Back from Canada, and ran into the one and only

[white-eagle]

We made a quick run to Barrie, Ontario, up from just SE of Toledo thru Sarnia.  Going in on Thur was fortunately, not the pain from Canadian customs that we expected. 15 min in line, 5 min talking to the customs, then on the Glenn's 70th birthday party (famous for bird house gourd classes at the one and only Arcadia Bussin' Rally.).  it was a great party with lots of food and canadian beer and music and friends.  on the way back, the US customs was not near as friendly, took 45 min out of my day, and had to inspect the van to justify her pay and existence.  (Every US citizen needs to go thru the BS from Homeland Security a few times so they can write their congress Person and have them (Homeland Security) discombobulated along with the IRS.  the money we'd save would pay off the national debt).

the real surprise was getting to have supper with jack and Paula, you know.  THEE Jack and Paula, as in Conrad, as in Bus Rally experts extrordinaire.  They met us at my brother's place where i was reloading my bus with certain items that i had unloaded (as in took off the bus) before going to Canada (talk about feeling naked- Downtown Detroit and no protection!).

So we swapped stories for a few hours over supper, caught up on our tales, and planned for a December get-together.  A better evening could not easily have been had.

by the way, the bus ran fine at about 100 to 120 thru Canada, but i slowed up to 65 to 70 in the US  ;-).

[Busted Knuckle]

Yeah don't ya love those Canadian speed limits!
Imagine my surprise 1st time I went up there and got pulled over for 100 MPH and didn't understand that it was KPH! (this was back in the 80's and I was in my 20's! I'd NEVER try to pull anything like that now days! )

Glad to hear it was a great trip!
  BK 

[cody]

Tom the crossing at the Sault is much more user friendly in my experience than the one at port huron and you get the dubious pleasure of being within 250 miles of my cheerful self for a possible visit.

[bevans6]

We have decided the crossing at Port Huron is about the worst one there is.  The US Border guards are pretty extreme.  I was on the up-side of the bridge for about a half hour - clutch leg was not happy!  After I got over the top and on the down-side I turned it off and let it roll.  I only turned it on every 10 minutes to air up the brakes.

My sister now goes into Detroit and crosses at the tunnel, she says it is far easier.  She lives around 20 Mile on the north side of Detroit.

Brian

[happycamperbrat]

Can you tell me more about the boarder customs? Do they search the bus? Is it just all about paperwork (ie drivers license, registration, insurance) What all is involved? Im not surprised it is intense ever since 911

[bevans6]

I have never been searched crossing either way.  Since I've had the bus I have not even had a guard come inside for a look, and before that the worst I had was opening up a trailer so they could look at my race cars.  The change that I've noticed is the length of time per car - close to ten minutes or more.  The gent that I talked to when I last crossed at Port Huron deliberately asked questions designed to trip up someone who was lying about something, coming back to details that he asked about 5 minutes earlier, and getting the detail wrong so you had to correct him.  An awful lot of cars were opening the trunk up, that sort of thing.  The only paper work we offer is our passports, but  we prepare and carry our planned route, our planned stops, our itinerary, and the day we plan to return, and we can cite specifics when they ask, which they always do.  They really like to  know where you are going and when you will be returning.  Note that this relates to Canadians entering the US, not Americans returning to the US.  I don't understand why they would give US citizens returning to the US a hard time, unless they thought you were smuggling something.  Be real careful about knowing exactly how many cigarettes/tobacco products you have, and exactly how much alcohol you have, they love to trip people up on that.

Brian

[mikelutestanski]

HEllo:    Has anyone noticed if one of the agents was with a mongrel dog  and leading the dog around the cars and vehicles. THat is either a food dog or a drug dog. Both are usually but not always around. I am more familiar with texas and brownsville because my daughter had a dog there.  THe agents are trained just as the dog to look for specific behaviors. THe border patrol has a stop about 70 miles north of brownsville that everone going north goes thru.   My daughter advises to volunteer nothing, answer the questions and dont be familiar, cute, or friendly.  
    Last june a nice friendly elderly couple in a motorhome went thru the bridge at brownsville but 70 miles up the road the drug dog hesitated next to the outside of the bus just as the very nice friendly couple were gettting back into the coach. The dog sat by the wall and put his nose against the coach..  Several hours later the walls were all apart and many bags of the white stuff were confiscated along with the coach , tow vehicle, and everything else present . Included was  a jail term..
    Dont know if drugs are an issue @ the Canadian border  but the border guys are overworked, and if it turns out to be a bad day then well life could get interesting..  THey will pull everything apart if necessary and it is your mess to sort out and fix.  You have the right to file a claim for damages.  
  FWIW     911 is the cause of this mess.  and our demand for drugs...
   Regards  and happy bussin   mike

[John316]

We have taken the bus across the Canada border quite a few times, in many locations. We crossed at Port Huron before. We didn't have any issues, except for the wait.

Last time we crossed was at 2 in the morning (we were north of Seattle, and the next crossing east of Peace arch). We had been driving all day, and were tired and ready to stop. We trooped inside and talked with the friendly people inside, who were just itching for some late night excitement.

One of the gents went lumbering outside. We were inside doing some paperwork, as we watched him. He didn't bother turning on the lights. No sir, this is a high importance operation. He used his flashlight. He went through the bus. I think he was enjoying himself. His light disappeared deeper into the bus, with time. We thought it was kind of comical (remember it was late at night, we were tired, and we were a bit slap happy). Finally we saw his light in the back bedroom. Now you have to realize our back bedroom is VERY tight. We used all of the space in the front of our bus,  so there is just space to squeeze around the bed (again not for heavy people).

We just about had a fit, at that point. How would he get to where he could see under the bed? Remember, this gent isn't your picture of a fit person. We saw his light disappear below the window. We were living this whole time with him. We weren't sure if he was stuck in there (really, that wasn't out of the realm of possibility). Finally we saw his light reappear, and he continued his search. He must have really been enjoying himself, because he spent no less then 40 mins in the bus.

Eventually, another agent went out to join the extensive search. I think it was more of a case of he went out to tell the other gent to quit. They both came back in after a couple of mins, and said that the bus was clear. You want to know the funny part? They never looked in the bays. ROFL

So anyways, usually we don't have too much trouble crossing. Sometimes we will get the dogs, but not usually.

God bless,

John

[Ncbob]

Friends, Somewhere this thread sort of lost the original thought by White Eagle, that he met and enjoyed the company of Jack & Paula Conrad. We sort of got mixed up in the intricacies of border crossing. I don't believe that was the original thought.

Perhaps you will accuse me of bias in that Jackie & I have been friends of Jack & Paula since our first visit to Bussin' (I can't remember the year) a while back. They have been our guests on more than one occasion and we have been theirs and plan to visit their "Lightning C Ranch" prior to Bussin' 2010.

For those of you who don't know them..you couldn't imagine a more devoted and congenial couple. They are what our hobby is all about. Been there and done that.  And visited all the friends they've made over the year in parts of this wonderful country you might not have imagined.

Am we fans of the Conrad's?  You bet your sweet a$$ we are!

Jackie & Bob Wies (NCbob)

[jackhartjr]

Brian, you said, " don't understand why they would give US citizens returning to the US a hard time."
It's because they have to justify their 'suckers off the public teat' entitlement.  There is no reason for us to have to go through the hoops they put us through!
Want to have some fun...pull into a FL Agricultue Station and wath the 'Cabbage Cops' in action!  Total waste of time and money!
And yes, Jack and Paula are WONDERFUL!
Jack