Upshift Issue 51 - November 2020

I hadn’t put together the whole “Mexico to Canada” thing in my mind until I was watching Sterling’s IDBDR movie.

They talked about the Canadian border, a real border. “Guys with guns just over there”, which was now closed. The only ones guarding the Mexican border had been some horses and cows. As far as I knew they were unarmed, but cows can be tricky. Although I had the 1233-mile IBDR trip planned for the end of August since the year before, I’ll admit, the extra feat of crossing the breadth of America via dirt roads gave it some extra spice.

I would love to tell you exciting tales of drama and near-death experiences I had on the IDBDR, but Idaho doesn’t do drama. Idaho does well maintained and groomed flowy packed-sand backcountry roads up mountains and down mountains. Idaho does vistas and scenery and landscapes. Idaho does small-town Inns and solitary campsites and fire tower lookouts. The only drama I had was of my own making when I realized too late that my maps hadn’t downloaded on the GPS. I spent the next 1200 miles obediently following a blue route line across a blank white screen.