Today the tour finally started! I was picked up at the hotel by our guides Karen and David, then we picked up the other riders. We are 11, as 2 had to drop out at the last minute. We drove from Spokane to Colville, Washington, where we got assembled, got our bikes (only 3 of us, me included, brought our own bikes), and got underway.

We rode through cool light rain most of the day, with only a little bit of smoke from the local forest fires. We crossed the border uneventfully and got to our hotel in the small town of Rossland, British Columbia. Dinner was at the hotel, in a restaurant with pictures of the owner, Gabriella, growing up in Italy. All in all a nice if wet day.