Crossing into the USA

Monday 395k…wow still thinking of that great dinner last night at the Moores!

Ok today is going to be the first day on the official route and Mike and I were both up at 6:00 getting repacked and ready to go.  Breakfast was a protein shake and toast (pretty good eh Rob and JJ) then we said out goodbyes and it’s off to the other side of Calgary to meet Dave and say so long to the Howards until next year.   Calgary hospitality - thank you!

Dave was our escort today and he took us on some great twisty and scenic paved roads out of Calgary and heading west with the Rockies dominating the horizon.  We hooked up with the forest trunk road again and ran the gravel south to Hwy 3.  We had a quick and powerful reminder about logging trucks.  The lesson was .. Wow!  They how ominous - they're fast, huge, load, unstable looking and produce a dust cloud that looks like a horizontal mushroom cloud hitting you at a closing speed of .... well we're not sure cause you ain't looking at your gauges.   A quick lunch at the Coleman Subway and we parted ways with Dave, he headed east into the sunshine and we headed west into the wind and rain (of course).  We smoked west through Fernie, hung a left and aimed for America!

Being the chickens that we are…we put on the rain gear but we never really got more than a few sprinkles.  We almost didn’t get across the border as Mike did not see the flashing RED light (or ignored it) and proceeded to drive up to the booth before he was supposed to…..I could hear the guard asking him if he was color blind…when I rode up the guy was laughing and asked me if I saw what Mike did…I said “Oh yeah he’s a goof…he always doing things like that”…..Of course I didn’t have to wait very long for goof action number 2….We are coming up to a construction resurfacing project and the truck with flashers pulls out in front of us….Mike then proceeds to follow this truck to the front of the line of cars instead of taking his place at the back….I followed of course…

Goof action Number 3….while following the truck with the flashing light we get to a point where the truck turns around and another truck takes us further up the road….for a second Mike is thinking of following the truck back the way we just came….

Goof action Number 4….While following the new “Follow me” truck, we come up on stopped car (a local waiting for the escort).  The follow me lady waves at Mike to stay on the right and fall in behind the new car…Mike passes …so he is still winning the construction race…..this time I did not follow… (Mike - being a civil engineer has its privileges)

Now we are safe and sound at our hotel room…the bikes are parked outside, the gear is unloaded, we have eaten our wonderful tenderloin sandwiches, and are drinking red wine from plastic water glasses.  Mike is down a few rooms talking to the bikers that have just finished the Divide Ride….or talking to the bikers who are starting the ride tomorrow…there are about 15 bikes at this hotel…..and a lot of them are off road bikes.  As the night is wearing on the Divide Ride stories are coming out as the hotel turns into a quasi motorcycle show!  See you on the Trail.  MnM