<– Day 3: July 23, Alaska Updates | Day 5: July 25, From Earthly Mountains to the Plains of Vulcan –>

Hugo and I in front of their jeep in Fernie, Canada, our place of rest for the evening.

The four of us (me, Ann, Hugo, and Fernando) had a beautiful drive from Pasco to Fernie, Canada today. (See yesterday’s trip update here)

Hugo and Fernando arrived promptly at 8:30am. Ann and I weren’t quite ready, but we were close. As we finished up, the father-son team applied the AlaskaOrRust.com banner to Patterson. About 9:30am, we left, headed for Canada.

Ready to leave.

The trip went smoothly; Patterson’s front hubs stayed cool, which was a big relief. Neither Hugo nor Fernando had driven the route we’d planned, so they were quite surprised when we dropped onto the bridge that crosses Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced Ponderay) in northern Idaho. It’s a dramatic scene, with beautiful blue water surrounded by mountains. Team Pineapple loved it.

This picture doesn’t quite do the scene justice, but it does show how the bridge crosses the late into Sandpoint, Idaho.

After Sandpoint, we wound our way towards the border. That’s when things got more interesting. Communicating via walkie-talkies, we all agreed that Hugo and Fernando (having non-American passports and ETAs) might have trouble getting through the border. If so, I assured them we’d wait.

But no. They breezed through. Instead, it was me that border patrol was most interested in grilling. Perhaps it was my Canada shirt? I don’t know, but it went something like this:

Female Customs Official (FCO): Where are you from?
Me: Washington State.
FCO: Where are you going?
Me: We are going to Alaska.
FCO: Sir, what is in the box?
At that question, I turn my head to look back to see what box she was asking about …
FCO, again: Siirrrr, WHAT is in the box?
Me: I mumbled someting as I continue to wonder which box she means. (I was truly afraid something was moving in the box and it might get me!!
FCO: Sir, I cannot hear you when you are not looking at me … What is in the box?
Me: A box of t-shirts. We’d planned to give them away.
FCO: Are you planning to take them to Alaska and give them away?
Me: Well yeah, but also to Canadians along the way.
FCO: Are you holding some kind of event, sir?
Me (suspecting this wasn’t going well): Not really, it’s just a group of friends getting together to drive to Alaska.
FCO: So, your business is giving these away and holding an event?
Me: No, we don’t have a business, nor do we have an event. It’s just a group of friends trying to do something nice.

By this time, I’m pretty sure the FCO thought I was an idiot. Or, at least she made me feel like one. Finally she said:

FCO: Canada treats gifts like sales. You can not just give things away. You need to take these to Alaska and give them away there if you want to do that.
Me: Umm, okay. We were just trying to do something nice…
FCO (showing no break in formality and handing us back our passports): You can go now.

I can’t help but wonder how this goes for Santa. I mean, does customs point out that HE can’t give gifts to Canadian children?

As I puzzled over the answer to the Santa question, we began our drive northeast toward Fernie, Canada, where we’d booked rooms. It was a lovely drive through the mountains and along rivers.

We arrived around 7pm, then found some tasty dinner at a local Bistro. It was a great first day!

Fernie, Canada

Tomorrow we will see the Starship Enterprise!

Other Updates:

1 Joe, Emily, Merlin, and Britt reached Hillsboro, North Dakota, today. On the way they met a new friend:

Here they are all ready to hunker down for the evening:

2. Scott, Bob and Rick reached Canada today. Scott’s looking determined!

3. Jim Fowler is slowly catching Scott:

4. Who knows where Bill was? I think he was busy taking pictures.

5. Marty’s jeep looks ready for the road:

6. Rob’s got a new custom lock box on the back. That news saddened me, because I’m very tempted by that ARB cooler.

That’s all for now!

<– Day 3: July 23, Alaska Updates | Day 5: July 25, From Earthly Mountains to the Plains of Vulcan –>

Day 2: July 22, Patterson Arrives in Pasco –>

UPDATE: The following series of posts details the Alaska Or Rust crew’s adventures (view crew and jeeps here), starting with our separate trips to Dawson Creek, BC, Canada, the official start of the Alaska Or Rust adventure (see overview and why we did the trip here).

There were 11 jeeps and 25 people that headed to the starting line. Our goal was for everyone to meet in Dawson Creek on July 27th, 2017. 

After centuries of planning, or maybe it just feels that way, the first intrepid jeepers are on their way. Scott Gilbert, Rick Pacholski, and Bob Christy are leaving Cincinnati, Ohio, in Scott’s wagon, bound for Paris, Illinois.

Meanwhile, Bill Reiss is about ready to leave Pennsylvania in his updated former Dually Trencher CJ-5 and custom trailer.:

Merlin and Britt will be leaving soon in their WWII Willys MB, now that his tow rig has a new tranny (these things have to come at the worst time!), along with Joe and Emily in their CJ-3B.

Hugo and Fernando Vidal are flying out late tonight and will be arriving in Portland early Saturday morning. They’ll be driving up to Seattle to pick up their Wrangler (thanks to Jeep’s parent company FCA) and then driving to meet us in Pasco. We plan to leave on the 24th. However, the western fires in British Columbia have led to change our route north slightly.

Day 2 – July 22, Patterson Arrives in Pasco –>