Month: November 2012

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Nothing But Respect For US Customs

My mother had time to make crêpes this morning, which felt like a proper send off and left me optimistic that I would get to Saratoga Springs tonight. I pulled out at about 9:00 and was waiting in line at customs by 9:55. It took about 10 minutes to get to the booth.

I got the same kind of customs agent as I did in 2011, one for whom even the most straightforward story would not make sense. “It doesn’t sound like you work.” “Driving through the US to get home makes no sense.” “Spending time with a friend over the holidays makes no sense.” “You see that green arrow that says secondary inspection? Go there, park, and go inside. Your documents will be waiting.”

My initial reaction was disbelief that I would have to go through what I went through in 2011 once again.

Then I realised that they had pulled over all the RVs and that the folks ahead of me had five yippy dogs. This meant customs wouldn’t go into their rig and they would get an extra grilling. If I stayed the course, kept my story as simple as possible, and emphasized that I had plenty of money of money for a few months in the US and that I was heading home, I suspected that I would get through in record time.

I was right. I had to expand on my story a couple of times, adding more details, until the agent literally threw up her hands, sighed, and said, “You’ve been asked these questions before; right?” Mm-hmm. “Never been denied entry?” Nope. She shook her head, handed me a slip of paper marked ‘cleared’ and said, “Just go.” I was out in less than five minutes.

I was getting back into the RV when another agent came up to me and asked me where I was going. I said I’d been cleared and he replied, “Not by me.” I wish text could convey tone because this guy was in a great mood and just going through the motions. I felt so comfortable that I actually replied, “Oh, you must be the fruit guy!” instead of, “Oh, you must mean the agricultural inspection!” He burst out laughing.

He asked if I had pets and I replied my cats. He then asked me to come inside with him to watch out for them. Every other inspection, I’ve had to wait well away from the rig.

Bitha and Nee’s papers are not up to date. Because of their age, vaccines are not recommended. I’ve never been asked for their paperwork and decided to take a chance. Well, the subject came up for the first time. He said, as he poked around the kitchen, “I’ve never heard of anyone being asked for papers for their cats. Are yours pretty old?” I replied that they were and he said the same thing the vet told me, that vaccinating older cats is bad for them! Then he said that anyone who would expect me to have them vaccinated to get across the border would be a ‘jerk.’

He finally opened my fridge and gasped. “Your relish jar exploded,” he informed me sadly. What is it with me and condiments?!

He cleared me for agriculture and then that’s when everything went to hell in the proverbial handbasket. You were expecting the other shoe to drop, weren’t you?

I’d had to unhook to park because there was so little room to park everyone. I was given the option not to, but I wanted to be as cooperative as possible. I don’t know if I was flustered and missed a step or what, but I could not get the e-brake back off the truck to move it into position to tow. It was cold and the agriculture agent guessed that it had seized up because of the weather. He got in and did something and got the e-brake working smoothly again. Then, he and another agent asked me to get my tow setup manual and helped me hook back up properly. I’m telling you, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried to hook up your tow bar for the first time while being assisted by US Customs Agents!

More later. I can’t get online with my cell phone without access to wifi first, so I’m at the McDonald’s doing that. I’ll write about my trip to Saratoga later.

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There Has To Be An Easier Way To Get a Keychain

Ever since I started RVing, I have been on the lookout for a separatable two-ring keychain that would allow me to have all my keys when I’m traveling and to drop the RV engine and fuel door key when I’m stopped. I’ve alternated between removing those two keys and storing them, carrying two key chains when I’m traveling, and just leaving the darn extra keys on my keychain at all time.

Losing my car also meant losing my keychain as the ring was attached my door fob. I’ve spent the summer with crappy cheap key rings while looking for a replacement keychain, discovering that good ones are surprisingly hard to find. Plus, I was holding out hope that I would find the separatable kind.

Well, lookie what I got from Horizon Lussier when my keys were returned to me today!

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I don’t recommend getting rear ended to acquire a keychain, but I’ll take any bonuses that come my way because of my misfortune!

(I use the carabiner to attach my keys to a strap on my purse.)

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Sneak Peek of My New Tow Setup

I didn’t get out of the shop until almost four, so please forgive me for not having the strength to unpack my computer and camera to post a proper introduction to my new tow system. 🙂

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The tow setup was done by the fine folks at Horizon Lussier in Marieville. I am thrilled with the level of care and attention they provided to make sure I was properly set up. They were extremely communicative and took the time to read all the information provided by Ready Brake.

Without going into too much pictureless detail, I can see a few advantages to my new setup, notably that I don’t have to open the hood to make the electrical connection and that I don’t have to get into the RV and move ahead a little to tug on the bar to get it to engage.

I’ve decided to start dropping the toad more often to get fuel with just the motorhome and I think the new setup will lighten my workload a little.

I was told that I should, in theory, start and run the engine on the toad before towing, something I never did with my Accent, but will be doing now.

For the drive back to my mother’s, I did both highway and town driving, merged lanes, went up and down a hill, and stopped a little suddenly. I can definitely feel the truck behind me, especially when I stop after going downhill, but Miranda seems to be handling the extra weight just fine.

I’m going to wait till I speak with my insurance company before sharing how much it cost get me set up properly and legally. Let’s just say my estimates were much more accurate than theirs.

I feel very comfortable heading out tomorrow!

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One Little Issue After An Other

I’ve been at the shop since about 8:30 this morning and it is presently 12:15. Everyone’s on lunch and there is about an hour of work left to do when they come back. So I will be going back to my mother’s for just one more night and leaving tomorrow morning.

One of the first issues encountered today is that I have a non-standard hitch. I’m not sure if this is the one I originally had or if Boisvert Ford replaced it. Thankfully, it was possible to grind down the tow bar safely to make it fit.

Second, the electrical wiring that goes from the rig to the toad was not inspected by Boisvert and was completely toast. I blame myself for this because I kept telling myself to ask for the wiring to be checked and always forgot to.

Needless to say, the costs keep mounting. I’m going to send Intact, the toad insurers, all the information tonight and hope that they will honour their written promise to make up any excess costs beyond what I was already given for the tow setup.

I’m now waiting for my lunch. As always on (semi) departure days, my stomach is in knots, but I’m trying to break the habit of landing somewhere with my blood sugar levels at zero.

If I didn’t have the uncertainty of the border crossing ahead of me, a 2:00 departure with landing in waning daylight in a familiar location would have been fine, but I’ll be glad to leave feeling more refreshed tomorrow.

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The Importance of GCVWR

A few people have expressed concern that my Ford Ranger is too heavy to tow behind my class C motorhome.

At about 13,500lbs, my RV is well within its GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) of 14,050lbs. But what about my GCVWR, or gross combined vehicle weight rating, which limits how much I can tow?

The GCVWR on my rig is a ridiculous 25,000lbs! That means that even if my rig was at its maximum GVWR, I could tow something weighing 10,000lbs!

My Ford Ranger weighs about 3,500lbs (at most).

So my rig is just below its GVWR (by about 550lbs) and well below its GCVWR (by about 8,000lbs). I am not even remotely overloaded.

While I am sure the extra weight will affect handling and fuel efficiency, my RV will do just fine towing my Ford Ranger.