Canada - Leg 1

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I’m not going to get into too much detail here about our border crossing but let’s just say, it didn’t go real smoothly. I thought I had all the paperwork in hand to bring a firearm into Canada but that was not the case. Fortunately, I was up front with the border agent giving him my paperwork and immediately declaring what we were carrying. If I hadn't been I would be asking everyone to send me smokes to the local prison. Anyway our passports, the firearm with clips and ammo were confiscated, taken across the street to the US Customs Station, and we were asked to immediately leave their country and not come back until we were unarmed. After discussing our options we determined that the best course of action was local storage for our offending sidearm and we opted to drop the bike and some extra “bike stuff” there as well. Our return plans now include stopping in Washington. Our early start ended up being a 2:30 in the afternoon re-crossing of the border, this time with no search and seizure action. Not happy but feeling pretty stupid about not having my act together we headed north. My next biggest problem was how to read those little freaking Kilometers per Hour numbers on the speedometer. We made it up to the city of Hope (no really, that’s the name), turned left on Canada 1 and headed up the Fraser River Canyon, 112 miles of twists and turns with nothing but a fast running river to stop you if your rig goes off the side. The narrowest section, Hell’s Gate, features back-to-back tunnels on a 30 Kph curve climbing up a canyon wall. Yes it was beautiful and there were more than a few holly craps from the driver and gasps from the passenger but we made it through. Thankfully the weather was good and the traffic was lite as we made it out of the canyon headed to our first overnighter at Williams Lake, a mere 13 hours after we started and dead ass tired. We had a good rest stop, got an early start the next morning and headed for the Canadian Rocky’s. I’ll let the pictures tell the tale of the scenery but I will add that we have been so lucky to see some of the most picturesque country anyone could imagine at every turn of this whole trip. And I almost forgot, yesterday we saw our first bear!!! A medium size black bear grubbing through a little creek about 30 ft off the road. We also saw a bigger black bear in a field but it was far away. No moose yet but four nice mule deer. So we are on a two night stopover in Dawson Creek for a rest day and tomorrow we continue north from Mile Zero of the Alaskan Highway.

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Comments

[Karen]

Your route
Hi guys, I am wondering what your route is through Canada?

[Roadancer]

All along the Alaska Highway
Left Dawson Creek this morning and we are driving straight up the Alaska Highway. Fort Nelson tonight, Watson Lake Tomorrow, then Whitehorse, Discovery Park and into Alaska. Making good time and right on schedule.

[jj]

Pap
Wait...they took your Passports? WT...? So what do you use for ID to get out when you get out of O'Canada into Alaska a MD drivers license? Some guy saying "Do you have any Papers?" They will return them right? So what do you use for ID besides a MD driver license? Sorry for all the questions, but I can imagine these are what you asked as well. That sucks.

[Roadancer]

They were watching all the way
When they turned us around in Canada we immediately were on the US lanes for entry. When we got to the agent booth I told them I needed to pickup my handgun and passports. He gave me the "so your the one" look and told me to pull over by the cones and go inside the double doors. They were watching the whole time and knew we were coming. They were all very professional and courteous, I was the one that made the mistake but apparently I was not the first and won't be the last.

[JJ]

Papers
They were watching your huh? Must be the Mustache. You do have a Snidely Whiplash look. All you need it to dye it black and get a top hat.