Today we changed our minds and diverted our route northward to Canada. We entered the border check and was questioned extensively by the Canadian officer there. He was real nice, but firm. He couldn't understand why we were only going to be in Canada for the day or possibly one night. Anyway, he finally let us go and off we went.
We went to a town called Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Well, it was nothing fancy or exciting enough to write home about. Our experience was less than amazing too. First, we went to a gas station to fuel up. Wayne doesn't like to drive on the lower half of the tank. He considers us empty when we reach 1/2 full!
OK, so the gas is sold by the litre and is quite expensive when you do the math. It was $3.80/gal today. We haven't been paying anything over $3.00 since we left home. They also do not allow self service. You have to let the attendant pump the gas. The young man at the station was amazed that we were from San Francisco and was there in Saskatchewan at his gas station!
He recommended a cafe for lunch and boy are we sorry we went there. It took us over 30 minutes just to get something to drink. All in all, it was over an hour before our food arrived. Yes, they were a bit busy, yes it was Sunday after church, yes we should not be in such a rush but ONE HOUR???
The waitress seemed to have a real attitude and Wayne wondered if they have something against Americans and had figured out we were American. But I do have to say the food was pretty good, when we finally got it.
Ok, so now we have a dilemma, do we go on up to Regina as the border guard suggested or do we head back down to the good ole USA and in the general direction that we were originally headed? We decided to come on back down.
So, now we come to why I used the title of Busted at the Border tonight.
As we approach the American portal for getting back in the US, I whipped out my trusty Flip video. You remember that, right? The Amazing Flip Video camera?!!
I am merrily getting video of the signs, the buildings and everything leading up to the actual port entrance. As we are waiting for the Border Guard to come up to our car, he suddenly approaches the driver's side and says, "no photography of any kind here" and TAKES MY FLIP !!! He took it right out of my hands!
He went in to the little guard shack or whatever you call it and someone else starts pushing buttons and looking at all the video. (we had 27 clips at the time)
He kept it and kept it and I was sooooo afraid I would never see my little Flip again.
Finally he came back out and asked us/me if I/we knew that it was illegal to do any photography at any time. He said Homeland Security does not want anyone photographing what they do. He was also VERY firm.
After he did all the looking and punching buttons, he finally gave my little friend back to me. It went immediately into the case and into the cubby hole in the door where I had been keeping it. He asked Wayne to pop the trunk and when Wayne started to get out of the car, he told him to stay seated!
Wayne says to me, "I wonder if he deleted everything we had".....my response: "There is no way I'm touching that puppy right now, I will wait until we get away from here, if we ever do, and then I'll check.
After a cursory check of our trunk, I guess he was satisfied that we were not raging terrorists or capable of any bomb threats and he let us go.
Whew! That was some excitement that neither of us needed!
Did I know I shouldn't have been filming? Well of course, after the fact when I thought about it, sure I knew it was wrong. But at the moment, as a tourist, who all day has been filming signs, buildings, everything, I just kept on doing it until I was BUSTED!
BTW, he deleted not only the clip of the border crossing but also 2-3 of the clips immediately prior to that. Not to worry, I won't miss them, I'm just glad we got out of there without handcuffs being placed on our wrinkled old wrists!
As we were leaving, I noticed some guys who had been driven into a special area and the border guards were taking rifles out of their vehicle. I saw two of them. I'll bet those poor idiots are still there !!!!!!
We did so enjoy our ride on Highway 2, the Hi Line. It's quite a place.
This is the typical view across Montana and NorthDakota on the Hi Line.
I have this thing for old old old buildings and barns. These were in North Dakota along the Hi Line. Cool, huh?!
Tonight we are safely ensconced (sp?) in the Fairfield Inn/Marriott in Minot North Dakota. Tomorrow we plan to as far as Fargo. Then since we are way ahead of schedule for being in Sioux Falls on Saturday, we are planning to swing out east a bit and loop through Minnesota before going on in to Sioux Falls to see Nicole.
Love to all.........more later.
Wayne and Colleen
