Diving Lore
Contributor
Excursion to America…
Arriving on my quest to reach the Mountain Retreat wasn’t easy.
Going through all the ‘Gatekeeper’ areas of airports on both sides of the Atlantic was a bit of an ordeal. But nothing to worry anyone who has travelled about a bit and doesn’t get intimidated easily.
I had the paperwork for temporarily exporting my trusty Benelli shotgun.
The customs folk at the British Airport were most intrigued!
I had all the necessary paperwork, yet a few questions were asked.
On arriving at the first airport I had to pass through the auspices of the DHS!
They didn’t like my passport as it was quite rough and tumble in appearance.
After asking me a barrage of questions I made my answers back. I’d wrongly assumed that as other country’s were ok with my passport’s condition that the USA would too. How wrong I was
I was sent into ‘secondary inspections’ with a red flagged folder!
Was I now in Team America’s bad books?
The secondary inspections area had a sign outside it that assured being treated with respect and courtesy etc. That looked good, although the somewhat shabby waiting room, manned by another 3 DHS guys, had an edge of oppression, even fear to it.
Sat down were a few roguish characters, Black, Mexican and of course Lore who now was in their midst…
I walked right to the front.
Nobody said anything to me, not even the DHS dudes who were wordlessly tapping away at computer screens. They were almost in another world the concentration they had.
As I looked around for some ticket machine like some banks have I saw nothing.
Then a fourth DHS guy came in through a side door and, without a word, snatched the red folder containing my passport and other papers from my hands.
He walked around the counter, threw it in an ‘in-tray’ then told me to take a seat.
I asked him was it ok to go get my bags from the carrosel area.
“Nope, wait here until you’re called forward. Don’t worry about your bags, they’ll be kicked off to the side when it’s done moving.’
Rough and tumble indeed!
After watching a Mexican sounding lady get the third degree it was my turn to be assayed before the gatekeepers of the USA.
He asked me similar questions to what I’d been asked earlier. I answered again, honestly, in my chirpy, happy go lucky manner. Or at least as best I could given the long flight over the Atlantic!
‘Ok go get your bags.’ He said neutrally after the barrage was over.
I did so, noting the sniffer dogs being brought out nearby.
The DHS certainly isn’t for show that’s for sure!
As I walked back in the door with my Bergen on my back and jumbo-bag trundling in the young DHS dude’s eye’s were astounded at my set-up.
The guy wondered, after marvelling at 120 litre capacity Bergen, short haircut and style if I was going to join a militia! LOL.
I told him I was ex-military doing some adventure travel around the US, which is the truth of course. This seemed to set him at ease.
Is there some kind of a hidden-license having a military background with government / federal types I wonder??
Just prior to starting on my bags I told him the jumbo one had my shotgun inside with all the trimmings, tags etc.
Before he had chance to grill me I showed him my approval paperwork from the ATF gatekeepers.
<The ATF they did a rapid 1 week processing of this when I‘d applied for my shotgun to be temporarily exported. They also do this for free too!>
He looked at it briefly and seemed ok with it but asked some of his companions for a second opinion.
They were talking about getting the ATF to come and look at it, but in the end he did his own check, comparing the serial numbers on the paperwork to that of the Beneli.
One of his companion’s amusingly said they’d seized 2 firearms yesterday.
If I hadn’t of gotten the approval papers from the ATF I’m sure DL would of made a third!
After the first few items of specialist equipment bags being searched I reminded him of my ex-military background, otherwise he really would of reckoned me to be a rebel militia dude. He chilled out a bit then and one of the DHS was an ex-marine chirped up a few friendly comments (as I was Army not Marines).
After pulling all my stuff from my Bergen and jumbo-bag I had to put it back in. He did apologise for having to search my stuff and as I put my stuff back in the bags he went back to the computer counter and began tapping away at the keys.
I was told to sit down again, after a few more minutes he called me forward again.
‘You’re good, have a nice trip.’ He said, slamming a stamp into my battered passport giving it the mark of approval for a few months of travel.
With that I was free to roam once more...
---------- Post added January 1st, 2013 at 03:30 PM ----------
Arrival
I arrived at the city retreat exhausted but happy to of made it.
I was in Mike's neck of the woods now.
I got to a motel not far from Mike’s place having arrived at the infamous Denver Airport.
Denver Murals International Airport Colorado - YouTube
Meeting up with my mate Mike was interesting.
He’d earlier told me he’d often scare the city twin’s he’d had on his land the previous year by walking up silently behind them, I soon realised that this claim was not unfounded.
As I checked out of the motel (where I’d arranged to meet) I stood talking to the motel woman behind the counter. I’d envisaged Mike waiting outside in his pick-up.
He wasn’t, he was sat about twelve feet behind me in the lobby, I’d not even noticed him sat stealthily there! LOL
We had roughly ten days or even less before we needed to be on the road to my mates land so the clock was ticking.
Before we even went to his city location it was off to the sprawling Wal-Mart behemoth for supplies.
I’d taken a fair chunk of change with me and it was a hard temptation to resist buying all the goodies and gigdits they had on offer.
I still needed the essentials though so here’s what I got...
Two tents for both the city set-up and the Wilderness. One small and light, the other large and substantial. I’ll explain more on this later.
Several Weeks Food supplies (various dried foods etc)
Shotgun shells (Various Types)
Propane Gas and Stove
Getting a vehicle is undoubtably one of the most troublesome and challenging things for most folks when it comes to transport.
Faced with doing this in a ‘foreign’ country was even more difficult.
However I had all my papers and without a decent 4x4 machine we were either walking up to the place or pedalling!
My last vehicle in the USA met a strange demise and it was time for another to replace it.
I’d been scanning craigslist for a while and finally found some possible matches.
Mike was adamant we avoid dealers, I on the other hand had no luck getting hold of any of the private sellers on CL. They either wouldn’t return emails or calls would be days in delay.
The dealers on the other hand seemed more promising…
I was more keen on just using raw instinct and coursework to get a decent one. Hoping some of my luck might carry the day
I settled on two vehicles for inspection.
One was a Ford Explorer, the other a Jeep Grand Cherokee
I’d earlier done some checking with the Ford Explorer at Carsurvey.org and the general consensus was they were pretty reliable. The Jeep on the other hand was more mixed results…
The dealer was an interesting arab fellow who’d been in the states since 1981!
The Jeep was in ragged condition, as I checked it I found the front bumper was loose while the rear bumper damn near came off in my hand.
The interior was dirty, the fan blower vibrated the whole machine, door trim was loose (you know when the interior door handle is about done).
Nearly all the power windows wouldn’t work.
The engine didn’t start first time either.
It would cost at least $1000 to get it back to the right standard. The final straw was it had no roof bars.
They wanted $2500 for that one which was nearly 20 years old!
The other one was the Explorer, something my instincts seemed in-tune with.
Everything was mostly ok on this, and it even had on-the-fly 4x4 controls!
There were roof bars fitted also.
For less than 3000 dollars it seemed ok and a good deal.
I was a bit concerned that the ABS light was on and there was the sound of a worn bearing from the front driver’s side. Something I reckoned to be connected.
All in all for the price it was an ok deal. The ‘book price’ for it was about $4700.
One test drive later and DL had his trusty steed!
The ‘gatekeeper tests’ aka emission’s evaluation it flew through ok too.
Such a vehicle needed a name so I came up with ‘The Wolverine’ or the ‘Wolve’ for short as it had a kinda wolverine vibe about it when you slammed it into low-ratio 4x4!
