As you probably surmised from my blog on the flaming balloon, we have made it to near Vancouver-Surrey, BC. actually. We got in Friday-the line wasn't long at the border going north, and we have a good back in spot at the campground. Marcia is still working to get emptycage sattelite connection, but in the meantime, we have the park connection. The TV sattelite stopped working in Bothell, Washington after it rained, so we are not expecting much from it. That's fine for now, as we have plenty to do. The park has a swimming pool and hot tub, and cable so we are set.
We did have a rather inauspicious beginning here. The border guard was a bit more formal than we experienced crossing in the east last summer. He didn't ask about fruits or vegetables, but wanted to make very clear that if we had firearms of any kind we should turn around as we would surely be arrested and jailed. He asked twice. He would not accept that we were retired, and wanted to know our professions before retirement. Apparently nurse and social worker were non-threatening enough to get us across. He was also interested in how much alcohol we had onboard, and seemed disappointed that we only had a few bottles of wine. He showed no interest in Stella's papers. We are told that there have been several serious border breaches here-there was the tunnel, the terrorist who got caught at this very crossing, and the crazed drug border crashers who drove right through. Apparently they are a bit more cautious here and now.
Since our experience with US Customs has been that they are more rigorous than Canadian Customs, we should not have been surprised at the line of cars waiting to go south. It must be taken into account that we arrived about 2pm on Friday, but we can see the line from our campsite, and it has never stopped (I suspect it stretches to the Yukon). This is a source of some concern to me, as I have to cross the border to get to a Walgreens to get my meds sometime this week. The other border crossing nearby had a 15 minute wait last night after 10pm, so I am thinking that a 24 hour Wallmart might just be the thing.
Our park is quite close to the border. Stella and I took our morning walk on 0 street. To the immediate south of 0 street is a ditch that literally marks the border. It is filled with blackberry bushes and other plants who love to have their feet wet. Beyond this trench is a large-perhaps 4 story building and truckers scales. All day and all night trucks pass through-get weighed and have their manifests checked. There is also a tall tower with cameras on the top. To the front of the RV park, beyond the fence is the Canadian Duty Free/ Hors Taxes store. Of course, everything is in English and French. Their traffic line must merge with the line on the street, and there is an orange vested director of traffic to assist.
As one drives 0 street, one can see people in their houses being US Americans from this side, and I'm sure the people on the US side can see Canadian Americans being themselves on this side. In some ways, boundaries are so artificial, and in some ways, so useful. In Vermont, we used to walk down the Lake Road across the open border just for a leisurly stroll, and no one took note. We would drive around Lake Memphremegog which took us up to the town of Megog, Quebec and back around to the border crossing in Derby Line. They usually took little note of us at either Canadian or US crossing. Occasionally we would see the border patrol driving down our road to check in on something, or racing down the road to really check in on something. When we visited that crossing last year, there were signs, barriers, and cameras. The world has changed and not for the better.
Our next inauspicious incident took the form of an encounter with the park managers. They are not the owners-they are managing so the owners can go away for vacation/holiday. It was when she asked my husband's name. I said I didn't have a husband but I did have a partner. She was apologetic and said how they shouldn't assume and that they just tended to assume the normal first. Her husband seemed to clench his jaw and was visibly relieved when she asked him to give me the tour.
Since then, asside from the before blogged flaming balloon incident, things have been peachy groovy. The recycling here is superb. It is my great peve that most RV parks don't recycle at all, and even the park in Seattle/Bothell only recycled some things-plastic bottles were not among them. This park has seperate containers for beer cans and pop cans, not to mention all the other things you might possibly recycle. I would not be surprised to see a composter, but actually have not see one yet. All of the "farms" we pass have signs out for composted cow or turkey manure-maybe the park should advertise camper compost-maybe not. We shopped at a little shopping center that has a recycling store. We are hoping they get their shipment of bamboo and organic cotton pique polo shirts while we are here. They have rain barrels-a good idea here as it has rained off and on for two days.
We found an organic grocery called "Choices". We went for lactose free milk and came out with $58 worth of stuff. Marcia picked up the raisin bran, and then I pointed out the granola. I was surprised to get to checkout with the raisin bran still in the cart, and no granola. When I asked her, she said the granola was $11. Since the exchange rate is somewhere around $.95, it hardly pays to exchange currency and $11CAD or. $10.45USD is not much different. Gone are the days of half price shopping for USers in Canada. It must be said in Choices defense, that we will go back, and the deli goodies are quite good! I'm enjoying my provolone and sun dried tomato wrapped in roasted eggplant slice and marinated in olive oil as I type.
There is a big difference in gas. $1.06CAD per liter makes gas around $4 USD. I filled up the Honda in Washington for $2.66USD, and the RV for $2.71USD. We'll probably have to refill the Honda, but the RV will not be going for rides here. Ideally, it will not burn up all it's gas waiting in line to get across the border.
People here do go across the border for gas (which in some part explains the constant weekend line). I remember doing the same in the early 80's in Vermont-though there was never a line. It is now more attractive for Canadians to shop for big ticket items in the US. We noticed some factory outlet type malls springing up in the little towns close to the border.
I really must talk about temps. You got the foreshadowing in the Seattle blog. It really was 67F at about noon. It is in the 60'sF or teens C here. One of my tasks today is to exchange the summer clothes in the RV with the "winter" clothes under the RV. So far we have been content in cotton long sleves and denim shirts with our Marmot raingear occasionally. This morning it seemed like time to pull out some more substantial wear and think of the spagetti strap camis as underwear.
So, all in all, we are quite comfortable here, and with the help of Pat and Janna, we are planning a little side trip to Vancouver Island for next week. We'll, of course, keep you posted.
KG
