Monday, March 31, 2008

Days 2,3 & 4 - Nelson to Spokane




We woke up to a ton of snow in Cranbrook and it got worse and worse...we debated to go straight south and fast.  In the end, we decided to go on to our cabin at Nelson...there were times the snow was so bad that I couldn't look, I was so scared.  I have a whole new respect for truck/bus drivers (and John).  But, it didn't last too long and we were on our way.

We were warmly welcomed by our friends at the lake and had a wonderful night of catching up and a great meal.  

We spent Sunday at the lake, walking along the beach & doing a few errands.  Jack caught up on some much needed nap time and then we had another delicious meal cooked for us by our friends...the last great homemade meal of the trip I'm sure!  Jack has tons of fun with our friends there and will have a great time this summer...sounds like he'll have about 3 little boys his age to hang out with in August.

Gus remains a pain in the butt.  He keeps escaping...he has chewed thru 2 leashes (he's now on a steel cable) but can sometimes get his stake out of the ground and drag the whole thing around with him.   He is actually a great traveller but I think he gives even Jack a run for his money in the energy dept.

Today we headed south.  Apparently, we look like criminals.  We spent approximately 1 1/2 hours at the border crossing and there was no line up!!  They had 3 guards and the drug sniffing dog search every nook and cranny of this beast.  We were quite shocked.  We had to spend the entire time in the building (because it was snowing and cold) but they were nice to give us 2 chairs in the 5 foot by 5 foot area we had to stay in.  That was so much fun with a tired child and a hyper dog.  The whole ordeal ended with two huge dog prints on our bed linens.  Welcome to the good ol' USA!!  They thanked us for being so patient and mentioned it was such a good opportunity for them to get some training done on such a big vehicle.  We are happy for them.  Grr.

By the way, all that they found was an illegal orange and a few illegal strawberries!  

We are now in the outskirts of Spokane and there is still a ton of snow on the ground!  We are heading to the coast as fast as possible to start our trek south down the Oregon coast.  


5 comments:

Jo said...

I would have stopped you at the border too, what with the looks of John Manson! He looks like a criminal for sure! Glad to hear you are off to an adventurous start and will be accumulating lots of good stories! Keep writing so that we can live vicariously through you!

Miss ya
Jo

PJ said...

Thanks for the great pictures - keep them coming.
Jack is sooooo left-handed.....

PJ

patti said...

I'm confused.... Did they think you guys were drug smugglers or terrorists??

PS Make sure Gus has your cel phone number on his collar.

The Tierney's said...

My thoughts are; either someone advised the US Border Xing Authorities that you are connected to one "Frank J Tierney"...or the name "Manson" alerted them! Either way you are on your way...will look forward to your next post! Until then, keep well and stay safe.

~Beep Beep and troops~

Anonymous said...

Hi John, Cami, Jack and Gus!
Great to hear from you and we laughed when imagining your border escapades! They rip family vehicles apart because they can!

All is well at the lake with Mom - she is so busy with community activities, keeps her mind off of things...
Dad lucked into a load of cement- guess what I was doing?! 67 mushrooms and 43 stepping stones later....
Hope you get out of the snow soon!
Love, Judy