Today’s ride could have any one of three titles…
- Canada-USA-Canada-USA-Canada….
- The Border so Nice I Crossed it Twice….in Each Direction
- Lost & Found…
I made a quick trip down to the US today, to Blaine, to pick up two parcels.
…or…..
….it should have been a quick trip…..
Actually, I’d originally intended to make a day of it and take a run up Mt Baker, but I didn’t get moving this morning, didn’t feel great, then went for a run, which turned out to be a great way to make myself feel worse.
I had meant to post a meme this morning that said “The best way to make sure your day won’t get any worse is to go for a run in the morning“
Seems I was challenging the universe.
I decided to try to break in a new pair of leather riding pants I bought a couple of weeks ago and wiggled into them. Ugh…I bought them a bit small, leather stretches, I just hate the time between purchase and when they fit nicely.
When I finally got myself moving again I knew it wasn’t the best time of day to head for the border, just past noon, but at least I’d make it off the North Shore before the traffic got stupid going down The Cut, that doesn’t typically happen until after 2pm. The border website showed a long wait for the regular lanes, 10-15 minutes for the Nexus lane. It would take me the better part of an hour to get there and I was ready to bail if the line had grown longer.
It was fine, about ten minutes to get up to the booth. The guard took my Nexus card and scanned it, asked me to remove my helmet, asked me where I was headed, handed back my card and said “Have a nice day, you can just pull ahead over there by the barriers and put yourself back together again“.
And that’s where things went sideways.
See, typically I just ignore that suggestion and put all my gear back on, and do everything up properly, before I start the bike again and pull away and just head off two wherever I am headed. I don’t really care if I make the person next in line wait an extra 30-60 seconds.
But for some reason unbeknownst to my brain at this time, I sort of did what she said. I pushed my Nexus card back into the inside pocket of my jacket, I pulled my helmet back on but didn’t do it up, and shoved my gloves inside my open jacket. Then I started the bike and rolled forward and stopped.
A border guard standing nearby, his job to direct those vehicles being examined in secondary into a bay for searching, asked me to move to a better spot and he directed me where he wanted me to stop to get my gear settled again, calling out to me “I wouldn’t want you to be hit by a vehicle pulling through.”
I thought to myself….”that’d have to be a pretty bad driver….but then again….” and I thanked him for his concern and moved to where he preferred me. I did up my helmet properly, pulled my gloves out from inside my jacket, zipped my jacket up halfway, and pulled my gloves on before riding the five minutes over into Blaine to pick up my two parcels and the receiving company.
I couldn’t turn up the side street I typically do because the road was blocked off. The community had opened a fire hydrant and kids were playing in the fountain of water. An ice cream truck was there for refreshments, last day of school celebration was my guess.
So I rode straight and turned on the Main Street and went down the block before pulling a u-turn and doubling back to park in front of my destination. I hopped off the bike, pulled off my gloves and helmet, grabbed my wallet out of my tail bag, and popped in to quickly retrieve my two packages.
Those went into the tailbag, I had a quick drink of water, shoved the bottle back in the tailbag and zipped it up. Helmet back on, gloves back on, jacket zipped up…and the five minute ride back to the border.
There were three cars in front of me and while I waited my turn I reached into my jacket to grab my Nexus card to stuff it up my sleeve for easy access when it was my turn…..but….my gloves didn’t encounter a card.
Momentary confusion….then more digging around….to no avail.
I pulled off a glove and rooted around some more….unzipped my jacket and dug around inside my jacket….and found nothing.
The realization that I was in the Nexus lane, with no Nexus card, and no passport, slowly dawned on me. I was more alarmed that my Nexus card was simply not with me.
And then it was my turn.
I pulled up, turned off the bike, and said “So….I have a problem…..I am a Nexus card holder, in front of you without a Nexus card, that I had about ten minutes ago when I was at that border crossing right over there, about 300 feet from here.”
He said “You lost your Nexus card?”
To which I replied, “It would appear so.”
I explained that I’d entered the USA with said card, an that I’d out it into my inside jacket pocket (or thought I had) and that I’d also stuffed my gloves in there after it, and that I “thought” perhaps when I’d pulled out my gloves I’d accidentally also pulled out the card and hopefully it was laying on the ground right over there somewhere…or that a border guard had picked it up and taken it into the office.
He asked me my phone number, said “Paige?“
Yup, that’s me!
“Could I see your driver’s licence please?”
“Sure thing!”
“Are you bringing anything back with you?”
“Yes, two used skirts from an online used clothing reseller, total value about $80“
He didn’t ask me to take my helmet off, didn’t ask me anything else at all actually. Just handed me back my driver’s licence and suggested I take a quick left right past his booth, cut through the lanes of traffic heading into the US, and head back over to the US Nexus lane to see if they had my card.
Okee dokee.
So now I’ve entered the US legally, entered Canada illegally, and and headed back the re-enter the US illegally….in the hopes of re-entering Canada legally.
I safely tucked my driver’s licence in an outside pocket, made sure it was “in” there, and securely zipped that up. I then pulled my one glove back on, restarted the bike, and took the immediate left turn to a stop sign and made my way across the lanes of traffic one lane at a time, each involving me pointing to myself and gesturing across the lane “I want to cross and go there…please?” Three vehicles each politely permitted me to make my way across the non-Nexus lanes and back over to the Nexus lane.
Once there, I waited behind three or four vehicles before finding myself, again, at the US border. Unfortunately there had been a shift change and a new face peered out at me from the booth. I left my helmet on, took off one glove, handed him my drivers licence, and explained my situation, waving and weaving my tale of woe. He tapped away on the computer and said he didn’t see anything, but radioed something to someone and sent me over to the two guards waiting for those vehicles tagged to be pulled out of the line for whatever reasons. A third guard, a beautiful black woman, came and chatted with me for a moment and then moved a cone aside and suggested I park the bike in one of the search lanes.
I thought that must look funny to anyone there. Most vehicles were campers, motorhomes, trailers, vans. And then one lone little motorcycle sporting a tailbag that wouldn’t fit a helmet. Not much to search. But it was place to get off the bike, pull off the helmet and talk the the three guards. They all tried to be so helpful. One of them remembered me as he was coming on shift, sitting there pulling gear back on. He’d thought I was with three other riders who came through, nope, solo.
He said he’d looked all over the area, and the woman looked around too. When nothing materialized she said “Well, the good news is that it’s only $25 to get it replaced. You just have to go into the Nexus office and report the card lost, pay the fee, and they’ll mail you a new one.”
“Do I do that here? Or over there? Or do I do it when I get back home to Canada?“
“Oh, you’re a Canadian citizen?”
All sort of things went through my mind like….”…clearly didn’t look at my plates….and usually I am tagged as ‘not-American’ pretty quick due to my accent” neither of which were appropriate under the circumstances.
“Yes, I am Canadian, should I just do this when I get back to Canada?”
“On, no, because you lost your card in the US you have to do this at a Nexus office here.”
I’m not entirely sure that was correct, given that I’d already managed to get back to Canada without it once today….but again, probably not the dialogue to have under the circumstances.
“OK, so I go into the office here?”
“Oh, no, you have to go down the I5 to the Birch Bay exit and go to the Nexus office in Birch Bay.”
DAMMIT!
They gave me some directions,”turn at the blahblahblah, watch for the blachblahblah….it’s by Bob’s Burgers”
Bob’s Burgers, never seen it before, but that I can remember!
The one fellow told me that, if I didn’t find it, I’d have to use a regular lane to get back into Canada and couldn’t use the Nexus lane.
Yeah, I’d already played dumb and bypassed that rule…and had every intention of doing it again if I had to, since I’d already had a conversation with one guard on the Canadian side and he’d already heard my tale and cleared me. I was definitely heading back to him either way!!
Another thing best left unsaid given the circumstances.
The woman suggested that I retrace my exact route and see if I could find it, since I’d been in the country so short a time, and gone so small a distance. Then, when one of the men told me to pull out and head out the long way and double back the way all the other vehicle that have been pulled into secondary have to, she barked at him and told him that I was small and to move a cone and let me go out the way I’d come in, against the traffic, so that I could retrace my exact path.
I really liked this woman.
The two men held up two vehicles heading into the area, moved a cone for me, and shepherded me out the in.
I thanked them all for their patience and helpfulness and rode out the way I’d ridden 30 minutes earlier. I scanned the road along the way, turned the corner after passing through Blaine, looked across the street to where I had parked and….soemthing laying on the asphalt! Something small, rectangular, and white.
I pulled my second u-turn in the same place as earlier, and pulled up to the thing on the street.
My Nexus card!!
I guess when I stood up, the card that had not actually made it into said pocket or which had been partially pulled out when I’d pulled out my gloves, had fallen to the ground and I’d not seen it.
I picked it up, tucked it safely in my inside pocket, checked three times to make sure it was, in fact, inside the pocket, and then zipped up my jacket again.
I mounted the bike, rode through town for a fourth time, and headed back down the Nexts line into Canada.
When I passed over the ramp and down the other side, I looked to the US border side and saw the three guards over there, I honked my horn, waved at them, pumped my fist in the air, and they all jumped up and down and cheered and waved.
OK, so that never happened, but it makes for a nice story. Maybe it would have happened if they hadn’t been looking over some vehicles. I’d like to think so.
It was the same border guard on the Canadian side and when I pulled up I said “This time I arrive bearing a valid Nexus card.” and presented him with said card.
He smiled and said “You found it!” and asked me where.
I told him the story and he scanned it, handed it back, watched me safely stash it, and told me to have a safe ride home. No questions this time, just an another adventure in crossing the border for Paige.
Booked it home on the freeway to cool off, and called it a day.
Oh, and when I finally managed to slither out of those pants…I also decided that they are nice spring day, nice fall day, pants…but definitely not nice summer day. Man were they hot! Back to my hybrid leather textile pants for the summer.
Oh, and one more thing….as Kirk and I were getting ready to head across town for a theatre performance that starts in two hours, a call came in…our performance has been cancelled due to illness in the cast.
It seems that I really did challenge the universe when I had that thought this morning about the day not getting any worse than a run in the morning could make it.
And that’s the kind of day it was today.
