"With Glowing Hearts..."

We pull up to the Canadian border guard and roll down the window.

“Where are you coming from?”

“Oregon.”

“How long were you in the States?”

“36 hours.”

“Do you have anything to declare?”

“Yup. The big Silver Sausage behind me.”

The border guard pauses and takes off his sunglasses, then with a sparkle in his eyes and a ring in his voice asks “Is that an Airstream?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

“What year is that?”

“2008”

It seems that my answer was the trigger that allowed the excited little boy to be released from within this big scary border guards body, as he unleashed a quickly spoken tirade about his own desires to own a Silver Sausage. “Really? A 2008?!! I didn’t know they were still making them. Why, it was just last week I went to look at an older one, but it needed sooooo much work and I just don’t know if I have the time to restore it. Wow! They still make them. Cool! I love Airstreams!” Once he calmed down, two thoughts came to mind.... 1)It is gonna be a whole lotta fun to be an Airstream owner, and 2) I should have stashed a few bottles of Scotch in the trailer, cause this guy probably would turn a blind (albeit Silver) eye to it.

“I imagine I’ve some paperwork to attend to, so if you have a break coming I’ll happily give you a tour of the Airstream.”

“I’d like to, but I just took a break...thanks for offering, though. Pull in to lane #2, take your bill of sale inside. And enjoy your Airstream.”

“Thanks, I will.”  As I pull away and maneuver over to lane #2 I can’t help but smile; I haven’t gone camping yet and already I’m loving this.

I park in lane #2 and walk inside to fill out the necessary forms. 

“Hello Sir, can I see the paperwor......oh...an Airstream? I loooove Airstreams!” The girl behind the counter must be married the guy in the booth I just met, this getting a bit ridiculous. I decide to humour her, “Yup, it’s an Airstream. Do you need to do an inspection?” “Um, no Sir, not really.” I sense some disappointment in her demeanor. “Are you sure? I thought all new vehicles coming into Canada need an “inspection” before continuing their journey.” As I say the word “inspection”, I do the little two finger quote gesture to her and include a wink. She understood. “Ahhh, you are correct Sir. In fact I DO have to come and inspect the Airstream *cough* I mean, trailer. Let me just grab my clip board to make this look official.” We head out to the Airstream where she does the quick walk around. She doesn’t want to impose but mentions how she’s “always wanted to see inside of one of these”, so I unlock the door and she enters...and falls in love with my trailer. After a brief discussion and a couple laughs, we head back to the office to finish the paperwork. Just as I’m about to open the door to leave I hear this voice....

”Um, Sir?”, she says softly.

“Yes?” I reply.

“Thank you for the “inspection””.

“You’re welcome”

She’ll own one of these one day, I’m sure of this.