Exhale!

The Canadian Border Patrol finally got back to me, after I wrote an email, an online request, a letter, and called several times. The first time I called, they said crossing the border on the Red River couldn’t be done. This time it was good news for us! Instead of giving the impression that Canada is an impregnable fortress like last time, they were much more helpful and agreeable. But can we skip customs? No. Can we continue paddling across the border? No. Do we have to get a canoe and all our gear from the river to the border patrol office on the highway? Yes. But they had a solution that I never would have thought of: call a taxi! They suggest we pull off at Pembina, which is the last town on the river in North Dakota before the border, call a Canadian taxi, have them come and pick up all of us plus all of our gear plus our canoe and head back across the border! Now why didn’t I think of that? I can picture us now, sitting in the canoe in the back of some dilapidated truck like Granny Clampett in her rocking chair as the hillbilly family heads to Beverly Hills. I hope we can provide some entertainment for the other people in the long line waiting to cross the border.