Liters, Kilometers and Loonies; Oh My!

The big day finally arrived! We had our last morning in the U.S.A. before heading into Canada and needless to say we were quite nervous. We decided to take a walk on the boardwalk right next to our campground before heading out for the day. Less than a mile long, we figured it would be a good start to a long day. The path cut right between two small bays that were full of seagulls and even a few otters! We watched as bird after bird would dive along the coast, grab a clam, fly high above the blacktop-path and drop the shell to the ground! The gull then swooped down to enjoy the tasty breakfast it cleverly cracked open. We even saw one bird with a crab! The sharp claws were too much for the seagull as it quickly gave up on the feisty crustacean. We watched as the crab flipped himself over and scuttled back to the sea.

 

After watching the creatures on the beach, we hopped in the car and headed towards the intimidating border. A thousand crazy ideas raced between us about why we wouldn't be allowed to cross...calling us worry-warts would be an understatement! But as we rolled up to the border the clouds seemed to part and we were allowed to pass without hesitation. We weren't even asked about the camper! Let alone the lack of title/registration on it! What a miracle!! After that we drove for a few hours through the windy mountain roads that we've become accustomed to on this trip. But before all that could happen, we had a little accident...it was like we were in a movie. Ashley had just folded her last map from Washington state and proudly got out the Canadian map we had been waiting for. The windows were cracked so we could enjoy the fresh, mountain air. A small bug was found just inside the map so naturally, Ashley decided he'd be better off outside. Rather than remove it with her fingers or a napkin, the most logical thing was apparently to dump it out the window right from the large map. Just a quick gust of air and the bug would be gone forever. But of course, that's not how windows work at 100 kilometers an hour...both the map and the bug were sucked out the window and were gone forever! Did I mention this was literally 5 minutes after crossing the border? Over 2000 miles of reading maps all over the United States and this was the time we lost one. We had 10 maps to go through 8 states but only one to go through all of Canada! Good thing there aren't a lot of highways to choose from when heading north. We had a big long laugh about that and spent half the day waiting to write this post just so everyone could hear the funniest part of our adventure so far!

We stopped for the night in Cache Creek where we got our first taste of the Canadian dollar. Fortunately credit cards still work up here so that helped a lot. But it took us longer than it should to realize that gas doesn't cost $0.97 per gallon. But after questioning the gas station attendant we finally figured it all out! Ashley got the biggest kick out of seeing some of the different foods/brands in the Canadian gas station. Her favorite in particular is Crush Raisin Soda (which is really just Crush-Grape soda)! Crazy Stuff! She is still laughing about it now as we write this blog.  More to come later...

-The A-Team