Day 22 Back in the USA 08/01/2010

Today was an eventful day. We left Saskatoon and drove about 6 hours to the USA Border at Portal, ND

The terrain was all rolling hills and ravines. In Canada the canola fields were very numerous and oil was plentiful. When we crossed over into North Dakota, the crops became wheat, sunflowers, corn and oil.

Several things happened today that were of interest to us. I stopped for petrol in Canada and struck up a conversation with a gentleman from Kamloops, BC. His name is Gordon Tiessen.

He drove a truck over the ALCAN back in the 50's and wrote a book about it. I shared a few of my experiences of driving a Tahoe on the same road and asked what he thought about me writing a book. He said stick with the blog. He did give me an autographed copy of his book for $15.00.

Later as we approached the border, I could not but notice the customs officers were very thorough in their searches of the motoring public. So the first thing I did was to let them know I was a retired Alabama State Trooper. They were very friendly. They asked if we had any fruit, vegetables, liquor or tobacco from Canada. I admitted to having some plums and 1 1/2 bananas and nothing else. The Major opened my ice chest. I about had a heart attack. There was Canadian beer and a head of lettuce. he closed the lid, noticed my purple heart tag and said welcome home. Whew....

I asked Linda what she thought about getting a motorcycle for our next road trip. She said I had quit being a travel writer and was trying to be a comedian.

Tomorrow, Kansas City, Mo. with the Smiths and a steak dinner. I'll keep you posted on our exciting adventures on Interstate 29.

Jerry