Today marked my re-entry into the US and while Canada treated me extraordinarily well I was ready to get back to the States. It was tough sledding today, though. I had hoped to leave Nelson around 7:00 a.m. or so but as I looked out my window I saw pouring rain so I decided to wait a bit and let it pass. Around 8:15 I was getting stir crazy and the rain was beginning to let up so I took that as an opportunity to start moving. While I do love bicycle touring probably the thing I dislike the most is getting my bags packed and everything loaded on the bike. It seems like it takes so much longer than it needs to and today was no different. Once I got out of town I knew I would have some climbing to do. In the first half mile I had 250 feet of climb and I took that as a sign of what was going to come today. The first seven miles had over 1,300 feet of climbing without a single downhill and I was already tired! It kept going that way until after a few more miles I had a gradual downhill until about 8 miles prior to the border. Around 10:00 a.m. it did start to rain on me and the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. Had to happen at some point! I rode for a while, stopped in Salmo for lunch and kept going. It rained for the next two and a half hours. It wasn't a downpour or anything but just enough that I needed to put on my rain gear.
Getting back to the border took another large climb and then as soon as I crossed into Washington the skies cleared up, it was sunny and it warmed up to the low 70s. Perfect weather. I had initially planned on staying in Metaline but as I got to the campground the owners (the office is a room in their house) had apparently gone to a party and I had no idea when they would be back. That's fine and all but the bathrooms and showers are locked at this place so I decided to ride nine miles down the road to Ione where I'm now at the best campground I've had as a cyclist. I called prior to make sure he had room and as I got here Gabe (the owner) was waiting for me and gave me a big "Hi Tim!!!" as I rolled in. I'm in a grassy area all to myself away from the RVs (and noise) and he gave me a chair as well. I have a hammock to use if I wanted but I decided not to. The other nice thing is he has an electronics re-charging station set up, a microwave, stove and sink all outdoors for tenters to use. Really nice. And the bathrooms and showers are very clean and nice as well. All in all I rode 64 miles today which will be my longest day of the tour and I had 3,400 feet of climb. Tomorrow was supposed to be my longest day but now I will only have 51 rather than 60.
I'm riding on backroads the rest of the way. These are roads recommended by the Selkirk Loop Association so I know they're paved and will be away from traffic. Should be a calm ride tomorrow! Here's my route today and photos.
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The whole "Mountains" part of the sign didn't make me feel very good.
This particular border station is nothing too fancy. The border agent was very friendly though which was nice.
I was riding a little later than normal today (around 4:30-5:00 p.m.) and there were some really cool shadows on the road. The last picture is my campsite tonight.
Tomorrow is off to Newport, Washington and then the next day is back to Sandpoint and I'll be heading home!!
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