Border Crossings

The past 5 days have been a whirlwind. Wonderful times with my girlfriend Lisa, a fun evening with her and the boys, and of course a road trip to Canada to meet friends for a weekend of camping.

The drive up was pretty uneventful. Lisa and I discovered that we can handle many hours in the car together without driving each other insane and actually travel very well together. She stayed awake and kept me company the whole trip even though I am sure she would have enjoyed a nap.. especially on the way back when the drive dragged on and we just wanted to be home.

Whe drove down around lake Michigan, through the Chicago area and then up through Michigan heading for the border at Sarnia. As Brian put it as he was looking up stuff on mapquest for us while we were on the phone in the car, its like Narnia with an S. I had called him as we thought we might have missed the exit for getting on highway 69. Yes. 69. Got to love those people approving road signs. I was afraid that in trying to scramble to find Lisa's camera to get a shot of the exit sign for Climax that we may have missed the turn. Yes, there is a Climax, MI. Sadly we didn't react fast enough to get a shot of the sign. But if you doubt me, google Climax, MI and you will see for yourself. The best part of the Wiki page on Climax is this quote:

"Climax is twinned with Intercourse, Pennsylvania, a town of about 1000 in Lancaster County in south-eastern portion of Pennsylvania in a sister city exchange programme establshed during the early 1970s."

Anyway, having had the excitement of Climax, we kept on 69 and pushed hard for the border. Savor that statement for a minute. Yes, I am quite proud of myself. Sorry Mom. Once we reached Sarnia, we got our $1.50 ready to pay to cross into Canada and got up to the little booth where the friendly Canadian lady had a few questions for us. I handed her my WI drivers license and Lisa's CA license. She glanced at that a second time but continued on with the Q&A undaunted. The conversation went something like this. CBPL = Canadian Border Patrol Lady

CBPL: Hi! What is the purpose of your visit to canada today.
Me: We are going camping with some friends.
CBPL: Oh? And how long will you be in Canada?
Me: We are returning home on Sunday. Just here for the weekend.
CPBL: And how did you meet these friends of yours in Candada?
Me: Well, we play online games together.
CPBL: (raises a questioning eyebrow) And what are you bringing into Canada today?
Me: Just camping gear for the weekend.
CPBL: (checks licenses again) So how did you two meet?
Me: Ummm.. we met online.
CPBL: And how long have you known each other?
Me: About 7 years.
CPBL: Well enjoy your stay in Canada. Have a good day.

At this point she hands back our ID's and gives me a look that expressed what she couldn't say outloud. I could tell she was going to call someone right after we were out of earshot and go "I just had this guy from WI come through my booth who had a girl from CA with him who looks way too young to be with him voluntarily, no matter what her license says. He said he met her on the internet! He also said they are going up to go camping in the woods with a bunch more people they met on the internet. I swear we are going to see something in the news in the next few days about a group of campers found mutilated in the woods and it will all trace back to the crazy guy from WI luring internet "friends" to a remote Canadian wilderness. You mark my words!"

So thats how we made our triumphant entry into the Great White North. Lots of crazy stuff in Canada that I will blog about bits and pieces of over the next few days, but the return border crossing into the US was interesting as well. The line took us about 30 minutes of waiting to get to the booth. A older guy that definitely had an ex-military look about him takes our ID's and pretty much yelled something about country of residence. I was caught unaware... expecting more of the pleasant friendly personality we ran into on the way into Canada, not a drill seargent.

Now he is pissed that we didn't answer.. so he yells the question this time. A little taken aback, we shout UNITED STATES! Not sure if I should salute or what. He looks at our licenses and then glances around the booth a minute and types a few things into his computer. I am sure that my ID brought up our crazy story about camping int he woods with strangers from the internet and he was probably scanning databases to make sure there were no unsolved murders at campsites we needed to be detained for questioning on.

He then asks for proof of citeznship. I said you have it. He said NO! Proof that you live in the United States. This is not acceptable! Lisa had her passport and handed it to him. I had nothing. I told him that I had double checked the State Department's website to confirm that until summer of 2009 that a state issued drivers license was acceptable for land border crossings and that only air travel required passports. He told me I didn't know what I was talking about and gave me a lecture on not having proper documentation. Eventually he gave us our IDs back and told me to be properly prepared next time. He tore a sheet off this pad he had that had all the information on the requirements that I should read "AS SOON AS I HAD TIME!"

As we drove off, I was still a bit confused as I know I checked to make sure before I left the country that I had what I needed to get back in without problem. Lisa is sitting beside me reading the sheet that he just handed to us. Guess what it said? A state issued drivers license is valid for indentification and proof of citizenship for land border crossings until summer of 2009! Oh now I was pissed. I so wanted to turn right the hell around and go talk to that guy! Apparently he just gets his kicks from giving people a hard time at the border crossing.

The good news is however, that he didn't call for a full inspection of the vehicle. So we made it through without the bodies of our "internet friends" that we had stuffed in trash bags in the back being discovered! /whew

Had to take Lisa back to the airport last night. Always tough saying goodbye to someone you love. I miss you already. /kiss