usbackroads destination--Alaska, but first crossing the border.

 usbackroads destination--Alaska, but first crossing the border

This was the year for the road trip up to Alaska. So many things to go wrong, before finally hitting the road. The great adventure was those two shiny new kayaks that you see up on top of the Dodge Ram.  Cheap kayaks only $300 bucks. Of course, the truck cap that I tried borrowing from a friend would not fit, so there is a new truck cap with a Yakima rack and of course, two kayak carriers.  Don't ask how much that all cost or took in time. But an adventure.

Then there was the eboost amplifier for the cell phone that only took two days to finally get working on voice, data is still a mystery. But it appears it works. This blog posting is in a "no service" area just north of 100 Mile House in British Columbia. The data is at 10 Mbps. Maybe a NextFlix movie after this blog posting.

The only good news was that it took so long to get going that Verizon offered a new data and voice plan for Mexico and Canada. So we got 16 gigs of data, plus unlimited voice and text in Canada and Mexico.

See the new shiny "dog" ramp for Bugaboo and Snowpatch for their backseat doghouse in the Dodge Ram.

We left Wenatchee so late that the first stop was Blue Lake in the United States. Leaving the border crossing for the next day.

Oh yeah, crossing the border.

First, never chose to be born in a country that the United States intensely dislikes. Second, do NOT chose a nationality that the United States intensely dislikes.  That looks like two strikes right there and I haven't even come close to a border crossing.

Oh well, at least I can get out of the United States without a problem. Nope, this time we were crossing into Canada at the Nighthawk crossing and we were stopped LEAVING the United States. REALLY??

Of course, the Canadians were concerned about my one-ton truck. I have camo outdoor clothes that I am really fond of, but now I hide them when crossing the border. A large diesel truck, camo, and dogs can ONLY mean that there has to be a GUN SOMEWHERE in the HUGE TRUCK!! Now with only the truck we were only asked about guns!!

Somehow we made it out of the United States and into Canada!! At the first sporting goods store in Canada we stopped to pick up bear spray. Yep, can't bring it into Canada, even though it is made in Montana. But what really caught my eye in the sporting goods store were ALL the GUNS.  AR-15's and god knows what else for sale in Canada. Thank god, for that strict border policy on guns. Does this mean the Canadians just want you to buy them in Canada??

More on the adventures as we crossed into Canada tomorrow.

For Bugaboo and Snowpatch no passports required. They never did get asked if they had guns. And somehow in all the questions not one about the rabies certificate.  Oh yeah, trip was delayed a day so we could get Bugaboo's certificate.

Those sleeping arrangements only work for naps. At night Snowpatch insists on the large bed and kicks Bugaboo out into the small bed.