May 13 - into Canada

We left Bothell, WA (59°) Monday morning and headed north.  Our first stop was just 32 miles up the road in Arlington, WA.  We had a great visit with TCMG member Pam, and a tour of her farm.   We have fond memories of Pam's mother playing with then toddler Stacy on TCMG runs.  Pam still has her dad's car.  She and (her) husband Dave,  also have a most interesting farm.

Pam and her 22 yr old horse, Clancy.

Pam works with the Conservation district on best practices.  She collects 186,000 gallons of rain water a year, which is used primarily for Clancy.  Above is her composting area.  She has a small tractor to turn the compost.  She is breeding worms to be able to add them to the mix.

Their home is mostly blocked by trees and the mh.

Before we left, she pointed out an eagle couple she has been watching.  This isn't as good as Bob's bird pictures, but not bad for hand holding my camera on the zoom.

There was so much to see and it was so fun to chat.  We waited out some rain, then headed north. 

We had chosen Bellingham, WA for our 2nd fuel stop of the trip, wanting the tank as full as possible heading into Canada.  I had turned off the cell phone data in anticipation of crossing the border, but should have waited.  We are so spoiled having Gas Buddy maps to get to stations.   Diesel was higher here than Bothell.  Found it for $4.15, but the station only had a 12' 3" high cover.  We had to make a couple U-turns, but filled up (@ $4.29).  We left our "mark" in Bellingham as it was.  The drainage dips getting into the station caused the motorcycle lift to drag worse than I'd ever hit before...  Fortunately it stayed attached to the MH, but definitely left a mark on the street.  There was a driveway in front of us to get out that looked even worse, fortunately I was able to cross cut the lot to get away from the corner and got out to the street again without "hitting".

Heading into Canada was like a mass of cattle being herded into a chute.  It was a definite advantage to be in a taller vehicle to try to see which lanes were being used and see where some semblance of lines were forming.  

Here we are approaching the Canadian border check.

The gate guard asked some questions then threw out "have you ever had a firearm in the vehicle", I hesitated to think before saying "no".  I could tell then we were in for an extended welcome.  He was looking down at a paper writing as he asked other questions, not looking at me at all.  Then he hands me the paper and directs us where to park for the more intrusive part.  We were assigned to Mr. Smith, his stiff uniform and stoic face reminded me of a German soldier in the WWII movies.  Maybe because it felt like we were in a prison camp.  Signs were clear that no cell phones or cameras could be used in the building.  When I tried to take a picture outside, I was told to put the camera away.

David grabbed a picture of the building when we were preparing to leave the secondary inspection area.

Mr. Smith told us that one of us could remove any money or valuables (so they don't get accused of theft).  So I walked out to the mh with him retaining possession of my keys.  Fortunately the door latch didn't break with his mishandling, but I wasn't allowed to open it.  So I just cringed each time he jerked on the handle with it still locked.  I would have to point/describe things for him to find, and I ended up juggling two bank bags and another packet a bit larger.  After I asked a couple times, he took out my extra purse, which gave me something to put the money bags into.  So goes our first 1.5 hours in Canada. I guess I was the "suspicious" one.  I had to take off and give them my jacket so they could make sure I didn't have bad stuff in the pockets.  They didn't check David's.

The good news is they didn't pull the slide out, so at least they weren't pawing through our underwear.  Seems so ridiculous for the amount of time the two guys were in the MH.  They could have been playing video games for all we knew.  They couldn't see in any of the cabinets blocked when the slide is in.  They didn't open any of the outside compartments on the driver's side.   {I was told to go inside and sit with my husband, but I didn't sit.  Even though my feet were barking after awhile, I stood by the window so I could see if they did anything on the left side}  The helper pointed out the bags on the motorcycle as they were leaving it, but Mr. Smith shook his head, indicating not to search them.

Parked in the inspection area.

They didn't leave a big mess, but had things put away wrong.  My extension cord was pinched under the bench seat; they left notebooks on top of the drawer which could have jammed if we hadn't caught it; my computer bag was put back in the closet all unzipped.  They evidently pulled the vent frames off as one fell off while driving, from not being put back properly.  It was just creepy, like having a burglar in your home.  I am not looking forward to the rest of the border crossings we'll be making.  It was definitely enough to keep me from ever coming back here.

Once past that obstacle, the maze of signs and trying to find our way north was challenging. Thank goodness for a GPS and extra set of eyes.

We stopped at the Porteau Cove Provincial Park.  It was one of the possible places I'd found that had spaces to fit us.  56°, windy and spurts of rain.  Beautiful, but I was still keyed up so we kept driving.  It didn't look like we'd enjoy pulling the bike out there.

We stopped for the night about 7 pm at Alice Lake Provincial Park.  It had been raining, so the tree branches were heavy with water and hanging low.  We had the road to ourselves and used it all to try and keep the branches from damaging anything on the roof.  It isn't crowded, so it is like being by yourself in the woods.  The gate attendant wasn't sure which space would be easiest for us to get into, so she gave us a list to choose from.  She came by later to do the registration, which was nice.

The Sea to Sky highway is extremely scenic, but it also has steep grades and some sharp turns.  Things that may discourage larger motorhomes or people towing. 

Sent some notes from Whistler 5/14, when we had wifi on the phone.  A native stopped to ask about the motorcycle lift was very friendly.  Gave us tourist suggestions and where to find a wifi connection