Beating the US Border Lines on a Bike

My wife and I were in White Rock Saturday morning, about three miles
from the main US border crossing. Waiting for us on the other side
was one of the nephew's presents, at a "convenient" mail drop business
in Blaine, Washington. Since the US dollar's dropped, and the Canadian
hasn't, the lineups have been crazy, up to three hours each way this
past Black Friday.

So I loaded my bike on the rack. After the meeting I dropped my wife
at a cozy cafe on the boardwalk, biked about two miles to the border
crossing, where I was able to zip past 15-car lineups heading south.
After the 20-minute wait in immigration, I was only behind by about
20 minutes now.

The line back to Canada was longer, about 20 cars in each line. The
woman at customs said since the Black Friday horror stories the lines
have dropped down to where it was six years ago, when the Canadian dollar
was worth about 60 cents Canadian.

At least it was a sunny day, good for cycling.