Left Great Falls this morning with a little over a hundred miles to get to the Canadian border. We hadn’t gone very far when we gave ourselves a lesson in how to feel like an idiot! We had disposed of all the fresh fruit that we had that might cause a problem crossing the border and we were sure that everything else in the refrigerator would pass inspection. We had been working for several months on getting David’s passport renewed and getting the documentation for having insurance coverage in Canada for both vehicles. We’ve been reading up on the internet to try to be sure that we had everything in place. I started gathering all our paperwork to cross into Canada and realized that the motorhome registration was out of date! WHICH ONE OF US PUT ON THE NEW TAG STICKER BACK IN FEBRUARY AND DIDN’T PUT THE REGISTRATION PAPER IN THE MOTORHOME? I think we are both silently blaming the other, but in fact neither of us can remember putting the sticker on so we don’t know whose fault it is. I thought about double checking before we left home, but I knew the tags were current and the registration papers ALWAYS go in when we put on the sticker…..
After discussing several options, we pulled over in Shelby, about 34 miles from the Canadian check point. It was about 7:30 and we waited until 8:00 and called the Yuma County Clerk’s office to ask if they could email the registration to us. The gal that answered said they could, but it would be sometime after 8:30 as they didn’t open until then. We went into a Best Western and asked if we could use their computer and printer when the email came in. They were very accommodating, let us use their equipment, get coffee, use their restroom, read the paper, and didn’t charge us for anything. We were finally back on the road about 9:30 with all the proper documentation. We pulled up to the port, handed the officer our passports and the vehicle information. He handed back the vehicle information and said just hold on to it for now. He checked the passports, asked where we were going and for how long, asked if we had firearms or ammunition, handed back the passports and told us to have a great visit. HE DIDN’T EVEN LOOK AT ANY OF THE VEHICLE INFORMATION AND APPARENTLY I COULD HAVE STILL HAD THOSE BLUEBERRIES THAT I THREW OUT FOR BREAKFAST IN THE MORNING. But we are safely and legally in Canada.
Waiting our turn to enter Canada
Lots of cool old grain elevators
We drove through a lot of beautiful farm land after we made it through the port. Everything was green and lush. The farms all looked so well cared for and neat. There were many fields solid yellow with some crop. I think it is canola, but I’m not sure why I think so, as I’ve never seen it grown before. Hope to be able to talk to some locals to find out. (I just looked it up now that I have wifi and it is canola)
Nothing makes you smile like a happy barn.
Some one is building a rather large house! You can see one of the two entrance guard houses here with the second hiding behind the mirror. I counted 8 garage doors!
Having everything in kilometers and liters has been interesting. David said he was going to write the Prime Minister and tell him that he wasn’t coming back to Canada until the Prime Minister changed over to miles and gallons. I told him that even though it would take us old folks a while to get used to the metric system, their system makes a lot more sense than ours!
The mountains are beautiful, somehow more rugged looking than the Colorado Rockies. Our campsite is nestled in trees and this evening was lovely. We ate supper outside with no wind and no bugs (well, just a few). It’s interesting how much later it stays light being this much further north. It is 9:30 now and still quite light outside. We’re anxious to get up in the morning and start exploring. It will be fun to be in the Jeep where we don’t need a city block to pull over or an empty parking lot to turn around!
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