Up early on my hopefully last day in the US to get things organised for my trip to the border. First problem to deal with I need to bring the slides in on the RV but the awnings that sit over top of them are covered in frozen snow, the solution bang on them with my broom to try to remove the ice from the awning. That solution sort of worked.
Managed to get the slides in with a little complaining from the slide motors, put everything else away inside and it’s time to head for the border. Unfortunately in my haste to get home I drove right past the little kiosk I was supposed to stop at in order to export the RV. So once more after explaining my mistake to the Canadian border guard, who had me repeat the instructions twice on how to get to the proper place, I once again crossed back into the US.
Made it back across the US border without any problems, the border guard didn’t seem surprised just pointed out where I needed to park. My one biggest fear was that I would make a mistake on my paper work and would be unable to export the RV, but the export process went very smoothly only taking 1/2 hr. Then it was finally time to cross back into Canada, this process took over 2 hrs while they went thru all my receipts for the solar equipment I had purchased, as well as all the other needed upgrades to the RV. Once that was done the customs agent informed me that he did not believe my purchase price was accurate. I spent another 20 min trying to convince him but it took me showing the withdrawal from my bank account on my cell phone before he would believe I was telling the truth. Once that was settled I just had to give them a lot of money to cover the taxes and they finally let me go.
I got to the border at 9:00 am it was now just after 12:00 but I was finally back in Canada and heading for the ferry. I missed the 1:00 pm sailing but fortunately the next sailing was at 2:00 so I made it home for dinner and a badly needed shower.
The next day was spent organizing extending the insurance on the RV, arranging the required RIV & Provincial Inspections and praying my Form 2 would be ready tomorrow. Getting up the next morning I quickly checked the RIV website for my required forms, they didn’t even have a record of the form 1 they issued me. I spent the next two hours phoning and emailing them to get all the required documents before my 2:00 pm appointment. Made it with 10 minutes to spare but I did have to give them an extra $100 since the rates went up on Jan 1st. Oh well, the RV passed both the inspections and it was on to do the final paperwork with ICBC.
2 1/2 hours after getting to the Insurance Office all the paperwork was finally done. No one in their office had ever done a RV importation. One of the requirements they said I had to fulfill was getting the RV weighed, after some discussion they agreed the sticker on the door was acceptable.
Due to doing this over the Christmas holidays I spent 3 weeks in the US and travelled over 6600 Km with a total travel time of 86 hours on my journey home, and even if this was the craziest thing I have done so far, it was worth it and I would do it again. I still have a lot of work to do in order to be finally finished up with this project but for now I am going to take the next week off and hope for warmer weather.
The map below shows the 9 stops I made on my journey home.
