Another Day at the DMV

Oh my! It is hard to know what to blog about tonight. I will try to weave it all in.



There is just no adequate way to describe the DMV here. We have tried to get the vehicles registered before, without success. Our car and the children's home van were both shipped here from the states, which means there are more steps to complete the registration process. We were driving with the import papers and other documents to show that the vehicles were in the country legally. Until about a week and a half ago that is. All the papers were taken to the lawyer to try to speed up the process, which it probably did speed things up, but we were without papers and could not drive either of those vehicles. Challenging to say the least. Friday afternoon the lawyer called and said the papers now had the proper stamp and both vehicles had 9:30 appointments for inspection. The lawyer even had someone bring the papers to us so we could drive to town this morning. Of course, this was a different place than where we went before and we found it and were there by 9:00. My husband, ever the optimist, says since we are early, it probably won't take long. We quickly discovered 100 vehicles had 9:30 appointments and we were numbers 54 and 55. I honestly thought we had driven into a used car auction. All the cars had their hoods raised. We raised ours, too. Mr. Optimist says this may take a couple of hours. People that did not even work for the DMV were checking under the hoods. Perhaps for something to pass the time. Our van drew many lookers and even a few tire kickers. When the inspector (note, I say inspector, one) began inspecting a vehicle it drew a large crowd. We had our lawyer and her assistant there to help us through the process. Thank goodness. Because of the lawyer, we got moved up about 15 places, making about 15 people not too happy. After living in states that require vehicles to be inspected, I am expecting the brakes, wipers, headlights, tail lights, etc. to be inspected. But no. They check to see if the VIN matches the one on the paper work. They check the motor number and the chasis number. Then they take pictures of these numbers. After each car has its VIN photographed, the photographer walks over to have the pictures developed. What do we do while the photographer is gone? We wait. When he gets back, he charges you for the pictures. Marc had a dentist appointment at 2:00 and took a taxi long before the pictures were taken and developed. He called me when he got to the dentist to tell me where to park. Again, I am thinking he is being awfully optimistic. Marc has had a toothache for several days and some bad places on his head and one eye. He also had a dermatologist appointment at 3:30.



After we pay for our pictures, more paper work has to be filled out and then we go stand in a really long line. It is almost 3:00 before we get to the long line. Marc calls to say he has no cavities, but the dentist wants him to see the dermatologist before she decides anything further. Another cab ride for Marc as we wait and wait. Somewhere around 4:00, as we have made very little progress, Marc calls to say he has shingles. Yes, on his head and in his eye.



We finally get to the front of the line. All of our paperwork is in order, but we do not have all the copies we need. We need so many copies, we are told, there is not time to leave, make the copies, and get back before 5:00. Illinois and California DMVs have nothing on this system. Trust me. We leave to go get copies made, and, of course, the copy shop is full of people from the DMV. And, there is no such thing as self-service copies. So we wait some more. Marc has walked partially from the dermatologist's office back to the dentist's office and is waiting in a coffee shop. He sees I am not going to make it, and walks the rest of the way to the dentist's office.



Our copies are finally made, and, being the receipt nazi that I am, I ask for a receipt. I have been watching as paper comes out of the cash register every time a transaction is made. She picks up every single piece of paper to show me they are blank. No ink in the machine. Not giving up that easily, she had to write me a receipt.



I am finally ready to get Marc and leave in 5:00 traffic. Marc calls right before I get to the dentist's office to say he is on his way to the pharmacy. The toothache is a little gum erosion.

Upon getting to the pharmacy, we find this pharmacy does not have the meds Marc needs, a not uncommon thing here. We got really lucky to find most of them at the second pharmacy. One of the meds he needed was for 42 pills and the pharmacy only had 26. But that was more than enough for tonight.



So we finally get home twelve and a half hours after leaving this morning. And what does tomorrow hold. What we know of right now: finishing at the DMV, Marc has an opthamologist appointment since he has shingles in his left eye, one child has a counseling appointment and Karen comes back tomorrow and will need to be picked up at the airport.

I hope that is all.

Terri