The Truck Stop by junge1
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
A couple of miles south of here I had stopped to get gas and inquired about a good restaurant to eat breakfast and this place was suggested. And they were right. A good, home-cooked meal, no tourists, just a few locals. What a change in the last two days. No still hot air, no hazy atmosphere caused by forest fires. It had rained overnight, and this morning occasional rain showers and patchy fog with the temperature in the mid-fifties.
But then I was about 200 some miles north of the US-Canadian border as the crow flies. I was in Valemount on Yellowhead South Highway some 100 miles north of Kamloops in British Columbia.
When I left Glacier National Park two days earlier I turned north on Montana highway 93 at Whitefish and headed toward the Canadian border. More forest fires, and more hazy conditions. I didn't anticipate any problems at the border, I had checked everything that needed checking, no guns, radar detector was legal in the 3 Western provinces, some beer and wine, no problem. The crossing at Roosville, B.C. is not one of the busier border crossing points. A nice-looking young lady asked me all sort of questions whether I had a weapon, ammo, alcohol etc. in my car. After a pleasant 5 or 10 minutes she asked me politely whether it was OK if they check my car. No problem, go for it.
Not five minutes later a grim-faced border agent came inside the air-conditioned waiting area holding a pepper spray. I had all forgotten about it. I had gotten the pepper spray more than 10 years earlier when I took my designated car gun (a Makarov .380) out of my car after I had taken a concealed weapons permit course, a pre-requisite to carry a concealed weapon in Arizona (no permit is required to carry a weapon openly in Arizona).
There is a real fine line between justifiable self-defense and murder, and even if justified it will cost about $50,000 to clear the case, according to the instructor. So out the gun went, and just for the in-case-I-need-it I bought a pepper spray. I never used it, didn't know which car it was in, had forgotten all about it, and doubted that it would even work. The temperature in my garage routinely reaches 40C or more during the summer months.
Pepper spray is used by those women that don't want to carry a hand gun when jogging, or by the mailmen when he is delivering mail to keep away pesky dogs. Pepper spray is not a weapon - it is just pepper spray. Well, pepper spray is considered a weapon in Canada, The fine for having a weapon (pepper spray) in ones car without declaring it is $500 Canadian, to be paid on the spot.
I asked what would happen if I don't pay. Tthey would impound my car because it was used to carry a weapon. Well, my trusted credit card took care of this to get me back on the road. The good thing was that $500 Canadian was only $385 US.
There was really nothing I could do, I didn't do my homework.
This picture was taken on 15 August 2015, Sig...
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Comments (12)
Nothing like border adventures for a law abiding citizen.
J'adore ta nouvelle photo, qui est vraiment fabuleuse!
Great photo and interesting narrative thanks for sharing and the lesson
Great photo, sounds like you had a little trouble and at least you had the money!
Amazing!
I love eating on the road, in places like this!
I didn't know that Canada was so catty about people possessing that sort of 'weapon' ( pepper spray) ! ...Your capture still makes me dream of the New World . Happy New Year, Sig !
Since 9/11 and the subsequent attempt by some Middle Eastern individual to smuggle weapons into the US from Canada, they really clamped down!
Great that you found a home cooked meal on your travels but an expensive border crossing for you. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Superb capture my friend. God bless.
well, I will not have that problem as I do not plan on any trips to Canada no more. had a great time once, but I would like to see my niece in Toronto. I spotted your BMW
Nice shot and interesting story. BTW since I'm VERY, VERY allergic to peppers, a pepper spray is a lethal weapon to me :(