Last road trip post

On Friday, I finally finished the Mexico-to-Canada leg of my trip. Oh Canada...
I really just wanted to cross the border to say I did, so I got in, stopped at a gas station, topped off the tank, and headed back. Gas was only $1.38.

I took this as I was waiting in line to get back into the US. 5,112.2 miles total for the whole trip. And there was a much longer line to get into the US than into Canada. Obviously, our country is better. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!...
At the border, they looked at my passport and asked me about my trip. I told them that I was really just crossing the border because I'd worked my way up the coast and wanted to go all the way from Mexico to Canada, so I just stopped for gas and turned around. The officer said "You bought gas in Canada?" and handed me a slip of paper. He told me to park and take it inside with my passport. I looked at the paper on the way in. He had horrible hand writing, but across the top it said "*Bought gas in Canada?*". Apparently this was cause for suspicion. Now, I know that gas in Canada isn't really $1.38 a gallon. Their $1.38 might not be the same as ours, and it's not in gallons. I knew it was probably more expensive, but when you're only putting in a gallon or so it doesn't seem like a big deal. Well I guess that's just what terrorists think too, because it got me stopped.

When I went inside, there were 8 officers milling around behind the desk. Some of them were laughing at something one of them found online. There were 2 at the desk, but only one was actually helping people. When I finally talked to someone, I handed him the piece of paper and he said, "How the hell am I supposed to read this?" (TERRORISTS - DON'T READ THIS PART) He asked me a couple of questions about my trip, told me that the computers were down, and drew a big letter "A" on the back of my piece of paper. I showed it to the guys outside and I was on my way. I could have saved a lot of time by writing an "A" on the paper myself, but I didn't know their super secret code beforehand. Man, those guys are clever.

After that I headed down to Burlington for lunch with my Aunt and Uncle and their two pugs. Such majestic creatures...

There is such a thing as free lunch. And I got some good stories too. One about my dad breaking some poor girl's arm on his first motorcycle. probably not the best move. If there is one thing I know about the ladies, it's that they don't like getting their arms broken.

After that I was done with interstate for the day, and I took hwy 20 over to Whidbey Island. This is the bridge at Deception Pass.
I took a couple of little gravel roads looking for some dirt to play in, and I found these guys...
Then a few bucks...
And then these!
This kind of equipment can only mean fun. So I turned off and found an area where they were putting in a new housing development, which means unpaved roads. Someday I want to build a clubhouse here and put a sign on it that says "No girls or Harleys allowed (except for the girls part)."
I explored a little, got dirty, dropped the bike trying to get over a little tree, messed up my back, and rode the rest of the island down to the ferry. It was great.

I got right on the next ferry with my motorcycles-are-cool pass, and crossed over to Everett. There was a HUGE line of people coming the other way when I got off. A lot of people head up north for the weekend and it was about rush hour on Friday, so the line to get on the ferry was probably about a mile long.

When I got to Seatte, I found Karla's place and we waited around a little for Jay to come home (I was early). Then they bought me dinner. I found a free parking spot too. And they had a couple of nice dogs for me to pet. Pretty sweet deal.
After that I went back to Mom's for the night.

So, here are the final numbers:

Total Miles: 5,112 (I snuck over to Wenatchee, WA somewhere in there too)

Animals Spotted:
13 Deer
4 Sea Lions
4 Rabbits
3 Elk
2 Prairie Dogs
2 Road Runners
1 Skunk (Non-rabid)

New Stickers: 7

Altogether it was a great trip, and a great way to see a bunch of this country and the people that I love before I leave for a while. People took me into their homes, fed me, and flashed their high beams at me when there was a deer around the corner. I saw desert, ocean, mountains and cities. I made amends with Iowa. I had frybread, vegemite, pho, and saladitos. I evaded attacks from dinosaurs, deer, pugs and slugs. I got a new hat. And, rode the best roads I've ever seen, in 12 states, and from border-to-border. This is a pretty great country.