Border Crossings and Rollercoasters

RV camping with Rollercoaster view! Aftershock in background.

Leaving Rossland we headed east then south towards the quiet border crossing near the Washington/Idaho borders. We were keen to be granted another 6 month visa so made sure we ate all our food so we did not have any prohibited items. We had no issues with stocking up once we hit the USA as the costs would be so much lower.
We had run the fuel down in the RV hoping for cheaper fuel very soon after we left Canada. There were certainly no queues at this border – it was extremely quiet. We were told we would have to park the RV and go inside to have our visas processed. It seems they see very few multiple entry visas like ours at this border, so there was some initial confusion with dates allowed, followed by a computer that would not cooperate and then we were in. After two satsumas were confiscated, we were on our way very relieved to have our visas (Fiona was particularly relieved as due to her special talents in this area she had been doing the bulk of the worrying!). To celebrate we opened the bottle of champagne we had been carrying since Durango (April).

New Visa = Champagne

Symi had other reasons to celebrate.  The family we stayed next to at Rossland Campground recommended a trip to Silverwood Theme Park. A place with waterslides and rollercoasters. There was a campground attached to the theme park so we booked in for the night. It was pretty warm when we arrived and we were glad of having power and being able to turn the air conditioner on. Next morning we were up and at the waterslides when they opened. We all had fun trying out the different slides and the weather was perfect for it. They also had two wave pools (inland interpretations of the beach) and by later in the day these wave pools were more crowded and probably more dangerous than many real beaches. Many people had very little control of themselves in the small waves and we noticed frequent collisions. We decided we prefer our less crowded beaches.

Too busy in places

After the water park Rob and Symi were keen to try out the other side of the park where the rollercoasters were. Fiona accompanied them on one ride – the raft ride and then left them to the roller coasters. There were four rollercoasters, one corkscrew, two wooden rattlers and a modern crazy ride called the Aftershock. The wooden rides were fun, however observing some corners from a distance showed the whole structure flexing as the rollercoaster went around corners which was a little unnerving. Rob eventually talked Symi in riding the Aftershock. It’s a hanging rollercoaster that starts by going up a huge vertical tower, then drops with frightening speed going into a sort of corkscrew, then loop, then goes up another vertical tower before reversing the whole sequence. Both Rob and Symi hadn’t been on a more intense and terrifying ride before! Rob was keen for another round, Symi rightly refused.

Corkscrew Rollercoaster

We were unable to get a spot in the RV Park that night as it was full. We were able to spend the night in the overflow car park which although lacking facilities and ambience of any sort did provide nice views of the lights on the roller coasters as night fell. Next morning we left behind the bright lights of the theme park to head into the wilderness of Glacier National Park. After a short drive we arrived in Montana, our tenth state on this trip. We aimed for Kalispell hoping to go camera shopping, stay tuned.