The trip to North Dakota was a success. I made it there and made it back, and so did Truck and Elmo. Elmo was quite restless on the way there. It was hot and he was insistant upon sitting in the passenger seat beside me instead of in the back. Once we crossed the border he settled down and went to sleep in the back. I got to Grand Forks at around 7:30. I was supposed to meet my parents at the race track where we were camping for the night. I took the right exit but I went west when I should have gone east; I didn't do too badly though for just working from memory. The races were a bit dissapointing that night. The late model and the sprint features both had cautions on the last lap so they ran the last two laps over again which took away some of the excitement.
The next day my mom and I headed out at 9 to Fargo and arrived at the mall at 10. I knew exactly which stores I wanted to hit. Unfortunately it was not a good weekend for sales. The semi-annual Bath & Bodyworks sale didn't start until yesterday. I was about to say that I didn't get any shoes this time but I did get a new pair of slippers, so that sort of counts. I visited Abercrombie & Fitch three times while trying to decided what I wanted there. My experience there however was not great, so I sent them a complaint. You may be discovering that I am a big complainer. Not in a bad way (I like to think!). I believe that customer feedback is very important and sometimes the company will do nice things for you if you complain. I think I will post my complaint letter and the response in the next following post.
On Saturday night we stayed at the East Grand Forks campground. It's a lovely place with an interesting history. It used to be a pretty little neighbourhood with big trees situated on the Red River. However, after the flood of '97 the homes there were destroyed. The state decided to clear the houses, fill in the basements, and add gravel pads for camping. The original street grids and back lanes are still there, including the flat sections of the curbs where driveways used to be. I always try to imagine houses there instead of the trailers, motorhomes and tents.
Sunday was home time. Because I crossed the border late, I technically needed to stay until 5pm to get my full 48 hours in. My parents were free to leave by 1:30. My mom offered to stay with me for the afternoon and do more shopping in Grand Forks. My dad was okay with driving home with just Elmo. He ended up having quite the adventure with the furry little goofball.
My mom and I made it across the border without incident. We were quite a bit under our limit anyway. When we got home my dad told us about the incident he had with Elmo.
Dad stopped at the rest stop before the border for a stretch and bathroom break. He chatted with some bikers and then came back to the motorhome to let Elmo out for his turn. Elmo saw Dad coming and got very excited. He ran to the side door. Dad went to open it and found it locked. There are only two doors in this type of motorhome. One on the side and on on the driver's side. The driver's side door is rarely used and so is usually locked, as was the case this time. Dad had left through the side door and left it unlocked, but Elmo, in his excitement had hit the lock switch with his paw, thus locking Dad out. Dad's keys, cell phone and wallet were all inside so he had no way of phoning us or anyone else! The passenger side screen window was open luckily. He was able to push the screen out but the window was too high for him to climb through (of course as soon as he pushed the window out, Elmo wanted to jump out!). He looked around and found a trucker parked nearby. He approached him and asked, "Can you help me, my dog has locked me out of my motorhome." The trucker obliged and gave dad a boost through the window. Dad scraped his elbow up and was not too pleased with Elmo once he was back inside. They have a bit of an odd couple relationship and this incident did not help!
Golf: Nothing to report because it was cancelled last night due to the storm! Hopefully next week will work out.
Work? Maybe I'll save that for next week...
3 comments:
"Can you help me, my dog has locked me out of my motorhome." That's an amazing quote!
So did they hassle you a lot about taking a dog over the border? I thought you had to have vaccines and maybe even quarantine animals...
We've never had a problem with taking Elmo across. They tell you to bring their papers showing that they have all their shots but we have never been asked for them. One of the girls I went to Minneapolis with lived in New York for a bit and acquired a dog while down there. When she drove back to Canada all she had to do was pay duty on him! I find it funny that you have to pay the usual 14% duty on an animal the same way you'd pay it on a pair of shoes.
Weird.... what if the dog's free? :)
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