Crossing the Canadian Border (Statist Bullshit)

Even before we bought our 5th wheel to start traveling full time, @haileyscomet had her sights set on going to Canada and Banff National Park, so much so that she made sure she had her passport before we left and made sure to mention it as often as she could. We had planned on going last year our first year out on the road, but things did not go anywhere even close to planned so it just was not in the cards. But because of this, we made it our absolute goal to go to Canada and spend the summer much cooler after getting scorched in the California summer and running from 4 different wildfires in the process. And living all of my life except for a few months in Texas I have only known intense heat for summer, so I was desperate for something new.

Once we upgraded our Thousand Trails Camping membership (how we can afford to camp year round without it breaking the bank), we started planning our trip north of the border! In the process we wound up deciding to get married while we were in Canada, making it even more magical. So the wedding planning started and time just kept passing and before I knew it, it was 2 weeks before we crossed over and my grandma passed away. This forced me to fly home and left me with just 6 days before we headed to Canada to get ready. I had thought about crossing the border and the possibility of getting searched, but I never really thought too much about it. Then I started reading about RVer's crossing over and the storied were awful, people spending hours waiting as they go through your entire home, only t find nothing but some apples and wood you "can't" have. Now I was concerned.

We have been traveling this whole time with a rare family heirloom revolver for protection and now I was worried what to do with it. They say they arrest you and destroy the gun on site, which would just be horrific, not to mention we use cannabis as medicine and that is a huge no-no crossing the border as well, especially if carrying a gun. So I decided we had to part ways with the gun while in Canada, much to Hailey's dismay as she like the security of it and she wanted to take it while hiking to protect us from bears. So because Canada does not believe in freedom or gun freedom, we had to leave our best line of defense back with a friend. Where now I have to worry about theft happening in her apartment and have no weapon.

They also have issue with bringing fire wood, which we did have some of that we had to leave at the campground for the next campers, but we also have wood that Hailey paints on, and we knew they would find a reason to hassle us, so we left that with our friend as well. They also have issue with bringing produce across, so we limited our produce dramitally and threw quite a bit away to make sure we weren't bringing anything "bad" in. More waste because of the state, who would have thought!

Then there is our medicine, which a lot is CBD, so we had to change bottles and leave a lot of stuff, including all of our paraphernalia, with our friend, meaning we would have to buy it all again once we crossed the border, even though it is all already decriminalized and they have shops here anyone over 19 can go to. So yet again, more stupid wasted caused by the government and crossing and imaginary line.

So after getting rid of all of our stuff and stressing like no other, we headed for the border. The lady asked us a million questions and made me feel like my honest answers were lies, as police or government agents often do. After playing the question game, she waived us on through with NO search.....We had done all of that for basically nothing in a sense, BUT it is always better safe than sorry, I just hate the waste and stressed caused that was so unnecessary for everyone. When will the people realize we are more than numbers and lines and rules on paper...