The beautiful (but complicated) way into Canada ...

Saturday, August 14th, 2021. We leave Yellowstone National Park behind us and continue direction north. We can park overnight at a small park in Livingston, Montana - we don't set up a real camp here, but we enjoy cooling off in the adjacent river. By the way, today we are half way through our trip - in Germany we call it „Bergfest“, so we toast with a bottle of Champagne (ok it was only sparkling wine). Here we meet Trygg, a very nice man with whom we chat about outdoor life, politics and the world in general. A very nice encounter!

Trygg also recommends the Petosi Campground in the Beaverhead National Forest - there should also be hot springs around. It's a wonderful place right on a small stream, unfortunately we can't find the hot springs, but we stay here for 2 nights as we are the only campers on this spot. It is also warmly recommended by the iOverlander app, which we use very often, and it is described that you might be able to watch moose on a certain route. Without much expectation we drive in the indicated direction and lo and behold, there is a moose. Fascinating! And since we are so surprised, we unfortunately just get the camera out when he's already on the go 😂

Now we drive on through the prairies of Montana. Unfortunately, the weather is not with us right now, so it keeps raining. Nevertheless, we stay on our route along the Snake River and are driving through great areas. The mountains of Montana are really fantastic. But whoosh, we cross a state border again - welcome to Washington. Washington State - our 18th state, and probably also the last on our trip through the USA (spoiler alert: ummm, not 😂). At only around 900ft we are again in a somewhat desert-like landscape ... and then there are in the farmlands with thousands of grain fields, ... it feels like hours that we drive through orange-yellow-colored landscapes. Lynda ponders how much harvesting work must be behind that.

But today it’s the time to make miles anyway. We drive all day until we find a nice spot on the Snake River again. We are not entirely sure whether we can camp here, several wildfires have broken out nearby and some campsites have already been closed. But a group of young people camping next to us and report that we are safe here. So it's all good.

Saturday, August 21, 2021. After we got some sightseeing recommendations for Washington from the neighbors, we are doing miles again today. Our next fixed date is August 28th, where we want to be in Olympia, because Bob and Kristi have their (2 years delayed) wedding party there. We really want to spend the days before on the water, meaning on the real water 🙂 by the sea. On our way we stop in a small village near a house that has a sign saying “fresh eggs”. So it happens that we buy fresh eggs from a Bulgarian who has lived in the USA since 1985. Anyway, we're at the sea an hour later. We find a cranberry museum in Grayland through Harvest Host and can stay there overnight. Here we get a little tour and Joss goes to the beach with his bike in the evening.

We continue along the water, including through Newport, a beautiful little place right on the harbor. We enjoy the manageable civilization and stroll through the art fair that is taking place on the harbor promenade. Splendid! But we still want to go shopping before we go to the coast and land in Aberdeen - the birthplace of Kurt Cobain and thus Nirvana runs for a while in the vans radio...

Come as you are, as you were

as I want you to be

as a friend, as a friend

as an old enemy

take your time, hurry up

choice is yours, don’t be late

take a rest as a friend

as an old

memoria, memoria

memoria, memoria

Kurt Donald Cobain (1967-1994)

And then finally we are off to the Olympic Peninsula Washington. We find a wonderful campsite at Ocean City State Park and can ride our bikes directly to the sea. Yayyyy, the pacific 🥰 actually we wanted to stay another night because we met super nice neighbors (Peter, actually American and Canadian, but now lives in Zwickau), but unfortunately there is no more space available for another night. So we move on the next day.

According to the Internet, there is no free campsite left anywhere, which initially irritates us and we drive to every campground to ask again. And we're lucky. There is a first come first serve campsite in Ocean City. The campsite is right by the sea and there are basically 3 rows - the first, right on the water, the second row in the middle and then the back row. It goes without saying that we only get a spot in the back row for the time being. But the next day we move one place further into the middle. It's beautiful here - the sea rushes all day and the weather is gigantic, which is why many people extend their days here. The result is a great dynamic, because everyone somehow wants to be in the front row and you come into contact with a lot of people. Of course, our van also attracts everyone's attention. So it happens that we knew almost everybody at the campsite within a very short time. But actually we want to continue tomorrow ... if it weren't for the family who whispered to us that they would leave one day earlier and that their site in the first row would be free. The decision was made quickly. So we stay here two more nights. We watch the whales, sea otters and sea lions, chat with the other guests, go for a walk on the beach, take a short bike ride to the next village and of course marvel at the beautiful sunsets. Here we just enjoy the freedom that we are currently experiencing and it feels super good.

But it has to go on. Friday August 27th. Since the party is going to take place in Olympia tomorrow and we have already booked a hotel in the city for tonight, we unfortunately have to say goodbye to this wonderful place. We will come again - that's for sure! Since we got up very early, we drive to the Hoh Rainforest and do a little tour there. There is something magical about a rainforest.

Then another three and a half hours after we are in Olympia and checking into the hotel. Here we experience a beautiful wedding celebration and Olympia is a great city too. A few days later Kristi, Bob and the kids will visit us in Larrabee State Park. Also a beautiful campsite right by the sea with a great bay. And rainforest-like vegetation everywhere.

And now it's getting exciting. The whole time we were pretty positiv that we would be able to travel to Canada in early September. American citizens and permanent residents from the USA have been allowed to enter the country since August 7th. And after all, we are “permanent residents”. Since it is now getting more serious, we still have to take care of all the documents, do a Covid PCR test, wait for the test results and unload the motorcycle, because Joss will drive the bike separately across the border. And then, when we have everything together, we make the first attempt. Thursday, September 2nd, 2021. We receive the test results in the morning. Both negative 😅. We spent the last 2 days in Birch Bay State Park, which is about 20 minutes from the border in Blaine. Now we read that you also have to have a quarantine plan for 14 days - so we book a hotel quickly and are driving to the border. The queue is not long, but when it's our turn we first have to park and go to the border building. Here the officers want to check again whether we can get into Canada, because the employees are not so sure. Unfortunately, only green card holders are considered “permanent residents”. The man behind the counter is obviously sorry to deliver this message to us. But it is what it is. We were of course aware of the risk from the start. Now we have to wait until September 7th - then other nationalities will probably be allowed to come to Canada. We are curious and will keep you up to date!