Intrigued by the opportunity to meet fellow Ruckus travelers Dan and Miles of the American Community Project, I set my sights on the US border. A glorious rainbow crossed the road as I neared the border.

I cruised south and soon made it through customs. I can't recall how many crossings I've made in the past two months.

Onward to Spokane!

Riding east out of the mountains, a glorious morning sun shone trough the fog and canopy. Beaver ponds and roaring creeks drifted past me as I sailed downhill.

I reached the lakeside town of Kaslo and explored a bit. Their sternwheeler was once the pride of town, a real working girl, it operated until 1957!

With the sun shining bright on my wet gear, I made haste to Ainsworth Hot Springs. After laying out all my gear in the hot sunshine, I went inside, changed, and lowered my bones into the hot pools. The outdoor pool was 99F and felt remarkable. After 15 minutes, I worked my way into the hot springs. Unlike many hot springs, Ainsworth is unique in that they flow from a cave within the mountain. Two chambers enter and link up in the steamy 104F darkness. Rope lights faintly illuminate fellow barbers swimming around the inky darkness like prehuman cave organisms from a sci-fi film. Stalactites and waxy limestone structures coat the walls and ceiling. Water drips down from fissures in the rock. I park myself under a hot waterfall, it's pressure directed at my sore neck muscles. This is remarkable! After 10-15 min in the hot pool, I exit and plunge into the 49F cool jacuzzi sized area. The shock sends pins and needles through my body, this must be good for me.

I pack my dry gear and ride down to the ferry for a schedule. I make lentils and Cous Cous before heading over to Nelson to check out the town. The lakeshore is beautiful! A warm breeze carries me past lakefront houses of varying class and grandeur. Kayaks paddle the water among sailboats and pleasure craft enjoying the last few weeks of summer.

I take a break in Nelson, BC for an ice cream and to check out the town. It is like a mini San Francisco, filled with hippies smoking freely in the street, gays celebrating the pride parade weekend and hemp shops selling natural fibers. I have a conversation with this disgruntled old man, upset the Catholics and "lesbian devils" are stealing all his money. I have no clue...he didn't make much sense. Great beard though!

I arrived at the ferry as it was departing so spent an hour writing in my journal and siping coffee in the hot sun. Soon the ferry carried me across the lake to the eastern shore.

A small but powerful storm was blowing across the water. At "full-steam-ahead" I just barely made it before getting hit. Wind whipped the water into whitecaps and tossed limbs from the trees into the road.

Sights like this are why I ride. Simply amazing.

The discovery of silver in the Kootenay Mtns, specifically Slocan Lake region, led the first mining boom in this section of Canada. The promise of riches and wealth drove many to these high mountain streams to work for their wealth. The town of Sandon was a classic boom town, filled with brothels, saloons and few churches struggling to maintain morality in a rough world. A devastating fire in 1900, and the decline of silver discoveries ultimately spelled the demise of this once prosperous town. During WWII, it served as a Japanese-Canadian internment camp circled around manual labor and terrible conditions. Most of the town had been destroyed or the land allowed to reclaim it. The three buildings here today are nothing more than reproductions, yet provide a glimpse into what it must have been like in the town.

The oldest operating hydroelectric station sit high on the hill. Donated by the city of Vernon, this generator has been in operation for over 100 years! It was closed at the early hour but I tried to get some pics through the glass and around the building.

Departing Kamloops, I welcomed the dry climate and sagebrush pastureland so unfamiliar to eyes accustomed to the "north". Men in cowboy hats worked their tractors down the road and women tended their gardens. The terrain slowly changed into rolling farmland surrounded by taller peaks. I couldn't help but imagine I was driving through the Shenandoah Valley with the round and square hay ales stacked in fields and under barns.

I saw a slow moving bike ahead and immediately recognized it as a 50cc Piaggio scooter riding in my direction. I pulled a u-turn and caught up with the fellow traveler from Vancouver.

The rain began around Vernon when I paused for gas. It continued to intensify as I rose higher into the mountains toward the Kootenay Mtns. The deluge swamped the road, coursing down the pavement in snaking rivulets churned milky white by truck tires. By the time I reached the ferry to Fauquier, my lower half was soaked. Wet crotch does not a happy traveler make.

The rain continued until dark. I rode up to Nikusp for gas and some soup, then continued deeper into the mountains. I found a pull off for the old silver mining town of Sandon, following it up a smooth gravel road into the fog. A mine appeared on the right, the active Klondike Mine, then a series of derelict buildings. I set up across from town in a small pulloff by the river's edge.