It was a dark and stormy night. Oh, wait, thats another story.
I started off from Pendleton at 0530 hrs. It's not as hard as you might think. I'm still on Texas time so that's 0730 for me. It's great though, because the locals think it's 0530! Lots of time on the road to myself. I had planned to go to Mount Ranier National Park and get pics of the mountain. Alas, both roads into the park were still closed for the winter and the mountain was shrouded in clouds. I am posting some pics of scenery from the ride. You can see how close to the road the clouds are. Again, I was riding in and out of them. I got off the Interstate at Yakima and took the twisty mountain roads west then north till I picked up the highway at Tacoma. Then it was like riding in Dallas. Almost right through downtown Seattle. 70 miles farther north and I was at Sumas, where I planned to cross into Canada. I pulled up the the window, gave the little lady my passport, and she starts firing questions at me. "Where do you live?", "Do you have any weapons?", "What is the purpose of your visit?", "How much money do you have?", "Are you meeting anyone here?" on and on. Finally, I guess I didn't pass the test because she had me pulll over, park the bike, and go into the building to be grilled more. Same questions again, while throwing in new ones while looking at my passport "When were you born?" (Huh?), "Where is your destination in Canada?", again, on and on. I explained the ride to her. That there is a meet in Hyder, Alaska every year (Stewart, BC is only a couple of miles from Hyder). Again, the agent inside asked me:
"How much money do you have?"
"A couple of hundred dollars." (I didn't say, "Yeah, and they're worth about 300 of YOUR dollars.)
"Is that all?"
"Well, I have credit cards."
"Is there enough capacity on the cards to sustain your trip?"
"Well, I don't know, I have 2 kids in college." (I didn't say that, I said "Yes")
She narrowed her eyes, looked at the yellow suit again and said "OK, you can go"
I guess they think that 50 year old guys that ride BMW's in bright yellow suits look furtive.
I was trying my best to look innocent and trustworth which is really a stretch for me. After they searched me AND the bike they let me in the country. She found my Kershaw Blur pocket knife and held it up. I said "I told you I had a pocket knife". Anyway, here I am, safe and sound.
2 comments:
Hey Kevin, I like your writing style and am glad to read you are enjoying yourself. I cannot wait for you to ride through my home state and hear your comments. Stay safe, Les
Kevin: I soooo wish I could have been there when you had your encounter with Barney Fife.
The pics are neat. Its nice to know there are still relatively untouched, pristine areas like that in the world.
Were all missing you down here. I am still trying to plan a crawfish boil. See you soon.
renaud
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