Some background context is in order here. In 2018, I went bear hunting. There was a group in camp that week from the Missouri/Kansa area. They were a good group and I was in the fishing boat with them various times through the week. Shortly after getting home, Mark asked me if I wanted to join them in 2020 - with enough people, they could take over camp and were looking for another person or two. Just when I'm sure that I'm one of the biggest jack-wads in the world, I get a nudge that maybe I'm not the worst? I won't let it got to my head.
But I had already scheduled another bear hunt for 2019. The intangible pull north is impossible to neglect - toward wild places and good people. And bear hunting for three years in a row seemed excessive; regretfully I had to turn Mark's offer down.
2020 came and ... well ... Mark's bear hunt did not happen.
July 19, 2021 Canada announced the border would open to "non-essential" travel on August 9. Of course bear-hunting was quite essential all along. I emailed Vance - Any chance bear hunting can still happen this year? No. Too many people in the queue. I understood and was almost relieved since the border crossing would not be trivial. But within a few days I got an email from Mark - one of their crew had dropped out since he didn't want to be vaccinated. Did I want to join them? I did! They were to be the fist group in camp after 18 months without any bear hunting. I really did! I was shocked he still remembered me after three years.
The Canadian Border Guards threatened to strike. Clearly this was a moment where labor had a full house to the government's pair of 3's. On the weekend before the border was to open, the border guards began "work to rule" - essentially following the letter of the law at whatever pace they wanted. Lines at the border grew to miles and wait times were over 12 hours in some places. A labor agreement was quickly reached. The border opened August 9. Wait times on that first day were long, as United States residents seemed eager to head north, but this was short lived and after that first day, border delays became minimal.
As the time to leave approached, I didn't let myself get excited. While not unreasonable, the extra steps to get into Canada were not insignificant. With Delta variant spreading and vaccination rates stubbornly low in the US, I wasn't sure the border wasn't going to close again. The most difficult step was getting a PCR COVID test within 72 hours of crossing the border. I got one a few days before as a disaster check, then another on Thursday. I wasn't sure when I would get those results, so Thursday afternoon I got yet another PCR test (getting results of my first one around that same time). All results were negative, so I didn't end up in a sticky situation. The clock was ticking on my 72 hours, but it was finally time to get excited.
I took Friday off from work and after a ritual morning dog walk, I packed and then finished mowing a yard which was still very soggy from Thursday's torrential rain. A little after 1:00, I was on the road headed west. I stayed on 2-lane roads all the way to Indianapolis since there was a really slow construction zone on I-74. I don't know that this was faster, but it was less frustrating. Getting around Indy was... Then it was a slog west to El Paso (not Texas). The text messages from the other hunters were going like crazy; it was hard not to look at them a few times. The hotel was OK, a little grungy, but tolerable. Dinner was an Annie Chun's noodle bowl and a couple zebra cakes.
There was a lot of loose ends to tie up over the last few days, but it is starting to get real now.
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