RUN FOR THE BORDER

We're not talking "¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!" here, although those seven layer crunch wraps they have been advertising lately look good, but I digress. No, the border I'm talking about is the Canadian border. Tuesday morning we crossed into Canada and Tuesday afternoon we crossed back, only to learn it would be short lived, as we would be returning on Thursday, or so we thought. We received a dispatch to drive to the Bayliner Plant in Pipestone, MN, pick up four boats and deliver them to Edmonton, AB. This will be our 4th consecutive run to Canada, and you know what, it's getting easier. With this much practice with border crossings I may be close to having a normal blood pressure when dealing with the Customs Officers.

We arrived in Pipestone Wednesday morning and four hours later we were on our way back to Canada. When we were in Winnipeg, some of the employees at the dealership were talking about a holiday coming up. So when I called Edmonton to confirm our delivery, I learned that they would not take delivery on Saturday and that in deed, Monday was a holiday, Victoria Day, and that they would be closed. That left us with a Tuesday morning delivery and a three day sit. We didn't like the idea of that, so Craig took out his log book and did some figuring. We had just enough hours to make it into Edmonton on Friday afternoon. We will have to do a 34 hour reset on his driving hours, which means we can't start driving again until Sunday. Worse case is we sit until Monday for a dispatch, but at least it is one day less in Edmonton.

And here is where our little story goes awry. Between Carrington and Skyeston, ND we get an urgent message on our truck computer saying to stop immediately and call dispatch. As luck would have it, we were already pulling into a rest area, so Craig placed the call. The look on his face told me it wasn't good. Seems the loaders in Pipestone had mistakenly loaded a boat destined to another location on our trailer. You guessed it.....we headed back to Pipestone. Just think of the nightmare this would have caused if that boat stayed on the trailer and we tried to cross the border with no paperwork on it. YIKES..... I'm more than happy to retrace our route back to avoid that dilemma. Craig kept a watchful eye while the correct boat was being loaded onto our trailer.

So the run for the border is still happening, but instead of delivering on Friday, we will do a 34 hour reset in Fargo, ND and deliver the boats on Tuesday morning after the Victoria Day holiday. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to make a plan work, something comes along to throw you off. So, we'll just take advantage of our rest break and check out Fargo... yah...you're darn tootin' ..... don't cha know now.