Customs, Borders & Rush Hour!
What a threesome! I know I still have lots to share with you from last week but thought I would give you a little update on today whilst it was still fresh in my mind.
I LOVE getting stuck in rush hour traffic, NOT! Last Monday we managed to plan it so that we hit the outskirts of Los Angeles in rush hour – was not too bad but still…. Today we got caught right in the middle of Toronto’s rush hour which was awful plus Hannah was desperate for the bathroom- not a good combination. Last week’s was our fault but today’s was not. Let me explain.
We had hoped to get to our hotel last night in time to swim but alas we got caught in roadworks & someone’s breakdown so by the time we arrived at the hotel the pool was closed. No big deal. We all went to bed & got up this morning at 7:30am which really felt like 6:30am to us as we had just changed from CT to ET. Had a good swim & were all in the truck by 9am.
Just leaving the hotel parking lot when we got a call from the Broker to say they had not filled in the paperwork correctly & so we could not cross the border into Canada yet! OK so let me correct what I just said- they did not admit that they had not filled in the paperwork correctly but blamed our broker for not providing the correct info. This should have all been sorted last week & in fact we were all told it had been. Our paperwork was correct. BUT that was irrelevent now when I was only 4 miles from the border. We got breakfast, filled up with diesel & then literally sat & waited for an hour in the truck. Richard called our broker who told us that all the paperwork was correct & to just go across the border anyways!
SO off we went at 11am. Oh yes, we were taking the cutest 4 miniature horses across to Canada, the ones we had picked up in California.
Danny, the stallion not shown, is in the front compartment. All these horses were really well mannered & sweet. SO nice to have on board & of course the kids loved them.
The whole reasoning behind the new regs requiring us to have what is called a Manifest to cross the border is to speed the crossing process up. What a joke! 2 hours later we finally got clearance. Yes 2 hours! At the first stop, we showed the paperwork & the passports. No problem. Then we had to pull over & go in & show the horse paperwork. They then came out & asked us to unload all the kids so they could check the truck. All was fine, obviously. From there we had to be followed to the inspection station about 1 1/2 miles down the road. I went in with the paperwork, then had to go upstairs to the receiver’s broker to pick up that paperwork. Came back down, handed it all over & then had to show all our passports again & was told to take the kids out again & go wait in the Driver’s area whilst they verified the shipment. 30 mins after that they gave us clearance to go so by this time it was 1pm- way later than we had planned.
Once we had actually done our delivery Michelle & I figured that it had taken us 10 1/2 hours to do 300 miles! How pathetic is that?!
Not really moaning, just stating the facts & sharing with you how long being legal can take. Honesty is always best but it sure don’t come cheap sometimes. Last week as we drove through AZ I could have driven right past a weigh station & they would have been none the wiser BUT I stopped & got landed with having to buy a $50 permit! AAGH!
It’s still been a good day 🙂
Liz