KOA Missoula, Montana

Day 1: Chilliwack, BC to Missoula, Montana

Woke up this morning to pouring rain, although that is not unusual this summer. At least the rain waited until after the wedding though.

Didn't cross the border at the usual spot this time though. I crossed in Osoyoos and enjoyed the benefit of several miles of desert. The rain clouds very quickly gave way to clear blue sky, which made the drive all the more enjoyable.

Just can't get any love from the border guards though. He didn't believe that I was driving to the other side of the continent and back in only fifteen days, and by myself no less. To be fair, I guess not many guys would go on so long a trip by themselves. But this isn't my first rodeo. In fact this is my third time driving through western Montana in the last four years.

But  yeah, I had to wait in the customs office for 45 while they searched my car. A minor inconvenience really. I can only imagine the conclusion they reached after the search: "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was going camping or something."

Osoyoos Lake from just south of the border

Some shots of the Grand Coulee Dam in East Central Washington

                                                                       Lake Roosevelt

Met a couple from Tsawassen who were more than happy to take pictures for me

Met a woman from Utah who was on her way to visit relatives in Washington State. She is the first of what will be many who will comment on how far from home I am. Ironically, when I met her I was only a couple hours from the border. Oh well.

No, this is not Saskatchewan. It's Eastern Washington

Filled up in Spokane for the first time - for $39(!). That's right. Not $55.

Didn't take any pictures the last time I was in Spokane, so I couldn't resist this time around.

Spokane has lots of really old looking churches.

Behind the church. That is absolutely awesome

Dining With Dignity: Shalom Ministries

My campsite

Highest Temperature: St Regis, Montana (32C/90F)

Total Distance so far: 926.9km/574.7miles

Next Stop: South Dakota

My new "Hotel"

So I went to Canadian tire today and bought this tent, which will be where I will sleep on my way to the East Coast. It wasn't too difficult to set up, and it was cheap. I plan to set it up and take it down once a day before my trip so I will not run into any unexpected difficulties.

I also bought this foamie

It took a while for the foamie to expand to its proper dimensions, but once it did, it proved to be worth the trip to Abbotsford (they didn't have this sized foamie in stock in the Canadian Tire in Chilliwack). The foamie actually cost more than the tent (!), but since I'm going to be travelling cross continent, I'm going to need to get a proper amount of sleep.

Only four more days until I leave. Best of luck, Chiefs. Win.

Whistler

So I've decided to start up a travel blog for my upcoming trip through the States. I've never done a blog before, so this should be interesting.

I'm not leaving on the trip until Sunday the 31st which is good, because I still have a lot to do before I leave. That didn't stop me from going to Whistler this weekend though.

I went with my father on Saturday the 23rd and we stayed at the Hilton Whistler Resort. There was some sort of bike thing happening that weekend which we didn't know about when we booked the trip. It was called Crankworx or something. Anyways, it made the village very busy.

 

Crankworx

This was our fourth time at this hotel since 1998 and it hasn't failed us yet. The pool was okay, although heavily chlorinated.

Also, there were a lot of dogs. Not at the pool, but in the village.

Dad and I went to the upper village, by which I mean the Upper Village, and played some miniature golf. They say that whoever shoots a high score in golf (or mini golf) has got their money's worth. But I don't think that applies considering how much a round of mini golf costs at the Upper Village.

It was fun though. The temperature even reached 29C (or 84F) on Sunday, so we got quite burned.

Went up in the chairlift to the top of Blackcomb Mountain and rode the Peak 2 Peak between Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains. The lift ticket covered one ride up and one ride down the mountain, as well as unlimited rides on the Peak 2 Peak. I rode the Peak 2 Peak twice, once without the glass bottom floor and once with. There were only two gondolas with glass floors so I had to wait awhile before a glass one came.

 The glass bottom ones were neat, although I was kind of hoping the entire bottom would be glass. It was still neat, even if it didn't match up to the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

There was a set of bars around the glass floor so you couldn't stand on it or do pushups on it.

Went on a little bit of a hike on Monday as well. Dad wasn't up to it so I went myself. Came to a lake called Lost Lake which had a little picnic area.

There were five floating docks in the lake at random locations. The lake was small and took only between 15 to 30 minutes to walk around it.

It seems that the popularity of Whistler has increased greatly since the Olympics as there were countless Europeans here. I met a nice Dutch family on the gondola who were from Zeeland. They were surprised at the number of Canadians who had Dutch ancestry.

Oh and I read a lot. I read a book called Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity, in which the author suggested a return to the Great Commandment issued by Jesus, which is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30. He suggested we need to be great at obeying the Great Commandment rather than just good.

My next book that I just started reading is David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. 

Only five more days until I leave for the States.

Marcel Bal