Day Three : The Day of Delays

This picture was taken in Montana yesterday, but I had to include it because it was so cute. We pulled into a gas station to use the restroom and fill up, and the girls started yelling and screaming about the cool PINK truck. So, I had them pose for a picture with it, and they were just tickled pink:)
Olivia passed out with her tongue between her teeth in the passenger front floor board. She loves this spot, and I am not so sure it is because I can pet her the whole time or if she has more things to chew up. She already chewed my charger to my iPhone in half, and ate the top part of the floor mat today...naughty little puppy!
We are married in Montana with the "Big Sky" as the backdrop!
Evelyn holding the flowers she picked for our " wedding in Montana." She picked these right when we got to Montana yesterday, so we took a picture to remember the flowers she wanted us to use when we actually said I do again.
The kids were gambling again....Read the blog


Day 3 : Wednesday, June 15, 2011

We awoke early, packed up and headed to a tire shop that opened at 7:30 am so they could check out our trailer brakes. While they worked on them we had a great breakfast at our trusty Cracker Barrel. Yes, we are creatures of habit. Plus, there are no Cracker Barrels in Alaska so we have to get it out of our systems. Weird thing is the hostess sat us at the exact same table we ate dinner at last night. Okay not that weird, but a little queer.

After our hearty breakfast, we went to pick up our trailer only to learn the major problem we were worried we had last night was not a problem at all. The loud grinding/squeaking noise was probably some rocks stuck up in the calipers or brakes. There were no brake issues, and no more squeaking. God is awesome, as I prayed it was something simple. The amazingly kind staff at TireRama did not even charge us for the time they took to remove all four tires and complete a brake inspection. We are ever thankful to them for the peace of mind and it was free to boot! If you ever get stranded in Billings call them; they are good guys and are very competent.

We got on the road again and took a couple different highways going north instead of the interstate, which goes way south before it turns back north. The views were absolutely gorgeous.I get why they call it Big Sky Country. It just seemed to take up everything, and the hills just seemed to melt right into the blue of the sky. The beauty is hard to put into words. The ranches are so well kept, and carefully maintained. You can tell in the Big Sky Country the word cowboy is a way of life not just an outfit.

The fields were heavily flooded and all the rivers were out of their banks. It was sad to see all the crops underwater. Iowa and Nebraska will be seeing this water later I suppose. We were even turned away from some restrooms in one area because they had been destroyed by flood damage.
The kids were beginning to get really wound up, and were despising one another's company. Therefore, we broke out their DSI games to let them zone out on their own for a little bit. However, I never thought the words, " No, he doesn't want to picnochat with you; so do not try to link up," would ever come out of my mouth, but I said it repeatedly today. We all need personal space, some inner monologue time, and the freedom to choose whether we feel like picnochatting or not.

The drive to the border of Canada was pretty uneventful. We found plenty of gorgeous scenery, but there was no where to stop for a good picturesque spot to get married. However, we decided it didn't really matter and tied the knot again at a gas station/ casino somewhere in Montana.

Then we gave the kids money to go gamble.... Okay we didn't, but posing them with a dollar in front of the Casino sign made us laugh. Nehemiah thought it was rather humorous, in fact.

We then made our way to the border and sat in line for awhile. Once we made it to the customs officer we handed over our passports and documentation. He then went through the necessary questioning.

Do we have $10,000 or more on board? ( Yeah that would be great!)

Are the children ours? (We had their birth certificates ready in our very organized binder filled with important documents needed to cross the border.)

Do we have any drugs, tobacco, or alcohol? (No, we don't do drugs, smoke, and alcohol is a rarity.)

Do we have any firearms, knives or other weapons? (Yes, we proudly exercise our 2nd amendment rights and have a hunting rifle and handgun. However, our handgun is locked like we read it needed to be.)

They then asked us to pull over and come inside. Gulp! Uh oh!

Well, as it turns out our very well-organized binder of necessary documents was missing an ATT (Authorization to Transport). We did not know you have to have an ATT permit from the gun control officer in every province if you have a handgun. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of Canada, we would need clearance from three provinces. These forms would have to be filled out, mailed to each province, processed and mailed back.

The other options they listed were; go back to the U.S. and sell it, ship it from a gun dealer in the states, or surrender it. We were taken aback at the predicament in which we found ourselves. All the careful planning and months of preparation, and now we ran into a problem.

The ATT was out because it would take forever. We could not sell it because we would have to find a buyer fast, and selling a gun to just anyone on the street is highly frowned upon by law enforcement, border patrol, and mothers. As for shipping it, the border control guy said we would have to go back to Shelby, MT to find a dealer. This was a few hours back the way we had come, and due to the fact it was already 5:45 p.m. most dealers would be closed. Therefore, we would lose out on the whopping 7 miles to the gallon we are getting in fuel mileage, plus we would have to get a hotel. The cost of the gun was close to the charges we would incur with this option. So, sadly Gavin and I decided it was best to turn our gun into the border patrol. The gun was a gift I had given him in Alaska after we had Lilyan...I got another baby girl and naturally, he got a gun...lol. He walked it in, head hung low, and I yelled out the window to let them know it was going in the blog.

A couple minutes later Gavin came back to the truck... with the gun. Maybe they had heard of my blog and it's massive following! Lol! In reality, there was a border patrol cop who knew a dealer who lived 15 minutes away, and would ship our gun for us. Woohoo God always has a few tricks up His sleeve.

So, we went through the U. S. customs and were given this dealers phone number by the U.S. officer. We called the number, and waited at a rest stop, next to the border for him to arrive. While we waited we had a yummy and nutritious dinner of turkey and red bell pepper wraps, caesar salad, and strawberries. We learned when traveling, while Gavin was still in the military, that a poor diet on the road makes the trip so much longer and more painful than it has to be.

After twenty minutes the dealer showed up and was very respectful and kind. $70 later, a signed receipt to ship our weapon to a dealer of our choice in Anchorage, and we were ready to go sit back in line at the Canadian border. Once we reached the attendant we were then allowed passage without any issues. However, we did decide today will be nicknamed the "Day of Delays."

We drove a few more hours until we found a fuel station and a hotel. We truly only cared if the room was clean, and did not smell. We found the Holiday Inn had vacancies and an area where we could park and plug in the freezer full of meat we have in the trailer.

The girls and Gavin went to the water park/ pool, and Nehemiah and I stayed in the hotel room. I could not handle any more noise. A pepsi and hot bath sounded so much better than other people's children screaming and splashing me in the face. Nehemiah made some poor choices once we got in the room so he had to face some harsh discipline. He did not get to go the water slides, instead he took a bath and went to bed. I do not know whose heart hurt worse, mine or his. However, sometimes lessons are learned the hard way; parenting is tough.

After lots of giggling about the pool, stories of getting stuck in a slide, spilling an entire bucket of ice, baths and teeth brushing the girls were tucked in next to their brother. Gavin and I are both heading to bed as well. Tomorrow will be a very LONG day and it begins EARLY.

Plus, a quick note to our loved ones please rely solely on this blog for any news of our travels the next few days. We are charged for every text and .80 cents a minute for phone calls. Therefore, rest assured that no news is good news, and we will keep adding to the blog.

We love you all, and pray the Lord blesses you with all the love and mercy we know He is capable of.

Peace n Prayers,
Allie, Gavin, Nehemiah, Evelyn, and Lilyan