Michael Smith: A Name To Be Reckoned With
After several long days of driving, we made it to our goal, the US border. Though, we were pleasantly surprised at the Okanogan Lake area just north of the border. It’s a fruit area with tons of fruit stands and even more wineries. The scenery is beautiful, with a large lake and lots of rock. Maybe a place to explore on another trip when we are not focused so much on leaving Canada.
At the border, a guy in front if us had to unlock his van so the border patrol agent could look inside. We expressed our hope that it wouldn’t happen to us. Our other small concern was that we didn’t update Iris’ good health certificate. Of the five border crossings we already went through, not one asked about her and we had no problems. Not this one. After just a few questions, we were sent to a secondary inspection, without answering why. They kept our passports and sent us to a large garage. Two guys in bullet proof vests told us to grab our wallets but nothing else and made us leave the truck. Iris was in her crate in the truck. They weren’t friendly or nice. When I again asked why we were selected, we got a vague answer – “the computer selected you.” They took us into a building and made us empty our pockets and pat ourselves down in front of them and took our wallets. They made us complete a declaration of things we were bringing into the US, and then questioned us when we said we lived in Portland but our drivers’ licenses and declarations said Beaverton. We were getting angry. It’s a good thing we didn’t realize then that we were locked in the building and couldn’t leave. They searched our vehicle and Casita and wouldn’t give us time estimates when we asked. They just said “It won’t take long.” Our anger grew as they left us there to wait without explanation, no one else in the busy border crossing entered the garage we were in (indicating to us that we were specially selected), they held all of our identification, and most importantly, wouldn’t let us take the dog with us. We expressed our concern about her, but that didn’t do anything.
We were held inside for maybe 15 minutes before they said we could go. Then, they smiled and said they’d explain to us–too late, we were angry. While our passports came up clean (of course), Mike’s name and birthdate and other factors raised a red flag. Apparently, another Michael Smith of around the same age isn’t as law-abiding as Mike. We actually has the same problem at the airport a while ago but TSA didn’t treat us like criminals. When we were released and went back into the garage, we heard Iris howling. I hope she annoyed the hell out of them as they searched our vehicle.
Needless to say, we weren’t in the best of moods afterwards, especially considering we had been up early and drove six hours before the border (and it wasn’t all an easy drive). We wanted a campsite and beer. We found a brewery in Winthrop and a campground with good reviews. It was a bit of a drive but worth it. We drove a pretty road through mountains and also through where the large summer wildfire burned. Winthrop is a cute western town. The Old Schoolhouse Brewery was exactly what we needed, and it had really good beer. We had fun with a sampler and brought home a filled growler. Mike bought a sweatshirt, which ended up being just a little small so I’m helping him with the problem and wearing it. The day ended on a bright note when we saw a really pretty rainbow over the lake at our campground. We aren’t sure what’s next but it’s going to be a great day and hopefully a law enforcement free one.
