Cazella National Tour '05

Day 6

We knew that at some point our plans might fall apart, and today was the day…

We finally made it through Michigan and to the Canadian border.


And that’s where the fun ended. They asked a bunch of questions to make sure we were who we said we were and would be okay to cross over the border. It was all fine and dandy until they asked if we were carrying a firearm. We had borrowed a shotgun from our neighbor Phillip Harbin for protection, so of course we said “Yes.” We were asked if it why we were carrying a gun and we answered truthfully. They informed us that weapons weren’t allowed in Canada. Apparently, had we said we had the gun for hunting purposes, we would have been okay. But then, we may have been caught in a lie if they started asking hunting questions. As it was, we were sent over to customs, were they inspected the RV and it’s contents for any other contraband, which took almost an hour, and sent us back to US soil. This is the closest we got to Niagara Falls…


We were understandably upset. This put a pretty major kink in our plans, not to mention the disappointment of not getting to see Niagara Falls, which we kept hearing was a beautiful sight to see. So across the street and back we went. Of course we were sent over to US customs this time so they could inspect the gun (to make sure it was never used in the commission of any crime), which also took an hour, and sent on our way.

Phil was really frustrated about the whole situation, thinking that if he had just said hunting, we would’ve been well on our way. Chelle had to quote Ghostbusters and say, “Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god, say yes!”

On the way back over the bridge, we were able to take a picture of Lake Huron.


Chelle noticed the flags in the corner and commented about how wonderful the United States is in regards to our right to bear arms.

So, we revamped our plans and decided not to go visit Phil’s gramom in New Jersey (since she’s going to be in Florida when we get there anyway), and to head for Washington DC. This required some backtracking and going through states we weren’t going to see in the original plans.

We went through Ohio.


We stopped at a travel plaza and took this picture of our little RV (and all this time we thought it was huge).


And we let Jacob drive a little.


Just kidding mom!

We stayed the night in a really nice RV Park in Streetsboro. We did laundry and made dinner. Jacob got a bath and slept well. Tomorrow we are off to DC!

posted by Chelle @ 1:16 PM