12:03 AM MST

I am huddled in the bathroom completing this post after a fairly uneventful day of driving through North Dakota and across the Canadian Border into Saskatchewan, Canada to the destination of the night at a Hampton Inn, in Saskatoon. Canada is just as adorable as I thought it would be. I have spent some brief time in Quebec since I lived so close to the border during my childhood days in Maine and some time across the border at Niagara Falls, but I have not spent any time in Canada as an adult.

The previous post shared my morning experience of preparing for the long day. I will say- each day, Jeanette, Nina and I are getting more and more efficient with preparing for the day, stopping for our breaks and then coming in for the evening. She and I have both been on MANY roadtrips solo, but this is the first time we have done so together and it is amazing how much easier it is to do a roadtrip with another experienced traveler. I have driven up and down the East Coast starting as young as 6 or 7 because of the divorce of my parents. However, I have never driven this far Northwest. It has been (knock on wood) smooth sailing and very minimal weather.

After the debacle of me leaving my passport in NC and then having it shipped to Minneapolis, MN where the three of us has to scoop it up, I was prepared for some difficulty crossing into Saskatchewan, Canada (which until this day, I did not know existed. I am very bad at geography but traveling has helped my Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego ‘ skills. Shout out to cousin Adam, in California who actually finds all this stuff interesting.) However, the Border Patrol were very kind. One of them has a wife who happens to be a Nurse Practitioner that did her residency at Moses Cone in Greensboro, NC last year. Shout out to all the nurses and the people who love them! I had a brief moment of shame and doubt when they asked if I had vaccine records of Nina.

Roadside viewings in Canada…

I am getting very sleepy, so I may not be able to write too much tonight. I will hopefully add more narrative later to the photo dump I am about to leave to y’all right now, so come back later to read more. Thanks for following along and sending all the love, well wishes and prayers you would like to provide. We love you so!

These are some various fast station pictures before we entered into Canada..

8:01 am MST 12.31.22

I am updating more that I forgot last night. We had very friendly border agents who included a female that nicely asked for rabies records and I gave her a deer in the headlights look. She had me pull into a parking spot and go inside to collect myself in which I met the next friendly Border Control agent, male this time, who kept asking me, what I thought were invasive questions about my job as I was frantically searching my email records to see if I had Nina’s vet records. What I realized after he asked some pointed questions like my specialty as an NP, is that his wife is also a Nurse Practitioner! She’s American and did her final residency at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, NC while they were married!! Small world and another God Shot that I am on the right path and reassurance. I did in fact have allll my vet records digitized and will be ready for when we head on the ferry in Skagway to Juneau.

The next stop was Stoughton, CA where I meet Jacoba (I did not know the spelling of her name for a very long time throughout our interaction, and laughed when I realized it was Jacob with an A since my twin is Jacob. This was another God Shot of reassurance that I am on the right journey.) She was very friendly and pumped our gas and her coworker helped give me some tips of Canadian gas and map purchases. Always good to be friendly to your service workers (I am talking to all my littles, nieces and nephews who might be reading this).

Jacoby!! We love you!!! Sorry your picture isn’t better! I was being sketch and took it before I asked permission.

I will stop writing now so we can load up the car and go. I have written more to my morning on the next post. Love you all so! #fullheartsfullcantgetlost