small car, tiny RV

It’s the last day of August and I am finally taking a couple hours to sit down and write. I don’t feel retired yet but here are the big things that got accomplished this month:

• Tiny house licensed, transported, reoriented, set up, PV panels installed, etc.
• Farmhouse basement professionally cleaned out (not a small job, not for the squeamish).
• Storage unit with stuff from my parents’ house emptied: things sorted, donated, and dispersed. I thank my brother and sister-in-law for taking this to the finish line.
• Car licensed, swapping my WA license plates for a NS plate.

Red-tapey paperwork is what most makes me practice the virtue of patience. It is why I took so long to register the car.

When I crossed the border, I didn’t expect my 12 year old subcompact to be of such interest. The car was purchased in Canada, imported into the US, and then brought back into Canada—so I didn’t think I would have to pay an import fee. Well, after several emails with the RIV and two visits to the Nova Scotia RMV, I conceded that I didn’t meet their requirements for waiving the import fee and would just have to let this one go.

Hoops:

• Filling out paperwork at the border in BC declaring the car for Transport Canada with Vehicle Import Form 1.
• Paying RIV $ and getting Vehicle Inspection Form.
• Taking Vehicle Inspection Form to Canadian Tire store (only authorized inspector in NS), getting purchased-in-Canada car inspected for driving in Canada, getting approval stamp on form. No cost.
• Going to RMV with all Canada Border Services Agency documents, Canadian Tire stamped form, and US registration. Paying $, getting license plate and registration. For a while, it looked like I was going to be blocked by only having the canary, pink, and gold copies of the quadruplicate Form 1—I was missing the top white copy (Border Services had kept it) —but we got through that and I left the RMV feeling victorious.
• Needing to get a Vehicle Safety Inspection sticker within 10 days of registration (and required every two years). That plus finding something to fix cost more $.
• Receiving a Canadian Certification Label from RIV to affix to the purchased-in-Canada car to prove certified to drive in Canada.

I was delighted when I saw a twin car had parked next to mine at a shopping mall recently. The driver was taking a picture of my car’s cargo box and was apologetic until she realized I was happy to talk about the car. She seemed excited that she might be able to get a cargo box for her car to store camping gear. Then, to my astonishment, she showed me pictures of how she uses her car for camping: taking the passenger and back seat out, she fits in a narrow bed to sleep comfortably lengthwise and, flipping the hatch door up, she fits in a custom wooden counter with sink for a kitchen!  What a fun and inspiring encounter!  My car as the ultimate gas-sipping motorized tiny RV.

References:

• PV: photovoltaics. Tiny house will be mainly sun-powered.
• RIV: Registrar of Imported Vehicles.
• RMV: Registry of Motor Vehicles.