asking him about the weather prediction. He told me in simple terms:- "Welcome to the UP, if you want to know what the weather's gonna do, then wait 10 minutes". Well, I'm still a bit confused, because in the next hour it went from drizzle to hail to heavy showers, and just as suddenly the sun was shining again. During the worst of that storm I sheltered under the verandah of a church, and thinking that I may need to camp right there for the night I filled up with "holy water" from the gushing roof gutters (I needed it that night anyway, as I found a good spot to camp just down the road). On my last night in Michigan the sky looked threatening, and I saw a farmstead with a rather large barn. I headed down the drive, knocked on the door, and met Andy & Rhonda. I broke in their brand new horse barn (no horses inside yet), and they fed me a hearty egg-breakfast the following morning (fresh from the nest), and gave me a bag of boiled eggs for the road (my dinner that night).

My return to Canada was on a breezy day, at Sault Saint Marie. I'd cycled East through Minnesota on the Upper Peninsula North of Lake Michigan, and I'd reached the Eastern end of Lake Superior. Although the sign read "only motorized vehicles", for a toll fee of $1-50 I was allowed to access the rather long and narrow bridge. There was a gusting cross-wind on the bridge, and I had to stop a few times to let traffic pass. The bridge goes over the locks by which the ships can enter Lake Superior, but I had no time or space to take pictures of those interesting activities as I passed overhead. My Canadian visa is for a single entry only, but while it is still valid I'm allowed to cross the border to the USA and come back again - they just didn't stamp me "IN" again (pretend I've never left Canada, but that's OK with me).

Daily distances which I've cycled since my last report from Winnipeg have been:- Pembina (USA) 135 km; Drayton 64 km; Crookston 141 km; Bagley 101 km; Deer River 138 km; Floodwood 103 km; Duluth 74 km; Poplar 65 km; Hurley 143 km; Trout Creek 121 km; Michigamme 90 km; Shot Point 83 km; Seney 101 km; Brimley 127 km; and Sault Saint Marie (Cananda) 43 km. The total distance which I've cycled since first entering Canada is 4 212 km, and the total distance of this trip so far is 114 012 km.

BC AND THE THREE RANGES

I thought there were only three mountain ranges towards the East? Perhaps, but as I was cruising through rain and low cloud much of the time, I imagined there may have been more! This is summer in Canada (luckily, otherwise I would have been up to my neck in snow), but even Canadians recognize the change in weather patterns.

The slogan all over the place proclaims the Canadian province of British Columbia to be "Beautiful BC", and I cannot argue with that except that most of the time I couldn't see the beauty due to the rain in my eyes.

So, let me grind out my morbid song (as though I haven't done this before). I had been staying with Gene and Elizabeth in Tacoma, USA, so Gene dropped me off in Burlington, a point to the North of Seattle city which I had previously reached on my bike. Well, that was the last dry day and night which I had for some time to come! That first night I had a comfortable stay at Warmshowers hosts Sherri & Steve, just South of the border. The following morning it started raining soon after I started cycling again, and I crossed into Canada in the rain. (At the border they confiscated my little canister of self-defense spray which I have carted along with me for this entire journey - if it had been labelled "Bear Spray" it would have been ok, and now I'm permitted to purchase a "fire-extinguisher-sized" cylinder of Bear Spray, and that's just fine).

Anyway, I found myself in the town of Hope outside the grocery store, munching on an expensive chocolate and dressed in my soaking filthy rain-gear and shivering like a leaf, when Barry Mansfield approached me to enquire about my circumstances. He subsequently invited me to his nearby house, I discovered that he was a retired schoolteacher, and I was given food, a hot shower, space to do some work on my bike and dry out equipment, and accommodation in the tree-house in his garden (my first tree-house sleep-over, and it included a zip-line to the house in case of emergency toilet needs!). I was inspired by Barry, because, even although he is often in distress due to Altzheimers, he brightens up the lives of other people with his out-going personality, wit and humour. Barry also builds some crazy contraptions, take a look at THIS

Gene (from Tacoma where I had been staying) warned me not to "Go Beyond Hope", but I did. That day the weather was not too bad, although I did have to do some grinding up the Coquihalla Pass to get over the Cascades again. I arrived in Meritt late that afternoon, picked up some water, and was about to head out of town when Stuart recognized the South African flag on my bike and came charging over. An ex-South African, he insisted that I come over to his (and Jason's) apartment, where we had a good chat over a few beers - (I had wheeled my bike into his dining-room, where I also made up my bed on the floor that night, thanks Stewart).

From there on it was again through the hills of Beautiful BC (mostly in the rain), past Princeton and Penticton, into the lake district of Okanagan through the towns of Kelowna and Vernon along the beautiful lakes in the valleys towards the next row of mountains. One of the towns there, Sicamous, boasts that it is Canada's "House-boat-capital", where they rent out all types of boats - some are even fitted with hot-tubs and 3-deck-high water slides!

Anyway, being permanently wet is not all that much fun (sleeping in wet pyjamas, in a wet sleeping bag, on a wet mattrass, in a wet tent, mostly with rain still pouring in, and having pitched camp in the rain, and having to pack up in the rain!). Whenever I could I camped under shelter (thanks Bill in Armstrong for your Gazebo), and I even camped inside an abandoned sawmill, and an empty ministry of transport salt-shed. There are places along the way where the Canadian Pacific Railway has overcome the steep increase in altitude by building spiral tunnels, and the head of the long trains can sometimes see their own rear (I couldn't see it from the bike - the rear of the train, I mean!).

Then it was over the Rogers Pass (I thought I was already into the Rocky's, but as it turned out this was another range, the Selkirk Mountains?). There, at the top of the pass in miserable weather I met a local cyclist moving West - I thought he was a poor man, but he insisted on giving me some money (how bad do I look? - but I was grateful, as for me the basic cost of living here in Canada is extremely high).

Up and over the Canadian Rockies at Kicking Horse Pass (I wonder if the "P" should be there?) - the highest point on the Trans Canada Highway 1. It was "Canada Day", the Monday of a long weekend, and the traffic was fairly heavy (half of BC seemed to be going to Alberta Province, and half of Alberta seemed to be going back to BC).

(Please see the following post re Alberta province for distances cycled).

A TOUR OF THE STATE

Well, now it almost feels as though I'm growing roots here in Washington State, USA! Since my previous post I did a picture presentation and answered lots of questions, and I'm pleased to note that people seemed to enjoy the show (thanks to Elizabeth for organising the event, and to those who gave donations).

My Canadian visa was still going to take another week or 2, so I decided to get on my bike and cycle around Washington state in the improved weather. Also, Gene (with who I was staying in Tacoma) had a bicycle trailer which I was keen to try out, and he was kind enough to lend the trailer to me for the round trip around the state.

First I cycled West, around the Puget Sound. I cycled through beautiful areas along the Hood Canal up to Port Townsend, where I took a ferry to Whidbey Island (this is a beautiful area, and I camped - as I mostly did - in the State Park at Deception Point).

Then I headed East, passing Seattle to the North, on my way to the Northern Cascade Mountains. I followed SR 20, which is closed in the winter due to the heavy snowfalls. However, now there hadn't been any snow for several weeks, so the road was clear. The road followed the Skagit River up past picturesque Diablo Dam and Lake Ross. Then there was some serious climbing but I was rewarded with spectacular scenery.

I crossed over the Rainy Pass and the Washington Pass, and from there on I at least had a good amount of downhill. On the downhills the bike was all over the road, and I realised that a serious problem had started to develop with my rear wheel-hub. That night I camped at a bike camp site called "Barn Bicycle Camping", which I shared with another cyclist out on only his second day across the country.

Just when I was getting used to the downhills, I turned into the wind, and at the same time the rear hub needed constant attention (and some strange improvised repairs). My hands were constantly caked in black grease due to my mechanical prowes along the road. According to Murphy's Law, when you are keeping your eye on one problem, then others will arise. A sudden gust of wind one evening took my tent and broke a pole for which I don't have a specific spare. Also, my gear cable broke, and unpacking the spares bag in the wind made the area resemble the scene of a plane crash. My bike now has puncture-protected tyres, but the trailer had a puncture!

For the last three days of this side-trip I battled along, working on the bike every few kilometres. Eventually I had to pack the trailer up on top of the back rack of the bike, and then the bike came to a grinding halt as the wheel finally refused to turn. I discovered that if I pushed the bike backwards for a while, then I could cycle again for a while, then push backwards again, and so forth. All this along the I 90 highway in a pumping wind.

Eventually, at a roadside gas station in Vantage, I was close enough to call Gene where he was working in Ellensburg (and so, thankfully, I was rescued). I was pleased to be able to pick up a good second-hand hub, and I've now done the necessary repairs to the bike. A month ago I camped on the lawn at Gene and Elizabeth's house in Tacoma, and I think they are pleased that I will finally be leaving for Canada tomorrow (Elizabeth even gave me a laptop computer to see me on my way). I'm thankful to them for everything they've done for me during my time here with them in Tacoma.

Daily distances cycled since my last update have been:- Belfair 77 km; Port Townsend 137 km; Whidbey Island 58 km; Rockport 92 km; Colonial Creek 59 km; Mazama 95 km; Pateros 89 km; Chelan 51 km; Wennachee 41 km; Crescent Bar 60 km; and Ellensburg 41 km (plus lift). The total distance cycled so far on this trip is 109 700 km (68 563 miles), distance in the USA so far is 5 074 km (3 171 miles).

[In the end the total distance cycled in the USA was 5 174 km, which is 3 234 miles].

WASHINGTON WATERS

Moving North from Oregon, I crossed the Columbia river at Astoria and entered Washington, the "Evergreen" State. There is mainly one reason why this state is so green (guess?), rain, of course! Granted, the scenery is pretty, but cycling and camping in the wet for days on end can get one's spirits down. From Astoria (Oregon) the steel/concrete bridge over the Columbia River estuary is about 7 km long, luckily the wind wasn't too strong when I crossed. Soon after the bridge I passed through yet another narrow tunnel, no problem as I just have to hit a button upon entry and then a flashing light warns traffic about a bike in the tunnel (same as on some of the narrow bridges further South). When I was at Neil's "Warmshower" house in Seaside, three weary characters turned up there on the night before my departure. These 3 had been jogging the entire Oregon state coast, pushing their gear along on a bike and baby-stroller! I had passed them a few days earlier on the road, and that night they had caught up and camped alongside in the state park (without tents). Well done guys! At the end of a long day of cycling in the soaking cold rain, I arrived in Aberdeen in that miserable weather. With no camp sites or state parks close by, I camped on the covered loading platform behind a shopping mall (I did inform the store manager of my intentions). There was a bunch of homeless people living on one of the other more accessible loading platforms (I think my spot was too high for them to climb up). They saw me stopping by, but due to the rain I had no visitors that night. However, the following morning a delegation came by to invite me out for a beer under the bridge (obviously it didn't occur to them that I might be moving on - which I did). I arrived in Olympia on the following rainy afternoon, there was no campsite, and while looking around the security at the marina chased me away without even letting me use the toilets (I think they saw through my plan!). I camped up in the wet forest under the highway where it seemed that homeless people had stayed before. The following morning 3 grumpy men from the "city" turned up and complained about having taken 6 days to clear the mess, and now "I've moved in there!" I assured them not to worry, and I was out of there in no time. Moving along further North that day, I was on and off the Interstate Highway 5 (some counties allow you on the highway, and at other points road workers put up signs prohibiting bicycles due to no shoulder, etc.). After mixing it with the rush hour traffic through some tricky intersections (where I was not allowed to be cycling anyway), I left the I 5 and found myself in downtown Tacoma (the 2nd largest harbour on the US West coast (after Long Beach, LA). That's where local resident Gene found me and invited me up the hill to camp on his lawn (when his wife Elizabeth arrived home she seemed surprised, but to her credit she also welcomed me). As part of their hospitality I was introduced to their friends and cycling friends (who are numerous, they are both keen cyclists and Gene has toured by bike down to South America in the past). Here bike shops seem to be more than just that, and we joined a party at the community bike shop called 2nd Cycle (you purchase "I Bike Tacoma" water bottle, and drink as much beer from the kegg as you like - but only from that bottle). The next day I went there and replaced Old Saartjie's front fork with a nice red "brand-new-second-hand" fork (for a small donation). They also gave me a nice "I Bike Tacoma" flashing tail light. I had some business to sort out, such as the Canadian Visa application, so Gene and Elizabeth suggested I stay another day or 2 till after the weekend and take the bus to Seattle (which I did). Unfortunately the Canadian Consulate there has closed the visa processing department, but I did get to look around the city, including Pike Street market and the waterfront (on Puget Sound). I'd heard about the Seattle Space Needle before, as well as Mount Rainier (but I doubt if that mountain exists as I have seen nothing but clouds in that direction). My Canadian Visa Application has now been submitted on-line (thanks to the use of Elizabeth's computer), and I even sorted out my problematic bank card, eventually. I've since been promoted from camping in the garden, to living-it-up in the upstairs room of the house. There is a strong and pleasant biking community here in Tacoma, and people have been really friendly towards me.

Hopefully my Canadian Visa comes through soon, otherwise I may grow roots in this place. However, I'll have to stay awhile yet as there are plans afoot for me to do a presentation of my cycle trip, at the Broken Spoke bike shop/bar next wednesday, 29 May, here in Tacoma. Daily distances cycled since my last report have been:- Ilwaco 60 km; Aberdeen 129 km; Olympia 94 km; and Tacoma 68 km. The total distance cycled so far since entering the USA from Mexico is 4 269 km (2 668 miles), and the total distance which I've cycled so far on this trip is 108 895 km (68 059 miles).