Date:         Sun, 28 Jan 2001 10:47:41 -0800
Reply-To:     pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Subject:      Battle Stations....Prepare to repel "boarders"
Content-type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

"Boarders" indeed.

David...

You HAD to ask.

The bleedin canucks of course.  They got nothing to do.  On a moto trip up
to Vancouver and across to Moose Jaw and down I was searched and the BMW
R100RS was virtually disassembled looking for ??.  Sez them, we check every
so often as a matter of course... you're it.  My friends, also on BMWs just
pottled around for the two hours it took to ensure I wasn't smuggling any
nuclear devices, IR sensing antiaircraft hand helds, 27" televisions, TDI
Motors, or contraband toilets in my R100RS.  Now dave, how much can one hide
on a moto?  Secret stashes?  the leetle compartment under the seat?  In the
headlight shell? in the taillight?, under the battery? in the gas tank? in
the aircleaner?  They checked em all.  Found nothing but contraband
motorcycle parts like headlights, taillights, battery boxes, gasoline.
Seemed to amuse the ninnies.  These folks are REALLY on the dole.  No wonder
the jobless rate is so high in BC.

And they presume someone would escape TO the great white mosquito and
blackfly-ridden north so they make sure you have sufficient assets to cover
your asset (in my case a Corbin ass-set on the moto) so you won't hawg in on
their part of the dole...

grumble grumble.

THEN we had four fine days motoring around in the fine Canadian Rain.  Truly
joyful on a moto.  I blame the customs critters for the weather too...kinda
sour grapes for not finding a contraband toilet or something..  Thank
heavens for Roger at MotoSpeziale in Alberta for showing the true Canadian
Color and working on a Sunday to fix a new-fangled electronical ignition
system on one of the motos that had taken leave of its Ebers and Moll
constraints and left "Peach" with a dead horse.

In contrast, coming back from Mexico in a vanagon packed with campy and
camping gear including tons of schlocky souvenir pots and dewdads, US dude
says to the scruffly desert dirty driver (me) "can I see your drivers
license"  yeppo.  "anything to declare?"  ..."I have an open liter of fine
Herradura Anejo and two other liters of liquor and some souvenirs (limit is
one).  "thanks, have a good trip"...I coulda been smuggling my R100RS AND
all the swill the canucks seemed to be concerned about and I coulda stolen
the drivers license AND the syncro..."thanks, have a good trip"  gotta love
'em.  Didn't see the Federales checking out the line goin the other way to
see if there was any illegal immigrants heading south to work as braceros in
Mexico but that's another story.

pensioner

(ruffled grouch)