We were up way too early this morning after a very long day yesterday.  We got to bed around midnight and woke up at 6:15am.  We needed to be on the road to Saint John, New Brunswick by 7am…and we were.  I ran across the street to Dunkin Donuts and picked up a dozen along with a very large cup of coffee.

We hit some traffic around Lowell, just outside of Boston.  Once we made it through that mess, we were on our way to Canada.  Hours and hours of driving through “wilderness” and we crossed the border into Maine. The first thing we saw was a sign that said, “Watch for moose on the roadway.”  We stopped at a McDonald’s somewhere around Brunswick, ME where the lady behind the counter reminded us, “You will probably see bears.  They’ll run from you but do NOT confront the moose!”  No worries, we won’t! Here’s one of many signs that lined the interstate.

We stopped just outside of Bangor to top of the diesel tanks before making the drive through eastern Maine – the “outback” as the station attendant referred to it.  Highway 9 East is beautiful but there’s nothing out there.  As we pulled in Calais nearing the U.S./Canadian border, the sky was beautiful.  Cindy was clicking pictures as fast as she could.  This is a view from the Mill Street Bridge as we approached U.S. Customs.

I ran inside the U.S. Customs Office to present my paperwork.  I needed to get my Certificate of Registration – the document that details exactly what equipment we are bringing into Canada.  Without this piece of paper, coming back into the States can be a real problem!  Once that paperwork was stamped, we drove across the bridge to Canadian Customs.

From here, it was really easy.  A.E. Horne & Sons brokered our stuff into Canada.  All I had to do was mention their name and I was escorted to an off-site warehouse.  The paperwork was waiting.  I presented our passports for immigration and we were on our way.  At the border, we also entered a new time zone – Atlantic Time – and lost an hour!

We arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick around 7:30pm, checked into our hotel, had room service deliver up some food, and are now officially “crashing” for the night!  Tomorrow, we’ll be performing at the beautiful Imperial Theatre in downtown Saint John!