The plan was, hit the road at 8, hit the border by 10:30ish (I expected some traffic but figured we were going mostly counter-commute, as we were leaving Toronto), stop by my PO box on the way down to pick up my keys, return the rental car, hit Kinko's (had to re-print some paperwork for the border), then UPS to pick up my boxes, then hit the border for U.S. and Canadian Customs. In a happy world, we'd have done it in enough time to get back to Mugino's, drop off the boxes, then run downtown to Joe's to pick up the suitcases left behind on Monday and even maybe hit the CN tower, which isn't too far from him. OK, even we knew that wasn't realistic, but it would have been nice.
Yeah. Best laid plans, mice, men, all that. Hit the road late. Traffic was worse than I'd thought. We missed the place where the 403 and the QEW split near Burlington and went in the wrong direction for about 20km. Hit a 30-minute wait at the border. Etc. By the time we crossed the border, we were almost two hours behind schedule.
First the adventure at the post office. The first person we got had no idea what I was talking about, but quickly passed me on to someone who did - unfortunately, she needed the postmaster. Who was out. But wait! There he comes, seconds after the words "he's out" cross her lips. OK, post office handled, in and out in about 15 minutes.
Rental car return. Stop to fill up and clean it out, receive a complement from the nice lady, Yolanda, at Alamo, for returning it so clean. No mention of the fact we're a day late.
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| No, not that Alamo, silly. |
UPS. They couldn't be sweeter. Since I had set up the boxes to take up the entire car with me alone in it, we're not 100 per cent sure they'll all fit with Beth, but the guys at UPS say "no problem, we'll hold anything that doesn't fit." We manage to make it work by emptying the one with the exercise ball and Spot the Zebra, who flies free in the trunk all the way back to Canada.
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| Yeah. That Alamo. |
At this point we realize it's about 2:55 and we're 20 minutes from the Lewiston border and running low on gas. U.S. Customs Vehicle Export closes at 4pm. It's Friday. Monday they are closed for MLK day. I go into panic overdrive; you didn't want to hear me when a ... lady in a mini-van cuts me off getting onto the I-190, forcing me off onto the 290. Then the GPS sends us to the back of the land of freakin' Oz to get back onto the road we want.... we end up making it to the border (where there is, thank g/d, no line!) at 3:45. I run in (thankfully, we'd asked the agent that morning where the office was), and discover I'm fourth in line - and right behind a guy registering five vehicles.
Customs people are not happy he waited until almost closing time to show up, and when I half-seriously say "Wanna take single-car girl first?" they do. A few taps on a keyboard, an agent accompanies me back to my car to check the VIN, and tah-dah - legal for export, with six minutes to spare.
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| We found the sign. |
Then we hit Canadian Customs. A much longer process, declaring the car and all my worldly possessions (turns out I prepped the paperwork incorrectly; I broke it out precisely as to what was arriving when, including multiple shipments, and they just needed to know what was with me and coming afterwards. They didn't even care about the stuff that had come in with me four days earlier.). The third agent I was handed off to was really nice, though, and she and I chatted a while. Total time spent - 56 minutes.
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| Another pretty Toronto-area sunset, shot through a dirty windshield. |
Then we headed back to Toronto for one final evening, and the next day I got to come back to deliver Beth to the airport in Buffalo. For the third time in a week, we are driving into Toronto during the Sunset. I'd love to see what some of these roads look like in daylight...
And just going to Buffalo and back, I did another 300+ miles. Did I mention I'm starting to get just a wee bit sick of driving? Next post will reveal how many miles we drove between Alameda and me settling in.
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