We left the KOA later than normal since we only had about a 100 mile drive . We plotted a route across the southern farmland of Ontario as we find this part of the Province rather scenic with its mixture of rolling hills and bright green recently planted farmlands dotted with dairy farms each with fun striped colors on their silos. Most were either green and white striped or red and white striped and we wondered if there was any significance to the colors or if it was just a bit of frivolity the farmers had when painting their barns and silos.
Well it wasn’t long and the signs in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada started directing all cars and RVs to the left lane as we were about to enter the USA on the Blue Water Bridge. As we crossed the last bridge leaving Canada they fleeced us for one more $10.50 toll. Then as we got to the US customs they had all RV’s going into only two lanes with cars. I thought this was odd since it makes more sense for RV’s to go in with trucks due to their size. Then it was our turn so we started forward into our lane hoping the customs folks would not take any of our goods.
The lane I was in had a traffic cone just below the officer’s window and as I tried to maneuver in such a way as to not hit it I heard that nasty crunching sound that RV’ers never want to hear. Then it suddenly dawned on me that I had just lost my passenger side mirror… sigh…now I know how Vic and Pam felt and worse, knew what it was going to cost me after reading about their encounter. The custom’s guy was as rude as most of them always seem to be and simply said “Well aren't you going to get out and pick up the broken pieces of mirror?” “Pull forward and pick it up.” … and Sharon jumped out to quickly retrieve the pieces.
A uniformed officer directed over to the lanes on the left since the terse fellow said he wanted the “State” to look over their building to see if we had damaged it. I assumed he figured they wanted to make a claim on our insurance but as I noticed and the”State” also found, there was no significant damage to their building. In fact the “State” lady was just the opposite of Mr. Custom’s guy as she was kind and understanding even sharing a few stories about how she hoped that one day she wanted to do what we were doing in eight years after she retires. She also told us that although the signage doesn't say so, lane ten is for wider RV's...I guess we know that for next time.....
After chatting awhile with the nice lady, she gave us the go ahead to drive on out. We couldn't believe it...no inspection? I can only assume they felt we had enough issues for one day and just let us through. I used the passenger side camera in lieu of a mirror and merged on into traffic. We talked about the accident and could not believe that neither one of us noticed the tight space but the lady explained that the outside is wide and that the inside narrowed after they added another inside wall for their equipment. I was focused on the cone and Sharon on our passports so stuff just happens... at least we ate a homemade pizza that day…
Well there you have it. It took a bit over two years before we incurred our first costly damage to the the RV. An estimate from the maker of the mirror said it will cost us about $600 shipped to where we are in Michigan. We will be here at a Thousand Trails Encore Park called St Clair RV Resort where we will stay till July 3rd. Then we will head southwest a bit over to the Wayne County Fairgrounds & RV Park near Bellville, Michigan where we will visit with one of Sharon’s cousins.Thankfully her cousin consented to our shipping the mirror to his house so I can hopefully install it by myself while at the fairgrounds… all in the life of a fulltimer…
Ouch! So sorry that happened but now you've got it out of the way. Most never make it 2 years. You did good :)
ReplyDelete$600 for a mirror. One of the reasons we don't have an expensive RV. What is it with customs officers? You would think they could do their jobs exactly the same without the attitude problem.
ReplyDeletewww.travelwithkevinandruth.com
you might want to price your now to encourage you not to lose it...
DeleteIt's probably a "Velvac" mirror, and if the whole thing was busted, it would be pricey. Especially since it's heated, has the little remote control thingies and may very well have the rear view camera.
ReplyDeleteDon't ask me how I know all this.
Two years is pretty good. Don't take it too hard.
ramco engineering mirror...
DeleteWe sure didn't make it two years! I think we had damage every trip for the first year. Much was very expensive!
ReplyDeleteWOW $600! OUCH!! We've broke the lower piece of the driver's side mirror so we didn't have to replace it all only the convex part, not the motor or the housing. David says it was only $50 in 2010 for a driver convex heated mirror repair kit for our Velvac mirror. He says you should try Ryder Fleet Products to see if they have the mirror you need. Might save yourself some serious money. At least worth a try.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain and then to be insulted by a rude custom's person. I'm with Kevin, what's with the attitude. Maybe when we all go to Canada we should just stay so we don't have to deal with US Customs personnel. Why is it they can't be nicer? Everyone complains about them.
called around and direct from the manufacturer was the best price...
DeleteOh how well we know what this experience feels like. We had Tiffin send us the mirror but Vic did not want to mess with the install as we cut the wires to avoid having the whole thing hanging there. Happily, it's all behind us now--another hard lesson learned. Glad the homemade pizza helped ease the pain. Hope you had an adult libation or two to accompany it.
ReplyDeleteI read once that one of the tests for being able to survive well in the twenty first century is to be able to laugh within ten minutes of having a fender bender. You pass.
If I remember correctly, our first "incident" was losing our driver side mirror to a truck on a narrow road in Baja, Mexico. Been too long for me to figure the cost.... Another incident was when a drink cooler flew out of a boat that was being towed... smacked us square on in the grill etc. About 10 miles down the road we saw the truck pulled over inspecting the boat. Stuff happens.... we always figure if we're not hurt and nobody else is, what the heck? Sounds like you're doing just fine!
ReplyDeleteToo bad an expensive oopsy. Our first was and accident in Mexico after 3 years on the road. All body work and paint In mexico was only $320.00 so I guess we got off lucky.
ReplyDeleteMaybe should have stayed here for the Canada Day Party.
Travel safe and have fun.
ps,,, watch them mirrors
We lived in Belleville on the lake for 15 years. The campground at the Fairgrounds is just a field, but unfortunately it is the only reasonably priced place anywhere around there. Don't park on top of Jimmy Hoffa.
ReplyDeleteBut, you know Jimmy is not there. He is under the Meadowlands in Jersey. Or under a driveway in Warren. Or in a field in Milford. Or Armada.
DeleteSure know how you feel. Last year we pulled off of the highway in Northern California to go to a rest area. It required a tight right turn onto a frontage road, and another motorhome was leaving. Bottom line, as I made the turn we heard a faint scraping, which I thought was a tree/bush limb along the top. When we stopped I walked around and did not see any damage up there. Just before we left I decided to walk around again and look "down" instead of up....there it was. I had kissed the guardrail, which put a nice scratch back by the rear tire well. I felt so bad....laughable today, but hard to take the day it happened, and for days/weeks after.
ReplyDeleteDave (Marcia and Bubba and Skruffy)
GoingRvWay.com
I busted my passenger side mirror in a narrow toll booth, but with no camera on the side, I was lost. Pulled into a truck repair shop and they rigged up a mirror for me. I ordered mine direct from the manufacturer and a friend installed it for me. Pictures are on my blog around Nov. 5th 2011.
ReplyDeleteRon seems to be on some black list going into Canada and always gets searched. I don't think we'll be going back.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the mirror. Good thing you have that side camera.
Bummer- those mirrors are expensive. Customs guys are the worst. I mean really. You would think they were doing the worst job in the world. Glad the other lady was nicer. That pizza looks good.
ReplyDeleteIRS employees probably could give Customs a real challenge. Hope they don't read blogs -- but the NSA will probably let them know.
DeleteOur crunch happened in a gas station that was too small. We scraped the back side of the MH (not too noticeable after some work). We did not know that we had clipped of the driver's side mirror of the car until we arrived at our destination four hours later. I got to spend some quality time at a Toyota repair shop. It happens.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry. Good luck in making the repairs. Give Sharon our best.
ReplyDeleteOuch ... sorry to hear about the mirror incident. I hold my breath every time we have to go through a toll booth where the truck lane isn't open.
ReplyDelete