Back to the USA, to Crescent Bar, Washington

Well, it's been windy in Oliver on and off for the past three days. Heavy winds although no precip other than a little rain during the nights. We set off down the highway and got to the border crossing in about 20 minutes. There are two lanes, one that says 'CARS' and one that says 'BUSES/TRUCKS'. There were quite a few cars in line, but no RV's that we could see. The line curves to the left behind a building, so we can't see the whole lineup. Elaine and I both agree that we are the size of a bus, and based on the North Portal crossing, this probably means we're over height and should use the bus lane. So we trundle down the bus lane, past about 20 cars, when our lane splits into TRUCKS to the right (18 wheelers and the like) and BUSES to the left (we can now see three Greyhound type passenger buses). Oops, wrong lane! Should have been in the CARS lane. Can't back up with the toad, can't really remember where we should have been in line, and there are more cars joining the line all the time. Well, someone finally let us in the line after about 5 minutes of waiting, and since there was another bus (a real one) behind us. Of course, it wasn't without a comment from one of the BC drivers that we should "get to the back of the line like everyone else". You make one mistake, totally unintentionally, and some people think they are the 'people's police'. They insist on acting like idiots. The chap who did let us in was also from BC, so it all balances out I guess.

At the crossing itself, they did a brief check on our passports and motioned us to an RV lane for further checking. A nice US Customs/Border Patrol lady visited with the dogs first and then asked usual questions. She then checked and took away a few things like part of a ham sausage (understandable, not marked), a can of Campbell's vegetable soup (made with beef broth and therefore not acceptable in US), a Zip lock container of frozen spaghetti from a couple of nights ago (sauce was made with meat) and most of the dog treats. The dog food was okay (package said made in US) although we had mixed several kinds together, but treats taken were made in Canada and therefore a threat to national security . Of the two kinds of treats not taken, one was made in US and the other we protested since we had purchased it in the US even though it was made in Canada. However, their favorite treats were taken. Final note on the border crossing...we picked up replacement dog treats later in the day in the US. They were marked clearly as made in Canada, exactly the same as the ones that were taken! Perhaps there wouldn't be such confusion over the rules if they were consistent (North Dakota seemed to check on different things than Washington) and they made sense (how can a can of soup be an economic, health or security threat?). We just considered it as paying a price of admission to the US and went on down the road. We also consider that one of our trip objectives was not met. We wanted to make sure that we knew border rules so we could be prepared in January when we go. Since the January trip will go through Coutts to Montana, who knows what their rules might be?

Anyhow, a few more hours of gusty winds found us in Wenatchee. It's a larger centre than we thought, but we opted to stay further down the road. This will make tomorrows trip shorter and allow more shopping time in Spokane. Elaine read the campground directory and found a spot called Crescent Bar Resort, just off the road about half an hour from Wenatchee. It's a gorgeous spot, on the Columbia River, necessitating a sharp drop from highway level. After first trying to get into a private campground (also called Crescent Bar), we found the public one and got a site with a view of the lake. We met two couples from Vancouver, just finishing a golf vacation to Moses Lake. There was one other trailer (apparently unoccupied) and that was the extent of the people in the campground. The only service missing was sewer, although they do have a sani-station. This campground is one that we'd return to...see the pictures. Also, they're building a significant number of vacation condo's and a small village of stores and restaurants along with a marina. The 'river' is wide enough that it looks like a lake and we saw water skiers and one jet boat that, although noisy, kicked up a giant rooster tail as it went by. We had a burger and fish and chips at Tower Pizza for dinner. Apparently they were closing the restaurant at the end of the week for the winter.

Sep 23, 2007

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