Adventures with Yogi and Boone

 

June 13th - Oh, Canada!  And....Oh, Spectrum. 

Big day - we made it! Crossed the border from the USA into Canada and lived to tell the tale.  Honestly, it all went pretty smoothly. The border officers were super friendly. They did ask us to pull the van into the inspection bay, which sounds a little dramatic, But really they just wanted to ask us a few questions-mostly about guns, weapons, and the general mayhem we weren't planning to bring into their country. 

We told them nope, no guns, and aside from two cans of bear spray and our trusty guard dog Boone (whose protective instincts are mostly triggered by squirrels and sandwich rustling), we were pretty harmless.  That actually got a laugh, and just like that, we were in!

Cue the celebration...and the immediate realization that we had no internet.

Apparently, crossing the border also means crossing into the dark ages of navigation-because who uses paper maps anymore? Oh right, we do now.

We pulled over, called Spectrum (blissfully still had service for that hot minute), and upgraded to their international plan - unlimited internet, voice, text, the works! Ten bucks a month?  Yes, please. We were ready to conquer Canada.

We hit the road again, full of confidence...and the nothing. Phones dead. Internet gone. Maps? Nope. GPS? Nope.

So we did what any seasoned travelers would do-we pulled out the good ol' paper Atlas, like it was 1992 again, and navigated to the next town.  There, we finally found some WiFi, called Spectrum again, and spent the next 2.5 hours on the phone. After several holds, transfers, and a few existential sighs, they finally cracked the case:

"Oh yeah, you needed to activate the plan before you left the U.S."

Spoiler: We didn't. So now, Spectrum is pretty much a brick north of the border. We grabbed an eSIM card for internet (hallelujah, maps again!) but it doesn't allow phone calls or texts.  Ahh this point, we are officially an internet-only operation.

Luckily, we've still got Starlink, so once we're settled in with a clear sky above, we can fire up the satellite, reconnect with the world, and update the blog.  For now, we're just living that analog life-powered by paper maps, bear spray, and cheered on by Boone.

Canada, we're here.  Slightly disconnected, but here!

Boone says:  "I told them we didn't need phones - I can sniff our WiFi. Also, I may have barked at a moose. Zero regrets"