After the War of Independence, boundaries needed to be drawn between the new United States and the colony of British Columbia. Britain wasn’t going to give up the lovely town of Victoria, so the border along the 49th parallel, curved south to take in Vancouver Island. Hands were shaken and the port and cigars came out.
It was only later that someone noticed Point Roberts. This was the end of a peninsula jutting south from what is now the outer suburbs of Vancouver. The southernmost part of this was below the 49th parallel so it now forms an exclave of the United States, with access to the rest of the US only possible by going a little way on Canadian roads. Unless you go by boat.
In the summer of 1989, I was staying with friends in Surrey, part of Vancouver close to Point Roberts. We were going for a boat ride. Bicycles were loaded into the truck and off we went to White Rock. I loaded the bikes onto the boat and we took a roundabout route along the lovely Pacific coast until some people on the land hailed us. We headed to shore and unloaded the bikes. The people mounted the bikes and rode away.
Apparently, this is a common trick in Point Roberts for avoiding tax on certain consumer items. This is probably the mildest crime to which I have ever been an accomplice.
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