Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Monday, September 23, 2013

Dumb and Dumbest


I get nervous whenever I have to deal with anything official.
Or legal.
Like taxes.
Or crossing the border.
Call it a weakness.
Yesterday, my youngest daughter and I decided to go on a Mother/Daughter weekend.
Across the border into the United States.
It was the first time we had ever done anything like it.
We were . . . quite excited.
The weather was good. The roads excellent.
Everything was perfect.
Except that I was acting as navigator.
Ahem . . .
My daughter and I had been driving for a couple of hours.
It had been a pleasant trip so far. Talking. Laughing.
We approached the border crossing slowly.
I should explain, here, that the Canada/US border crossing is massive, with buildings and outbuildings and offices. The business portion  consists of several little booths, each with its own line, and a one border guard capacity.
How many of the little booths are manned depends on the volume of traffic.
We were crossing in the middle of the day.
On a Sunday.
There were only two booths open.
One for cars and smaller vehicles.
One for large trucks.
This fact will become pertinent in a moment . . .
I saw two green arrows.
One had a lineup of cars.
One was empty.
I’m all about getting through the border crossing quickly so I directed my daughter toward the empty line.
It was only after we stopped and looked way, way up at the border guard that I realized that I had guided us into the truck lane.
Oops.
The crossing guard was shaking her head in an 'I can't believe this is happening' sort of way.
She sighed. “Everyone out of the vehicle, passports in hand!” she said.
We quickly complied.
The two of us stood there, looking up at the guard as she started typing.
And typing.
Finally, she looked down at us. “Where are you from?” she asked.
“Edmonton,” my daughter said.
“Are you carrying any fresh fruit?”
“No.”
“Any guns or tobacco?”
“No.”
“Are you carrying anything that you will be leaving in the States?”
“No.”
“Where are you going?”
“Great Falls.”
And this is where she leaned down and fixed both of us with a steely gaze. “Do you think you can find it?” she asked.
Point taken.

28 comments:

  1. LOL This would so be me. I am not good with road arrows, signs etc. But I don't drive distances so I am always the navigator. :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh-oh. As one navigator to another...Get out while you still can!

      Delete
  2. And in that one pertienent question rested an entire blog entry. What a hoot!

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOL. "Do you think you can find it?"

    Why I oughta...

    Pearl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Pearl, where were you and your mighty quips. * sob *

      Delete
  4. Haha... thanks for making me laugh Diane... I was unsure anyone could do that today :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. HA HA. That would of been me! {As in went to the wrong lane....not made the smart alec comment. lol}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay, remind me not to follow you through the border crossing . . . :)

      Delete
  6. I really, really hope she smiled after saying that; otherwise, I'd say she was taking advantage of her position of authority ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I would also like to ask Ms Snooty in Her High Up Seat - how are we supposed to learn without making mistakes??

      Wow. I think I have a problem with severe people in authority. Who knew?

      :)

      Delete
    2. She did crack a smile at the end. Just as she handed or passports back. Whew! And I agree! Where would we be without mistakes. I mean besides in the wrong lane at the border crossing.
      Breathe. We'll get you past this!

      Delete
  7. I think you got through before the line of cars!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. You know we DID get through before the other cars! Score!!!

      Delete
  8. Oh, what a punch line! So...did you find it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. IT's a little place of just over 58,000 which sits in the middle of the I-15. Even we found it. Finally . . .

      Delete
  9. I heard that you two had a little problem at the border crossing. So glad you made it through. Now remember, when you come back across, stay in the left lanes; the right ones are for the trucks and commercial vehicles. I might add that when we bring supplies across for our business, we're supposed to go through the truck and commercial lanes. We get out of the car/truck, hand the agent the paperwork then he gives us a yellow card to take in with all our paperwork (the stuff that didn't blow away in the wind. And we're on our way...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Don't feel bad; I bet this happens a few times a day. BTW, did you get to Great Falls without a " recalculate".

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am smiling................on this one. You do have a way with stories.
    My husband and I had one incident when we were taking our 4 children into Canada. When we got to the boarder; it was closed for the night. We didn't now there were certain hours. Therefore, we ended up sleeping in our car for the night. It was not a fun night.
    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh. My. Goodness. Six in a car all night?! There's an evening to forget! :)

      Delete
  12. "Do you think you can find it?"
    oh my god, I laughed and laughed. Still giggling.

    ReplyDelete
  13. oh gosh! lol I took my husbands truck and when we got to the border it said trucks so I went in. It didn't say Big mac Trucks, just trucks. a 150 is a truck They took us out of the car and almost charged us 700 dollars for going into the wrong lane. We told the guy, look it said trucks We have a truck and a truck is not a van or SUV. Boy we thought they were going to charge us. They were not happy at all. Funny you should have the same story lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gahh! Can they charge you?! Oh, man, that's scary! So glad you talked them out of it!

      Delete

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