Truck tales
We had made the deal I had the paper work, I had notified the border crossing, they had done all the necessary checks I was cleared to bring the truck into Canada. We agreed when I had some spare time I would catch a plane over and drive back, I had a fly anytime ticket so one evening I booked a flight to Grand Rapids Michigan, I took my Car hauler to Saskatoon so I could get both vehicles back to the house running solo. I parked at the airport in Saskatoon jumped on the plane, during the stop over in St. Paul Minneapolis I called up and spoke to Doug, the CEO and Ron’s hunting partner just to let them know I would be arriving in a couple of hours. Ron had apparently neglected to inform Doug needless to say he was a little more than shocked at my pending arrival, he said the truck was not ready to go, DO NOT COME TO MICHIGAN TURN AROUND. Which is what I ended up doing catching the next flight back to Saskatoon, kind of like flying to St Paul just for coffee. Doug ended up saying they would drive the truck up themselves in November, which was fine except for the fact that when they crossed the border they were supposed to cross at North Portal where all the paper work was. But no they crossed at Pembina Manitoba and neglected to say they were leaving the truck, now we had the truck in Canada which we drove on their plates until I could get back down to the border and register the truck coming into Canada. After the hunting season I was down in Okotoks close enough to the border that I moved the paper work from Portal to Cardston Alberta. One morning just before Christmas along with my father in law and the dog we took a drive to register the truck. At the border crossing I was informed that as GST would be incurred I had to cross at Sweet Grass / Coutts as they handled such transactions, so 60 miles further we went. At this crossing they didn’t believe a word I said, I was a criminal they took me into the back room drilled me about the deal didn’t believe me, had me make a statement about my relationship with the hunters and the particulars of the deal. I did have the company lawyer’s number in Michigan but didn’t get an answer; I had dealt with him over the paper work. Eventually I found Dougs phone number which the border Officer called and seemed to be satisfied with Dougs explanation. We paid the GST got all the paper work and were told the internal department would be in touch. It had been a long day when we finally headed back to Okotoks. The next morning the phone woke me just after 6:00 AM It was Sergeant Minard of the RCMP would I come down to the station, there was a situation with the truck. At this point I am wishing I had never seen this truck, what could the RCMP possibly want now. It turns out Ron and Doug needed a good laugh before their morning coffee at my expense and without a doubt they really had me going. Today the truck just got back from Kirriemuir Alberta and still manages to navigate the Goat Trail around Ministikwan Lake with over 300 thousand hard miles on the Chevrolet Silverado. |
