Thursday, July 12, 2018 - 1st Day of the drive home – Alaska & Yukon
We dropped Steve at the airport at 5:00 AM, then kill a ½ day in Anchorage shipping the revolvers back home, returning the satellite phone, and hitting a few souvenir shops. A highlight was “Alaska Fur Exchange” where we talked to the owner a good hour about wilderness pike fishing and also the legendary Simon Kenton and Tecumseh; this was ironic as Steve had been telling stories about both of these famous historical figures during one of our long paddling days.
We then started the 4,400 mile drive back home. As we were coming through in good weather this time, we took some nice photos of the Matanuska Glacier.
We stopped at ½ dozen streams on the way out of Alaska hoping to see some salmon, but we never did find any so we did not stop to fish. We ordered another pizza at Fast Eddy’s it Tok, AK. It was good, but it was no Moose’s Tooth!
The most memorable event of the day was crossing the border from Alaska into Canada at 12:30 AM in the morning at Beaver Creek. When we pulled up to the window, the border agent starts off with “what’s your license plate number because I can’t read your plate”. I rattle off the number from memory, and the agent asks if I’m sure because if I’m wrong it’s not going to be good for me. I politely tell the agent that I’m absolutely sure about my license plate number.
He then asks the usual stuff about alcohol and firearms. I provide the necessary Canadian form for the shotgun. He next asks about ammunition. I answer that I’ve got three boxes of ammunition; one box is 12ga shells for the shotgun, and two boxes are pistol ammunition for the handguns that I shipped to and from Alaska. Our agent hears the word “handgun” and immediately thinks we are trying to smuggle a pair of undeclared pistols through Canada. I’m ready for this and give him copies of the emails I have from Alaska Custom Firearms instructing me on proper procedure for drop off and pick-up of the pistols. The agent gets visibly upset and has us park and come into the customs office where he really starts to question me and the boys.
Since my paperwork was three weeks old, the agent said that I provided falsified documents and that this is a major problem. Being as polite as possible, I advise the agent that all arrangements were made before we left Ohio three weeks ago. I again advised the agent that the pistols were left with Alaska Custom Firearms for shipment back to Ohio. The agent then demands to see the paperwork proving that the pistols were shipped. I advise the agent that we were not provided with any paperwork for the return shipment. The agent informs me that this is “BS” as he has been working this crossing for three years and Americans are always given paperwork proving that the firearms were shipped.
The customs agent had the boys and I each empty our pockets and then proceeded to search us for weapons. I am pretty good at being non-confrontational and accommodating to law enforcement, but this guy was really trying his best to get me to admit to something we did not do. The agent was putting on his coat and heading for the door while saying, “I’m going to tear that vehicle apart from top to bottom and I will find what I’m looking for”. I took a last ditch effort and asked the agent, “What if I can show you a FEDEX tracking number on my iPhone showing the shipment originating from the gun shop with the destination address being my home in Ohio”? This was a calculated long-shot because I had no idea if the shop had even yet packaged the shipment, sent an email confirmation, or if there was Wi-Fi available such that I could even access my email account. Fortunately for everyone, there was Wi-Fi at the border crossing and after downloading my email I did find one from FEDEX showing a tracking number. After seeing this email, the agent gave us another lecture about how it is his responsibility to protect the citizens of Canada and how we must be better prepared when crossing the border….. then let us go on our way.