And so what – did I expect?  I had to stop driving around at some point.  I think that the dénouement of the trip (down) felt quite like that – falling action after the climax, a not necessarily satisfying follow-up to new places found and unexpected events.  A trip across the interminable (terminal?) landscape of interstate-America doesn’t summon in most people, who’ve done it anyway,  ideas of excitement like images of the mythical route-6166, but rather a more grim reality of a landscape punctuated by highway interchanges instantly recognizable by the dismally cheerful McDonald’s/Dennys/Applebees/BP/Chevron/DaysInn/Motel6/Super8 signs polluting the air.   You can become happily familiar with them, perhaps like a travelling businessman, looking forward to the free coffee at the Motel 6 (7-10am only) or KwikTrip’s fresh salads, however the satisfaction is ephemeral, you still wake up faced with the 10am check-out time, or that the salad is most likely an industrial waste bi-product.

Train North of Reno, NV, USA

This wasn’t however, the way to experience the USA anyway – if anything I had learned on the trip that the fast highways were the least interesting.  My only recountable experience was being stopped by a Montana state trooper for, it transpired, not having a working headlight. Being sure my headlight hadn’t failed I was genuinely surprised, this he took as confirmation of my complicity in contravening said traffic law, giving himself a small smug smirk.  Having dealt with my share of Latin-American policemen it all felt a bit rote and I was quite smugly satisfied myself when I turned the ignition and the faintest glimmer came off the headlight in that bright western-Montana sun.  Seeing that he found this to be a difficult turn of events I immediately launched into a mindless blabber about how the Kawasaki KLR650 stator didn’t produce enough electricity to power a brighter headlight and yes it worried me to to no end, however the upgrade was very expensive…  It was time to change topic and tact, so I introduced the notion of my 40,000 km voyage and with indignation recounted the nine corrupt! police officers I had met.  This was enough to throw him off completely and so after he had asked me enough about this he fumbled something about being careful out there and disconcertedly wandered back to his car.

Lake towards Oregon from Nevada, USA

I awoke on my final day of driving in Battle Creek, Michigan to find my bike had no power. After a return trip to Walmart with a procured battery my bike was ready to go.

the barn after the trip, Ancaster, On, Canada

The trip - excluding the Los Angeles to Vancouver to Toronto portion

	North of Reno, NV, USA	Train North of Reno, NV, USA	Lake towards Oregon from Nevada, USA
Lake towards Oregon from Nevada, USA	Farm equipment en route to Eugene, Oregon, USA	English Bay, Vancouver, BC, Canada	English Bay, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Windy Bridge, Western Washington, USA	Mountains, Montana, USA	Barn, Ancaster, On, Canada	Barn, Ancaster, On, Canada

Distance and Elevation Profile Vancouver, BC to Ancaster, On Across the Northern US

Vancouver to Ancaster, ON