Land of the free

Hello Everyone, 

I write to you from beautiful Missoula, Montana. I crossed the border yesterday, and stayed at a recreation area near Coeur D'alene. Again this time, I was pulled over at customs and had to answer questions about how I was going to support myself while I was here. They seem very concerned I was going to get a job. Let it be known, I have no intention to work. 

The campsite was really nice. It was at a boat launch, so had access to a little lake. Arthur went swimming, while I stayed dry. Probably should have gone in though, was very hot.

Afterwards, I was throwing a stick for him in some long grass. He must have hit some uneven ground, as he was slow returning, and this morning is limping pretty bad. I think it's just a pulled muscle, he's just that leg before, but it looks like he won't be running for a few days. 

When I first came to the US in February, at the start of this trip, I was very much feeling the sense of adventure, looking entirely forward. And while I still enjoy the feeling of adventure, I felt a bit more sadness leaving my country this time. Felt more like I was leaving home. 

I spent awhile today getting my phone up and running again. It stopped working as soon as I crossed over as I forgot to get a U.S. packag to cover me until I could get back to my US number. So, I drove around until I found a Starbucks, fortunately they are everywhere amd have free WiFi, and used that to look up a Verizon store. I would have just used Verizon's online payment system, but they didn't have Canadian provinces as one of the drop down options in the credit card information section. I can use their service to call Canada, but the idea of using a Canadian credit card to pay for it hasn't occurred to them. 

Also, their online help system was entirely useless, which is why I had to go into an actual store and talk to an actual person, in order to get online. On the plus side, the guys in the store were very friendly and helpful. Take that, useless chat bot.

Wes

Photos

Here are a couple of shots of the spot by the lake from last night. Sunsets by a lake are hard to beat.