the best laid plans....

I had all of the details worked out for the move. I had all the right paperwork, I had the forms, I had everything we'd need for the move. I had the inventory of everything we own and values in triplicate. Triplicate! I had the import papers for the car, I had that EPA paper for the car saying it passed emissions. I had every box meticulously labeled. I had papers for our cat, saying she was in good health. I had papers saying we were bringing goods across the border. I had a list of random things we'd bought in the past year, in triplicate, because we'd read that they wanted to know what we'd purchased in the past year.

My son and hubby rode together in the 26' truck, along with out cat and everything we own except what was packed into suitcases and carry on luggage in our car, which I was driving. We pull up to the border - the sign says 10 minute wait. We walkie-talkie back and forth (because we don;t own cell phones) and decide to use the passenger lane, even for the truck, because the truck lane is completely loaded with trucks. As promised, we reach the actual border in 10 minutes.

I'm behind them in the car, so I watch the border guard talk with my husband for a few minutes, expecting him to say the truck needs to pull over to the building for inspection. Or that at least he has to go in and show the inventory of our stuff. But the guard waves him on and my husband begins to pull over toward the road instead. Wow, sweet, they're through! So fast, no hassle - rock on!

I pull up and show him my passport and say I'm with them. He asks if I'm importing the car, too. Yes, I say. He tells me to pull to the right by the building and go in to give them the paperwork. No problem, and I radio to Hubby to let him know I'm going in to give them the paperwork for the car. He says great, they'll be at the gas station filling up the truck. Great. I park, go in, am seen by someone immediately, and hand over my paperwork. I say, "oh, you also probably want the registration," at the exact second that my brain is showing me a picture of where said registration is. In the folder for "Auto license and registration" in the filing cabinet...which is in the truck. The one that just drove across the border and to the gas station several blocks from where I now stood.

Oh.

Um...

Right.

I delude myself, thinking no, it cannot be in there, it must be in the glove box of the car, right? So I go out to the car and search the glove box. Right. Not there, just as I actually knew but was pretending not to. So I try and radio Hubby to let him know. After all, these rockin' walkie-talkies we bought have a 23-mile radius! He can just open the truck, find the file cabinet, get the folder, then drive back to just before the border and meet me there! A quick walk across and we're good, no worries. A slight snag.

I radio him. No answer. I try again. No answer. I explain my predicament to the border guards who watch the cars, then let them know I'm going to walk to the gas station to get the paper I need. I begin walking there, and keep trying to radio Hubby to let him know what's up. I'm pretty sure he packed the file cabinet close to last, so I'm sure it is near the back of the truck. This shouldn't be too big a deal.

I am able to reach him as soon as I am away from the border building. I let him know of my missing registration and where it is. He lets me know that the file cabinet is, in fact, near the back of the truck. Oh. Well, we need the registration or no car, so he begins to unload the truck in the parking lot of the gas station while I keep walking toward them.

Right about the time he'd gotten a significant amount of our stuff offloaded from the truck, one of the lovely employees at said gas station came out to yell at him to move the truck, because "he was blocking the semis from getting in" even though the semis were driving around him just fine. When he explained his predicament, her response was, "Well, I know you've got all your stuff out here, but you need to move." She went back inside. He didn't move. She didn't return.

Meanwhile I was walking to the gas station, and Kiernen and I were radioing back and forth - which likely was keeping him occupied and out of his Daddy's hair while he unloaded the truck. Right when I got to the truck, Josh had unearthed the filing cabinet, I handed him the key I'd retrieved from my keyring before I left the border. The folder was retrieved, washrooms were used, orange juice was purchased, my poor exhausted Hubby finished reloading the truck (in record time, I might add - while washrooms and juice were happening). He took me close to the border and dropped me off, then went to retrieve a package and say goodbye at Security Mail where we've been receiving packages for the past 4.5 years.

Once I had the registration in hand, all I had to do was fill out a form and sign it, then the guard there entered something into the computer, got out an orange piece of paper, stamped it, handed it to me and I was on my way. It took all of 5 minutes, most of which was my filling out the form.

The moral of the story is: Keep your registration in your glove box! Or at least a copy of it. Because wow, the amount of time and effort expended after an already long and trying day (in which we ended up being 5 hours later then we'd intended leaving) was just...insane, really.

And there is appreciation: I appreciate that I purchased said walkie-talkies. This would have been much much more drawn out without them. I appreciate that I remembered that the key to the filing cabinet was on my keyring before I'd gone too far in walking toward the gas station. I appreciate the border guard letting the huge truck full of everything through with such ease. I appreciate only a 10 minute border wait.

I appreciate being able to stop here, at the Turners', and feel the connection and warmth and love of their home, and just be with them, even if only for a little while. I appreciate that there was a home-cooked delicious meal hot and waiting on the table for us when we arrived, even though we hadn't been able to call and give them a heads-up on what was happening with us. I appreciate this warm cozy bed to sleep in.

I appreciate all of our neighbors at Windsong going above and beyond in helping us load the truck, clean, clear things out, giving us shelter, feeding us, and making us feel so so loved. I appreciate that so many of them came outside as we left and saw us off. I appreciate the hugs and the tears and the family we have there. We really did make some beautiful connections there, and we will miss living next to our wonderful neighbors so much.

And now we're on to our next grand adventure. Well, after some sleep, anyway.

the news is good

This isn't my photo. I borrowed it from the internet, from a page which incidentally has a pretty great article about packing for a move - all of which I followed on my own. Except #4. I did generally try to pack most of a room at a time, but my house is an open floorplan and some of the rooms run together, and mostly what I did was just pack the things we didn't use so much first, then packed what I use all the time last. Like now, almost everything in my house is packed, except in the office I've still got my PC and printer here on my desk.

And with #5, we're doing an inventory with approximate (or when we know them, exact) values of the items as well. We needed this for when we moved to Canada, so we are also doing it for the US. At the border if you come prepared with a list of everything you've got, I've found it's much less likely that they will need to take the time to verify said list - although they certainly have the right to should they choose it. Plus when we unpack,. I know where EVERYTHING is - and because I've got it on a sheet, I don;t even have to search around on all of the boxes - I can just find what I want on the sheet and then find that particular box. Even better, it's in Googledocs, so I can do a word search and find it even quicker on my laptop. Best of all worlds.

Also, we didn't purchase any boxes. We went around to dumpsters behind restaurants and department stores and got all of our boxes that way. As I mentioned before, asking at grocery stores and copying shops is a good idea, as well.

Our plans are ever-changing and solidifying at the same time. It turns out that we're going to house-sit for some new friends in Vancouver, WA - just north of Portland, about 40 minutes away. These same friends are going to go ahead and take Frenzie for us for the month of September, since we'll be there in October. That way she can get used to her cats, they can get used to her, and she won't be moving around so darn much like we will.

Since they won't be leaving until October 3rd for Europe, we went ahead and extended our visit to St. Louis to see our families by a week - we'll be flying back to Portland on the 1st now. So we'll have an entire month in St. Louis with our families - whee! That also gives us an entire month to find a place in Portland, if we need it - I'm all for getting in somewhere sooner rather than later, but the good thing is we will have time.

Because of us essentially being "homeless" for a month - as in, not our own beds/our own home, I've been thinking of ways to make the transition time easier for Kiernen. After all he is 6, and has lived in the same house since he was 18 months old. This is really pretty hard on him, because he doesn't want to leave - he and his father are both more like rocks that just want to be where they are, and I am more like a bird who wants to fly here and there and see what new adventures we can find. Only this bird does want to nest and roost once she finds just the right place in which to settle. I am so hoping that this is what Portland will be for us.

And beauty - Hubby's job has offered for him (as per his suggestion) to continue working for them for a month as a contractor - this means he will be paid hourly to continue working on the project they're working to finish, while they are also training his replacement who will eventually take over for him. Good for us, because it means at least some income while we're in transition and looking for other options.

Also good for us: we signed the papers for the sale of our house, and we got a good chunk more money than even my Hubby anticipated. He'd done some quick math about it, and I wanted to err on the side of caution, so I put the number at significantly less than he'd calculated. Then in the end, it was more than even his calculations. Awesome. This means that when we are ready to buy again, we'll have a decent down payment and lower mortgage payments.

The congestion I had is totally gone and my cough is finally seeming to dissipate - good thing, too, because I am so ready for a full night's sleep uninterrupted by coughing fits and trips to the restroom because I'm about to pee on myself. The good news about this cough is that it has convinced me to just leave the cleaning to the cleaning lady rather than doing any of it myself - I need to be able to heal, and kicking up even more dust and inhaling whatever else is just more than my body can handle right now. I'm pretty amazed at my ability to continue functioning and packing through this thick congestion and relentless cough. But I have - I'm feeling pretty tough about that, in fact. Superwoman!

The next few days for us are full of the rest of our packing (almost finished!), saying our last goodbyes, and last minute errands - and the bank! We load up the truck Tuesday and we're off on Wednesday. Wow. Only four more sleeps until we leave!

Moving to the U.S. - Returning resident exemptions & how to clear goods

I thought I'd offer what I've found in our quest for information about expats returning to the US. Firstly, what can we bring and how do we do it?

Moving to the U.S. - Returning resident exemptions & how to clear goods

In many of these articles I find a reference to a form "CBP 6059", which as near as I can ascertain is nonexistent. Instead, it seems that the form needed to cross the border with one's household effects is, in fact, CBP Form 3299 Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles.

As for our car, I figured out from calling the Department of Transportation that this form and this other form are what are needed. As far as I can tell, this is it. Let's hope this proves to be true as we cross the border this Wednesday with everything we own.   

I can't help it if I'm small.
Look how cute I am in this box.

When we brought our cats here to Canada, they all had to have rabies certificates. Because of this, I assumed they would returning to the US, too. So I dutifully went out and got her examined and got her a certificate. Then I looked up the information today to double-check. Importing our cat, from this document:

Cats - All domestic cats must be free of evidence of disease communicable to humans when
examined at the port of entry. If the animal is not in apparent good health, further examination by
a licensed veterinarian may be required at the owner's expense.
There is no requirement for a rabies certificate but most airlines require a veterinarian’s health
certificate. Cats arriving in Hawaii or Guam, both of which are free of rabies, are subject to locally imposed quarantine requirements.

So, no rabies certificate required. Damn. Oh well, she's been declared in good health, if not a little thin (we feed her - she has unlimited access to food, I promise! She is just a small cat!)