Oct 15 - completing the journey

The day went fairly quickly, as you might imagine, but not as quickly as the NSB=>Beckley leg. As usual it was broken up by three stops -- border, Stef's and dinner in Parry Sound. When we travel south we go out for dinner when we get there; when we travel north there's nowhere to go out when we get there so we must eat before we arrive. It doesn't take all that long though because Sandy always has a hankering for Swiss Chalet chicken, which is quick and inexpensive.

Sandy was tired by the time we got here. Her kidney behaved itself until we got north of Toronto but then she was having some pain. She was chipper after dinner though and when we got here. It's always good to end one of these journeys. I'm concerned, however, about the Christmas trip -- two days of travel to here, a couple of days here, then three days drive out west. Oh well, that's the future. We'll take that as it comes.

The border turned out to be a royal pain. As usual this time of year I'm bringing guns across. I handed the guy in the booth our four passports and he asked us why I was giving him four and I replied that his next question was going to be what was our status in the U.S. ... he laughed and said that they were just talking about dual citizens. His next question was how long we were away -- clearly he was still confused. I told him that we were bringing across about $250 worth of stuff, a rifle and a shotgun. He joked that we were living in the U.S. but came across to shoot up their wildlife ... he sent us over to be checked out saying that we had to go to immigration -- huh ?

Anyway, we went over to the side where we were met by two agents who came out to check the serial numbers and as I got out the guns she -- yes she -- asked me "what about all this other stuff". Then we got into a big harangue as they went through the back of the SUV, randomly opened a suitcase, itemized stuff -- I told her that the guy in the booth wasn't interested in anything but the guns -- she said that they would see about that, yes the guns were the most important thing, that I shouldn't be huffing and puffing since they were just doing their job -- I was quite irritated because I always declare what we're bringing across. Then she said -- you need to go into immigration -- huh ? We're Canadian Citizens -- then she was confused -- but said that yes, we had to go there first. So we walked in -- she said that we both had to go in -- she was standing over at the customs desk -- we walked to the immigration desk -- and she called us over to the customs desk -- they were clearly a) confused by their own rules; and b) out of synch with the guys in the booth who have the right to give you the green light. She was also a PITA.

I paid the $25 for the guns permit; I paid the GST; we hit the road again. Next time with guns I'll go to the Queenston Lewiston bridge. They're much friendlier than the ones at the Peace Bridge who are always rules sticklers, it seems. It was at the Peace Bridge where we, only time ever, had to produce our dog papers.

Onward to Stef's ... we stayed there for a short while, dropped off her stuff, talked about the tiling job that I'm going to do ... hit the road again.

Next stop -- the grocery store -- picked up some veggies and a couple of other things -- hit the road again.

Next stop -- Parry Sound, for the aforementioned Swiss Chalet. Next gas at the Canadian Tire gas bar and on to the final leg.

Traffic was surprisingly heavy for a Thursday night after Thanksgiving. This upcoming week may be the moose hunt in this area which would account for it. We were in a line of several cars all the way to the 522 turnoff.

Over the course of the day the temperature had hovered around 40F, a little below on the south side of Lake Erie and a little above around Toronto. Once we got north of Parry Sound the temperature dropped, out of the influence of the Great Lakes ... down to 31F. This morning it's 24F. In the cottage though, it was 65F, thanks to Jason who read our minds and turned up the furnace the day before when he was up here finishing off his garage. We'll see them in 10 days when they come up for their final weekend of the year and closeup.

Unload the car; turn on the water; make a fire; have a snack; go to bed. It's actually good to arrive here late when the house is cold but at 65F it wouldn't make any difference. I completely forgot where I was though during the night and didn't get up to re-stoke the fire, so it was basically out this morning and the house temperature was back to 65F. I did my first morning chore -- make break; I've had my coffee but not breakfast; the fire is going again.

Once it's light I'm going to set my minnow traps and then hopefully go fishing tonight if it's not too cold. I'll run into town later in the morning and pickup the mail and some grocery essentials at the General Store. I have a lot to do over the next three weeks to close up but I'll space it out. One of the first things that I need to do is do the wood work -- baseboard and trim -- so that I can bring in my table and miter saws.

Before going to bed, indeed before turning on the computer, I unpacked the new monitor and set it up. I don't know what to do with the old one -- I may talk to Stef and see if they have a special garbage pickup for electronics -- it's not stuff that should end up in our little dump.

So that's about it. The sky is starting to lighten.

Onward.