Census work near the border

Earlier this week one of my census workers was canvasing the part of my district up in the North Fork that borders Canada.  She parked her car near the long (since the early 1990s) closed border crossing in order to do census paper work.

She wasn't parked there very long when suddenly a border patrol agent appeared and asked her if she needed help.

She explained she was working on the census and asked if she should move her car.  The agent said no, she was fine, and then he left.

She said it wasn't 15 minutes later when another border patrol agent suddenly appeared and asked if she needed help.

"No.  Should I move my car?  You're the second agent to talk to me.  I am just working on my census forms."

No.  He told her she was fine.

"Then why the interest in me?"

He told her she was parking at a known smuggling drop point near the border.

She asked where the agents were located as they seemed to come out of nowhere and she couldn't tell where they were.  She was told, "We have our hiding places."

I do know the border patrol takes their job seriously.  Last year when I hiked to Mt Hefty I saw the hoof prints from a number of horses on and near the faint hiking trail to Mt Hefty.  Mt Hefty straddles the border with the U.S. and Canada.  This Spring I happened to deliver a census questionnaire to the Kalispell residence of one of the border patrol agents (he was in uniform when he answered the door).  We had an interesting conversation on the areas he patrols along the border, etc.  He was one of the people who patrol on horseback and we compared the time when I saw the hoof prints and when he was patrolling the area.

Also on Joyce's first day as a census worker she saw the largest black bear she had ever seen.  The bear was walking down the road she was driving on and in no hurry.