November 17, 2021 Convoy Home

The BIg Boarder, Nurse R, Natalya, Kaydee, and Barrman stood in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express and discussed the journey ahead. All roads were closed out of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The only way home was to drive eight hours through the United States in order to get back home. The journey from Vancouver to West Kelowna was a daunting one.

“What are the odds we would all be here on the same weekend?” The Big Boarder looked over at Barrman and laughed.

Barrman shook his head, “Kinda ironic eh? And then to have every road in and out of the lower mainland get washed out on this very weekend. Geez, that’s unbelievable.”

“I hope they let us through the US without our passports.” Big Boarder looked at the rest of the group. “when I called they said we should be ok. So we may as well try.”

“You ready ladies?” Barrman looked at his wife. She smiled meekly and nodded.

“Ok guys, let’s hit the road and get back to our homes,” Natalya said. She glanced over at Nurse R and Kaydee, “well girls are you ready for this? Are the kids loaded up and ready?”

“Yup,” Nurse R replied. “The boys are in the truck and can’t wait to get home.”

“At least we have nice weather,” Kaydee looked up at the blue sky and sunshine overhead.

Big Boarder looked down at his phone, “Google maps says to go through the border at Pacific Highway and then take the I 5 to Highway 2 and over to the 97 then back up through Osoyoos. Only eight hours and five minutes.”

“Piece of cake,” chuckled Barrman, “I hope everything goes according to plan. We should make the Canadian border by dark.”

“It’s nine-thirty now, let’s roll and quit dilly-dallying around.” Natalya turned and jumped into her Land Rover. 

Barrman smiled at Kaydee and nodded to the others, “let’s go, babe.”

They climbed into the Subaru Forester while BB and Nurse R followed with their boys in their Dodge Ram. All three vehicles were well equipped for winter roads. The convoy of friends departed Langley full of hope and trepidation. It was going to be a long day on the highway. 

Barrman sat behind the wheel of the Subaru and started out down the road, “turn left on 88 Ave and go one point five kilometres to Two Hundred Street and turn left.” the soothing yet somehow annoying voice of google called out directions from Barrmans phone. 

“Hey hon, I do like having GPS, remember when we used to have to use big maps and plan a route. Now you don’t have to navigate at all.” Barrman smiled at his wife, “still I miss having to use my brain to find a place.”

“Oh I understand but I think it’s better this way,” replied Kaydee.

“What the heck are large maps Dad? And why would you miss those?” Barrman’s daughter Mia piped up from the back seat.

Half an hour later the convoy of friends rolled up to the USA border. On the right-hand side, there was a long line of semi-trucks waiting to bring their goods across into the USA. All the trucking was being rerouted through the US. They stayed in the left lane and kept driving until they got to the front of the sign that read United States Customs and Immigration. There were five cars lined up to cross the border into America. 

“That’s nice, the line is pretty small, thank god, I had visions of a much longer wait,” Barrman said out loud to his wife and kid.

“Looks pretty good It shouldn’t take too long,” Kaydee replied as she rolled down her window. “Nice day out there.” 

Barrman felt his stomach flutter as each moment passed. “Do you think they will give us too much trouble?” He looked in his mirror at his daughter. She didn’t have any ID all they had was pictures of stuff, including her passport.

The line crept forward with each minute, even though the customs guys were being efficient it felt like it took forever to get to the front of the line. “it’s strange how long these things seem to take, but it’s only been fifteen minutes.”

Kaydee nodded, “We’re next.”

The light turned green and Barrman pulled his car up to the front of the small building that separated the longest undefended border on the planet. 

“Hold on a second, I’ll be right back.” The customs agent stalked past the car and walked toward the vehicles behind. 

“What’s going on?” Barrman looked into the mirror. “It looks like he is giving Natalya a hard time. I think she got so anxious she followed Big Boarder into the approach lane.” Sure enough, he had Big Boarder pull ahead so the camera could take a picture of Natalya’s license plate. 

“Give er dad no one is going to stop us.” Mia laughed from the back seat as the border was left unattended.

“Not the best plan sweetie, here he comes anyway.” Barrman chuckled at his daughter’s joke.

The customs officer walked forward and approached Barrman’s car.

“Hello, sir why are you coming into the US today?” The customs officer looked into the car and surveyed the situation in a glance. “Can you please open the window so I can see the passenger in the back?”

“Hi, we are trying to get home,” Barrman replied as he handed over his driver’s license and Kaydee’s passport. He pressed the button and rolled the window to the back seat down.

“Where’s home?” The officer asked as he took the documents.

“West Kelowna, BC.”

“Do you have any ID for the young lady in the back?” 

Barrman’s daughter spoke up, “I have a picture of my student ID, my birth certificate, and my health care card,” she handed him her phone.

“I also have a picture of her passport,” Barrman handed over his phone. The officer gave Mia back her phone and took the picture of the passport, “this will be ok.”

“I had the passports in my hand when we left home but then I put them down into the drawer, I had no idea we would…”

“He doesn’t care honey.” Kaydee interrupted Barrman’s rambling.

The officer turned to his computer in the shack and typed on the screen. A moment later he returned with their documents. “Here you are, have a safe trip. You’re free to go.”

Barrman put the car into gear and drove off. With that, they were one step closer to home. The three travelers drove ahead and around the corner, they were now in a foreign country.

A few minutes later the white Dodge Ram carrying the Big Boarder and his family pulled up behind them. Another minute went by and Natalya parked in the back with her Land Rover.

They high-fived and smiled at each other. 

“Ok, we made it that far now let’s get home.” Big Boarder looked at everyone and smiled widely.

“Dude we did it. No problem with Ryder and his ID?” Barrman smiled back.

“Just took down his name and info.” Nurse R answered. 

“Next stop for lunch?” Barrman was always thinking about his stomach.

“Let’s make it to Highway 2 and figure something out.” Big Boarder answered as he jumped back into his truck.

The convoy began again, this time with the Dodge Ram in the lead and Barrman bringing up the rear. They cruised for an hour and a half down the four-lane freeway until they merged onto US route 2. Big Boarder led the way. They began their trek to the east and he pulled off the highway and stopped at the bottom of a pullout on the side of the road.

The anxious travelers jumped out of their vehicles and gathered in the sun. 

“Why did you stop here?” Barrman asked Big Boarder as they stood together.

“I thought we decided to go for lunch soon so I stopped to see if we should go back into Everett and grab a bite or keep going.” He replied.

“Let’s keep going.” Both Natalya and Barrman answered in unison.

“Psssssst.” The sound of air rushing interrupted everyone. 

“What the? Oh man, I think I have a flat tire” Big Boarder looked skyward. “What else can go wrong?”

“I guess that decides it for us,” Nurse R looked at everyone and sighed. “Everett it is.”

“This spare hasn’t been used in seven years, I sure hope it has air in it.” Big Boarder bent down and began the process of changing his tire on the side of the road.

Two hours later the group was back on the highway. The tire shop couldn’t repair the tire as the rock Big Boarder drove over was very large. It was amazing that it even managed to pierce the rubber.

Back on Highway 2, the convoy of friends ventured up toward Stevens Pass. 

“Hey look at all the restaurants, too bad Big Boarder stopped where he did, just another ten minutes down the road and we would have had lots to choose from.” Barrman glanced at his wife.

“I bet he’s kicking himself for that one,” Kaydee replied.

The road was clear and the sun dropped in the rearview mirror as the three vehicles rounded the winding road up toward the top of the Cascade mountains. As the elevation climbed the temperature dropped and the road began to be covered with a layer of fresh snow and ice.

“Maybe it’s a good thing we stopped where we did. It looks like we may have been caught in a snowstorm if we’d have been on the road two hours ago.” Barrman said to his wife.

“Ya, I guess it’s a good thing we stopped.”

“Everything happens for a reason.” Barrman shrugged and continued to navigate the treacherous road conditions at the top of Stevens Pass.

Soon the group was descending the pass and back on clear roads. Before they knew it the sign for Highway 97 came into view. 

“Highway 97, hon. We’re on the home stretch.” Barrman felt a sense of relief as they turned north toward home.

An hour and a half later the three vehicles pulled up to the Canadian Border in Osoyoos.

“One more big step honey.” Barrman looked over at Kaydee. 

“I can’t wait to get home.”

The longest thirty minutes of the drive happened and Big Boarder made it through, then went Natalya. Finally, it was Barrman, Kaydee, and Mia’s turn.

“Welcome to Canada, where have you been?” The lady in a Canada Customs uniform stepped up to the window. 

Barrman handed over his documents and his phone, “just trying to get home from Vancouver.”

Seconds ticked away agonizingly slow as the lady took the documents and stood at her computer.

“Here you are, welcome home.” she handed back the documents.

“Aren’t you going to ask us for our vaccine passports?” Mia queried from the back seat.

“No, I’m sure you had to give them to the Americans when you crossed over.” She smiled and waved them on.

“Homeward bound!” Kaydee let out a sigh.

They pulled up to the bathrooms on Canadian soil and joined their friends.

“Woohoo! We made it. Only an hour and a half to go.” Natalya grinned widely and they all did a little happy dance.

The road passed rapidly beneath them as Barrman led the way for the last section of the journey.

Barrman parked in front of Natalya’s home and waited for her to turn in. Big Boarder and family drove by and honked in farewell. 

“Good night Natalya!” Shouted Barrman through his window as the group celebrated their safe arrival in West Kelowna

It was 9:30 pm and they were finally home. 

What else can 2021 give them? Fires, now floods. and the pandemic continues to hang over the world. 

As the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…