A Crossing Over Story

It was time to come across the border into Canada, and time to "think metric" like the rest of the globe. I switched "Maggie the GPS" over to "Margarette" and received a British Accent (not Canadian, unfortunately). The GPS change-over brought us a bunch of extra kilometers in exchange for our mileage figures. What really helped was the GPS's speedometer display, which now reported our speed in kilometers.... much easier now to match our speeds to the Canadian speed limit signs, without peering deep into the "small" numbers on the Matrix's dash. So far so good.

Getting into Canada via their customs was a polite breeze with our passports and dog papers, but the American customs had backed up both Canadians and Americans a full, frustrating 1/4 mile or more, giving them the "what-for" while they tried to enter the lower 48. What was up with that?

 In regards to the border jam going south, we came up with a theory: This was a "long weekend" for Albertans, "Civic Day" was Monday.... so extra Albertans (plus the usual returning Americans) piled up heavily against our border to cross over with Albertans using their 3-day weekend to vacation down to Montana, Glacier and beyond.

What we witnessed, as we drove past the crossing into Canada, were parked vehicles and campers way down the road facing south, doors open, dogs on leashes; drivers wondering what the heck was going at the border crossing. They were hungry, many needed bathroom breaks. It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday, and they were getting nowhere.

We think the American border personnel were clueless about their Alberta neighbor's holidays, and didn't open a second portal or have the extra employees to handle it. The border guards must have continually been dealing with never-ending RVs and autos of frustrated Americans trying to enter their own country peaceably, plus Canadians just trying to drop some of their healthier Canadian dollars in our struggling economy and have a good time. We should begin to educate ourselves about our quieter neighbors, and get our act together for our own citizens. OK, off the soapbox now! I had to vent, having lived in Canada eight years as an American.