Funny Border Crossing Story (TRUE)

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What a day my dad and I had yesterday...

So I'm about 100KM (60 miles) away from home and I'm just about to leave my last restaurant for the day (6:00pm) and I call home to ask my dad if he wants me to pick up some dinner. (Just the two of us)

He says no because he was wondering if I could go pickup some Brake rotors for my moms car which he had to practically destroy to get them off the wheel hubs. (originals - 100K KM)

I told him I would be about an hour away because I was far away and to call the local part stores to find out who's got what and I would stop in on my way home.

I get on the 407 (Toll Highway) and proceed to drive home in time to get the rotors when he calls me back and says no one has them in stock anywhere close to our area and he needs them because the car is a part in the driveway and is needed the next day.

I told him to Call Auto-Zone in Niagara Falls, NY because we are only 40 minutes away. He does and calls me back and says they are in stock.

I get home a short while later (7:12pm) and park my Santa Fe and jump in our Border Crossing Mobile (my '95 Neon).
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We drive like SOB's to get to AZ on time and make it to the Canada/US border in Niagara Falls at (7:55pm) and there is a bit of a line up. We wait our turn and get to the customs booth (8:10pm) show our passports and explain the reason for our visit and are told "You have been selected at random, for additional screening"
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Me and my dad just look at each other like "well there goes any luck of getting our parts tonight" because AZ closes at 9pm.

So we go inside the building, hand over the keys to the vehicle so they can search it and rifle through our stuff.
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and we get handed our passports and keys at 8:42pm and are told that we are good to go.
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(Makes me want to get a Nexus card like my dad has so I don't have to speak with Customs Officers, I can just bypass the whole process, swipe my card and go)
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My dad says "Lets go home I guess" I told him no that "I came this far and I'm not gonna give up now" and drove like a SOB all the way to AZ, and we pulled into the parking lot 1 minute to 9pm just as the guy was about to lock the door.

He let us in, and we got the rotors just on time. It was the craziest thing ever.

After we got the rotors we went to the nearby Tim Hortons, had a coffee and drove home.

It was such a funny story I thought I would share.
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Compounding and colliding complications. My life is full of them.

Steve, can you do that with a few spinning plates?
 
I was in the middle of nowhere upstate new york and my car was on "E". An exxon beckoned out of the darkness. It was 9:59 PM. I bought gas. Leaving, I saw the lights disappear into darkness. I was the last customer. There was nothing else for miles around.
 
The customs on the Ontario border side are pretty regimented these days for getting back into the states. A couple of weeks ago I came across the Sarnia/Port Huron border crossing. It was unreal! At 11am on a Saturday there were 6 armed gestapo and 2 dogs sniffing cars there! It took me 25 minutes just to get to the booth to show my papers. Conversely on the Canadian side there was one person other than the booth attendants walking the aisles.
 
Yeah, cutting through Canada to save $50 each way on tolls and cheaper Michigan gas vs. the I-90 toll road used to be worthwhile even up to a few years back when I went from Buffalo, NY to visit my relatives in Milwaukee, WI. Now with the border hassles it's a roll of the dice which way is the least aggravating.
 
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Quote:
Napolitano Lets the Word 'Terror' Come Out of the Closet at Homeland Security

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who drew criticism for not mentioning the word "terror" during her first appearance before Congress in February, used the term or its variants 23 times during a 30-minute speech before the Council of Foreign Relations on Wednesday.


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Originally Posted By: pickled
The customs on the Ontario border side are pretty regimented these days for getting back into the states. A couple of weeks ago I came across the Sarnia/Port Huron border crossing. It was unreal! At 11am on a Saturday there were 6 armed gestapo and 2 dogs sniffing cars there! It took me 25 minutes just to get to the booth to show my papers.


I crossed over to Niagara Falls NY last Saturday and it took me one hour to cross the border going there, and two hours to cross it when I came home! Ridiculous! A friend of mine told me he once got stuck in traffic for 9 hours crossing the border there! (apparently there was an orange alert that day)
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
So did the car get put back together that night?

I'm a BITOG-er Of course it did. It was 12:30am and my dad and I were out there putting it back together, getting eaten by Mosquitoes (our national bird) using a Halogen lamp to see. (very dark in the country at night)
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Originally Posted By: crinkles
those crazy yanks and their border posts... pffft...

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Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Compounding and colliding complications. My life is full of them.

Steve, can you do that with a few spinning plates?

I will try that next time!
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Originally Posted By: eljefino
I was in the middle of nowhere upstate new york and my car was on "E". An exxon beckoned out of the darkness. It was 9:59 PM. I bought gas. Leaving, I saw the lights disappear into darkness. I was the last customer. There was nothing else for miles around.

Isn't everything in America 24 hours yet?
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Lucky you!
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Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Dealing with US Customs is anything but "funny".

For the most part they are fine to deal with... They are just very "serious" faced is all. Sometimes you get a P***K of an officer who has something to prove. I remember this one time I was crossing into Michigan on my way to see friends in Kentucky and the guy gave me the third degree, wanted to see my Business card and my partners student card. He took literally 20 minutes at the booth asking us questions and then asked me to hand him the keys while he looked in the trunk. (Why I don't know, I have crossed into the US with my Santa Fe more times than I can count)

I guess I should just get a Nexus card and be done with the whole harassment at the border. Just swipe and go!
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Don't look here...
 
When I was 25 I got nailed for drag racing. Was a misdemeaner and stayed on my record for several years.

When I was 28 I went truckin. Got sent to Canada.

Wasn't allowed to go into Canada because I had a misdemeaner in the states! Guess Canada didn't want my type there?
 
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How did they know? They did a background check on you "on the spot"? What about now? That misdemeanor should not be off of your record unless you managed some how to get it expunged.
 
Quote:

So we go inside the building, hand over the keys to the vehicle so they can search it and rifle through our stuff.


So, do they drive it out behind some shed, or is it visible to you while they snoop around?

Alex.
 
Originally Posted By: GMGuy
Quote:

So we go inside the building, hand over the keys to the vehicle so they can search it and rifle through our stuff.


So, do they drive it out behind some shed, or is it visible to you while they snoop around?

Alex.


No you can see them doing it from the windows in the building, but the Customs officer at the door makes sure you stay in the building.
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Originally Posted By: oilyriser
They put you in an office. For extra fun, happen to have a few bags of icing sugar from a bulk food store in the car.


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