A Goat Trail By Any Other Name

Today marks the beginning of our trip into "THE GREAT UNKNOWN". I am going to speak here like I actually have a following that does not already know everything that there is to know about me. (I love and miss you all by the way!)
My family is on a one year vacation. We are homeschooling and doing all the touristy things. We are having a blast...most days. Today was monumental! We have been on the road for almost three months now and have covered three provinces, but today we crossed The Big Border. That's right...we have crossed to the other side. We are now temporarily residing in the USA. The monumental part is that while we were doing lots of new and exciting things, they were all in places that we had been before. This is the first destination that we have never ever been to! It is so exciting. (and scary.)
We are in a little (and by little I mean huge in Saskatchewan terms but not so much here) city that is called Puyallup. As far as I can tell, it is pronounced similarly to tulip if you were giving tulip a really long "u" sound.
How is it that one can travel for under an hour and get out of one's vehicle and realize that one is now the one that has the accent and not the charming American that is at the checkout behind one. (I know the one's don't all work but once I had started I couldn't stop. That is the trouble with one....it never ends up being just one.) We crossed the border at the Peace Arch near Blaine, WA. I am not sure, but I think that the abbreviation for Washington is WA. In Tina Land it is anyway. (So there.) We had to wait eighty minutes to cross. By the time we got to the actual crossing, I had worked myself up into a state. Surprising, I know. I was picturing a meany crossing guard pointing us over to the side of the road, a team of snarling, drooling Dobermans holding us at bay, and a lady crossing guard with a bad set of hi lites and a too tight uniform doing the cavity search while the crossing guards in training spread all of our earthly belongings through the ditch on the side of the road. It didn't quite happen that way. We had a really nice Guard who told a little story about a guy with a really big RV having to unpack his luggage carrier to get it through the underpass dealy, watched a bit of the kids movie and sent us on our way. He was very interested in if we were bringing garlic across the border though. I had some packed in EVOO, but that stuff was OK. Apparently, garlic is only lethal to Washingtonians in its natural state. We have since hung our entire campsite with bunches of the stuff and plastered mirrors on every empty surface. The large crosses and wooden stakes go without saying. (or at least they would have if I had not mentioned them.) Seriously though...why is garlic a problem to bring across the border? I am so confused. Fortunately, this is not uncharted territory for me. I have been confused before and will be again. Life goes on.
After our non-eventful crossing we went to Jack in the Box for the first time ever. We needed drinks after our long wait in the border line-up. Just to let you know, a medium pop on this side of the border is WAY bigger than it is back home. Having said this, you will quickly see the problem presented by Abigail about an hour later while I was navigating fifty six feet of vehicle down the I5 in the middle of Seatle. Although we tried to convince her, the Jack in the Box cup was apparently a one way street as far as her liquids were concerned and she would not send them back from whence they came. After we got out of the downtownish area I illegally pulled over (what is with all the no parking on the side of the road signs anyway?) and we hustled back into the trailer to pee. It was TERRIFYING! The semi's rock that trailer like it's nobodies business! She had to go into her bedroom and change her pants and I was praying the whole time that the trailer would not flip over. Even Andrew was scared and he was still in the truck. (Abby almost was not the only one who needed dry pants!) Matt pee'd in the bushes on the side of the road, but since Michael was sporting a bright orange T-shirt, he elected to use the camper as well. I know I already said this, but let me reiterate: TERRIFYING! Keep in mind that this is coming from some very seasoned ditch pee-ers. This was like no pee ever taken before. Once we had regained our seats it took about 5 minutes of signalling before I was able to make a break for the driving lane. People really do not like to let others merge here. Eventually I just peeled off of the shoulder and into traffic with the attitude that of "I am bigger than you so MOVE!"and Michael and I hi-fived on my driving prowess. All that would soon change.
For Christmas last year, my Dad gave us a Magellan GPS system. We have nicknamed her "Maggie" and we love her dearly. Maggie, Sylvie (our 2002 Silverado) and the five of us make a good little team. Sometimes however, Maggie is an idiot. Today she thought it would be fun to take us down a goat trail. It was a goat trail cleverly disguised as a bridge, but a goat trail by any other name would still be too narrow! I actually had to roll down my window and fold in the mirror on my side so that the UPS truck could get past us and at the same time I was trying to get my hind end onto the bridge. I ended up having about an inch between the camper and the guard rail. It took up about forty five minutes to make the trip that the ever so kind lady at the desk of our campsite drawled "You coulda just stayed on the I5 and you woulda been here in five minutes! You never can trust the GPS systems or the mapquest."
Bad Maggie. Bad bad bad Maggie!
On a high note, fuel is REALLY cheap here! We have been spending between $110 and $120 to fill up. Tonight the fuel was $3.97 per gallon where we fuelled up and it only cost $87! We were sucking fumes and filled up all the way too! We had a little IKEA moment and screamed "START THE CAR! START THE CAR!" Sylvie was not offended at being called a car; she was just happy to be fed. We were a little sad when we got up the road a bit and found Diesel for $3.63 at Safeway though. Sigh.
I have spent way too much time blogging tonight and will surely be grouchy for school in the morning, so now it is time to say goodnight. Keep in touch. Gypsies get lonely!
Good night, Gracie.