THE TOWN, not the rock band named after said town

Day 7, Sun July 22, 2018
Oroville WA, - Hedley BC
Stats: 
             Cat Eye:  Dist. 88km, Spd. 18.3, Max 61.6 km/hr, Time 4:48
                 Polar:  Time 4:49, Cal. 2681, HR 120, Total Time 5:45

    Was up early and ready to hit the border. It was a crazy easy ride of maybe 10 km to the crossing. Yay! Unfortunately, when I got there, I found no obvious location for bikes (or pedestrians for that matter, but I guess they don't get many people walking the 10 km to the border only to walk another 10ish to Osoyoos)
    There was a bit of a line up of cars and I didn't want any part of that so I went to the front of the line. I had no clue what to do as there was no access to any border security people. It turns out, however that blocking a security camera is a good way to get attention. Joe Jug Head had to get out of his comfort zone to yell at me. "Get away from the camera!" I said that I had no place to go, so he barked,  "go back to the stop line!!!"
   Okay, after jumping the line of maybe 25 cars, I found myself face to face with border guy. After a couple standard exchanges, his behaviour changed slightly. He maintained his Security Jug Head persona, but was obviously interested in my trip and opened up a bit. He was a fit looking guy and probably had an outdoor workout lifestyle. It was weird. Anyway, he wished me well and gave me some info about the forest fire situation.
    So, I went on my merry way into Canada, yay! Of coarse it was hot as hell again but that didn't bother me as I was on familiar soil. I went to the Osoyoos Travel info Centre to get updated on the forest fire situation. Of coarse, seeing as it was Sunday morning 9:30 am, the facility was closed and would open at 10am. I spoke to another human traveller that was equally annoyed as I at this situation. Isn't early Sunday morning a good day and time for travellers to seek info while vacationing?  F**king idiotic management...
      Anyway, I headed out of Osoyoos as time is more important to a cyclist than a motorist. Leaving the town wasn't pleasant. It was a steady climb up Hwy 3, although the shoulder was decent and traffic was low because car people were waiting for the Info Centre to open, I guess, ha ha, sigh.

The Mall, Hedley

    As I headed west, my elevation went down as the winds and heat went up. The conditions were greatly affecting my efficiency. I was becoming toast. I rolled into Hedley BC with the mindset that Princeton was another 70 km. So, I decided to check out this town that I had ignored several times in the past. I found "The Hedley Inn" and took a tour of the facility. I looked at all the little rooms with bunk beds for $40.00 or whatever, and then visited the top suite. It was basically an apartment on it's own with everything a tired, hot, pissed off cyclist would want. It was frigging beautifully designed. I only paused for 2 seconds max and said "I'll take the suite". I think that he was delightfully surprised. Maybe he thought that a long hair geezer couldn't swing the rent? 
     Even though I was very angry at myself for stopping so early, I was pretty happy with the outcome. After getting set up in the suite, Google told me that Princeton was only 36 km. I felt so stupid. This was the 3rd time that I goofed as far as navigation is concerned.
I need to get a GPS set up on the bike as I'm done with stupid mistakes. 
    Anyway, I had a store across the street with everything we needed. Also, there was a super restaurant kitty corner to me. "The Hitching Post" was an awesome place. Unfortunately, it burned down later in November. Terrible news for a town that is really struggling. 
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/hedley-b-c-s-historic-hitching-post-restaurant-levelled-by-fire-1.4875256  

Heading to Canada

Sketch of my border experience

Damn straight

Climbing away from Osoyoos BC

HWY 3 West. Sign refers to cycling . "Challenge" was a bike event that replaced "Ironman" a few years ago. This is familiar territory for me. Hot, dry and windy. Flat stretches can be difficult. Ugghh. BYO. Rattlesnake.

Hedley Inn/Hostel, (home base)

Inside my suite. I would show more pics but I don't want anyone to feel jealous

Log duty

A fine service station just steps away

Another fine establishment for some purpose of some sort and whatever have you...

Steel girders for a new bridge that will pass the town. Construction for this bridge has greatly affected this little town in a bad way. I was confused as how to access the hostel from a cyclist's point of view. I can't imagine the same brain thoughts from a motorist's perspective.

Coffee and eats. This was a super nice eatery. Pretty much the only business (except the general store) that gave people a reason to visit. Unfortunately it burned down in November  2018 ,so sad

A Hedley resident

Hard times in Hedley