I found a campground about 20 minutes north of the raceway that is not a detour and which may have both a public dump station and propane! I’ll be heading over there soon as I get out of here tomorrow! If the location pans out, I will be sure to provide all the details! In fact I’ve made a note to create a post about the various places I have gotten propane over the years.
Note to self: top up the fuel tank before crossing over.
My car claim with Intact is taking a little longer to resolve than what I’d been told last week, but that’s fine since it meant that I got my rental car until the end of my trip!
I came in this evening to two emails. The first was from the first adjuster I dealt with let me know that the moron’s insurance company finally contacted them and accepted all responsibility. This meant that my deductible was waived and will not be deducted from the settlement. The second email was from total loss adjuster and included a waiver I need to sign before my cheque can be issued. I decided that at this point, it would be easier to make the cheque out to BMO and me and sort everything out that way than to pay BMO first.
In response to Croft’s question from a few days ago, I have up to one year to buy a new car and get the GST reimbursed.
My May payment for the car went through, so when the dust settles, I should have about $7,700 to buy a used vehicle and set it up for towing. The kind of truck I want is selling for about $3,000 in Calgary, so I should be able to set myself up with a new toad with enough leftover to pay a year’s worth of insurance so that I can set off in the fall with an extra $450 a month off the budget. I’m just nervous about the idea of having a used vehicle that could be full of surprises….
I am parked at the Saratoga Springs Raceway in Saratoga Springs, New York, just north of Albany off of I-87.
I was awake ludicrously early this morning (5:45!) because I went to sleep by 10:15 and actually slept straight through. I wasn’t ready to be up, though, so I spent about 40 minutes cuddling with Tabitha. I took the time to make a nice breakfast, then headed into the Walmart to withdraw some cash.
It was misty in St. Clair this morning:
But the mist started to clear up as I got ready to pull out:
The drive back up to I-81 was much easier than the drive down. I knew I was going to hit construction immediately and that I was in for a long, hard haul to just past Albany. I actually have blisters forming on my hands from all that white knuckling!
At Hazleton, I took everyone’s advice about the state of the hill between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and veered east onto I-80. My GPS was much smarter today and quickly adapted to my new route, especially since I remembered to change the settings to allow routing on toll roads.
I had a very frustrating experience getting gas. There was only one pump I could access and there was someone ahead of me in line for it. The old codger got out, saw me, and went back into his vehicle. His wife tottered into the store and came out about five minutes later. The man got back out of his truck, pumped his fuel, then tottered over to the store. He came out, looked my way, and got back into the truck while his wife adjusted some things in the truck bed. She got back into the truck and they sat there another five minutes before moving on.
I got the fuel, which took almost 20 minutes since I had to authorize the pump twice, and did a check around the rig before moving on. I found a sporty red car in my blind spot. It sat there for a full five minutes before the owner came out of the store. She spent several minutes cleaning trash out of her car, then started pumping her fuel. When that was done, she sat in her car and dialed her phone. By this point, I was so angry I decided to not even attempt to get out and ask her politely to move. Sum total, I lost almost a full half hour waiting for her to clear out! I should have cut my losses at the old codger and gone to the next station down the road. I couldn’t believe that I wasted a whole hour to get fuel!
I’d spent some time last night trying to figure out how the NY Thruway works and what my toll would be, but gave up. I did cobble together, correctly, that I would encounter a toll booth upon entering the Thruway and would be given a ticket that would determine what I would have to pay at the toll booth on the exit.
This is what the ticket looked like:
Each line indicates the exit number and applicable toll. So it was easy to compare the ticket to my GPS instructions and determine that I would be exiting at 24, for a nice even toll of $11.
It was getting on lunchtime by this point, so I decided to stop at the first service area on the Thruway. I bought a nice loaf of French bread last night and planned on peanut butter sandwiches and coffee for lunch. This plan was cemented by the fact that there was a Starbucks at this first service area. Paying the Thruway surcharge on an espresso was more appealing than cleaning the French press and making my own, plus an espresso has less caffeine. Needless to say, I was surprised that a tall Americano was $2.22, just seven cents more than in Smithfield, VA, and still cheaper than a short Americano in Canada! The fast food options also seemed reasonably priced, but gas was almost $4 a gallon!
My exit was just past Albany, and let me tell you that I never thought I would be so grateful to see New York’s capital city! I knew that, from then on, it would be smooth sailing in increasingly rural landscapes all the way to my mother’s.
The exit toll booth felt very chaotic:
From Albany, I entered one of my favourite parts of the US, remembering fondly summers spent at Lakes Champlain and George and random excursions into Plattburgh with my dad just to eat dinner in another country. My detour to the raceway notwithstanding, I didn’t need a GPS anymore and felt the weight of my travels fall from my shoulders. All the signs pointed to Montreal; I was on the home stretch!
I was really tempted to continue to Montreal, but the rig was in no way ready for the border. Instead, I got to Saratoga fairly early, will have a relaxing evening, and will set out at a leisurely pace tomorrow. I was going to arrive for lunch, but failed at finding propane and a dump station today, so I need to do that tomorrow. I know there’s a state campground a couple of exits up and it should have a dump station for me to use. As for propane, wish me luck. That stuff is elusive! I had thought I’d pass a campground today and would be able to dump there and ask for directions to propane, but campgrounds would have required huge detours. Crazy!
When I got in, sat down at the computer and noticed a weird smell. What was that? Rubbing alcohol? No… Oh, acetone! I opened the medicine cabinet and discovered that a bottle of nail polish had overturned. There was very little to mop up compared to the stench that is still lingering.
Now, it’s time to figure out what I’m doing for dinner. I’m sure beer will be involved. It’s hot here!
WOW. US telecom companies are not as evil as their Canadian counterparts!
Because of all the insurance matters, I was going to go over my 450-minute voice plan. My friend told me to call Verizon and ask to be moved to the next tier so that I wouldn’t get a huge overage bill. I couldn’t imagine Verizon agreeing to that, but I called them anyway.
I explained to the gal that my usage this month was exceptional because of the accident, bla, bla, and asked if it would be possible to be moved to the next tier, 900 minutes, for this period and then brought back down to the 450-minute tier next month.
“Gee, your billing cycle ends in five days. I can’t imagine you using up 450 minutes in that amount of time! How about I just add 200 complimentary minutes to your account and leave your plan as-is?”
They can do that here?!
Croft said in a comment today:
Good to see you back on the road and I hope all the financial stuff works out smoothly! BTW, how long do you have to replace the car and are you going to start looking right away? I hate car shopping as I am a poor negotiator. I still think you should consider Internet shopping in the USA, at least to get a comparison of prices.
I have to check with the insurance company if there is a deadline for asking for reimbursement on the GST. If not, then I can take all the time I want.
I am not going to be looking in the US. I know what’s involved in importing and the money I might save won’t be worth the hoops I’ll have to go through.
I have pretty much decided on what I want, but need to finetune the research as to truck weight, gas mileage, ability to tow, bed length, etc. Since I have decided to go with a compact pickup, it makes sense to shop where there is a truck market. So I have decided to fly back to Alberta at some point this summer to buy my new toad!
Going back to Alberta will actually cut down on expenses and hoops. If I were to buy and plate in Quebec, I would have to pay PST and the registration would be almost $300 more than it would be in Alberta. When I got back to Alberta, I would have to pay for an out of province inspection. All those costs would add up to a lot more than the cost of a one-way plane ticket and the fuel to drive back to Quebec.
By buying the toad in Alberta, I’ll be able to leave Quebec in the fall with two correctly registered and insured vehicles. Plus, I know I can rely on Jody and Gary’s expertise in helping me make a good decision.
As for negotiating, I did really well one my last two brand new cars and Miranda, so I’m confident I can get a decent deal.
He also had this to say about the border crossing (with Norma (not Croft’s Norma) also wondering about this):
They may say nothing at the border (most likely) or they may ask where the car is if it shows up on their screen. They also sometimes ask if you had “repairs or modifications” done. Either way, only answer what is asked.
I put the total loss claim papers on my iPad to show at the border if the question comes up.
As for the repairs/modification question, it’s only as it pertains to work that could create secret compartments for stashing drugs. They don’t care if you get your brakes done but let them know if you had a safe welded to the frame! This is almost verbatim from the customs idiot who interrogated me last spring.
I have decided not to think too hard about the border crossing except for the fact that I have way too much beer on board! I’m off to attempt to make a dent in it!