This all happened at the end of July on my birthday. Me and my buddy were chowing down on some amazing burgers at some joint out of town, and we got to talking. He had heard of a drink called Four Loko that was supposedly 12% alcohol + energy drink (which turned out to be false) and we decided that we'd make a trip down to the duty free and see if we can't pick some up. Now, neither of us had gone down to the sates before (canadian btw) so we didnt really know what to expect, or what we'd need to bring. So instead of looking it up, we said fuck it and just went anyways. That was our first mistake. Now, both of us had a car, but clearly taking both would be retarded. I opted to volunteer my car as it was not 20 years old and thus not so likely to die on the way (second + third mistake, you'll find out later). So we put some gas in the car, grabbed a couple energy drinks, and we were on our way. An hour and a half later, we make it to the border. It was 830 at the time, so there wasn't much of a line. We got the mister border man, and he asked for our ID. We casually hand him our drivers licences, and he checks them over. He turns back to us and tells us that we need to have a passport or birth certificate or we can't cross the border. we explain its our first time, and after a lecture and a flyer or two he lets us by. But before we go he asks if we have any weapons, fruit etc. and i say that i have some firewood from a recent camping trip in the trunk, thinking this wouldn't be a big deal. Of course it WAS a big deal, and we were told to drive into this garage to have it checked out. If we had only taken the other car, we wouldn't have had any problems... 10 minutes later the lady checks the wood, and tells us we can't bring it with us into the states. She directs us back to Canada where we had to have it taken from us. So we head back, answer the exact same border questions, and he directs us to another garage. Now at this point I remembered that I still had my pipe in my centre console from the camping trip. I quickly stash it in my pocket, and they motion for us to enter. We're asked to step out of the car by this bald guy and his 300 pound butch partner. He asks us the same food/weapon/drug questions, and i figure it would probably be a good idea to fess up to the pipe in my pocket. They already had a drug dog on its way, lets help this go a little smoother. So he asks when the last time i hotboxed the car was, whether i had anything in the car, etc. I say i have no weed, but my dugout may still be in the car, and i had hotboxed the car less than a week before (should have taken the other car...) We're told to sit at the other end of the garage while they search the car. I'm a little nervous, but am assured by the thought that at least i was forward about my pipe. Its not like i was doing any drug running. My buddy was keeping his poker face on, kinda pissed at me, but wary of the situation. Baldy come over after the search and tells me he found the dugout, and that we could be going to jail, looking at a fine, and be barred from entering the US because the pipes had res in them. Right about there my bullshit alarm went off, and was cautious with this man. He told me we had two choices. We could either resist, go to jail, await trail and all that shit, OR we would give me my pipes back (my heart jumped at that) and throw them out ourselves, and we'd be free to go. I was a little distraught at having to throw away not one but two pipes, but it was clearly better than the alternative. We drove off, cleared of the charges we could have faced. But we hadn't come all this way for nothing. We went through the same bullshit one more time, got our four loko, and left. back at the border, this dumbshit border officer doesn't understand what I mean by "6 alcoholic beverages." In an attempt to move this along, I try to hand him one so he can figure that shit out himself. He doesn't take the can, but he finally figures it out. we had the car searched again (though there was nothing to find this time) and asked two of the most pointless questions ever: 1.Do you have any money affiliated with gangs or criminals? 2.Do you know anyone who is a criminal or a terrorist? Honestly, who the fuck is going to say yes to either of those. So we go give the duty office our slip, and are waiting a good 10 minutes longer than anyone else that walked in to pay our shit and get out. we drove off with the knowledge that we could have been royally fucked, but escaped unscathed. And thats my birthday border adventure.
There always dicks to everyone. I guess they can't be a cop so they just have to be assholes with the only authority they have haha.
oh my lord, so you decided to cross the border without a passport, in a car with paraphernalia, to go to the duty free shop? (you have to pay duty on the shit you buy if your not leaving the country for 2 or 3 days....) Border patrol guards are almost not human, they deal with SOOOO many people everyday, and with all the american terrorist propaganda they are trained to suspect anybody. I go over the border very often and have been lucky to have only been searched once, pulled over twice (out of about 100 crosses). next time you go over the border: do you have anything to declare? (meat, fruits, alc) ALWAYS SAY NO, unless your actually trafficking alc, if they search your car and find any alc, just play dumb cause they know mistakes do happen. also when bringing back shit from the states, use common sense, you could have scattered the drinks in the trunk and said you didn't buy anything. Same goes with everything you buy, just try to keep the weight down on everything you buy because they weigh your car when you go through the border.
I would have expected it from the american border guards, but this was actually on the canadian side.... but yeah, should have denied everything. or at least the wood. i guess crossing the border twice within an hour would have raised some suspision anyways..