A trip to New Jersey

[Barry Churcher]

Yesterday Wilf Alexander and I had to miss the OMVA show and make a quick 18 hour trip to New Jersey to look at an M1010 Chevrolet. We left at 4:00 am and headed for the border where we made a stop in Canada Customs to get clarification on a few items. Wilf fell in love with the cute little blonde Canada Customs agent. When we approached the US Customs lane the light was green but there was a pylon in front of the kiosk and not a soul was in sight. What to do? After a couple of minutes a lady came out of the kiosk and waved her arm which to us meant proceed. Then she waved her arms frantically telling us to stop. After 5 minutes she let us proceed to the kiosk and was she ever pissed. Can’t you guys read!!! That is called not getting off on the right foot. After some hard question she sent us on our way to Jersey. It was now my turn to drive and for the next 2 ½ hours we had a typical upstate New York blizzard. Unbelievable the cars and vans in the ditches. When the roads were better it was Wilf’s turn to drive and only once did he disobey the GPS and we had to backtrack, which once again confirms his nickname of “Wrong Way Willie”. We found the truck to be as described and a deal was struck. The next challenge will be the trip back to New Jersey for the retrieval. We made our way back to Canada and it just happened to be my turn to drive when we got to Scranton PA and the blizzard started again for the rest of the way to the border. As on the trip down the ditches were littered with vehicles. Another stop was made at US Customs to drop off the title and fill out the forms to have the vehicle checked for export from the US. It was a quick but satisfying adventure.
Barry

[Dirk Leegwater (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Barry Churcher

It was a quick but satisfying adventure......

Hi Barry, very nice truck you bought. Also nice for LwD in Europa
can I put them in the container over about half a year?
Well, anyway you know I love your Grey truck but ýour right, time for a new
grey (green) truck. I have a manual of the Chev maybe you like that.
About your trip to New Jersey, always amazing to hear the storys of you
guys hitting the road in Canada & US.

Gr. Dirk

[Barry Churcher]

Last weekend we made the trek back to New Jersey to pick up the truck. Again Wilf gave some of his time for this endeavour. We left at 4 a.m. on Friday and made it to Bridgewater by late afternoon. This trip was a little slower as we were driving Wilf's M1008 CUCV. We had to switch some tires around and get the odd sized one on the front and headed north to the Sussex County fairgrounds for the show there. This is a real good show and swap meet and I dropped quite a few US $$$ on some real bargains. This show is like an OMVA convention We only ran into Frank Moore, Brian Asbury, Barry Layton, Brian Olivery, Bob, Jeff and probably more I am forgetting. I managed to buy another trailer and Wilf graciously offered to tow it home. I was a little apprehensive about not being able to use Wilf's tow bar if my new truck acted up but all went well. I was willing to leave the trailer someplace if Wilf needed to tow me. We came back to the border in Convoy with Frank Moore and stayed in Watertown to wait for the US Customs on Monday. $66 US for the hotel. Cheap. Monday we drove to the border and cleared US Border Services in about four minutes. The customs officer thought the three CUCV's were the ugliest sight he had seen since his 20 years of US military service. Canada Customs took some of my money for duty and taxes and we were on our way. I was suprised how little money they wanted although I did have to pay the $100.00 air conditioning fee. It was a great trip and I will definitely be going back to Sussex for next years show.
Barry

This is the Humvee used in the movie "SALT"

[Barry Churcher]

This is Wilf's buddy Peter, who owns the Humvee. He and Wilf are talking over the Merits of Peter's prototype comutter vehicle for seniors. The young guy in the other photo is Peter's son Ryan. He is 17 years old and this is his vehicle. He and Wilf are about to go 4 wheelin in Ryans Blazer. This kid is well mannered, polite and according to Wilf he is real good behind the wheel of the Blazer. He also doesn't have any difficulty climbing into the lifted truck.
Barry

[Robin Craig]

Barry,

Knowing Wilf, I'm kind of curious as to what he might have been saying at the time, can we add our own captions?

Mine would be:-

"ya know I have a Caprice Classic that 30 cal would look good on, would really add to all the other bells and whistles I have"

R

[Barry Churcher]

Robin, this is a propane operated machine gun so Wilf wants to change the Caprice over to propane.

The first photo is Frank Moore in the lead with Wilf following with my new welder trailer.
The second photo is in the lane for Canada Customs.

[chris vickery]

Barry, I am curious as to what was used or required to plate your truck and insure it for the ride home to Canada?

[Barry Churcher]

Gord and Robin, the outlook is much better than I had anticipated on first viewing the scene. I was lucky enough to get away with only a dinted roof and a broken windshield. There are lots of scratches but the paint was crap anyway. I think what saved me was the tree uprooted and must have come down slowly and just rested on the truck. Many other trees in my yard actually broke and crashed down. I was really concerned about the “A” pillar but it’s okay.

Chris, I insured the vehicle with my regular company by just telling them I had purchased the vehicle in the US and wanted to drive it home. I put the valid plates from my other truck on the CUCV and drove it to the border. There I put on a dealer plate I had borrowed from my neighbour and went through US Customs. They have a space on their form for the licence plate
number of the vehicle. In the past I have always had enough time to buy a temporary plate in whichever state I have been buying a vehicle from, but this time we wanted to get to the Sussex show so I didn’t try. If I wasn’t able to borrow the dealer plate we would have just gone through Customs on a tow bar.
Cheers,
Barry

[Robin Craig]

Hmmm,

not quite sure what to say Barry , think I will go to the can and read my recently arrived tractor magazine . . . . reminds me of the tale of the guy from Ottawa (not me) who bought a S3 109 Land Rover at BATUS sale and bought some "green clothing" and drove home from BATUS to Ottawa all on the British Army plates still on the vehicle . . .


R