Community Forums

Bob&AnnaMari · 12-13-2015, 01:17 PM

I think the worst thing you can do is "overthink" this (which is what I did last summer for out pending trip to Canada). The only "constant" is that every border crossing and inspection is usually different.

Having read so much [mis]information about what to expect when entering Canada, I scheduled an extra day in Shelby, MT to allow for a drive up to the border to see what I needed to enter Canada. What a waste of time. The border agent just said to show up and they would handle things then. When we did enter Canada, things could not have been easier. I just made sure to focus on the questions being asked and answer each of them accurately. The whole experience was very nice and a wonderful introduction to a wonderful trip to Banff.

As you may or may not be aware, a lot of the "Inspection Stations" are now on the freeways. On our trip from CA to New Orleans we were stopped at two of these "Immigration" checkpoints. There are about 20 cameras on a pod along the side of the road and I would imagine they are doing automated license plate "checks" on each vehicle that passes through. Our coach was "sniffed" each time and on one checkpoint the dog was apparently confused by something he smelled because there was an extended "sniff" of our coach. But, unlike the old days of crossing the Hoover Dam, no one entered our rig or asked to inspect anything below the floor.

So my advice to you is just put away your worries and enjoy the adventure. If you catch a cranky inspector you might have a delay. But, odds are strongly in your favor of just having a breeze of a time.

Just my experiences.

**CLIFFTALL** · 12-13-2015, 02:32 PM

Let's knock of the US vs Canada comments and get back to the topic .Thanks

rockabilly · 12-13-2015, 02:46 PM

We have been crossing the US/CAN border 5 or 6 times a year for the last 30+
years and never had an issue until last spring. We were on our way south and know not to take any food etc across the US border. I pulled up to the inspection point and handed the officer our passports. He said turn off the engine your going to be here for a while. So 3 officers searched the rig and the toad and of course we had nothing on board. It turned out they were searching for...........'CHICKEN'. Yep, earlier an rv had some frozen chicken in their fridge
so it was high alert.

ArmandV · 12-13-2015, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mel s

ArmandV
Did you take your legally-owned gun??

No. We flew from L.A. to Vancouver, Canada and were put on a bus to our cruise ship.

The question I had was because when camping in the U.S., I generally keep my "peace-keeper" in the rig as many others do.

bdpreece · 12-13-2015, 02:50 PM

A couple of years ago we were in our motorhome in Texas and went through a border patrol checkpoint (well within the US borders). Supposedly their dog alerted to drugs in our motorhome so they had us pull to the side of the road. The wife and I were asked to exit the motorhome and take our dog with us. They separated us and then interrogated each of us while with my permission they took the drug dog into the motorhome for a search. The funniest part of this at least to me was the agent interrogating me kept asking me if I was a US citizen, [Moderator Edit] Spent about 45 minutes on the side of the road then it was "You can go" no sorry, have a nice day or anything. As stated by others the Border Patrol can do most anything they want and we have no real recourse. I suspect with the present state of terrorism this will only get worse.