First Load to Canada

Hey country cruisers, Just a heads up I know you must be carrying your lap top with yall, a good way to double check your directions is google earth. Its great for determining bridges, overnight parking and just plain accessibility into the facility you are going to. You should be able to type in the city where you are going and then you can either use the name of the company or their address and zoom in to about 200ft of the roof of the building. I liked it because it would also show what kind of neighborhood you were going into. ie... industrial park, rural area, urban area...

 

I love google earth! My hubby downloaded that onto my computer, and it is so cool. Very useful for seeing what you're getting into!

 

Oh yeah, right down to how tight the docks are going to be. Think of it as cyber-staging!

 

Definitely! I've been able to let hubby know if he was going into a piece of cake or a nightmare. It's also fun to move the cursor along the road and watch the elevation changes!

 

Actually that is not true, despite the fact half of Detroit is under construction now I'd still rather cross there.

Most of the times I went through Sarnia they sent me for all kinds of inspections, not to mention the agents always seem to ask 100 different questions. Once they unloaded the whole truck for inspections and had the nerve to charge my company $300 for the lumper! If that isn't BS, I don't know what is. If they want to unload all your freight, go ahead but how dare you charge me or my company for it?

I don't know about you but I do not appreciate being treated like a criminal just for trying to deliver freight into Canada.

Plus it's 30 miles extra to go through Sarnia VS Windsor if you're going to Toronto.

 

Google Earth is not current . I can pull up my neighborhood and it will not show houses that were built 6 months ago .

 

If you're coming from Toledo you'll want to cross at Windsor. If you're coming from Chicago cross at Sarnia. Sarnia costs less for the bridge toll and is less crowded... but isn't worth driving out of your way for.

Call your broker ASAP and say you are crossing in 3 hours, even if you mean 3 days. Otherwise you are taking a chance that your paperwork will get lost or forgotten---I speak from experience.

Keep in mind that exits are labelled differently in Canada too. The same exit will often have a different number east bound than west bound.

 

Where? Not on the 402/401 corridor.