Circa 1990 I did some work in Vermont and New hampshire The guy I was with left on Friday to see his mother in NY. I decided to go to Quebec City and Montreal I drove north from Laconia and spent the night this side of the border. It was saturday when I drove to the border crossing.
No cars on the road at 6:30 am There were two lanes to enter canada Go my right was a small building three canadian officers having coffee. The stop sign said stop and proceed. Which I did i even looked inside to see if someone was coming out, No one.
I started into canada and bells and whistles went off and the officers ran out and surrounded my car. I kept my hands on the wheel I wasn’t packin nor did I have drugs in the car, as I usually didn’t. I think I caught them off guard.
Sir you could have been shot. I said, I followed the instructions on the sign. We have to clear you. It never said that. (I thought get off your ass and one of you stay outside.” They had me pop the trunk and then et me go.
On the way back I took a side road to a little border town. I came around a curve downtown and there was a shack with a US flag. The officer said, where you been. He kept looking at his newspaper. I told him. Anything to declare no. He never got off his chair nor did he search my car. Go ahead,. welcome home.
Liked the french vibe in the old section of Quebec Stopped at a restaurant outside Montreal 20 seats around a bar and ordered spaghetti. Every one friendly and talking to each other and me. Got up to leave. someone had paid my check. Sales tax in Montreal 15% half for the feds, have for the province.
I used to like going up there. My wife and I went to a place, Derby Line, Vermont, which has the only library in the world that sits right on top of the border.
Half the library is in English. The other half is in French. It was very cool...all the rooms in the library were built from different wood, etc.
But at the border crossing, they again asked me if I had firearms in the car and made us wait in the car for 45 minutes going into Canada.
My wife snickered at me steaming there. She is witness to this stuff. When we went to Europe, the customs people eyed me, looking at my passport, looking at me, and back at my passport, while my wife smirked at me.
When we go through airports, I get the royal treatment while she gets waved through.
Grr. I have very little sense of humor about this anymore.
Someone told me that my treatment was the retaliation that Canada takes against us because of the way we eyeball Canadians traveling to the USA. I don’t know, but could give a crap less.
Nobody has killed 3000 Canadians in one day yet.