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  Eric Degerman is SportsTriCities.com's managing editor. Eric is a longtime Tri-City Herald sportswriter who spent several years covering a variety of sports, including the Tri-City Americans and golf. Eric now produces a regular Web-based sportscast that focuses on Mid-Columbia sports. Have a question for Eric? Click here to e-mail him |
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Until Sept. 11, 2001, driving from Washington into British Columbia was nearly as easy as negotiating the Oregon/California border.
In fact, I remember getting in a bit of trouble at a California border protection station years ago for mistakenly driving in with a couple of oranges. The oranges came from the Golden State, but that didn't matter.
That said, my U.S. passport expired this spring. If I had wanted to cover the Tri-City Americans in Kelowna or the Tri-City Dust Devils in Vancouver — or go watch The Hip at the Pemberton Festival — it would have been more difficult than usual to get into British Columbia.
How long would take to get my new passport book?
I don’t have any pressing assignments coming up, so I decided against spending the extra $60 to pay for expedited service.
So I guessed it would take me a couple of months before I'd see my new passport.
Would you believe I got it in eight days?
I sent my personal check via registered mail on July 2. My new passport arrived July 10. That included a three-day weekend for Independence Day. It cost me $89.85, which included $14.85 for the suggested security of it being returned to me via overnight delivery.
Well, as much as Americans slam the federal government, I'm offering a tip of my cap to the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs Passport Services.
That reminds me, has it really been nine years since the unlimited hydroplanes last raced in Kelowna?
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