HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SOPHIE! WE DON’T HAVE A PHONE SIGNAL – WILL CALL ASAP!
TRAVEL DAY
From: Val Marie Campground, Val Marie, SK Canada.
To: Nelson Reservoir Recreation Area, Malta, MT U.S.A.
Day 343 – If once you do not succeed, try, try again. We tried again and we made it, twice. Yes, we crossed the border TWICE today. But at least we finally made it across!
It was 53 degrees this morning when we got up, mostly sunny with a few clouds. Rob called the manufacturer of the slide-out motor this morning, and technical support was very helpful, asking questions to determine what steps Rob had already undertaken to diagnose the problem. There were a couple of things left for Rob to try, but he completed one of them when they got off the phone. He turned off the solar power and made sure the RV wasn’t running (to make sure the slide controller wasn’t getting too much voltage). He tried to operate the slide again and it still didn’t work properly. He closed it again manually with the override and will try the next step at another time. We needed to get on the road.
We departed Val Marie Campground again. Don’t even ask what the girls thought about that! At 9:05 a.m. it was 57 degrees and partly sunny. First we drove north in Val Marie and got gas at the supposedly-diesel-only gas station. That alleviated a lot of worry. Now we could go almost anywhere. We drove the now-familiar route south to the border between Canada and the U.S. We were bombarded again with the grasshoppers. The front of the RV was not a pretty sight.
There was no line-up at the U.S. border. We had our paperwork ready. We were asked the standard questions, which we answered truthfully. Did we have and fruits and vegetables bought in Canada? Yes, and we relayed what they were. Did we have any poultry or eggs bought in Canada? Yes, we had two eggs. Were they raw or cooked? They were raw.
Due to the Asian Flu we could not cross the border with our eggs. We had to clear Custom’s in Canada as if we were going to stay, then throw our eggs away, turn around and go back to the U.S. border. We turned around, drove back across the border and got in line at the Canadian side. They shoot horses, don’t they? Someone please put us out of our misery. Hee hee.
There were several vehicles in front of us and several more vehicles arrived behind us. Obviously more people want to enter Canada than want to enter the U.S. Hmmm. We won’t get into that discussion.
When it was our turn, we pulled forward. The Canadian Custom’s Officer had received a phone call from the U.S. Custom’s Officer and was already aware of why we were there. I was holding a carton with two uncooked eggs in it on my lap. I started to hand him the eggs. He said, no, I don’t want your eggs. I don’t want to know anything about your eggs. You need to dispose of them and become egg-free. Rob said, let me get this straight, I can just go into the farm field over there and leave the eggs. He said, I don’t want to know how you get rid of them, just get rid of them.
Meanwhile, we saw that we had to disconnect the Honda tow car from the RV because the road was too narrow for us to clear customs and make a U-turn with the car in tow (we would have needed to back up in order to make the turn, which you cannot do with the tow car connected). The Custom’s Officer suggested we disconnect the car right there while he helped the next person in line. Once disconnected, I was to drive the Honda and follow Rob as he made the U-turn towards the U.S. border; then we would hook back up after we were turned around. During all this disconnecting and playing musical vehicles, the two eggs miraculously disappeared into a field.
After clearing Custom’s in Canada, we made the U-turn, pulled off to the side of the road as best we could on the narrow two-lane road, and hooked up the tow car to the RV again. While hooking up, Rob was being distracted by people waiting in line on the Canadian side because everyone wants to talk to you when you’re busy, so he didn’t adequately check to make sure the brake unit was working. (What? No one has seen New York plates before? Canadians are very friendly. They all want to know: Where are you from? Where have you been? What are you doing in this neck of the woods? How long have you been here, and where are you going next?)
After what seemed like an eternity, we started up to head back the 50 feet to the U.S. border, but the car we had in-tow didn’t want to go. The brake unit had malfunctioned and forced the brakes to be applied in the car. Rob got back out of the RV and looked at the brake unit. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong, couldn’t reset it, and ended up just having to remove the brake unit completely so that we could move forward.
We pulled into U.S. Customs and the Officer approached the RV and said, let’s try this again. I say do you have any eggs and you say? Rob said, no, we don’t have any eggs. And the Officer said, well then, welcome to the United States. LOL. We drove across the border and pulled off the side of the road in a pullout just beyond Customs. Rob got out again and managed to properly reset the brake unit, which was then working, and off we went. Are we having fun yet?
Montana, at first, looked just like where we’d been in Saskatchewan. Route 4 (Canadian) became U.S. Highway 191. The flat fields and not much else. One tiny town with about four old buildings. But soon we had some rolling hills and farms to see. The Cows are just as huge in Montana as they were in SK. We saw Antelope, Horses, and Prairie Dogs, also. The first city we came to was Malta. We headed east on Route 2 towards the Nelson Reservoir Recreation Area, and if there were availabilities, our campground for two nights.
We arrived at 11:50 a.m. It was quite windy with full sun and 73 degrees, a beautiful day. Big Sky Montana. It was true. We drove through the campground. This being a Monday afternoon, there were very few campers here. We chose our campsite and while Rob disconnected the Honda from the RV (again), I began unpacking. The car would barely start, barely turned over. Mr. Fix-It was tired of being Mr. Fix-It. I was tired of being Mrs. Fix-It. Deep sigh.
Rob cleaned and retightened the battery connections. Could it be this easy? Time would tell. We let the girls out (they had no idea how frustrated we were – must be nice to be a cat). We finished unpacking and made lunch. Then we each sat down in a chair and promptly went to sleep.
The campground had about 10 to 15 sites, all right on the Lake. Camping is free here. We were boondocking. There is no campground host. No hook-ups of any kind. A boat ramp and sites with firepits and picnic tables. Public restrooms. It was wonderful. None of the campsites were numbered. There was no one near us. The Lake was beautiful. There were White Pelicans, Canada Geese, and various Ducks. Occasionally a Marsh Hawk flew over. We were 20 miles from Malta and 10 miles from Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge.
We took short, much-needed naps, and feeling better, we headed off to the Wildlife Refuge for the afternoon. The Honda started without a problem. Fingers crossed that it continues to do so.
We drove the Auto Tour Loop through the Refuge. The usually-large Lake was dry, the bottom was white with alkali deposits. The fall migration began September 1. At this time of year, we should’ve seen so much wildlife. Prime time. There were supposed to be 1 to 10 thousand or more birds there. But except for a few small ponds, there was no water. We wondered if the birds were at Nelson Reservoir instead. Concerned, we decided to visit the Wildlife Refuge Visitor’s Center tomorrow to see what was up. Still, the scenery was beautiful, the Cows were fat and happy, the Locusts were exuberant, and we saw other things.
The girls liked the new campground. The wind picked up throughout the evening. The high today was 82 degrees. We do not have to get up early tomorrow morning to leave for a new destination. Alarms be damned. We went to bed early and dreamed of Grasshoppers.
