Thursday, June 14, 2018
When we left this story at the end of the last blog post, I was sitting in my big white truck right outside the front office of Escape Trailer Industries in Chilliwack, BC … waiting for ETI employee Randy to hook up his Canadian licensed pickup truck to my new trailer and then bring the truck and trailer around front so that we could head south across the border and into the USA in tandem.
And here he is, with my trailer in tow!
Randy pulled over to the chain link fence in the photo above, parked the truck and got out, walked around the fence and chatted with me about which route he would take, the speed he would travel, his expectations of the border crossing, etc. It was all ok with me … let’s go!
My new checkerboard-floor trailer is about to hit the highway! I think she was a little sad to be leaving her sisters and brothers behind, but she was excited about getting out and seeing the world too.
The video below shows Randy and the trailer pulling out of the ETI parking lot. My friend Jan and I were right behind in the big white truck.
Notice the Canadian license plate on my trailer in the photo above. ETI tows new trailers across the border for USA buyers. They use a temporary Canadian license plate on the trailer while in Canada. If I were to take possession of the trailer at ETI while I was in Canada, I would be required to fully license the trailer in Canada and pay Canadian licensing, fees, and taxes … then ALSO license the trailer when I got into the USA and pay USA licensing, fees, and taxes as well. I am very grateful that ETI towed my trailer into the USA for me, and handled all of the cross-border export-import paperwork.
Photo above … leaving ETI in Chilliwack, heading up the road towards the freeway.
Almost onto Trans-Canada Highway #1.
It was raining lightly and it continued to rain all the way to the border and then for those few blocks into Sumas and our meeting place.
We followed along right behind Randy and the trailer. I swear I took photos (oops, I mean my friend Jan who was with me took photos) while we were on the freeway, but I sure don’t find them on my camera. I guess I was so excited that I just imagined I took photos.
The speed limit oh the freeway was 110kph (68mph). We were traveling about 104kph (65mph). Several other pickups with travel trailers passed us (and we passed several as well). I noticed that every one of those trailers swayed either a foot or two from side to side, or maybe just a tiny bit, but they all swayed. I also noticed that this brand new Escape trailer didn’t move a muscle from side to side! Not one centimeter!
When we arrived at the border crossing, Randy and the trailer turned off to the right into the commercial trucking lanes, but we proceeded through the “regular” lanes since I was not a commercial vehicle. After clearing USA Customs, my friend and I in my big white truck arrived at the agreed meeting spot in Sumas. About 15 minutes later, Randy pulled in with my trailer in tow behind his pickup. Just before he pulled in, the rain stopped. Perfect. 🙂
What a great day for me, and what a great day for this brand new trailer too. Her very first day out of the shop and already she’s an experienced border-crossing international traveler.
Randy unhooked his truck and pulled it to the side. Then I hitched up the big white truck to the trailer and we checked to make sure everything worked (they had checked at ETI, but we double-checked here in Sumas as well, just to make sure). Everything was A-OK. Randy handed me an original copy of the officially approved Customs border clearance documentation. And then Randy jumped in his truck and with a fond farewell headed back north to Canada and to ETI. And there I was with my brand new trailer. Oh my word! 🙂
And then … not only had it stopped raining, but the sun came out!
This had been an intense day, starting with that 8am Orientation, then the drive south to the Canadian border with the USA, then taking legal possession of the trailer in Sumas, WA, USA … and the day was only half over! Jan and I had lunch at Bob’s Burgers & Brew (in the tall log building with the teal roof in the photo above). I was finally able to take a deep breath and even relax a bit.
Jan and I spent the afternoon taking photos and double-triple checking everything about the trailer and the truck. Two problems surfaced with the trailer (I fixed both of them) … and some fun stuff happened too. I’ll tell you all about those things in the next post. Stay tuned for sure!