Departure from the East-coast:
Baltimore to Niagara Falls
Recovering the campervan from customs in Baltimore harbor:
We were quite anxious about getting our campervan. We had heard a lot of horror stories about how difficult it was to get it through customes and how many days it took. Getting into the harbour of Baltimore was already a challenge. Once we had finally identified the customs "shack" we obviously got Mr. Grumpy to deal with us. Since it was already 3 p.m. and they stop working at
4 p.m. we were told after having
filled in a number of papers and
having gone forth and back
between customs and shipping
agent that it was too late today
and we had to come back the
following day. But he did not really
know Kate yet: with a mixture of
charm and tenacity she managed
to speak to the supervisor who
gave Mr. Grumpy an earful in front
of his colleagues and make on of
his colleagues sort out the
documents so that we could go. In
addition, he appologized several
times and gave all children a
custom officer badge to saw on
their shirts!
After our successful reception of
the campervan we had a less
successful connection of the gas
bottles. From metric connection to
inches was just not possible in the
US. I had to drive to 6 different
RV (Recreational Vehicle) places
spending a full day rushing 200 km
across Maryland
to finally find an auto parts dealer
that was able to cut a tube and
re-crimp a pipe to make it work.
After this painful experience we were finally off. Our first stop brought us to a campsite in the Allegany Mountains close the famous house "Falling water" by the Lloyd Wright (which obviously after having attracted us we did not go to see!). We were very happy to be out of the heat in the mountains and started to get used to living on 12 m2.
Baltimore to Niagara Falls
Recovering the campervan from customs in Baltimore harbor:
We were quite anxious about getting our campervan. We had heard a lot of horror stories about how difficult it was to get it through customes and how many days it took. Getting into the harbour of Baltimore was already a challenge. Once we had finally identified the customs "shack" we obviously got Mr. Grumpy to deal with us. Since it was already 3 p.m. and they stop working at
4 p.m. we were told after having
filled in a number of papers and
having gone forth and back
between customs and shipping
agent that it was too late today
and we had to come back the
following day. But he did not really
know Kate yet: with a mixture of
charm and tenacity she managed
to speak to the supervisor who
gave Mr. Grumpy an earful in front
of his colleagues and make on of
his colleagues sort out the
documents so that we could go. In
addition, he appologized several
times and gave all children a
custom officer badge to saw on
their shirts!
After our successful reception of
the campervan we had a less
successful connection of the gas
bottles. From metric connection to
inches was just not possible in the
US. I had to drive to 6 different
RV (Recreational Vehicle) places
spending a full day rushing 200 km
across Maryland
to finally find an auto parts dealer
that was able to cut a tube and
re-crimp a pipe to make it work.
After this painful experience we were finally off. Our first stop brought us to a campsite in the Allegany Mountains close the famous house "Falling water" by the Lloyd Wright (which obviously after having attracted us we did not go to see!). We were very happy to be out of the heat in the mountains and started to get used to living on 12 m2.
