God is Good

Our week got a good start with that previous trip from Lufkin, TX to Arkansas. Then we were offered a load that picked up in Anniston, AL. It was another government load. It seemed like a very long way to go to get to our pickup, but we agreed to go.
So we drove all night, well, Pops did and we got there the next morning. It took a little while to be left into the base. We have been here many times so we know the drill but there is no haste here. They all take their good ole time.
Then we got to our building for our load there was another truck there. It was a competitor of our company and apparently there was a problem. The military police were there and they were talking and gesturing with the driver of that truck and before long he was escorted away.
Okay.
So we thought we would get loaded now but they left us sit in our truck for almost an hour. Then we saw the other truck come back. This time they allowed him to back in to he dock and then they loaded both our trucks at the same time.
One of the men loading us told us that someone in that truck did not have proper clearances to be on the base.
After we were loaded we had to wait for our escort vehicle to come back and escort us to another building for our paperwork.
It wasn't hassle enough that this was a government load it was also going into Canada so that meant even more complicated paperwork but it all got done, I hope correctly, and then we left there.
Yeah, we are taking this load to Montreal. We were kind of used to Texas, Arkansas and now Alabama. I wonder how cold we will be when we get to Canada?
It took us all that day and most of the night to get to the border. I was driving when we reached the border. There was a young man working in the customs booth. He asked all the normal questions that we are always asked at the border, mostly just about where we are from and where we are going to and how long will we be in Canada. But he began to ask us questions about our load. He wanted to know what it meant that we had a panic button, so I explained that if we ever encountered any problems we were to push the button. Then he asked if we had ever pushed it. I told him that I pushed it by accident just yesterday. He wanted to know what happened. I told him that our company called our phones immediately and wanted to know what was happening. I explained that it had been an accident when I picked up the remote panic button. It is like a keychain and when I picked it up I bumped the button. He then wanted to know what would happen if it wasn't an accident. I told him that we were told that "help" would be to us within 15 minutes.
I thought that would be the end of his questioning but then he started asking my all about the inside of our truck. He was thoroughly impressed with our truck and our job.
Finally he handed us our passports and paperwork back and cleared us to cross. Wow, that was interesting.
We were crossing in at a place in upstate New York called 1000 Islands. This place is absolutely beautiful. I would love to spend some time here. If you get a chance, look this up for yourself on the internet. Someday when we cross here, maybe Pops will be driving and I will be able to get some pictures.
We had about a 3 hour drive yet before we reached our destination in Montreal. I sure hope everything goes smoothly. It is always iffy when you come to Montreal. Sometimes Gypsy, our GPS, doesn't like to work correctly when we are here and besides that Quebec is french speaking so that means that all road signs and all signs and billboards, store signs and EVERYTHING is in french. So if you do get twisted around and have to ask directions, well, all I can say is you hope that God will send an english speaker to you. And even then their accent makes it very difficult.
But we didn't have any trouble finding the military base. But we did have a little trouble understanding the guards. We had to wait for over an hour before being cleared to go into the gate and onto the base.
As always when the soldiers realize what we are hauling they get all excited and act like little kids on Christmas morning. We haul a lot of interesting military items. I have to admit I, myself, am very fascinated by some of it. And Pops, oh my, he is like a little kid too.
By the time we got unloaded and drove back into the states and reached the closest rest area it was dark and late in the evening.
It was nice to be able to use our phones and internet again. We always feel so communication deprived while in Canada.
After taking a quick break at the rest area, We drove on south to Syracuse to a truckstop. We wanted to shower and possibly do some laundry. But we were very tired so we slept first and thought we would do all that in in morning