8/21/2006 (Mon) - Riverside (City) Park, Eureka, 60.97 miles.

Today was a fine biking day though it got a little hot in toward the end of my bike ride. After showering and setting things up at camp, while I roamed and explored Eureka a bit, I saw that the digital thermometers I see around town read 96 degrees around 5 p.m.! According to the weather report, tomorrow will be about the same. It will then (hopefully) drastically cool down (to the low 80's)the day after that.

The ride through the remaining of B.C. was fine. It was a relatively quiet ride the entire ride. The map made gGoing through Baynes Lake trickier than it really was. All I did was follow the road; I didn't need to make special turns into different named streets as the map suggested.

The ride on the last Canadian section of 93 went pretty smoothly. The only but big surprise was the big descent and ascent as I cross Kikomun creek. That uphill, in relative warm weather, was pretty tiresome, though I didn't have to rest for the climb. I also met up again with Jason, whom I had met earlier in the day on the road. Jason regularly races, but now with the season over, he was just enjoying and "playing." I met up again with Jason during this last stretch of the 93. He had ridden to the border and was returning to Wardner.

Crossing the border was pretty noneventful. The agent played a tough guy, asking stern questions about where I have been, what I had in my sac, whether I had any fruits or food, but eventually simply said, "you look too healthy to do drugs..."

The ride into Eureka was also pretty noneventful, I taking a side road called Airport Rd. Nevertheless, in that side road, I didn't run into one of those rare "assholes" on my trip. A truck drove close to me, and right as it was passing, honked.

The temperature did soar, but since the terrain was relatively flat, I didn't mind too much. Coming into Eureka, I stopped into a gas station featuring a Subway joint and asked around for Riverside park. This would be the first time I camp in a city park, and I didn't know how I could "sign up" with the police/city hall. As it turned out, finding the park and signing up with the police was a straightforward process. Before going to the park, I also dropped by a Glacier Bank branch (lots of them in the area) to exchange my Canadian money back to American.

At camp, I met up with a guy called Steve. He was biking from Oklohoma to Seattle, where he was to join his dad and brother in law for a bike tour down the Pacific Coast to San Francisco. Steve is middle aged and recently quit his job as an insurance agent. His wife still works, but he was tired of his work and wanted a change of scenary and to prove that he could do something special. He hoped the bike ride would help him form a vision of what he wanted to do in the next chapter of his life....

Finally, today, I am noticing for the first time - perhpas because I didn't wear earplugs for a majority of the time today - that my right crank was creaking. The bike store in Eureka recently closed, so I plan to visit the first bike store in Whitefish. Both the police and Steve recommended Glacier Cyclery.