Steve's second post from the road

Hi All,
Attached is Steve's second post from the road. He's already done a third, so I'll post that one later. I am enjoying Steve's writing and love his humor. Some of the photos on the FB group page (Ironman for Heidi) are really funny, so if you have access, you should check them out. As a side note, i am not sure how much money has been contributed to cause as a result of Steve's great idea, but the Hope for Heidi page has just recently cleared over $11,000 raised in our quest to reach $50,000.00 for ALS-TDI.

On the home front, we are still battling. I received a different, manual wheelchair for Heidi yesterday from the local ALS Association's closet, and hopefully today we can test it out and it will work for her. Times are tough, but all your support encourages us all. Thanks again.
Bill

====Begin Steve's 2nd Post =====
Port Angeles, WA 3:30 p.m. -- August 23, 2009
Laura had to drive the whole way from Eugene to Port Angeles. It was my job to make ferry reservations and that didn’t happen. Without a reservation, we absolutely had to get to the ferry by 3:30. No 3:30, no boat. No boat, no Canada -- and were ready to meet some Canadians, dammit!
We made it at exactly 3:30. That gave us a couple hours to enjoy Port Angeles, which, for a town built with a fisherman’s wharf feel, has a strange affinity for metal statues. Naturally, I felt compelled to see if the the statues looked good in a Speedo, to Laura’s chagrin. Check out my IM for Heidi pictures for the best shots.
The boat crossing to Victoria, across the Straits of Juan De Fuca, was rough. The ferry held at least a hundred cars and RVs in it’s hold and still that sucker rolled a ton. Laura was looking a little green for a while, but I distracted her by discussing my strategy for swimming to shore if the boat were to sink. Landing in Victoria, we had a little trouble with the border patrol -- not that we were dealing with Sherlock Holmes. First, we said that there was no fresh fruit in the car. Fortunately, Canadians appear to have never seen bananas; otherwise they would have noticed an entire 5 banana bushel sitting in plain view on the center console.

Then they asked for not only our passports, but our driver’s licenses. I had stupidly forgotten my driver’s license in the last pair of pants I wore in California, but I figured I could muddle through the trip with just my passport. It seems that you are not permitted to enter Canada if you’ve had a DUI, and I had just become a prime suspect. The officer apparently wasn’t buying that I was in Canada to do Ironman Canada despite the triathlon bikes hanging off the back of the FJ. In his mind, I was a drunk driver trying to sneak into the country. Fortunately, for the first time ever, the U.S. DMV came through for me, confirming that I was just an idiot and not someone with a suspended license trying to sneak into Canada.
By the way, Victoria is beautiful!
===========End Steve's second post===================