... took me through Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York State, Ontario and Michigan.
The driving was pleasant and I took plenty of time to accomplish it. The trip was mostly effortless and the car got good gas mileage.
The trip was interrupted by the border crossing with Canada. Traveling from New York State into Ontario, there was no effort. I had my passport and answered any questions honestly and I was on my way to a 'gas saving' route to northern tip of Lower Michigan.
When I got to the border where I had to cross into the USA, it, was, a, nightmare.
The first reality there was something grossly "W"rong was when I nearly crashed into a tractor-trailer stopped in the slow lane on Ontario Route 402. You know how it is when you come up on a stopped vehicle on an interstate highway, well, there I was with a truck next to me in the fast lane when all of a sudden there was a new reality in front of me. Bouy, I slammed on the brakes, held the car in the slow lane and as soon as the truck was by me I veered into the fast lane and missed crunching myself into the rear end of a stopped truck.
That was not the most amazing part. When I got past the stopped truck there were more of them as far as the eye could see. This was about 2 AM on July 28, 2007.
The line of stopped, idling 'Semis' went for nearly 10 miles. The truck in front of me was a puzzle and all I could think was he was some kind of Maverick in the face of a 'teamster strike' or something. I never in my wildest imagination thought all those trucks were waiting to cross the border into the USA.
When I finally reached the border crossing where Ontario 402 converts into USA Interstate 69 there was a considerable line of cars waiting as well. The wait was nearly an hour and there was definately a separate set of booths for the trucks which was nearly at a standstill. I could count the number of trucks I actually saw cross the border into the USA on two hands, it was not over ten during that hour. Evidently, if a truck driver is bold or has a 'speed' pass specially paid for they could cross the border in a short period of time, because the Semi in front of me through that ten miles slipped to the front of the line when the toll booths were reached. The cars were maybe about twenty-five. When I got to the booth I simply asked the attendant, "...ah, like, what gives?" He looked at me as if I should know and stated, "I guess there aren't that many attendants on." I asked one more question, I guess he was supposed to be the person to ask all the questions, "...ah, so, is this like status quo when one crosses into the USA for trucks?" He stated, "Most of the time."
To keep from repeating myself. I made the return trip on the same route and had the same experience with a good deal of resistance crossing into the USA and nearly none crossing into Canada.
With that he ran my passport through some kind of scanner and I crossed the bridge to complete my trek to The Bayshore Resort where I would stay for the entire length of The Traverse City Film Festival.
