Humility is one of my many great qualities, part 2

Hello Everyone, First, a story that further confirms my astounding humility. Yesterday, Arthur and I were starting out on a long ride that began next to some grazing areas for cattle. Due to some poor signage (and absolutely not an error on my part) we were on the wrong path. It was cutting through a wooded pasture, but was generally headed in the right direction, so once I realized the error, I thought that we might catch the right trail a little further up. As we approached a thicket of trees, we came upon a group of cows. What to do? Do we risk trying to get past them (they were blocking our advance) and trust that the cows would be mild mannered and not at all perturbed that I was accompanied by what to them looked like a small wolf (with a leather collar to boot)? Or do I not risk it, and humbly turn around, retrace my steps and start off on the right path. Cows might generally thought of as docile, but these ones lived outdoors, so they were a little more rugged and a little less used to people. And they are very big. I've no doubt that Arthur and I could out maneuver them, but it seemed imprudent, so we took the humble path. Turned out, it was the right call as we would not have intersected with our intended trail. And now, a story about the limits of humility: There are 37 million Canadians and 320 million Americans, we share the world's longest border and have the world's largest bilateral trade relationship. But I, Wesley Ross, intrepid traveler and mountain bike enthusiast, am the first person to have an American phone and to try to pay for it with a Canadian credit card. It's kinda neat being the first. After the ride yesterday, I tried to renew my plan for another month. Can't do it from the app, it requires a state as part of your address. No option to put in a province. So, I went into a store. The nice lady there had never heard of this situation, but did her best to help. She couldn't figure out how to take the payment herself, so we called customer service together. The customer service for prepaid plans does not have an option to talk to a human being and the automated system had never heard of a Canadian credit card. So the lady called with her own number and we finally got in touch with a human being. They couldn't take the payment either but transferred me to a system that was supposed to. That system had a glitch and hung up on me. I knew there was another Verizon dealer in town, so I decided to take my chances there. Maybe they would know more. They didn't. They knew less. The guy I talked had also had never heard of doing this incredible thing either. After a few perfunctory taps on his computer, he suggested I pay cash. But I don't want to pay cash, that's more expensive for me (withdrawal fees) and on principle I believe the customer shouldn't have to do extra work to pay a bill. He then suggested I get a pre paid card. Again, no dice. I stood on principle. I said I don't want to get another card, that's an extra hassle. To which he replied that it would be an extra hassle for Verizon to process my Canadian credit card. And that, dear reader, was the end of my previously unlimited humility. I shot back that it wasn't an extra hassle, as I could go across the street and buy whatever I wanted with this card. I did stop myself before I added that how could it be that a high tech communications company found it easier for me to pay cash, a medium that was invented when Christ was in diapers? How difficult was it for the largest telecommunications company in the USA to process a credit card from a country that is so closely tied, we share the same international country code (01)? He just handed back my card and said he couldn't help. Definitely the most accurate thing he would say all day. I finally found a solution by calling customer service with the number of the lady from the first store. This time, the payment system didn't glitch, and I used the secret code for Canadian credit cards taught to me by my snowbird aunt. It worked. I have cell service, and an even deeper disdain for the company that provides it. Wes Photos The first is not the cow that blocked our path, but a similar one we met later on the trail. The second is of my campsite last night. Was a nice sunset, not fully captured in this pic though. Lastly, I met this friend outside the showers at the park yesterday. I'm, like 99% sure he's not venomous. Maybe 98.