OH! CANADA!!

It's a red letter day here, two chances to "blog" in one day---two different libraries, two different countries! Our crossing into Canada on the ferry couldn't have been slicker. The ride takes about 9 minutes, the ferry holds exactly one gigantic eighteen wheeler, 8 cars, and two fully loaded bikes. Not a smidgeon more, either. It should have cost us $1 apiece, but the ferry folks waived our fee. Not a bad start with our neighbors to the North. We were the last to roll through customs into Canada, and I listened while the official grilled the "car people" in front of us, all about their intentions, food/drugs and the presence of firearms. I got my passport ready, but we got a whole different shakedown! He didn't ask us about food. He didn't ask us about , or firearms. The entirety of our questioning related to our finances, and how we intended to fund our journey across and MORE IMPORTANTLY, ***OUT*** of Canada! He confided that there were a lot of people who were looking to "sponge" off of Canada. I had only been in Canada about 3 minutes, and it seemed impolite to let him know that I was anxious to get back to the United States as quickly as possible and that I had enough do-re-mi to get there. But, we assured him we weren't quite as "spongey" as we looked. Then, we rolled into Sombra, and one of the first things that happened was our bank card was rejected at the local bank and we couldn't get any Canadian currency. I tried to get a diet coke out of a gas station coke machine, and the very kind and funny proprietor ended up buying my soda pop. In less than ten minutes I had become a foreigner, sponging my way across maple leaf land!! We were able to get some "loonies" here in Wallaceburg, so we're flush again and not "sponging" anymore.

I love CANADA! All our interactions have been positive, I've already heard "GOOD SHOW!!" at least a dozen times, and the questions are all different. Here, they aren't so interested in "how" it is we are getting across the continent. They don't have a burning need to know how many miles we've traveled and where we started from, and that whole set. They are very into the idea of GOING on the trip. The journey is more important to them than the details, and more than one man has told me that everyone needs to do something like this in their lifetime. That's the first time since I met Vanessa in LaConner that I've heard that expressed.

And, although it was around 100 degrees when we left Marine City, once we crossed that narrow spit of water, the temperature dropped to about 33 degrees!!! Too bad I didn't bother to learn all those metric conversions in the 4th grade because even though it's a relief to see the lower temperature, it's a little confusing to read how many kilometers we are from the next services.

We're headed down to the lakeshore, and will report from along the line. OH, CANADA!!