Yeah, right ...
The guy at the counter checked my papers, walked away and
came back with another stack of papers, twice as big as mine, and gave'em
both back to me with the advice "You should clear that with USDA first,
but you better hurry, they'll close at 5pm". I looked at the papers he
gave me and there was a big red stamp all over saying '"HOLD BY USDA".
I didn't had a clue what USDA is, so he told me but had no idea either
why the Department of Agriculture would put a hold on a Motorcycle... So
I called'em and and got told that one of their inspectors needs to see
the bike and check out if it's clean!!
Great, the bike's been sitting in that cargo building
for over 24hrs and they just put it on hold instead of walking over and
take a look at it?!?! Anyway, since USDA had put a hold on the bike, US
Customs didn't released it either, and the lady at USDA told me I have
to clear it with customs first anyway, and should come to their office
next morning for an appointment with an officer... So one of the airline
workers drove me over to customs, and guess what, the only guy sitting
there told me that a)he can't do it now, b)I'd have to come back tommorrow,
and c)I need to get clearance from USDA first.... Aaarghhhh....
Well, finally the guy from the airline dropped me off at a nearby Motel. (first time that I've been asked if I wanna rent a room on an hourly basis or for the whole night...) Next morning the Motel shuttle drove me to US Customs, and guess what, after I could proof that this motorcycle was mine indeed, I got custom clearance in a matter of minutes... USDA was in the next building, I walked over, received more stamps on my papers and the officer's phone number, I called him and we agreed to meet at the cargo building in 30 minutes. The only problem was, cargo was about 5 miles away, so I decided to hitch-hike, and sure'nuff, the US customs officer I've been at earlier, stopped and drove me over to Cargo :-) The USDA guy showed up on time, we walked to the bike (there she was in all her beauty, waiting for me ;-) , he said "Hey, nice bike!", I said "Thanx!", he:"There you go." and handed me back the papers after he'd signed and stamped'em...
Piece of cake ;-)