Infamous honeymoon story
As promised, here is the infamous honeymoon story. I had always wanted to see the northeast in the fall. Had heard stories of how beautiful the fall colors are in October. So, Mike and I had already planned to camp on our honeymoon and planned our trip to Vermont via Niagara Falls. We took back roads through the states heading north. Saw some beautiful country especially in Pennsylvania. Also saw very interesting homes (John Adams and John Quincy Adams homes in Pa. Quaint towns and Ammish settlements. Very interesting trip.
On the back roads in Pa. on a late afternoon, about 5 miles outside of a small town, our car decided to quit on us. Mike wanted us to hike back into town. I decided to stay with the car as we had all our camping equipment on the top and I was concerned it would not be there if left unattended. He headed back into town, found a garage about to close. The owner graciously offered to stay open and assisted in getting us towed back to his shop. He and his wife invited us to stay with them for the night. He was a very interesting man and his son was a stock car driver (this helped to break the ice when he found out we lived close to Talladega - Pell City at that time). We got the car fixed and headed back on the road.
Things went well until we got into up state New York. The plan was to cross the border at Niagara, New York and go up the Canadian border and cross back into the states in Vermont. The night before getting to Niagara, we camped in a very primitive campground (no facilities at all). It was raining when we set up camp so we got drenched. The next day we were going to cross the border, look for a campground and clean up. Now keep in mind we were driving a black jeep, loaded to the hilt with camping equipment, suitcases, ice chest, etc. Mike at that time had hair almost to his waist, mine was also pretty long. We had not showered for over 24 hours.
We got to the border and there was a HUGE sign stating that all firearms, liqueur, ect. needed to be declared. We didn't have any booze, but we did have a handgun (and unknown to me there were 3 in the jeep - one of them was mine). I asked Mike if he was going to say anything to them about the gun. He said no because we would be camping in some pretty rough country over the next few days. The lady at the border crossing was nice. As we started to pull off, she stopped us and asked if we would pull over at the patrol building. We did and about 4 patrolmen came out and around the car. We were asked to step out, they searched the car and found the 3 handguns. We had been asked to step into the building while they searched. I noticed a picture of Queen Elizabeth on the wall and said to Mike, "Look, they have a picture of the Queen of England." The border patrol very high and mighty said, "She is the Queen of Canada." Before I could stop myself I said, "I wonder if she knows she is not the Queen of England any more?" That did not go over too well.
We were taken to the police station in Niagara, Canada and finger printed and booked on charges of possession of illegal weapons and attempting to smuggle weapons into Canada. There was a very nice and understanding Sgt. on duty that night. We spoke to him and after paying bail we left the station and walked back to the border (about 2 miles). When we got there we found it was going to take $1500 to get the jeep out of hock to the border patrol. We had just spent out last cent getting out of jail. We walked back across the border into New York and found a phone on a street corner. By now it was getting dark and raining and about 36 degrees. I called our youngest daughter who at the time worked for a multi-millionaire. I asked her to call her boss (who was also a friend) and asked to borrow the money we needed to get out of there. We had the money in the bank but, keep in mind this was a weekend and no way to get to that money. She said she would see what she could do and call me back. I told her I would call her as it didn't appear to be very safe where we were. We had to walk about 5 miles before we found a store open that had a Western Union. I called Teri back and she said, "Muz wants you to call her." I could have died, I said, "You called my mother?" I called Mom who got a big charge out of all of this, but she did send us the money to get the jeep out of hock and finish our trip. We walked back to Canada, paid for the jeep, found a motel to stay for the night. The border patrol had dumped our clothes out into the back of the jeep and then soaked them with the water in the ice chest.
We left Canada the next morning. We are fugitives because we didn't show up for court Monday morning. This was done on the unspoken advice of the Sgt. We never did get the guns back. I wanted to come home after that but Mike insisted we complete our trip to Vermont. We did go to Stowe, Vermont (where the Von Trapp home is -the Sound of Music family for those who don't know). The night we got to Stowe, the tie rod on the car broke. Some kind soul found us stranded on the side of the road and towed us to the local garage.
Mom told me that my life with Mike would be an adventure and she was glad she was just the Mother-in-law. She was right it has most definitely been an adventure (some I wish I had not experienced and some I wouldn't have missed for anything ). But, that's life in and of itself, is it not?
On the back roads in Pa. on a late afternoon, about 5 miles outside of a small town, our car decided to quit on us. Mike wanted us to hike back into town. I decided to stay with the car as we had all our camping equipment on the top and I was concerned it would not be there if left unattended. He headed back into town, found a garage about to close. The owner graciously offered to stay open and assisted in getting us towed back to his shop. He and his wife invited us to stay with them for the night. He was a very interesting man and his son was a stock car driver (this helped to break the ice when he found out we lived close to Talladega - Pell City at that time). We got the car fixed and headed back on the road.
Things went well until we got into up state New York. The plan was to cross the border at Niagara, New York and go up the Canadian border and cross back into the states in Vermont. The night before getting to Niagara, we camped in a very primitive campground (no facilities at all). It was raining when we set up camp so we got drenched. The next day we were going to cross the border, look for a campground and clean up. Now keep in mind we were driving a black jeep, loaded to the hilt with camping equipment, suitcases, ice chest, etc. Mike at that time had hair almost to his waist, mine was also pretty long. We had not showered for over 24 hours.
We got to the border and there was a HUGE sign stating that all firearms, liqueur, ect. needed to be declared. We didn't have any booze, but we did have a handgun (and unknown to me there were 3 in the jeep - one of them was mine). I asked Mike if he was going to say anything to them about the gun. He said no because we would be camping in some pretty rough country over the next few days. The lady at the border crossing was nice. As we started to pull off, she stopped us and asked if we would pull over at the patrol building. We did and about 4 patrolmen came out and around the car. We were asked to step out, they searched the car and found the 3 handguns. We had been asked to step into the building while they searched. I noticed a picture of Queen Elizabeth on the wall and said to Mike, "Look, they have a picture of the Queen of England." The border patrol very high and mighty said, "She is the Queen of Canada." Before I could stop myself I said, "I wonder if she knows she is not the Queen of England any more?" That did not go over too well.
We were taken to the police station in Niagara, Canada and finger printed and booked on charges of possession of illegal weapons and attempting to smuggle weapons into Canada. There was a very nice and understanding Sgt. on duty that night. We spoke to him and after paying bail we left the station and walked back to the border (about 2 miles). When we got there we found it was going to take $1500 to get the jeep out of hock to the border patrol. We had just spent out last cent getting out of jail. We walked back across the border into New York and found a phone on a street corner. By now it was getting dark and raining and about 36 degrees. I called our youngest daughter who at the time worked for a multi-millionaire. I asked her to call her boss (who was also a friend) and asked to borrow the money we needed to get out of there. We had the money in the bank but, keep in mind this was a weekend and no way to get to that money. She said she would see what she could do and call me back. I told her I would call her as it didn't appear to be very safe where we were. We had to walk about 5 miles before we found a store open that had a Western Union. I called Teri back and she said, "Muz wants you to call her." I could have died, I said, "You called my mother?" I called Mom who got a big charge out of all of this, but she did send us the money to get the jeep out of hock and finish our trip. We walked back to Canada, paid for the jeep, found a motel to stay for the night. The border patrol had dumped our clothes out into the back of the jeep and then soaked them with the water in the ice chest.
We left Canada the next morning. We are fugitives because we didn't show up for court Monday morning. This was done on the unspoken advice of the Sgt. We never did get the guns back. I wanted to come home after that but Mike insisted we complete our trip to Vermont. We did go to Stowe, Vermont (where the Von Trapp home is -the Sound of Music family for those who don't know). The night we got to Stowe, the tie rod on the car broke. Some kind soul found us stranded on the side of the road and towed us to the local garage.
Mom told me that my life with Mike would be an adventure and she was glad she was just the Mother-in-law. She was right it has most definitely been an adventure (some I wish I had not experienced and some I wouldn't have missed for anything ). But, that's life in and of itself, is it not?
I told Mike my two new favorite songs were: Weekend in Canada and Smuggler's Blues.
posted by Three C Farm at
11:29 PM
2 Comments:
And you're still married? What an adventure.
I appreciate that very much, Greg but I really expected you to aide and abet.
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