JUMPING THE HURDLE

 POST # 525

In my final post for October, I briefly mentioned I had one more hurdle to jump in order to get to my next destination.  When I took this photo of the Amtrak train at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, that hurdle had been successfully jumped.

When attempting to travel to the USA via train, US customs (the hurdle), is cleared just prior to boarding the train, so by this point I was home free.  

I've had more than my share of unpleasant interactions with these folks over the many years that I have travelled to the USA, and so I was anticipating more of the same last Wednesday, November 2nd.  I arrived at the station about an hour prior to departure, and made my way to the front of the line.  What happened next caught me by surprise.  The officer looked at my declaration form, and then asked me only one question, "Are you travelling for business or pleasure?"  I said pleasure, and with that, she just said have a nice trip, and I was on my way.  The whole interaction took less than a minute, and was without a doubt the easiest journey through a customs post that I have ever experienced.  

I settled into the train carriage, and sat back and relaxed, ready to enjoy my two and a half hour journey to Mount Vernon, Washington, where I was greeted by my dear friend, Mary.  It had been almost sixteen months to the day since I last departed the USA on July 3rd, 2021.  We were both very happy to see one another after this long absence.  

We arrived at her place about a half hour later, wondering what Dora-dog's reaction would be.  After an initial bark or two, she realised who I was, and it was easy to see her joy in welcoming back an old human friend.  I always wear shorts, so it was obvious that Dora-dog was happy as she spent a large portion of the evening licking my bare legs, something that she's never done before.   I guess she was just making sure that it really was me, and not someone else.

Five days isn't a very long time, and of course it went by way too fast, but I'm not going to complain.  After all, I may not have been able to even cross the border into the country, and that would have been the end of it.  Now, however, I can at least plan for some future visits, with the anticipation that the border issue may be less onerous than in years past.   Wouldn't that be a pleasant change.

I failed to get a photo of Mary while I was visiting, and I'm not sure whether she would have wanted her photo on this post or not, however as readers have come to expect, Dora-dog is more than happy to look into the camera.  I have included a couple of her contrasting moods.  The first photo was during one of our many play times, and the second photo was taken just this morning, as I was leaving Mary's car to walk into the train station.  You can certainly detect her mood in both photos, and I know which one I prefer.

My own mood is reflected in those doggy eyes, as it was now time to say goodbye, and as I've mentioned on more than one occasion on this blog, the goodbyes are always more difficult than the hellos.  Life's ups and downs, as seen through Dora-dog.

Let's hope that with the experience gained from this initial hurdle jump, that I will be successful with future border crossing attempts.  Rounding out the border business, my arrival at Canada Customs earlier today went just as fast as the US customs on the journey down.  I'm starting to wonder if all these agents have taken some sort of happy pill.  Whatever it is, I would like for it to continue.

Later today, I will once again be settling in for a couple of weeks with Shadow the furball, my regular gig here in Vancouver.  The weather is getting chillier, so I am happy to have a roof over my head once again.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer