After a brief two day stop in Windermere to collect and organize some additional travel needs we headed South towards the USA border Friday morning. The plan was to attempt a push towards Spokane with a brief stop in Bonners Ferry to pick up a travel crib for Rylie.
First stop was a refuel, windermere. Gas is $1.30, 80 L later we were full and on our way towards Cranbrook BC. It’s been awhile since I last drive this road, its a tad more hilly then I remembered and the truck knew it as it chugged (gas) us up and down the mountains.
Rylie and Jocelyn rode taxi style in the back seat, entertaining themselves watching Dora The Explorer on the IPad. I think Jocelyn enjoyed the shows more then Rylie.
The border was quiet, only a couple cars ahead of us and the crossing was rather painless. Few standard questions, fruit? Destination? Return? Occupation? Occupants? Dog Vaccinations (first time in four crossings including entering from Mexico we’ve been asked for our dogs vaccination records) and finally Passports? Followed by why were you in Russia? I guess the Americans are a-little on edge since the whole Russia and Ukraine thing. We just explain that we were in Russia 16 moths previously visiting St. Petersburg. In the end the question was a non issue and we were off.
Next stop was Bonners Ferry, where Jocelyn had shipped a travel crib for Rylie to sleep in. I happened to be sized exactly to the dimensions of the bunks in our trailer. First we made a quick stop for a pee (nixon included) and checked out the local American Pickers location. Piles of vintage garb including rocking horses (Rylies favourite) and cool glass gas pumps (dads favourite).
The shipping Depo turned out to be a little more difficult to find then we had anticipated. We ended up down a small dead end road that required some interesting maneuvering to turn the truck and trailer the full 180 degrees, but we managed. A quick back track and we find the Depo. It’s not the large building I had envisioned, it turned out the be a series of garden sheds, three to be exact. One was the office, the other two storage. The office shed, had a sign. “See you Tuesday”. Perfect, it’s Friday, but a couple phone calls and 15 minutes a lady appeared and we had our crib. Back on the road.
After about 30 minutes Rylie informed us she was tired of driving and we made an impromptu decision to stay the night in Sandpoint Idaho. The campground was interesting, more gravel parking lot industrial area then campground. It featured around 40 spaces with about 30 of those occupied by full time residents. Most of the rigs appeared a little on the rough side with the average manufacture date somewhere in the early 90s. The residents were very friendly, it had small but clean bathrooms and full hookups.
Tomorrow we’re on to Spokane, where we’ll spend a couple days and give Rylie a break from the truck.
