We've been taking a TT across the US/Canada border for years. We have Nexus and are "pre-cleared" for higher security. We always use the Pacific Highway crossing in south Surrey, BC. because it's the closest one. Have been crossing the border for nearly 60 years in total.I towed our TT down to the border mid-day last Friday by myself as I've often done. We had a Thousand Trails CG a few miles to the south booked for the long weekend and DW was going down after work in her car later in the day. Done it many many times. Easy peasy.Well, Friday was definitely different. I was mere feet away from the Nexus booth when I got told to head over to the commercial truck lanes. It was still pretty quiet that time of day so no need to go through the commercial area. They were making all RVs go through the commercial area, Nexus or not. Very strange.RVs were moving at a crawl, 5+ minutes for each one. Turns out that everyone was getting x-rayed. They had a sniffer dog checking RVs and a CBP officer was checking the underside of each RV.Finally made it through - 2 hours later! That was painful. Good thing I didn't need to pee because they weren't letting anyone get out even to stretch your legs. Our dog needed to go pee though. They were clearly stalling on letting folks through. They had 5 or 6 officers processing each RV and were just standing there at times after finishing before letting you go. Obviously a stalling tactic for some reason.Odd thing is, they didn't spend much time inside the RVs. Not sure why they did this and haven never seen it before. We do get pulled over once or twice a year to secondary for an inside inspection of our TT but this was very different.I hate to say it, but what's next, a wall?? :R

yes, I'm sure CBP decided to give all RVers a hard time that day. they must've been bored. there obviously was a reason that CBP was not sharing with you. it is what it is.

lucky you, all those years and just breeze threw ,they were doing some thing?

A few years back, we entered Canada through Niagara Falls. We had a motorhome and a small pich-up in tow. Answered a few questions, showed ID, then was told to pull ahead as we would be met by border agents. Three met us, asked us to leave the bus and as one detained us, two went inside the bus. The chap with us was friendly and pleasant as you could hear the other two going through our drawers and cabinets. Afer about 15 minutes the two exited and we were told were free to go. Nobody inspected the outdoor baggage compartments nor looked inside the pickup. I asked if he was going to check the pick-up, "naw, you're good to go". Not sure what that was all about. Haven't been to Canada since.

Nothing like exercising your power for no reason.

They possibly had information about activity involving a RV and were checking everything?They were doing their job. Or, just screwing with people. :)

Boarder crossing insanity - CBP gone crazy... | Good Sam Community

toedtoes
Explorer III
May 23, 2019
Dutch_12078 wrote:
On one crossing into the US at Lewiston, NY after the usual "Do you have any tomatoes or nuclear weapons" questions, the officer looked sternly at our dog through the window and asked her if she had left anything behind in Canada. I told him all she left was a wet spot on the London, Ont Flying J grass when we stopped for lunch. He asked her if that was all, so I told him if she had left anything else, I would have bagged the evidence and brought it with us. Well, that broke him up, and he quickly waved us on... :)

Like.
toedtoes
Explorer III
May 23, 2019
Once, when I had arrived at the Ottawa airport, a sniffer beagle was working the customs area. Before I had left home hours earlier, my cat had been laying on my knee. The beagle came up to me and sniffed my bag and me, then started walking away. Suddenly, she turned around and came back and took an extra sniff at my knee exactly where my cat's butt had been placed.

I made the comment to the beagle "I know, that's where my cat's butt was. Smells good, eh?"

The handler was not amused at all and very directly pointed out that the beagle was trained and would not sniff unless it was potentially drugs. Of course as she had already walked away again, she and I knew that cat butt was too good not to sniff twice. :). I wasn't offended by the handler's attitude - I get it, it's a serious duty and shouldn't be trivialized (even if true).
toedtoes
Explorer III
May 23, 2019
Grit dog wrote:
Understandably, I’d be peeved if I had to re-pack my entire rig. Thinking especially when we were moving to AK. Both times loaded to the gills with big trailers full of stuff.
But, in general, it’s either couple questions and have a nice day, or a slightly annoying list of questions.
Hoping my number doesn’t get pulled for the strip search and finger wave, lol.

But “I’m never going back to Canada....”. LOFL. Whatever. Fickle.

Happens at airports also. I had a carry on filled with glass objects. TSA took every single item out of the bag. Then said "pack up and you're free to go". Took me long enough for two more people to go through the scanner before I was repacked. No biggie. A favorite musician just happened to come through right then, so I was able to chat with him while walking to our gates. I remember that experience as positive. And the TSA wasn't just being rude. There was a pewter photo frame that had an edge shaped similar to a knife - it made perfect sense to check it out. Even if it was in the bottom of the bag.
Alan_Hepburn
Explorer
May 23, 2019
JaxDad wrote:

I heard from someone just recently who got stuck this way. The US & Canadian gov’s now share border crossing info. They headed south with a 5’er in the fall, upon trying to re-enter Canada this spring (without the 5’er which was then in the storage yard of their C/G) the CBSA agent asked them if they’d forgotten something? They knew they had left with an RV but weren’t bringing it back home and it hadn’t been imported either. They were offered the opportunity to return and retrieve their ‘forgotten’ RV or import it into the US legally.

This ended up biting my sister decades ago: she took her family in her car to visit relatives in Victoria. No problem crossing the border, but once in Victoria she had car trouble that ended up with the car engulfed in flames. It got towed away to a junk yard, and she got a bill for import duties on the car because she wasn't taking it back home with her, and it was a smoking hulk! She drove it into Canada, and did not drive it back out, so it became an import and duty fees needed to be paid...
Harvey51
Explorer
May 23, 2019
Some really strange things happen at borders. Our son, who has common fist and last names gets put in a jail every time he crosses from Canada to USA, complete with guards pointing guns at him. The grill him for an hour, then someone asks if he is black. He says, no, and then he is free to go. It seems he has a name similar to a suspected terrorist who happens to be black.

I used to know an American lady whose son got the same treatment whenever he crossed into USA.

In January, DW and I went through customs in Vancouver on our way to Hawaii - hardly any questions and no search of our luggage.

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Boarder crossing insanity - CBP gone crazy...

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