Well, here we are, still in Canada, thinking about getting dual citizenship,but what a sight, eh? This picture was taken Monday evening at sunset as we were headed to Steinbach, Manitoba. Our previous assignment was cancelled, and instead we find ourselves picking up boats in Canada and taking them into the States, how's that for a switch?
We arrived at the Lund Boat plant in Steinbach Tuesday morning. The employees here were very helpful, especially with the magnitude of paperwork which the USA requires for items being imported. This part of the shipping business always fills me with a bit of apprehension, especially when after you submit your paperwork, you have a few hours to wait before calling to see if you have clearance. It's almost like having to take that final exam at school and then the wait to see if you passed or not. Finally, you are at the mercy of the Customs Officers and whatever mood they seem to be on the day you cross the border. Oh well, hopefully with more practice it will become second nature.
As we left the plant, we got about 45 miles away and Craig noticied that something was amiss on the trailer. A wheel of a trailer on the last boat had moved! OH BOY..... we found a safe place to park on the side of the road and went to investigate.
The boat had shifted back about two feet and had slid off the wooden bunk they had placed under the axle of the boat trailer. Had we not checked it, I'm sure we might had seen that boat merrily going down the freeway on it's own. This was a first for us, so McGyver goes into action and finds some ways to strap down the boat as best he can. Of course the the plant where we got the boats loaded had closed, so after making a couple of phone calls to our dispatcher and the safety department, it was determined that we should go back to the plant and wait until morning to get this problem fixed.
So off we go, very slowly, back to the plant. We spent the night in their parking lot and waited to see the arrival of employees at dawn. Upon seeing the whites of the first employee's eyes, Craig was off and I was still in bed. I had somehow come down with the flu. Is it any wonder why I don't like coming to Canada with all this fun? Anyway, 4 hours later, with one less boat, we were finally back on our way with only one more hurdle to go.....Customs.
Thankfully the line was not too long. We got through the first section pretty well. Got asked some questions we haven't been asked before, such as "Ever been fingerprinted"?. Well that was one I could answer with a resounding "Yes, several times"! But might I add also with the comment that I was in law enforcement. Then off to the xray machine where they promptly asked us to exit our truck so they could search it. This was another first for us, but after only 3 minutes we were sent happily back into the USA.
We are now headed to Denver to drop off one of the boats as long as we miss the blizzard the dealer said was on it's way. Our life these days is just full of excitement and adventure and we wouldn't have it any other way!
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