Crossing the Border – Canada at Last!

Wednesday, May 22, 2013


We left Acadia National Park in the rain. After driving into Bar Harbor we parked so that we could access some internet and check e-mail. We'd discovered that we needed a card verifying that we had insurance for the RV in Canada. A quick call to our State Farm agent back in Maryland and she e-mailed copies of the card. Greg put it on a flash drive and walked in the rain to a coffee shop in Bar Harbor that had computers and printers. It cost him fifty cents plus the cost of a cup of coffee to get the card printed. Technology is great! Now we are trying to solve our connectivity problems in Canada.

With the insurance problem solved, we drove off of Mount Desert Island and took Route 1 east along the coast. It rained on and off with patches of fog. We made a lunch stop along the road for a clam roll for Greg. We continued east and while checking the internet, discovered that the provincial park campground on Campobello Island where we wanted to camp for the night, wasn't open yet. Time to rethink our plans. We drove a little farther to Cobscook Bay State Park. We arrived in the rain in the beautiful spruce forest. Our site was right on the water and the tide was down. Tides here average 25', so we were staring at mudflats. However, the rapidly advancing tides moved across the flats a foot or more every minute so our view changed constantly. We were going to have to dry camp again and barely had an internet signal and no phone signals. But, this park had one thing that Acadia didn't. Hot showers! So we drove from our site back through the park to the unheated, drafty shower house. At least the water was hot. We both felt better and then drove back to the site to settle in for the evening.

Clam Roll - Nature's perfect food!

Cobscook Bay campsite

 We had rain all night and more rain this morning. In fact, the forecast doesn't call for any sun until Sunday. We decided that if we had to drive or sit inside because of the rain, we might as well do it over the border, so off we drove the 40 miles to Calais, Maine where we would cross into Canada. After trying three stores in order to stock up on groceries, (I don't know why we had so much trouble figuring out what a grocery store was!), we decided to buy more than we planned. The parking lot was full of cars from New Brunswick. If the Canadians were buying there, they must know something about buying groceries in Canada that we don't know. Prices, taxes, availability?

Greg and I spent some time trying to call our parents before we turned off our phones for Canada. Sorry, Mom and Dad, and Greg's Dad, we never got through to any of you. We have Straight Talk phones that we pay for monthly, but the downside to the cheaper rates is no roaming or international calling. So both phones are turned off until we return to the states. I am going “cold turkey” with my smartphone... And our portable wifi (MiFi) hotspot runs off the Verizon network, and that doesn't work in Canada, so we are going to have to rely on campground internet and free wifi in coffee shops and visitor centers. We will be checking out Skype and a pre-paid Canadian phone to see what will work for us. We hope to be here into September.
By the time we finished groceries and topping off the tank with the relatively cheaper US diesel, we thought it might be getting too late to go across the border. Then we remembered that New Brunswick is on Atlantic Time, so it would be one hour earlier there. We discovered that St. John, New Brunswick, on the Bay of Fundy, has a city park with camping and would only be 60+ miles into Canada. We followed the signs and crossed the St. Crouix River to the small border crossing. Somehow we missed the larger one, so there wasn't even a Welcome to Canada sign! The border guard asked a lot of questions about where we were from, where we were going and for how long? What did each of us do for jobs, why were we traveling, did we have any weapons or prescription drugs? Any pets? He never asked us about alcohol. That was the one thing we've always been asked about in the past and you have to pay a duty if you are over the small limit. We hadn't quite whittled down our supply as much as we thought we might need to. I guess we looked like teetotelers, even with Greg's beard!

High Security at our Northern Border!

This border river, the St. Croix, is bigger than the Rio Grande!

Canadian Border Crossing

 The guard sent us on our way and we finally found the visitor's center where we expected to replace our several year old guides and maps of New Brunswick. No such luck. They hadn't opened yet for the season even though last weekend was their long weekend to celebrate Victoria Day, and start the Canadian summer season. We got back on Route 1, which is like our interstates and drove to the outskirts of St John. There we found an open information center and got directions to the park and other ideas for tomorrow. When I asked them if the rain would stop soon, they didn't know. When I asked if this weather was typical for this time of year, they said “Oh, yes...” I commented to Greg that it was reminding me of this time of year in Anchorage. We used to tell people that if you waited for nice weather to do something, you'd never do anything. Alaskans just make the best of it. So, we'll forge ahead and see what we can do while we wait for nicer weather.

St. Stephen Visitors Center

Decorative Lighthouse

The route to the campground took us through the old historic downtown with the trendy restaurants and shops and the cruise ship docks. We found the park high up on a rock bluff overlooking the city. We signed up for two nights and immediately hooked-up. It's really nice to have water and electric after dry camping. We're supposed to have free wifi, but apparently it's not working properly and is going to be checked tomorrow. So, no internet tonight. We also put up the antenna to get local TV, and nothing... We are wondering if they don't have HDTV, but without internet we can't Google it to find out!

Tomorrow we need to find a bank that is affiliated with Bank of America so that we can avoid extra fees, and get some Canadian currency. Then we'll look for free wifi. We'll do some sightseeing tomorrow and stay the night and then probably move on up the coast to Fundy National Park and into their campground. Time to watch the amazing Bay of Fundy tides!