Colorado
United States
"Anyone who's survived childhood has enough to write about for the rest of his life" Flannery O'Connor
Pawnee ButtesEH, WHAT WAS THAT?
April 2007
Boy, I tell ya, those Canadians are from another country! We’re back in the states and it’s taken us several days to readjust to reading road signs again. I remember years ago when we traveled in
And then there’s the tricky business of fuel. My sister-in-law was excited to buy gas in
We pull a big 5th wheel trailer so Jim had already calculated our height in meters so he wouldn’t panic at low bridge signs. What he DIDN’T do was calculate our weight. That didn’t seem important until we found ourselves blocked in on a very narrow, very long, very high, VERY SCAREY BRIDGE in
Jim had popped off a snappy answer to the Canadian Customs officer when we crossed the border. She asked, "Are you carrying a large amount of cash?" and when he questioned how much was "a large amount" and she said, "Ten thousand dollars American" Jim said, "I WISH!!" The American Customs officers are usually more grim and I warned Jim to behave himself as we were coming back into the country. Sure enough, the officer was not in a joking mood and even gave Jim a stern warning that his green card expires in October. It wasn’t spoken but his look said, "Don’t bother going back to
We had a great visit with Jim’s family but I’m glad to be back in a place where I don’t have to turn the can around to find that "Raisin" soda is really just Grape pop. They use "serviettes" on the table that look just like the paper napkins I use at home and the thermostat is covered with numbers that don’t make any sense to me. Our campground host kept teasing Jim all week that he needed to put on his "short pants" because it was supposed to hit 30 degrees, whatever that means. And several people asked if we were enjoying our "holidays". We celebrated Queen
We had a great time but I’m glad to be back. Jim’s Dad says it’s supposed to hit over 31 degrees there today and that’s HOT....I think.
O! The customs encounter made me tense up. With a brother and a sister just across the border in Ontario, I've made more than my share of border crossings. In my "hippy" days, driving my big brother's long, sleek Catalina (while wearing old jeans and a tee shirt), I came out of the tunnel wearing dark glasses (prescription, I have terrible eye sight, so it was too dangerous to try and change glasses while in the tunnel). Naturally, my sis and I were pulled to the side. Since we were roughing it, I had packed a can opener in a padded envelope (paperback book came in this via mail)... and placed it inside my brothers work boot (didn't want it to poke anything). While searching our meager gear, the officer reached into the boot and pulled out the envelope. He brightened up and said, "What's this!". For the life of me, I couldn't remember and said, "uh, uh..." He opened the envelope and his face fell.
Going up to my niece's wedding a couple years ago, they asked if we had any weapons. My older sister (trying to be cute) turned to our aunt Ruth (78) in the back seat and said, "You packin' aunt Ruth?" They pulled her over.
My favorite is my brother George, very low IQ (but quick non-the-less). It was one of our first trips to visit my brother circa 1968. The guard asked where we were going, and in what sounded like a Jethro Bodine moment, he replied, "Uh. Canada". The guard just waved him on laughing.
My sister, coming down, did run into a guard with humor. They were quizzing them about what they might be bringing. "You aren't smuggling any of that Canadian Bacon, are you?" And upon checking their ID's asked, "Just what brings an American and a Lithuanian together in Canada?" Joe replied, "Love". They let them by unmolested
