A hazardous border crossing

After driving some 1700 miles from New Mexico to Port Huron, MI in our little old Subaru so that she could have a car to drive back and forth between Sarnia, Ontario and Grand Rapids, MI, our DDILTB Nikki, had a harrowing evening. Arriving at the bridge border crossing between Port Huron and Sarnia, and having previously made telephone calls in regards to the proper procedure for borrowing an American car for a short period of time in Canada, and being exhausted and tired, Nikki discovered an important fact about border crossings: never believe what you've been told. Our tired and stressed DILTB was asked to leave the car and made to stand in the freezing temperatures for over an hour while the car was searched and while she was grilled with many questions. For instance, she was asked MANY times if she had over $10,000, to which she replied she had $28 and change. Then she was told the car would not be going to Canada. When she questioned why someone on the telephone would tell her the car could, indeed, go to Canada, the border guard told her, "Well, no body really knows about these rules..." Great. That's very helpful...

Nikki doesn't have a cell phone, so she called her dad from the crossing station, and bless his heart, Bill crossed the border, and followed Nik to a 24-hour store parking lot, where they left the car for the night, and she headed for home well after midnight. The next day, they found a home for the Subaru in the driveway of a friend-of-a-friend in Port Huron. Plans are underway to find a permanent storage place for it there, and Nikki will have to then get a ride across the border to the car whenever she wants to use it.

It is amazing to me that a good citizen who tries to follow the law has such a hard time doing something so innocent a thing as borrow a boyfriend's car, while I am surrounded by seemingly undocumented workers around here who have had relatively little trouble in crossing the border. Go figure...