It's like talking to a 2-year-old ... but why, but why, but Why?

Today we travelled back from Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona, which is about a 4-hr drive.

Immigration and Border Patrol

As Canadians, we compared the border crossing to what we're used to at the Niagara Falls Canada/United States border.

When we crossed into Mexico a week ago, we kept slowing down as we approached border officials, waiting for someone to question us. No one did. They simply glanced over and then looked away. It was a non-event. Why no one questioned our entry was puzzling to us.


Returning today we showed our Nexus cards at the U.S. border and answered some basic questions. Over the next 50 miles of highway we went through border patrol twice. Why? That's an easy one, as an officer with a sniffer dog circled the vehicles. When we approached they'd just pulled over a very old bus and both dogs were busy with that vehicle so they just waived us through. No one asked us if we had anything to declare; so different to returning to Canada.

Mexican Insurance 

Entering Mexico last week we first had to buy car insurance. Why? Because policies from Canada and the United States are not valid in Mexico. So, we stopped before the border and bought from this colourful office. The policy was from a Mexican insurance company, but sold in Arizona. It cost us just over $100 U.S. for a week's insurance, and thankfully we didn't have to use it.

Soon after the border we stopped at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Why? Because we didn't know what it was and we wanted to learn more about it. So, now we know!

I just had to touch one of the spines of this organ pipe cactus!

So, why all the why questions? Because of this sign:

Notice the capital "W", and no question mark. It's not a question, it's a place. Can you imagine the conversation at the Canadian border? ... "where do you live?" "Why" ... and so on. I was curious to know why it was named Why, so here's the answer on Wikipedia. That's enough questions for one day!