Los Angeles - Calgary

° We flew from Auckland to Los Angeles. Crossing the International Date Line made for a 43 hour Easter Sunday. We braved the traffic and pushed our bikes out into the concrete forest of L.A. and caught the "Green Tortoise" bus north to San Francisco and Seattle. Our bus, "Starship" was the youngest and fastest of their fleet; a 1963 converted city bus with sleeping areas for about 25 people to travel comfortably. We had 41 people. We were quite an assortment of passengers. Interesting, different, alternative and weird would all be suitable adjectives. We had plenty of tattoos and pierced noses with hairstyles ranging from pink to dreadlocks and names ranging from John to Sky hawk. The pit bull didn't get along with the other dog on the bus.

° In San Francisco, we cycled across the Golden Gate Bridge (that's one long bridge), dodged cable cars climbing up Hyde Street (steep) and rode down Lombard, the world's most crooked street. We met up with John P (Nicaragua 1998) for a beer and a tour of places that tourists don't get to.

° In Seattle, we stayed with Lenny and Gladys (we met Lenny in Kenya in 1987). We visited Fremont, which is apparently the centre of the universe and the REI flagship store, which is the centre of American outdoor equipment. We also visited Boeing's final assembly pant and the world's biggest room to give Boeing a few pointers on how they should install the bike racks on the Jumbo jet roof. Then it was off to Vancouver....

° We stayed with Glenn's cousin Karen in Vancouver. Great seaside walks, cool totem poles at the anthropology museum (the world's tallest totem pole in Victoria was shortened because it posed an aeronautical hazard) and we even saw the sun a couple of days. We met up with Kathy and Addi (Botswana 1999) , swapped tales of the desert and worked up a real thirst.

° It was off to Saltspring Island (Canadian Gulf Island between mainland and Vancouver Island). At that stage, Sheila had just blown out her back (turned out to be a bulged disk), so we laid low 15 days on the island. We camped out at the incredibly beautiful seaside Ruckle Provincial Park watching the ferries, seals, otters, fish eagles, etc. Then, friends Rosemary & John (Guatemala 1997) returned from a holiday and invited us to stay at their place in a trailer (caravan). That was a trip highlight because Sheila has longed to sleep in a caravan. She was not disappointed. Tenting won't ever be the same.

°Saltspring is a funky place. People "follow their energy", monks await donations, prayer flags fly, vegetable and honey stands have honesty payment boxes, vegetable stand sellers play the guitar, locals pick up hitchhikers and drive out of their way, several vendors sell miniature Zen gardens at the weekly crafts market, the main town is called Ganges, organic foods predominate, and float planes sit in the harbour. The world's most popular restaurant (McDonalds) has no presence on the island. Even greenies/tree huggers have their limits; very few locals use bicycles to get around (Saltspring is hilly with plenty of blind corners

° We hopped onto the ferry back to Anacortes, Washington . Then we cycled by the drive-in banks, through the cloud of fast food smells, passed American flags and started our ride along the North Cascade Highway (#20). We chose that route to see a little of the USA and because the traffic is much lighter than on the roads east of Vancouver. We followed the Skagit River Valley; town sizes shrank as we went further and further into the mountains. The weather came in on us hard at Rockport State Park. We watched the rain fall on the fantastic first growth of Cedars and Douglas Firs (approaching 300 feet tall) and fretted over the 5 day forecast of rain.

° We bolted during a break in the rain, then accepted an offer of a ride to the top of Washington Pass (5477 feet). Suddenly, we were above the clouds and freewheeling down in cold sunshine. PING, PING went a couple of Glenn's spokes. Deprived of an incredible downhill ride, a van picked us up a drove us into the western motif town of Winthrop (touristy). Over the next few days, we rode through incredibly arid country up the US Okanagan valley. They like their K's with towns like Omak, Tonasket and Okanagan. Sheila stretched her back every hour or so and we took about every 3rd day off to ease the back strain. East of the Okanagan area, the vegetation increased as did the heights of the passes. We had a 35 kilometre downhill ride from the top of Sherman Pass (5575 ft).

° Along the way, we camped at a couple of fairgrounds and even watched a little league game. We made our way up through the quiet Pend Oreille valley to the Canadian border. The Americans in front of us at the border were going snow-mobiling in Canada (it was the beginning of June) and we were tempted to head south but we perservered. Our first morning in Canada was auspicious; a black bear ambled towards our tent (we were free camping along the Salmo River). We made a few noises. When Sheila started to sing, the bear took off into the bush. Kootenay Pass (5821 ft or 1774m) was a grunt up and another 35 kilometres downhill. We rested up Sheila's back at Bruce & Mary's place, near Creston.

° We made it to Cranbrook before Glenn broke more spokes, PING, PING. In the Colombia Trench (home of the ultimate K town; Skookumchuck), our strategy changed. Sheila's back was still giving her a hard time, so she managed to hitch a ride to Banff and later got a ride from Canmore to Calgary. Glenn, the hard core, muscled his way through the rain and the Rockies from Radium to Canmore (an elusive tail wind finally appeared) before he caught a lift into Calgary.

AMERICAN & CANADIAN TRAVEL NOTES:

Finally: we found American and especially Canadian truck drivers to be very courteous and gave us lots of room on the roads.

Northern Washington: American back roads. The towns were so small that we couldn't even buy a copy of the "USA Today". Lots of dogs riding in the back of pick-ups. We saw only 2 McDonalds "restaurants" on our route.

Hitch-Hiking with a Bicycle: Easier than you think. Stop at a remote spot. Turn your bike upside down. Wait for a pick-up truck and stick your thumb out.

World's Biggest retailer of Guns: Walmart. We didn't see many of America's 200 million firearms but we did see plenty of "law enforcement".

Creston: is the polygamy capital of Canada. 600 of its 5000 residents are apparently polygamists

Calgary Police State: : The World Petroleum Conference had the potential to be another "Battle of Seattle". There was plenty of "law enforcement"; more police than protesters. In all 5 protesters were arrested. Alternate fuels and transport don't get much airtime in an oil town.