Fingers crossed! 


It looks like there might be some progress on the minivan issue, but I don't think we're quite out of the woods yet. 

I didn't wake up until after 2pm today; I guess I needed to catch up on some sleep. The back feels a bit better - even went for a walk this evening (in -6ºC!) - but I think I'll be side-lined for the skating tomorrow night. I just came up with a ruse, though: I'll tell everyone it's a hockey injury - might even get some free drinks out of it.

Anyway... when I woke up, the "screen print" from the DMV was waiting for me. It looks basically like a car registration certificate - half a page - and does NOT, in anyway, look like a printed computer screen capture. I decided just to get everything together and fax it to Montana anyway. The procedure is that I fax them the letter from the finance company and the screen print along with a U.S. Customs vehicle export worksheet, they evaluate it, if they have any questions, they call me, and then, providing everything is kosher, they start the process and issue me an export permit in about 72 hours. I'm not sure if that comes to me, goes to my old address (I friggin' hope not!), or goes to the POE (Point of Entry) at Sweetgrass, Montana where it waits for me to show up. We'll see. Of course, they called 'cause there were problems.

Firstly Flo, the agent I've been dealing with, said that she didn't think it looked like a screen print. (Well, duh!) I told her that I had talked to four DMV agents, three of whom had said, "sorry, we don't do that"... but that, with the fourth guy, I had read, verbatim, the paragraph describing what a screen print is directly from the forms U.S customs had faxed me, and that the document I'd faxed her was what he'd sent me. I couldn't believe it; she just said, "okay"! Then, she had a question about the letter from the lien holder. After I answered that, she said, "Okay, I'll start the process." How about that, eh? After all of this, could it be that easy? I doubt it.

The hope is that the export permit will be issued by the middle of next week, just in time for my mother-in-law's car to be ready. That way, Wendy and I can take off for Calgary around Thursday, pick up the car, return the rental, head down to Shelby, Montana, and head back home with our van. Travel time: 3 days. Distance: 900 miles round trip. Exactly how I want to spend my New Year. (That was sarcasm.)

... and speaking of the New Year, to anyone who's still reading this blog, I hope you have a happy and safe one and a happy and prosperous 2006. For those of you no longer reading, may rancid tomatoes find their way to your dinner table. Feel free to drop me an e-mail wishing me any good tidings or luck you can spare, 'cause I need all the help I can get! (arp@bakuco.com)

Cheers!

Andrew. 

Posted: Fri - December 30, 2005 at 11:53 PM          

©