April 22, 2021 – The Journey Across the US Border

Today is the big day!!! My heart was racing and my anxiety was high. Kevin drove us close to the USA Border and got himself an Uber to the Vancouver airport. We decided he would go to the airport early so he could get through security before I crossed the border. Well, as all our big and great plans, that didn’t work. The Vancouver airport only had 2 flights per day, one in the morning, and then the entire airport shuts down, then one in the evening. Kevin had to wait outside of the security check point for 3 hours before it all opened back up again. I was so stressed about driving the 5th wheel and going through the Border Crossing we decided I would just go ahead and go before him.

The journey of me driving the 5th wheel, well let’s just say I was only 2 turns away from the border crossing, but I was shaking by the time I got there. Lucky for me, the crossing wasn’t busy at all since you can only drive through the border if you are a USA citizen, or essential worker. Well I started going through the border crossing and was going super slow and watching both of my mirrors, then almost hit the post. The Border Security tried to guide me, but of course I was too nervous to do it right. He felt bad, and so he just let me drive through the bus inspection area since it was closed anyway. I wish I knew the Security Agents name, he was so helpful and even gave me directions on how to drive out, and get to a truck stop in Seattle for Kevin to meet me at.

In conclusion, driving in Seattle with a 5th wheel was a little more than my anxiety could handle, furthermore, I missed the turn to the truck stop and took the next turn. I was shaking and wasn’t sure if I should keep driving or just stop, but I knew I had to pull over to check maps. So we pulled into the Chinook Middle School parking lot.  We sat there for a bit, and I was trying to figure out where I could wait for Kevin as it would be about an hour before he landed. I decided it was pretty flat and I could setup the camper for a few hours to make supper, in the parking lot itself. The janitor of the school was walking out and said it would be fine, so we pulled out the slides and made supper. About 15 minutes later the school security knocked on the door, and he was kind and said we could stay until Kevin got there. 

Kevin said his journey was really weird as the Vancouver airport was empty. It was like a ghost town, but when he landed, Seattle was very alive. Apparently, we had only been 2.4kms from the airport, so Kevin decided to walk to where we were. After a shower, and supper we had to hit the road again because there was school tomorrow and we were in a school parking lot. 

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We drove a couple hours and decided to stop at a Rest Stop. I mean how loud could it possible be? Well, let’s just say it was LOUD!!! We had a very restless night. Although we were relieved to have the border crossing behind us….