Grand Marais to Canada to Ashland Wisconsin

Yesterday, we left Grand Marais for Thunder Bay, Ontario.  It was a 80 mile trip to the border.  We carry a shot gun with us that is locked in one of our basement compartments and the ammunition is locked in a separate compartment.  The night before we were to leave for the Canadian border, I printed the necessary Canadian Declaration of Firearms paperwork and filled it out in triplicate.  It stated not to sign the paperwork until we were in front of a Border Patrol agent.  Just before the Canadian border, all vehicles are stopped by the US Border Patrol where we were asked several questions while a drug sniffing dog smelled our coach for drugs.  One of the questions we were asked was if we were carrying any firearms.  We acknowledged that "Yes" we had a shot gun and showed the agent the paperwork that we had filled out and he reviewed it.  He stated that it looked good and that we would be "good to go". 

When we got up to the Canadian Border Agent booth we again answered her questions and she noted that we had a firearm and that we had filled out the appropriate Declaration papers.  She asked that we bring the piece of paper that she wrote on and come into the office.  Well we could tell the minute we walked into the place and a new Border Agent waited on us, that we were not very popular with him.  He was "loaded for bear" as I put it, the minute he called us up to the window.  "Why are you carrying a shot gun?" "If you're not hunting, you can't bring the shot gun in!".  The questions and comments went on and on.  Finally, he said, "You have to turn around.  You cannot come into our country with a shot gun".  By this time, Roger and I were not happy.  Roger said "Do we look like we're going to shoot someone"?  Of course, he never answered and as we were going out the door, I called him and "Asshole". 

When we came back to the US Boarder, one of the agents who saw us just go the other way, came over and said "Didn't I just see you?"  We told him that they wouldn't let us in the country because of our shot gun.  He rolled his eyes and couldn't believe it and even offered to keep our gun at the Border Office till we came back in 2-3 days.  We thanked him very much but told him that we were not planning on coming back that way, we were on our way to Maine.  My advice to all who are traveling and wish to go into Canada, DON"T.  Don't spend your money in their country!

We made our way back to Ashland, Wisconsin, which is 211 miles from the Canadian Border.  Thank goodness our good friends Kitty and Terry Weese were able to run over to the City Campground and reserve a site for us.  We were very tired after our terrible experience and after driving the majority of our day in the rain.

On our way to Ashland, we stopped a couple of  times between raindrops and at one of the stops I got a great shot of Split Rock Lighthouse.

Split Rock Lighthouse

Today, we traveled from Ashland Wisconsin to Door County Wisconsin.  This is a place we have always talked about visiting, but haven't been yet.  We're looking forward to our explorations over the next few days.