We laid our documents out: passports, drivers license, O's shot records and health certificate, motor home registration, insurance information, and application for firearm permit. Then we charged out to the border at Sweetgrass hoping for a quick pass. We were second in line so practically no waiting. Gave them our passports and answered a few simple questions and things seemed to be going our way. Then THE question; do you have any firearms? Yes, one shotgun and papers all filled out.
"Why do you need a gun?" Protection from wild animals in remote areas, its on the permit application. "How remote are you going in a motor home?" Up the Dalton highway to the Artic Circle. "Are you going to visit any National Parks while in Canada, and did you know you can be arrested for possession of a firearm in a National Park in Canada?" "Do you want to return to the US and store the weapon?" "What do you want to do? At this point it was clear it was not going to be worth the effort to take a gun into Canada. They just don't like them. Some border guards let you in fine but this one was being difficult. I agreed to take it back and store it so I just made a loop and got in line to re-enter the US. There were two lines going through customs. Naturally I got in the wrong one. The other line was moving 4x what ours was so it was clear we had a border guard that was being extra thorough. After 30 minutes we were up there, he walks to the back of the camper twice to look. Comes back takes our passports and starts with the questions. I let it slip that we were just returning to the US from Canadian Customs to store a gun. That is when it went really bad. He starts writing notes and puts them on our passports. I thought we were in big trouble, this guy was playing by the book. He told me to pull over, park, and come inside that we had to do paper work because I was turned back by Canada, which I was not, I volunteered. But what are you going to do. I go inside and it was a zoo with people lined everywhere and only a couple of people doing any processing. I figured I would be there most of the day. In about 15 minutes a nice young lady called my name and handed me our passports and said I could go to Hardware Hanks in Shelby and he could store my gun. Off to Hank's place, 35 miles away. Got lucky, he closes at 3 on Saturday and we got there around 1. Stored the gun for $25. a month and nervously headed back to the border expecting the worst. Again we were second in line waited 2 minutes. Drove up, gave the guy our passports answered where we live, "do you have any handguns or weapons", "NO Sir". "Have a nice day" We were through there in less than 3 minutes and on our way. What a difference. Part of it is luck of the draw, who you get can determine your fate. It is legal to take a rifle or shotgun into Canada with the proper paperwork but I do not recommend it to anyone. It is just not worth it. It is easier to just let the bear eat you.
We proceeded on but our day was ruined with the bad taste of our experience in our mouth. It was completely my fault but it still ruined a perfectly good day. We pressed on through Calgary traffic before we stopped for the night. Our second favorite campsite, Walmart. We got some burgers, went grocery shopping, and went to bed. Deatra can tell you about grocery shopping sometime but lets just say it trended with the first part of the day. We drove a total of 330 miles, 80 of which was doubling back to store the gun. You know on a trip of this magnitude that some things are going to go wrong so you just look forward to tomorrow.
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