Impossibly long

It’s my last morning with Megan. First up is sending some stuff back to the U.K. We head to Rainier to piggy back on the Cantilever’s WiFi. Once done, we head back across the level crossing to the post office.

We’re just in time. As we clear the level crossing lights begin to flash and bells to ring. Getting stuck in the wrong side of a train is no five minute inconvenience here. These trains are looooooong. Endless wagons of timber, liquids, and who knows what screeching slowly on their way to the American hinterland.

The Rainier post office can’t help - some technical problem - so we go to International Falls. The guy is really helpful - taking Megan’s two parcels into one, to save a few bucks. I also get a stamp celebrating Ursula le Guin as a souvenir.

Practical task accomplished, we go to Thunderbird Lodge for a coffee and a walk. It’s a nice day, but getting grey. I drop Megan back at the camp - I’ll be seeing her next in Essen at the end of the month.

This afternoon, I head across the bridge into Port Frances, Canada (extra). Immigration is easy, but when I ask for recommendations for somewhere to eat, they say I should have eaten before I came across.

They’re wrong. I get a good lunch at Flint House - a great grilled vegetable sandwich with side salad (extra), followed by a mediocre lemon meringue pot. And a can of Nautilus beer to wash it down.

I wander around the town in the drizzle. There’s a disappointing museum, plenty of discount shops, closed and boarded up stores (extra), cheap takeaway restaurants. Is anything this side of the border seems more run down than the other.

I spot a lake in Google maps and to walk to it. Under railway bridges and past low density residential sprawl and an electricity substation, until I get to the appointed place. It’s surrounded by fencing - a reservoir of some kind, so I retraced my steps.

Getting back into the US is harder than I expected. The border guard at Nashville didn’t stamp my passport, apparently, and this confuses them despite my entry to the US showing up without error on their computer.

Once they decide how to proceed, they make me go through the normal immigration procedure of mugshot and fingerprints. No Global Entry privileges here. I don’t complain - I’m just relieved to get back to my motel.