It's now in Utah, sitting on the trailer at my snowcat buddy's shop. The trailer is eeuge! A "24' flatbed". Stupid me...I thought the 24' included the beavertail. Nope, it's 24' of deck, plus a 5' beavertail, plus a 6' tongue = 35' overall. Here's a pic taken on the way south in Deer Lodge, MT. (Note: I have since purchased a new ball mount so the trailer sits level.)
KC, you live in beautiful country! The trip to pick up the snowcat was a whirlwind journey of over 1,600 miles in three days. I crossed the border into Canada at about 8 PM, spent the night in Yahk, and was back in the US about 15 hours later. But I'd love to go back and see that country. Absolutely gorgeous! I picked up a tourist guide and brought it home to hopefully plan a more leisurely trip there.
For those curious, purchasing a snowcat in Canada was not a problem. The Canadian law enforcement guy at the border, surprisingly to me, was not all that pleasant and asked a lot of questions. I'm an honest guy, pretty harmless actually, had nothing remotely illegal with me, was doing something perfectly legitimate, and in accordance with all laws as far as I know. But it sure seemed he was convinced I was up to no good... Crossing back into the US was easier, and it wasn't a guilty-til-proven-innocent type interrogation. I had to park, bring in my purchase paperwork and get a US Customs Form 7501 (IIRC) filled out and stamped. The form was for the trailer, and needed for subsequent registration purposes.
Some "food for thought": I had several conversations with Jim and Monika Currier: some on the phone, some via email, and some via text. I had complete confidence I was dealing with really nice people who were totally honest. I wired the funds to their bank ahead of time and Monika and I talked about that later. Maybe that wasn't so smart... They had my money and at that point I had... nothing, and I was a long way away in a different country. A lot of trust. In this case everything worked out, but what if they weren't such nice and honest people?
The foreign currency itself is an issue. I'm quite sure bringing 10,000 dollars in US currency across the border is illegal. So that would leave maybe traveler's checks or a cashier's check as options, but a seller would understandably want that cashier's check to clear their bank before they'd release the merchandise. How long would that process take?
One other thing I'll mention is the foreign currency process. Currencies fluctuate in value on a nearly continual basis, and one can check exchange rates easily. But what you see in a general Google search is different than the rate you'll get from your local bank. I bank with Wells Fargo and I looked at their exchange rate published on their website. (In fairness I may have been able to get a better rate from them as the transaction amount was a whole lot more than a few hundred bucks.) Then I contacted a highly rated company that specializes in foreign currency transfers and used them for the transfer process. The transaction was based on a value in Canadian dollars, so the exchange rate quoted would determine how much I'd pay in US dollars. The difference between the Wells Fargo rate on their website and what I actually paid was just over 5%. That's huge!