San Francisco!

I almost didn't make it to San Francisco. The angry U.S. Customs officer at the Vancouver International Airport accused me of wanting to stay in the States illegally once I got to SF since I am currently unemployed and have no plane ticket back to Canada (I'm biking back, remember?). He asked me for evidence that I will be returning to Canada and all I could say was that "I have medical insurance for the 6-week bike trip, and six week's worth of biking clothes," and that's it. That wasn't good enough. "I am going back to Canada to my family when I'm done my trip." That wasn't good enough either. "I don't want to live in the States." Well, that got his goat. He replied in a nasty and rather cocky manner, "Oh, come on, ALL Canadians want to live in the States." Uh, buddy, I think your generalization has less credibility than my story, and it is advised that you should go stick your head in a toilet for being so rude and ignorant. Of course, I didn't actually say that, but I wished I had. He told me I am not allowed in the country and sent me to the Secondary Security Area, where after a twenty-minute wait I had a short interview with a rather nice U.S. Customs Officer who gave me a little pass stapled in my passport that requires me to be out of the country when I said I would be (October 31). All that mess with customs left mere minutes to get to the boarding area for my plane, which ended up sitting on the tarmac for nearly two hours before taking off towards SF. Once we got near the Bay area, the plane had to circle four times before gaining permission to land. Whew. I finally made it to SAN FRANCISCO!!, and just in time to meet Brian coming from a flight from Auckland. Boy, it was great to see him! We're staying in a house north of the Golden Gate Bridge owned by Mark and Anne (we found them on the www.warmshowers.com website where touring cyclists can stay with fellow cyclists while on the road). Yesterday, we took an extended cycle tour of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the downtown San Francisco area. I have photos, but I'll link them in later (sorry). It's beautiful, hilly, foggy, and HOT. Today, we got the bikes all ready for the big trip, and we'll set off into the sunrise tomorrow. Well, maybe not the sunrise, but we hope to be on the road early to get some riding done before the supposed winds come up. There may indeed be a reason most people ride north to south along this coast line; we hope not to discover that reason....... Am I jinxing our ride already?