The ride from Lake Louise towards Vancouver offered very little – choices for alternative roads: there was the Trans-Canada Highway, the Trans-Canada Highway, oh, yes, you guessed right – you could also pick the Trans-Canada Highway! But not without peril – pretty much anything that needs to go east to west is being transported on that road – including live stock. Unfortunately a truck full of cows, probably suffering severe case of diarrhoea from all those fast downhill corners, just happened to be in front of us and just before DB overtook them the cows released another smelly load splattering all over DB. Sadly the pictures don’t do justice but suffice to say she was not particularly happy:
Our destination was Kamloops, BC, a sleepy little town with a big river running beside it half way from Lake Louise and the USA border. After a yummy Mexican salad dinner we decided to explore the town by foot. The weather was just phenomenal, considering we were in the middle of the Rocky Mountains! So we had a nice stroll around town and enjoyed the summer evening watching the sunset by the river.
And of course, there was no way we would leave our beloved Canada without another stop at Tim Hortens – the coffee chain of choice when it come to free wi-fi, great bagels and good brew of coffee.
In order to get a head start on our crossing into the US of A, we picked our pit stop at Abbotford, just a few clicks from the border. The hotel was sort of in the middle of nowhere and next to the highway, but the mini-put course, baseball range and happy hour cocktails made up for it.
The next day we headed towards the USA border. The wait was 20 minutes, not fun moving at a snails pace on bike in full gear. It was finally our turn when the customs officer put up a sign saying “closed”!!! We sat there in the hot sun for another ten minutes, CB slowly turning a lighter shade of burnt lobster, when finally the gates where opened. The customs guy was the rudest officer we had met, and they said LAX customs officers were bad! The guy signalled DB to approach first. DB obediently gave him all our paperwork, passports and flashed the biggest of smiles…he wasn’t impressed, instead proceeded to give her the third degree:
Customs guy: “why do you have two passports?”
DB: “my husband and I are travelling together so we keep all our paperwork together”.
Customs guy: “but what if you spilt up?”
DB “we don’t”.
Customs guy rubs his greasy moustache and licks his fat lips unconvinced: “you are from New Zealand, why do you have a Californian registered bike but crossing the border from British Columbia?”
DB: “I bought the bike from California”
Customs guy: “but why did you register the bike in California?”
DB: “because I bought it in California (duh)”
Customs guy: “ok let me get this right, you are from New Zealand but departed from Australia, landed in LA and now driving from Canada on a Californian registered bike?”
DB: “yes”
Customs officer: “okay, take this orange sticker, dismount immediately, step away from the bike, we need to investigate this further”…
