Birtchdale, MN on the Rainy River – June 18, 2012
The park was empty until the border patrol truck rolled to a stop in gravel fifteen feet from me as I packed equipment into my kayak.
“You headed to Rainy Lake?” the officer asked.
His eyes went from me to the boat and back again.
“Yea,” I said.
The Rainy River goes right down the border, so I’d been paddling along his line all day. Even if you don’t see it on a map, you’d know the border was there by the maple leafs and stars and stripes hanging from flagpoles outside every house on the river.
“Where are you from?” he asked.
“Florida,” I said.
I could see him looking at the boat and me trying to decide what to do about me. It feels like a low-level grudge match is going on across the border over minor slights like which fish you can catch and what bait to use. No one is going to war over a few walleye, but a bit of harassment is just payback for some perceived injustice from the other side.
“I’m hoping to get back to Florida before winter so I don’t freeze solid,” I said.
He laughed.
“I used to be stationed in New Mexico, so I got spoiled too,” he said.
“You ever been to Hachita?” I asked.
“Yea,” he said. “I worked out of Demming.”
“You ever heard of the Continental Divide Trail?” I said. “I was down there hiking that three years ago.”
He laughed.
“Oh yea,” he said.
“You all stopped me three times between Crazy Cook and Lordsberg,” I said, grinning at him.
He laughed again, shook his head, and waved me back to my boat.
“Have a good one,” he said.
Yeah, it’s always good to find something in common…puts things in perspective.
You handled that well! Hope future encounters go as well, especially with the four legged kind.
I see you have all that beard coming back already 🙂
Well played, sir!