It’s Texas day! We got going around 9am, after checking the oil level and problematic tire pressure. Oil was fine, but the tire was definitely a little low, so we made a note to fill it up when we next stopped for gas.
We got on our way and immediately took a wrong turn which added 15 minutes to the drive, but since it’s like a 4 hour drive that’s not really a big issue. Our first stop was the United States Customs and Immigration Application Support Office, to see if we could ask about the issue I’m facing when trying to fill out the form to stay in the US longer than 30 days. Canadian citizens are now required to fill out a form registering with the US government if they’re visiting for longer than 30 days, but that form requires a US mailing address and a “current residence” address which can also only be a US address. Since I’m visiting, not living here, I can’t fill that part out, and no amount of research is making that clear.
We got to the application support center and waited outside for a few minutes in line, only for the woman to come out and tell me they can’t help with that sort of thing. She didn’t even give me any information about where I could get help either. It seems weird that USCIS can’t help me with a USCIS form.
The USCIS website has a chat feature that you can get help with, so I decided to give that a go. I waited in an 80 person virtual line, which surprisingly only lasted about 5 minutes. I clearly explained my issue to the operator, only to be met with a response saying that for any Canadian Visa support issues I should contact the Canadian government, along with a link to an official government of Canada page. Then, almost instantly before I could even start typing a response, they ended the chat.
Frustrated, I started a new chat and this time started it with “DO NOT END THIS CHAT”, and then my explanation. This new operator at least stayed in the chat with me, but wasn’t much more help. His advice basically boiled down to “I can’t give you specifics, contact a lawyer”. For a country so focused on wanting people to come in legally, they don’t make it easy to come in legally.
We got back on the road on our way to Austin (the capital of Texas) which had a free parking garage right next to the capitol building which is always nice. It was a short 5 minute walk to the building from there, and took us through a really nice park surrounding it. We got our photo (having Kyle around makes it much easier than when I’m by myself) and then went right back to the car, since our fun isn’t really the big cities, it’s more the journey between them.
We got back on the road heading towards Louisiana, which would take us just north of Houston, but unfortunately not close enough to see, especially not in the dark. The route took us mostly on interstates, but also on some smaller roads which was a nice change of pace. It’s always satisfying to be in rush hour traffic and finally break free into an open road as everyone turns off into whatever suburb they’re headed home to.
We stopped at a Buc-ees where we noticed (we think) that all the giant beaver logos face towards the front door, a nice little detail. We noticed a weird shelter looking thing for sale for $1500 and Kyle decided to go investigate, and it turned out to be a prefabricated hunting shelter for disguising yourself from the animals.
Google Maps had a bit of a weird moment where it showed a route that was “3 minutes faster” with “no tolls” (compared to the like $7 of tolls for the road we were on, not that we can pay those) but didn’t switch us to it, so by the time we noticed, it was too late to take it.
We got to the Louisiana Welcome Center rest area at around 1:30 am, and were greeted by a very nice, large, and quiet rest area, with super clean, warm, and airy bathrooms. I had forgotten that Louisiana is a French speaking (somewhat) state, and was reminded of that when I saw the “wash your hands” posters in 3 different languages (English, Spanish, and French).
