Beaut Aye

"The tomato will have to go." He says.
"Oh, really? I can eat it now." I offer as a compromise.
"It is too late for that." The uniformed man regretfully advises.
The tomato must go.

   Our ferry ride across the Kokanee, into Balfour was delightful. Partly, as we were on the move again, also, to fully appreciate the size of this lake.
   A short drive North, we drop into the Ainsworth Hot Springs. A Sunday afternoon looked a little too busy for us, a quick conversation with a host, we decide Monday morning would be better. A brief scour of some camping spots, we nestle in a mile further North to a pleasant park overlooking the lake. Some chores and dinner, we enjoy our evening. In the morning, preparing porridge for breakfast, Jamie spotted him first and gave a brief yell. Another black bear. This one a lot closer, enough to make us both a little nervous as he didn't seem to spot us, or mind us. Just walked through, as though we were near a trail of his and he had other business to attend to. We say 'he' as we chose the name, Bertie. He was smaller than Black Betty. We packed up camp shortly after that and decided to calm our nerves in the hot springs.

    Ainsworth Hot Springs was geothermally relaxing. A unique natural cave half flled with water that has been moulded over the years, now a warm 45 degrees celsius, was enough to keep you in there for no more than 10 minutes, before you rested in the outside pools, of 35 celsius. Plenty of minerals, but minimal odour. We absolutely adored our two hours, turning into giant human prunes and getting a deep cleanse we hadn't had for a very long time.
   A short drive South, we lunched at a beach near the Kokanee Creek Provincial Park. Still marvelling at the beauty and scale of this lake.
   A moment in Nelson, then a thought of making it back into USA by the evening, but agreeing that Canada definitely deserved one more night. We put down pegs along the No.3 Freeway near Stagleap Provincial Park. We were thankful to find a small cut away, maintained by a snow mobile member group. Built a fire and gave our thanks to Canada, a breathtaking visual splendor, Aye.

   The following day, we crossed the border at Porthill. We hadn't seen a car on the road before us, nor behind. Seemed a nice quiet place to cross a border. Handing over our passports, the Officer greets us, "So, you're New Zealanders Aye."
"Um... no, we're Australians." Ian replies, a little perplexed.
"Yeah I know," he says, "I have your passports." He holds them up to confirm they are indeed in his hands.
"Sorry, sometimes I can't tell if you are being serious or not." Ian offers.
We exchange a few formalities, then the Officer says, "You have been randomly selected for a vehicle inspection. Please park over there and come inside."
We park the vehicle, look back into the van and make sure our hard drugs are hidden securely. Then walk into the Border Office. Inside, we find 9 Border Patrol Officers relaxing around their desks, some sitting on the edge, others behind, and a couple standing. All chatting about the weekend, some talking about the coffee. We make our way to the front desk, we fill out a customs declaration form and we are asked what fruits and vegetables we have. We explain we have one banana, two apples, some grapes, a lettuce and a tomato.
"No citrus?" The Officer asks us.
"No citrus." We reply.
"But a tomato, aye?" He enquires.
Turns out, everything is fine, except the tomato. He explains, that when they inspect the vehicle, they will remove the tomato.
   While we sit inside, two officers inspect our vehicle, we listen to the conversation of the other seven officers, they're now talking about pistols.
   The two inspecting our vehicle return, call us to the counter and say, "We didn't find the tomato. So if you are to find it, we recommend disposing of it." We promise to do that, with our fingers crossed.
   We thanked them for their time, we wished them all well, it must be a busy border crossing at Porthill on other days. 

   Back on the road, and having returned to the US, we said 'Hello' to Idaho, if only for a few miles of its skinny 'pan handle'. Searching for a nice quiet spot to stretch the legs, we pulled into a camp site near Troy. Unfortunately, we drove down a small loose gravel road, realising there were some road construction vehicles at the end, attempted to complete a U-turn, and got bogged. Well, technically, not bogged. But stuck. Ian was the culprit, he let the front wheels drop slightly off the edge of the gravel and was surprised to find the loose dirt on the edge of the road, considerably soft. Enough that the rear of the van lifted ever so slightly to lose its grip. Being rear wheel drive, when he stuck it in reverse, the wheels just spun. Jamie laughed, Ian was a little embarassed. Another vehicle had pulled up and we asked the kind man to assist with a push. Jamie took control and got in the drivers seat, Ian and our volunteer on the front, gave a push, Big Bird rolled back and caught onto the newly laid gravel and returned to the road. A brief reminder of the predicament you can easily find yourself in. Fortunately, we had the road construction crew staring at us the entire time with their grading and bobcat vehicles only 50metres away. They were amused, and probably a little annoyed we put a small skid mark in their new road.
   That evening we camped near Thompson Falls, another gorgeous creek and we were continually amazed at the red evening sky. We had the campsite all to ourselves, a reminder that school holidays had well and truly gone.
   The next day we covered some extra miles, cruising on the I-90 towards Butte, 80 miles an hour gets the van moving. As the locals pronounce it, 'Beaut', we have always preferred the Australian version, 'Butt'. It is an old mining town that has been through the ups and downs. We checked out the Quarry, 'Berkeley Pit' alongside the town and essentially the heart of what had created the town. A bit like the Super Pit at Kalgoorlie, same type of town, with plenty of pubs and historic brothels about. We dropped into the Butte Brewing Company, it was making a small revival after being out of business for the last decade. We enjoyed their Ales, so much so that we took home a 'Grunt'. A takeaway vessel, slightly smaller than its more popular brother, the Growler. We also took the opportunity to catch up on some Wifi and see how family are doing back home.
   With a swing past Walmart, we gave our farewell and headed towards Yellowstone National Park. We pulled up just 100 miles on the North West side at a town called McAllister. A delightful lake looking towards the West range of Yellowstone. Enjoying the view, we will plan our path on Yellowstone tomorrow and hopefully for the next 3 to 4 days.
  
   So, we now say Thankyou to Montana, and tomorrow, into Wyoming! The United States sure has some small states!