Prelude… Tom discovered last night that he had booked the Bonner County Fairgrounds Campsite for May 2-4, instead of May 3-5 – Oops. We debated trying to correct the error with the campsite host, who Scott thought looked like the Big Lewboski, or just push our 2-day stay to the next planned stop, which was a Cranbrook, BC, where we had stayed last fall. They have a hot tub at the KOA / St Eugene Resort there, so you can guess which way Scott was leaning, but we decided to decide in the morning.
We woke to a nice but somewhat chilly morning in Sandpoint. We were all ready to do a bike ride, but agreed it was too cold. We looked into things to do in Sandpoint, decided to relax for a bit then leave for Cranbrook, BC. By the time we left the campsite, it had warmed up but we still left for Cranbrook, after killing time since check-in time at the Cranbrook KOA wasn’t until 3PM.
Our avid readers will note that we have crossed into Canada twice before, and never had any problems. The Canadians are real nice – at least they were until recent political events in the US. They don’t have particularly strict regulations on bringing in fruits and vegetables and such, but we wanted to make sure our crossing and time in Canada would go well, so Scott purchased Canadian Flag magnets on Amazon beforehand for Khan and Polo, and we affixed these to metal parts – we found a place on the front of Khan and the back of Polo, so Canadians could see our support whether we were coming or going, eh.
One particularly unusual aspect of today’s trip was that we had been on much of the roads before in our last OWGRV Trip. In fact, this was our second time at the Cranbrook KOA – we had been there on September 22, 2024 and it happened to be on the way to the trans-Canada route to Duluth. Several of the mountains and scenic overlooks did seem familiar. We thought it odd that we have the full range of two countries and can go anywhere we want yet, we ended up in the same place twice.
As we approached the Canadian Border, Tom noticed “Good Grief” on the map, and asked Scott to take a picture. Turns out the picture came out pretty well, and you can see the sign that says “Population 3 – two dogs and one old grouch”. Turns out it has no connection to Charlie Brown, but a tenuous one to Hee Haw from the 1970s.
At the border crossing, we were mildly apprehensive when we saw the car in front of us – with an Alberta plate – pulled over for further inspection. However, our Canadian magnets, cheery disposition, and lack of firearms/firewood/cannabis, anything we were smuggling for Canadian friends meant that we were waved through with minimal delay.
After Tom worked on the blog and Scott napped, it was time for our first hot tub soak. The pool is in the nearby resort – a short drive. We grabbed what little we needed – basically bathing suits – and headed over. When we got there Tom discovered he left his suit behind. After returning for the suit we went back to the resort and discovered we needed entry cards and did not have them – back to the KOA where the nice lady told Tom she had realized she didn’t provide them when we checked in. Our third trip to the pool was successful.
We always like to sample the local cuisine for dinner when possible. After a lengthy discussion we decided on Indian for Scott and a burger for Tom at Bay Leaf in Cranbrook. After an acceptable meal it was back to Khan and blogging then bed.