Oregon to Alaska, please help!

[Alan N]

Since we are telling border stories...... We took our skoolie to Alaska, all the way to deadhorse but that's another story.
In the course of this journey we crossed from Canada to the US twice , at Skagway and on the top of the world highway, no problems. When we were almost home after six weeks and 10000 miles we went to cross at Emerson Mb, the American border guy asks me if anyone on our bus had a medical condition? No we are all quite well, thanks.
Then he asks if we have a compass? I had to ask the children about this, no compass. He then has me pull up to the inspection area and has everyone except me get out then I drove the bus into the building. It was at this point that they told me we had set off the radiation alarm! They herded us into a little room while a bunch of guys started crawling all over our bus with funny little gizmos. The guys with gizmos finally congregated in the drivers area of the bus and were there for while before they came out. This is how I learned that my buses dashboard is radioactive! The instruments in the dash were designed to glow in the dark. The pointers and numbers were painted with radioactive tritium, the same substance used today in weapons sights. The radioactive glow had long since faded but there is enough radiation left to trip their alarm. So now almost every time we cross into the US we get a little extra attention but at least we know what to expect. I suppose I could swap out my gauges but that would be a real pain and expensive. Besides this gives the border guys something to do instead of hassling me about who knows what.
In all seriousness I am glad they are looking for such things and that their instruments are so sensitive.

[wrenchtech]

I have had the pleasure of making the drive up to Fairbanks Alaska from Washington state. And if that wasn’t enough, I got paid to do it. I drove an 18 wheeler loaded with motorcycles, late model Harley Davidson‘s belong to motor company executives, who flew into Fairbanks so they could drive the motorcycles down to Sturgis South Dakota for the big motorcycle wingding. You don’t see many 18 wheelers on the Alcan because it’s cheaper to ship freight by boat from Seattle to Juneau. The trip was a real eye-opener, a real once-in-a-lifetime experience. Who knew that North America was so freaking big! You drive for something like four days and see nothing but northern forest as far as the eye can see. And bears, everywhere bears, and moose and caribou. And since it was the middle of summer as I made my way northward the nights got shorter and shorter until it seems like there is no real night at all but only a few hours of twilight until it’s daytime again.Every North American should do it so they can say they know the continent upon which they live, just as they should also see the pyramids of The Sun and The Moon at Teotihuacan outside of Mexico City.

[wrenchtech]

In my earlier post I said that freight ships from Seattle to Juneau by boat. I meant to say Seattle to Anchorage..

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

Uhh...

You know the queen is English right?

I am guessing that you have not spent much time in Canada.......

I clearly remember being told by RCMP that "if they found any contraband in my bus that the bus would become 'property of the Queen'"

They still have English royalty pictured on their money.

When I had wife 1.0, I had in-laws all over Canada. I made many trips there until I uninstalled wife 1.0. An unexpected feature in the upgrade is that I will never have to visit Canada again.

[Maligator.]

Originally Posted by TJones

Funny story. A long time ago a buddy of mine was trying to move his ex girlfriends crap back to her house in Canada after they split. They wouldn't let him in because they thought he was trying to move there although all cloths were women's. "After our welfare Aeh!" They told him. He unloaded the ex's belongings at the border and left. He refuses to set foot in Canada to this day.

Ted

HAHAHA! that's so funny and ironic, he's trying to do the right thing and a good deed and they label him a welfare seeker. I wonder why canadiens think a person who is/has a bus made into a Home would WANT welfare! Bus life is about the most self sufficient, independent life you can have aside from camel/llamas and tents. I'm going to willingly give up MORE than welfare could ever give me to have a skoolie life for as long as I can, don't want or need welfare...lifes too short!

[Maligator.]

Lucky, lucky lucky is all I say to being paid to drive to Fairbanks with a load of harleys! I've seen them drive through year after year, theres a big dealership just outside of Wasilla and they rolled through in a big Pack with trail vehicles before they head East out of Palmer. It's actually enough of a spectacle they still post it the day before in the News, kids sit at Wasilla Lake park and watch hundreds of loud shiney motorcycles. I've driven the entire Alcan twice, once in the late 80s and once after I discharged from the Navy, it is still one of the rare place on this planet where you can truly see wildlife, untouched miles of rare beauty and spectacles most people dream of. I'm really looking forward to it but it's been almost 2 decades since I've been in Canada and reading all the border stories just makes me want to have all the "I's" and "T's" dotted. Thanks for chiming in, I'd love to hear Central and South America travels as well, sounds like you have those! Maybe I'll start another thread about Greatest 3-12 months Schoolie Trek experiences Veteran members have had so I don't clutter up this one!

[Maligator.]

Originally Posted by Alan N

the American border guy asks me if anyone on our bus had a medical condition? No we are all quite well, thanks.
Then he asks if we have a compass? I had to ask the children about this, no compass. He then has me pull up to the inspection area and has everyone except me get out then I drove the bus into the building. It was at this point that they told me we had set off the radiation alarm! They herded us into a little room while a bunch of guys started crawling all over our bus with funny little gizmos. The guys with gizmos finally congregated in the drivers area of the bus and were there for while before they came out. This is how I learned that my buses dashboard is radioactive! The instruments in the dash were designed to glow in the dark. The pointers and numbers were painted with radioactive tritium, the same substance used today in weapons sights. The radioactive glow had long since faded but there is enough radiation left to trip their alarm.
In all seriousness I am glad they are looking for such things and that their instruments are so sensitive.

That's scary sensitive, glad they didn't have to tear your home apart! My biggest fear is having months of hard work destroyed because they think you are a smuggler of some kind. They don't even fix their damage or compensate you, just an apology and blah about national security, then Next please!

[Alan N]

They told me that they had pulled the dash panel and looked behind it. I wouldn't have known if they hadn't told me.
I've only run into one totally unreasonable and deranged border official, thankfully she had a coworker with a brain. It was hilarious, she stood in the road stomped her feet and screamed "There's No Way This Combine Is Coming Into Canada!"

[superFreddie]

Your bus looks wonderful. Good luck with all. My new skoolie and I drove from Ontario into New York for my first trip as a Canadian Snowbird last November. We were across in the Nexus Lane in minutes. my only error was choosing a normal car lane to drive through which was a touch narrow for the bus and seemed to upset the customs officer a little bit. Once I put this to her that I could never get it through with no problem, we were done and gone in moments. I anticipate no problems on the reverse trip in April.