I am having one of the wosrt weeks of my driving life. I had to drive down to NYC monday which was supposed to be a holiday, hook to a load for Montreal but when the idiot bought me the load he had forgot the damm customs forms etc, I drove to Plattekill sevice area on I-87 phoned the shipper who then faxed me the documents to the location, then I drove to Wilton truck stop at exit 16 on I-87 northway to stop for the night and get up at 04.30 to get a damm PARS stickrer faxed to me, which in turn I then photocopied onto the customs doc and faxed to the broker. I neared the border with fear, remembering the 3 hours spent there on my last Canuck venture but was shocked when the guy stamped the docs and said I was all clear and carry on to Montreal, a total of 3 minutes 
However on my arrival at Kraft / Christies which I found with no problem this time I was informed there waould be a 24 hour delay and I was not happy. I walked to the main street and found a store to buy grub “No American dollar Monsiur”
I walked to a bank and asked to change just $20.00 and the robbing cow chaged me $4.00 to do it, walked ack to the same store bught urgent supplies, ie; Mars bars, Crunchies, and Aeros 
Got a coffee at Tim Hortons and a sandwhich then went to my truck, got a call telling me it would be thursday before I could unload, went beserk and was then told they will pay me hourly from arrival to my eventually departure, this calmed me down a bit so I then hauled my ■■■ and my load to the crappy excuse for a Flying J at Napierville, no showers and crap grub. Back this morning to Kraft and still no room which put me over the top. I called the company and said their trailer woild be dropped on some firm ground outside Kraft and goodbye. Within 15 minutes a man from Kraft came to see me and told me to drop my trailer in their building and gave me directions to the Flying J at Vaudreuil-Dorion which is where I am now and have paid for an hour on the web to catch up with EMails etc. I will see you all back in civilisation if I ever get there … by the way ! this Flying J has showers
You should do a spot of sightseeing, it’s a beautiful city, frittering away hours in a Flying J will give you brain damage
" STRANDED IN HELL "
You do have a flair for the dramatic Pat
Charles
Oh dear…your recent trips to our magnificent True North have not been going well at all! If it makes you feel any better, I’ve just been shafted by a useless customs broker who only works until 4:30pm and refuses to rectify their ■■■■ up until the morning so I’m now sitting at Blaine, Washington waiting to enter BC.
As for that Flying J you’re in, I’ve never been a fan of it. If I’m stuck in Montreal I always head out the other way towards Quebec City on the 20 (south side of the St Lawrence) to the Irving Big Stop at exit 145. Free internet (when it works!) excellent showers and much better parking than Vaudreuil.
I’ve heard of quite a few incidents where the brokers ■■■■ off early and leave you stranded over there, one of my mates got bolted up for a long weekend there when he was on Big Freight, not good, never crossed ther myself, so don’t know what the facilities are like, but unless it’s dramatically different from every other border crossing, I can’t imagine there’s a lot around
newmercman:
I’ve heard of quite a few incidents where the brokers [zb] off early and leave you stranded over there, one of my mates got bolted up for a long weekend there when he was on Big Freight, not good, never crossed ther myself, so don’t know what the facilities are like, but unless it’s dramatically different from every other border crossing, I can’t imagine there’s a lot around
There isn’t. Just been ejected by Canada customs from their yard and had the joy of re-entering the US and I’m now parked at whats described as a “Large” parking area in that pocket sized truckstop guide…This so called large truck stop makes the average Pilot look like the Iowa 80! Theres parking for about 10 trucks at the end and then a bit of road side parking down a sort of back alley. Maybe it’ll look better in the morning, its pitch black at the minute with no lighting at all.
Thats probably me screwed for the weekend though as I’m still 230 miles away from Kelowna, BC and my reload is supposed to be 200 miles away from that, so I’m thinking maybe back to Vancouver and as the broker wont come in until 8am it wont leave much time. I’ve never been to BC before but I’m presuming that given the terrain I’m not going to be making fast progress anywhere.
BC is ok, the first bit is flat and all dual carriageway, until the Coquihalla Pass, that’s a big climb, sort of like the drag up to the Gotthard Tunnel in Swiss. From Kelowna going east it goes down to to two lane and gets hilly, but at this time of year that ain’t a problem, in winter it’s a different story
I got turned around and sent back to the US once, not a pleasant experience, the border guards were not best pleased that I had been refused entry to Canada and gave me a bit of a hard time, to say te least 
I did a little bit of sight seeing thanks Mark, I have been around Montreal lots of times before as a tourist and the factory I go to is right next door to the Olympic park and another huge park with an ‘Insectarium’. I just used the Flying j for a few hours thursday to get a shower and decent meal and it was decent too, proper all day breakfast with bottomless coffee and raspberry jam on toast for $9.50 can’t be bad and there was free internet inside that section of the Flying J.
I ran back to the plant last night bobtail and hooked up to my trailer at 07.00am to pull it out of the warehouse, reversed to my unloading port and the main geezer came out with a big grin on his face “So Patrick, have you enjoyed your stay in Montreal ?” he said, then handed me an official Kraft detention slip with 73 hours written on it so apart from my load pay, border crossing pay, holiday pay and other usual extras which I will not go into just the detention pay tops $1150.00 before the rest is stuck on. I shouldn’t moan about that should I
The grief I got from border crossing was on the US side this time. I pulled up at the only booth open and no smiling face but a very stern one looked out a me, I handed him my BOL and passport… “Manifest” said the man.
“What manifest ?” I replied.
“The manifest you fill out with plate numbers etc on it, you must have it ready before yo come here”
“I have no idea what you mean sir” I said.
“Have you ever crossed here before ?”
“Yes, about 2 months back” the guy looks at the screen.
“It say’s here you were told to carry manifest forms with you in future”
“I swer to you I was told nothing, where do I get them ?”
“Here” he said and tossed me a couple “Go inside and fill one out”
I went in to find one nasty git at the desk full of stops and a room full of officers drinking coffee and telling jokes, I stood in line for 45 minutes before being clled up to pay my $10.75. Those guys have no sense of humour and unlike the previous trip couldn’t smile if their life depended on it. Last trip there it was the Canucks that gave me a hard time.
newmercman:
BC is ok, the first bit is flat and all dual carriageway, until the Coquihalla Pass, that’s a big climb, sort of like the drag up to the Gotthard Tunnel in Swiss. From Kelowna going east it goes down to to two lane and gets hilly, but at this time of year that ain’t a problem, in winter it’s a different storyI got turned around and sent back to the US once, not a pleasant experience, the border guards were not best pleased that I had been refused entry to Canada and gave me a bit of a hard time, to say te least
It all worked out for the best in the end. Due to sitting on the border for almost 12 hours and being unable to get back to Vancouver in time for the reload, they managed to pull a different reload out of the bag right in Kelowna only 6 miles from my tip. I’m now in the Flying J at Post Falls, Idaho on my way down to Wichita Falls, Texas for Tuesday.
Pat Hasler:
The grief I got from border crossing was on the US side this time. I pulled up at the only booth open and no smiling face but a very stern one looked out a me, I handed him my BOL and passport… “Manifest” said the man.
“What manifest ?” I replied.
“The manifest you fill out with plate numbers etc on it, you must have it ready before yo come here”
“I have no idea what you mean sir” I said.
“Have you ever crossed here before ?”
“Yes, about 2 months back” the guy looks at the screen.
“It say’s here you were told to carry manifest forms with you in future”
“I swer to you I was told nothing, where do I get them ?”
“Here” he said and tossed me a couple “Go inside and fill one out”
I went in to find one nasty git at the desk full of stops and a room full of officers drinking coffee and telling jokes, I stood in line for 45 minutes before being clled up to pay my $10.75. Those guys have no sense of humour and unlike the previous trip couldn’t smile if their life depended on it. Last trip there it was the Canucks that gave me a hard time.
The best of it is that each border will have their own preference of what they want when you enter the US empty. Some want you to fill in the Inbound Manifest, some want a printed Ace Manifest sheet stating the truck is empty and others are happy for you to roll up the the window, tell them your empty and thats it.
You really ought to get your company to give you a sheet or two or pars stickers as well, all this photocopyinp/taping on just wont do, lol.
After my previous trip up there I asked for some PARS stickers and was told Don’t need them we’ll never send you there again"
As it happens the PARS thing worked out easy this time, I just had it faxed to me, then photocopied it on the customs declaration form then faxed it to the broker. I was shocked when I arrived at the Canadian side and was told everyting was ok and on my way
I don’t even think it took 3 minutes.
Pat Hasler:
After my previous trip up there I asked for some PARS stickers and was told Don’t need them we’ll never send you there again"
As it happens the PARS thing worked out easy this time, I just had it faxed to me, then photocopied it on the customs declaration form then faxed it to the broker. I was shocked when I arrived at the Canadian side and was told everyting was ok and on my way
I don’t even think it took 3 minutes.
There is very rarely any issue with the Canadian side to be honest. 9 times out of 10 I’m at the window between 60 and 90 seconds and I’m in. Its generally the American side thats slow, hence the huge queues going in to the US much of the time. A classic example is Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan/Ontario. It often queues right over the two bridges to get in to the US and if it is, you can easily wait two hours just to get to the window, only to be asked all sorts of stupid questions, be x-rayed, backed onto a dock to be examined etc so that by the time you’re done you’ve lost almost 4 hours! Then on the return crossing you simply pay the toll, drive past American customs and over the bridge, looking at hundreds of frustrated and bored motorists and truck drivers, roll down to Canadian customs where there will probably be nothing in front of you at all, or at most 2 or 3 trucks.
I’d be asking for those pars stickers though, sounds like you may be becoming their Canada man!
So true about the American side INS and border control are total ■■■■■■■■ and think they are the be all and end all. Yesterday for instance after my run in with the first check pont guy and i went inside there were 6 desks with two officers both of whome just ignored the long line of people standing there for 20 minutes and a group of about 8 other officers sat behind telling jokes and drinking coffee, strange how they can laugh and smile with eachother but look like they have been eating wasps when they come face to face with the public. I stood there, manifest in hand along with a $20 bill and eventually got beconed by some big ugly git who as is the norm with INS spoke to me like I was trash.
Total twonks.
Even I know about PARS stickers and I’m a rookie 
only problems I had is when the ■■■■■■■ customer never faxed the paperwork off and had to sit in Detriot for the night. Never again!!!
taffytrucker:
Even I know about PARS stickers and I’m a rookie
Been there, done that! Thats got to be the worst possible place to be turned around.
Pat Hasler:
So true about the American side INS and border control are total [zb] and think they are the be all and end all. Yesterday for instance after my run in with the first check pont guy and i went inside there were 6 desks with two officers both of whome just ignored the long line of people standing there for 20 minutes and a group of about 8 other officers sat behind telling jokes and drinking coffee, strange how they can laugh and smile with eachother but look like they have been eating wasps when they come face to face with the public. I stood there, manifest in hand along with a $20 bill and eventually got beconed by some big ugly git who as is the norm with INS spoke to me like I was trash.
Total twonks.
I’ve noticed that a lot of the borders have smartened up their act in the 3 1/2 years I’ve been here. In 2009 it was the norm to be treated like crap on all US borders but now a lot of them are more friendly than those on the Canadian side. They’ve obviously been made to do it as being nice to the general public doesn’t come naturally to them.
It’s not just border crossings, airport INS staff are nasty beasts also. I have very nasty experiences comming through imigration desks at JFK and Newark, only one time did I actually find a smile at one of those desks and that was the time when if she had actually checked my entry on that occasion was ilegal I had been virtually told to get my ■■■ out of the USA only 5 days earlier All she said was “Back so soon, you must love it here”
Tomorrow (Monday) I have to drag this trailer down to OJ’s tank wash in Kerny NJ, wash and dry it then get another Montreal load put in it but then drop it for some other poor soul to take it. It seems that as everyone who loads them messes up the paperwork, I already know what is needed.
Pat Hasler:
Tomorrow (Monday) I have to drag this trailer down to OJ’s tank wash in Kerny NJ, wash and dry it then get another Montreal load put in it but then drop it for some other poor soul to take it. It seems that as everyone who loads them messes up the paperwork, I already know what is needed.
I think you should run with it coz you know what to do and where to go etc Pat 