Stateside

I made it back into the US with little trouble. I took a bit of a different route coming back from Vancouver than entering, and it proved much easier, no blasted gravel trail to follow this time, and not nearly so long a bridge to traverse either. ...It may well be possible though that in my excitement to get back to US soil as I neared the border that I messed up and briefly was on a highway that it was totally illegal for me to be on, and that after I realized this, I was wincing in worry of the mounties coming by until I could get off.

I may also have taken much longer  getting across the border than necessary too. There was a place where supposedly a guy was supposed to be that I was to talk to, or a bell for me to ring to make him show up, but neither was present. And I stood around like a dope waiting until the guy at the booth ahead told me to ignore the sign and go on into the building. Then I stood around for an hour in the long, slow line of mostly Chinese people crossing from Canada into the US...only to be told when I finally got up to front that I could have completely bypassed the line as a pedestrian/cyclist. ...Oops.

But I had none of the trouble returning to the US as I did getting into Canada after all the unneeded waiting was done. After that it was just biking the same stretch of interstate I had already done, just on the opposite side. If anyone cares for a review of the shoulder on the northbound and southbound side of I5 from the border to Bellingham...north is generally nicer, but south has a much better shoulder over the one bridge.

I showed up at my host's place a little after 4. He had told me he wasn't going to be there, off doing a project for a friend nearby, and to call upon arrival. I called, got voice mail, then waited on the porch awhile. He called back before long and told me the back was open and to come in and make myself at home, even told me where the towels were so I could shower. I love Warmshowers hosts.

So, I get in, head to the bathroom, take some time to relax and call my parents, before getting undressed to shower. I just get all my clothes off when someone shows up, not my host, but his girlfriend. Who is here to do laundry quick before rushing off to do other things. The laundry machines are in the bathroom. So, my introduction to my host's girlfriend is a sort of awkward conversation through a bathroom door, followed by a rapid redressing, so she can throw her clothes in the wash while chatting briefly, ask me to start them when I finish showering, and then take off.

Right now, I'm still waiting on my host to get home, as it approaches 8:30. I'll admit, while I've been told to make myself at home, and I'm not uncomfortable here sitting on the couch fiddling with my phone, it's a little hard to feel quite at place waiting uncertainly for when your host will show up.