What an intense 48 hours it’s been! I really can’t believe that just two nights ago we were at anchor in Waupoos. Since then we’ve crossed the lake—with Oliver getting seasick along the way—almost got sent back to Toronto by the US Customs and Border Patrol (not even joking), got the mast down and secured to the deck and took the boys to the local maritime museum. And tomorrow morning, we start heading through the locks to make our way to NYC. (Just a warning that this is a long one.)

I’ll pick up where I think Brian left off—the dinghy seats. On Monday night, Grey Ghost—Tracy and Peter Nord—arrived in Waupoos on their way to the 1000 Islands and we had a joyful reunion with the seats (see pic above). Big thanks to them for the transport, as well as Matt, Craig, Armando and Nick who all helped to track the seats down and then get them to the Nords. It really does take a village to help the forgetful Hills. Or Hill. B. Hill…

Our lake crossing on Tuesday looked good, as long as we went early to get ahead of expected storms, so we were anchor up by 6 am. It was bittersweet to leave Canada and we were all feeling it, especially Oliver. He started the morning with a tummy ache, but with totally flat water and a 4 knot breeze I never even considered he would get sick. Mid-way through, the breeze came up and we decided to sail for the last stretch. Before we knew it, he was done for. We docked in Oswego at 11:15 am with a sick kid, about 20 minutes ahead of the first stormy, rainy blast.

So. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. This was when our day got interesting. We knew we needed to clear customs first thing, as well as get a cruising license for the boat. We usually clear through the Roam app, but a message came up stating that because of the closed border, we needed to contact the local office. Fine, no problem. We figured we’d have to go there anyway to get the cruising license. Brian called them before we even stepped off the boat and the officer said they would come to us.

We knew that crossing the border right now would likely result in some additional discussion with the border agents. US citizens are still allowed to cross the border back into the US and we haven’t had any trouble at land borders in our Canadian-registered car. But four Americans in our Canadian-registered boat? This was apparently no dice. When the two officers showed up, they informed us that we would have to go back to Toronto immediately. (Cue my heart dropping through the cockpit floor.) The border was closed to pleasure craft, regardless of whether we were American or not. If we wanted to come into the US, we would need to wait until the border rules changed (possibly Aug. 21 but who knows?) or get the boat registered in the US (which would mean importing it and paying taxes on it and never taking it back to Canada, most likely). But even if we did that, we would still have to go back to Toronto while we did it.

I don’t know if I can even properly convey how dramatic this felt in the moment. My mind started racing, trying to figure out what we were going to do. It was starting to storm, we had a seasick kid and we were being told we needed to leave and head back across the lake. A direct shot to Toronto would take about 20 hours.

After (gently) pleading our case—explaining that we were living on our boat, didn’t have a home to go back to in Toronto—one of the officers said he thought maybe we’d be able to clear into the US if we went to the office in Alexandria Bay. I started calculating that in my mind. Not ideal, but better than being sent back. It would require a 12-14 hour trip up through the 1000 Islands to get there, clear in and then come back to enter the canals.

He called the office there and after an agonizingly long phone call, the supervisor he spoke with said that we should call and speak with him directly and he would see if we could help us over the phone. No promises, but he would try. And amazingly, that’s exactly what happened. But only after another painfully long phone call, where I tried to decipher from Brian’s facial expressions whether it was going well. And all of this happening from the cockpit of our boat, in a rainstorm, with two border patrol officers standing at our lifelines.

In the end, the supervisor issued our cruising license remotely, allowing our boat to stay in the US until February 2022 and even faxed it to us here at the marina office. And then cleared the four of us into the US. The elation that we felt when this was all done—after about 1.5 hours—was amazing! We did it! So many hurdles over the last couple months and we made it over this huge, final one. We were free to be back home in the US again!

As soon as the officers left, though, we remembered the next hurdle: taking down the mast. This is something Brian has been stressing about for at least the last six months, probably longer. We take it down and put it up almost every year for winter storage. But the guys at the yacht club’s Marine Services who do it are such pros and so smooth, that we never really worry about it. Plus, this time, we’d be lashing it down to our deck for the trip through the locks, something we’d obviously never done before.

So with a spot booked for mast takedown at 9:30 the next morning, we had a lot of work to do in about five hours—getting both sails down, all the lines off, the electronics disconnected and our mast cradle set up. We crashed into bed late and were up early, but in the end we needn’t have worried. The people here at the Oswego Marina — Bernie, Tammy and Steve — are complete pros and it couldn’t have gone any more smoothly. They went above and beyond to help us get it done properly. By 1 pm, it was all wrapped up and securely attached to the deck. Just in time to actually pay attention to our kids again. (Big shoutout to them for being absolute rockstars yesterday and today, while mom and dad ran around doing boat work.)

We ended the day with a visit to the very cool H. Lee White Maritime Museum. It features, along with some other great exhibits, a tug boat from WWII that took part in D-Day. The boys have become obsessed with all things military and are especially interested in WWII. It was exciting for us to be able to spend that time with them and see how interested and enthusiastic they were. Especially since that’s why we’re doing this trip in the first place!

Today truly felt like the first day of this adventure together. And I am genuinely enthusiastic to start going through the locks tomorrow and seeing some new sights along the way. I’m also looking forward to slowing down a little and not moving through every day checking things off the endless to-do list. I know things will continue to pop up and our travels won’t always go smoothly, but right now I’m just thrilled that we’ve made it back to the US and we’re truly on our way.