Chambly

by

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.

by

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. 🙂

20121114-183227.jpg

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!

by

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.

by

Decent Pulling Out Weather

This morning, I backed Miranda out onto the street so I could take her out for a spin. She was a little tough to start, but once we were under way, she ran smoothly. I had no trouble restarting her after each stop. I had a lot on my list, but the morning wasn’t stressful in the least and I felt very comfortable behind the wheel.

The weather is damp and cold with a promise of weak sun. Not ideal weather for outdoor activities, but better than the pouring rain I had in Lethbridge!

First stop was the dump station. An attendant came out to tell me they had turned off the water, but I could still dump. Thankfully, I had several gallon jugs of tap water on board for rinsing my hose and the dump site.

I let the attendant know that I filled up my truck there this week as a thank you for offering this dump site. The station isn’t that well situated for gassing up an RV so I had already decided to get fuel elsewhere.

Next, I drove to Richelieu to get propane, which cost $80 for a fill at almost 90 cents per litre. More expensive than out west, but still cheaper than in the States.

Then, it was time to find a gas station and the Esso in Chambly was the best choice even if fuel was just over $1.30 a litre. Gas in New York state is over $4 a gallon right now, so it wasn’t worth having to stress out about getting gas with my new longer rig the second I crossed the border. I’ll top up around Saratoga.

I got back to my mother’s and parked in front of the house, then borrowed her car to go to the bank. There, I deposited a cheque and took out 200USD.

This afternoon, I need to buy my supplemental health coverage. I got quotes for this ranging from $300 to $600 for the same coverage! I’ll write up a post about that once I’ve purchased a policy.

I haven’t heard from the shop, so I assume my baseplate installation is going well. I may get out of here tomorrow…

by

Everything Is Going Off With a Hitch

I didn’t get Miranda out of the driveway today, but I’m otherwise on schedule for a Wednesday departure.

Three things delayed me today:

1) needing to figure out how to load my new toad (could be improved)

2) having to pass a wire from the back of the rig to the dash (will explain this when I show off the tow bar set up)

3) the shortness of the day (it’s dark at 4:00 here now)

The very warm weather was a real blessing. I would have liked comparable weather for my running around tomorrow, but I’ll take what I can get.

I dropped off my truck off at the shop at 3:30 and gave instructions for the tow bar stuff. Most of that will be done first thing Wednesday when the RV is there, too. They say the baseplate setup and electrical installation will take a full day.

If all the work is done by noon Wednesday, I’ll leave from the shop and head for Saratoga Springs. Otherwise, I’ll delay departure for Thursday morning.