Sunday, August 16, 2009

6 August 2009 Vancouver, British Columbia Canada














At breakfast, I pigged out because I was starving. I then asked the receptionist to call for a taxi for me. I grabbed all my shipping documents and headed downstairs to wait for the taxi. The taxi was there in five minutes. I gave him the address and off we go to Air Canada Cargo. I walk in the door and everybody knew I was looking for a motorcycle. I ended up at a counter. The woman helped me with everything and then sent me to Canadian Customs in another building that was a fair hike from Air Canada Cargo. I walked over there and in the process my arm length grew from carrying my computer and document bags. I found the building with some difficulty but I found it without having to ask someone. I walked in there, took a number and waited. I probably waited fifteen minutes before I was helped. When my number was called, I walked up and showed my documents and passport. She asked me some questions such as if I bought the motorcycle in Canada. I said no. Are you planning on selling the motorcycle in Canada? I said no. I then told her I had driven my motorcycle around the world and shipped it to Vancouver, B.C. from Korea. I planned to pick it up in Vancouver and ride it back to St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. She went and talked to someone about something then came back and stamped my paperwork. She then said go back to Air Canada Cargo and pick up the motorcycle. I walked back again and my arm continued to grow. I waited in line to be waited on again. I probably waited another 15 minutes and then a guy processed my paperwork. He looked at my customs, storage and some kind of x-ray fee and said this is nuts. He walked back into the warehouse to see about a reduction in price and didn’t get an answer. He then headed to some supervisors office and got my storage fee reduced by $150 Canadian Dollars. I still had to pay him nearly $300 Canadian Dollars. Once everything was paid for, the guy said take a left, go into the warehouse and give them the paperwork. I walked outside, took a left and I ended up in the Post Office. The lady in the post office says this happens all the time and to go back into the office. Once you’re in the office take a left and you will end up in the warehouse. She says I don’t know why they don’t tell people that. So I back to the office, take the left and sure enough I’m in the warehouse. There are two people ahead of me and the fork truck is presently loading a truck. I waited almost 30 minutes before it was my turn to have my motorcycle brought up. When the fork truck driver asked me how I was going to haul my motorcycle I said I was planning on riding out of the warehouse if I could. He said he would take it to the back door, drop it outside where I could open the box and assemble the motorcycle. I said that would be great. He told me to leave the wood leaning against the building and it would be recycled later. I said no problem, and did he have a hammer? He did, and gave it to me under the condition that I promise not to take it home with me. I gave him my word on that. Hard as it might be to believe that bloody box was hard to open. I pounded on it a quite awhile until I opened up a crack where I could get the claws of the hammer into it. Then I just kept opening the crack wider and wider until I could get a pry bar into it. I then pried the top loose and lifted the top of the box off. I removed the sides in a similar manner except the bottom didn’t come loose that easy. It took a bit more hammering and prying to undo that nailing. When all four sides were off I removed the shrink wrapping and there was my motorcycle. I picked up the saddle bags and top box and set them on the white foam so as not to scratch them up on the blacktop. One of the top box mounts on one side was damaged during shipping so I had to take a file and file off the burr where some steel part rubbed on the aluminum until it pushed up a burr. I growled about that. With all the saddle bags and top box off the pallet I removed all the hold down straps. I then rolled my motorcycle off the skid. The first thing I did was to see if it would run. When I first tried to start it seemed like it was flooded. I held the throttle open and it started to come to life. But wouldn’t start. I turned the engine over again and this time it started and blew out black smoke until it cleared itself. I kept it at a fast idle until I figured it would idle by itself. I then took it for a ride around the parking lot until it warmed up. After all the cranking on the starter I wanted to charge the battery up some. Then back to the pallet to put on the top box, saddle bags and the mirrors. I had a complete motorcycle again. I repacked all the saddle bags and top box again the way they were before we shipped the motorcycle. I then packed all the remaining odds and ends in my black bags and I was ready to leave. While I was assembling my motorcycle several guys stopped by to talk about my around the world adventure and of course, politics. It was great talking with everybody. Before I left I cleaned up the area and the last thing I did was to move the pallet the motorcycle was shipped on. I then realized the extra $1300 I paid to ship this motorcycle from Korea to the U.S.A. was to pay for the shipping of the wood. Man that box was heavy. I bet that box weigh 150 Pounds or 68 Kilograms. So before you all fly off the handle I also know the price of shipping that box and my motorcycle was based on volume. i.e. L x W x H., not solely on weight. I hope that makes sense to you all. With everything cleaned up I headed back to the hotel. I did one other thing before I left Air Canada Cargo. I stopped in and asked the lady in the post office if she knows who rides the red Kawasaki KLR 650 sitting outside in front of her window. She described the guy and I went into Canada Air Cargo to ask if anyone knew this guy. Not one soul knew who this guy was. I was kind of shocked. Then one guy took off and said he thinks he knows who rides the KLR 650. He disappeared and returned in a few minutes saying the guy is coming down in a few minutes and to hang on. So I waited and the guy eventually showed up. We then went outside and talked about KLR 650’s for about an hour. Anyway, he had to get back to work and I gave him my blog address if he wished to read about my 2009 round the world journey. So I leave and guess what? I get myself lost. It was a bit of a challenge to find the Days Inn with no map and no Matilda. I knew if I found the Holiday Inn I could find the Days Inn. I finally snaked around the area until I found the Holiday Inn and then I just drove over to the Days Inn. I asked the receptionist if she knews where a coin laundry was, and she whipped out a map from her file cabinet which showed the nearest laundry with directions. I went upstairs and collected all my dirty clothes and headed to the laundry. All my clothes went into the washing machine, even the ones I was wearing. I was sitting there in a pair of pants and my jacket. I got some strange looks from people. That was the first time all my clothes were washed at the same time probably in 1½ to 2 months. I put in two boxes of soap to get out any grease that you don’t get out with hand washing and used hot water. When I dried them. I used the max heat so my Levi’s came out dry. When I was finished with them they were the best feeling clothes I had on in months. On the way back to the hotel I drove by a car wash. I stopped in and sprayed down my motorcycle to get rid of any loose dirt and to clean the radiator out. I then drove back to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow I am heading for Seattle, Washington. I tried e-mailing my sister Carol before I went to bed but had no luck with the WiFi in the hotel. I tried it again later in the night down by the receptionist desk and still no luck. So I don’t know what’s going on there. I guess she will just have to be surprised when I show up.

1 comment:

  1. Dave : Im the guy with the red KLR at Air Canada.
    Hope your adventure is going well . Watch out for bears !!

    ReplyDelete