Hi. Jumping in and right back out.

Mile 1,560: Utica, NY. On the way to Massachusetts.

Yesterday was a cluster at the Port Huron/Sarnia border crossing. ICE (no you’re not police even if you print that on your jackets) was inspecting every car after the Blue Water Bridge toll booth headed to Canada.

They waved my wife and me through (I have no idea why we got special treatment, because everyone else was getting the business).

On the other side of the bridge, Canada’s border services decided we needed to go in and talk to Immigration Services. (Canada was pretty much letting everyone through after clearing customs. Not us.)

I have no idea why Canada decided we needed special treatment. We cooled our heels in Immigration for two hours. They asked my wife and me separately a whole host of questions such as “what states have you lived in,” “how do you know each other when her passport says she was born in Missouri and yours says you were born in Michigan,” &c.

For me they reserved “what states have you lived in.” (I really wanted to snark on which ones I haven’t would be shorter, but it is not wise to mess with Customs in any country.)

They also wanted to know from me if I was planning on staying in Canada permanently (biting my tongue again on “why are you offering”).

My wife was questioned closely on why I take the medications I do, but they didn’t ask me about that.

All that made us late for a meetup in London with two Ontario Wonketteers we’d planned the day before … that went okay though.

Today, crossing the border from the QEW into the USA, US Customs had no questions (though they were backing up traffic into Ontario) other than to ask if I’d entered Canada at Sarnia.

So now we’re decompressing.