Buffalo, Lewiston and two large double doubles...

Last evening I went for a drive. I decided to head for buffalo...it is less than two hours from us, and I have today and tomorrow off. So, off I went. I wanted to drive down some roads that I had never been on...nothing major, just out for a tour. Once I got to the border, I found out that the U.S. customs officials don't really like people to just "go for a drive" and "check it out" (places that I'd never been before). I got to the border at about 10:20pm...at the time I had just bought a coffee, and was listening to the NBA All-Star game on the radio. It was just around half-time and the West was leading the East 70-53. The first officer, at the gate, seemed pretty suspicious and couldn't really figure out why my plan was to cross at Buffalo and then proceed North to cross back over at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. She took my ID and put it in a brown envelope and gave me a little white slip of paper and told me that she was referring me for a secondary inspection. She asked me to follow an officer off to the right and that I would eventually get taken into the garage for the inspection.

So, they take me into the garage, and basically asked me the same questions as the first lady at the gate. "What is the reason for your trip tonight? What is your destination? Do you have any food, alcohol or tobacco?" I told them I was just out for a drive, wanted to see some road that I hadn't been on before...I had thought about going to a sabres game, wanted to see some of the route (that seemed to soften them a bit...must have been sabres fans.......lol) But they still didn't like the fact that I didn't have a specific destination in the U.S. So, then they asked me to get out and put my keys on the windshield, and sit in a chair at the front of the car. They brought out a dog and he sniffed all around the perimeter of the car, and then got in the front, back and wagon sniffing all around. Didn't seem to find anything to his fancy (which I was happy about) so then he and his officer left. The other officer came back and asked one more question, "We're just curious what you are doing driving through our country, without a destination, at 10:30 pm on a Sunday. So then I explained to him that it was now my weekend (off Monday and Tuesday) and I just wanted to see some sights. Next he asked me to go back out and park at the opposite end of the inspection area and go in Door #1.

Door #1 took me into a lobby. There was a sign on the door to the right that said, "If your identification was taken by one of the officers outside, please have a seat and wait for your name to be called." I thought, "this is crazy...they think I'm a criminal or something. I mean I understand that they are being more careful these days, but they could check my driving record (they have my license) and could see that I have only ever had one ticket. I don't have a criminal record....." anyway, you get the picture...my thoughts were swirling. It was about 10:35/10:40 pm. The time felt like an eternity as it ticked by...also my coffee was getting cold, and I was missing most of the second half of the game.

They finally called my name after about 5 long minutes of sitting there. I went in and talked with another customs officer, and he asked me what my birthplace was, where I lived, what I did for work, what the purpose of my trip was, what my destination was, if I had any food, alcohol or tobacco in my possession and how much money I was traveling with. I had ten bucks (which would have been my entry for my hockey time on tuesday, but I would later end up having to use it for two different tolls and then I would also decide to get another coffee.

So, then he asked me to sit back out in the lobby and he would call me again soon. This time it was only a couple of minutes until he came and poked out of another set of doors. He said, "you don't have a specific U.S. destination, huh?" I didn't, so he then told me that usually they would deny me entry because they get pretty suspicious about situations like that. But, he said he didn't think I was any harm, so he would see if he could let me go. So, he came back with a white card and a stamp. He stamped it with a stamp that said, "ADMITTED" and wrote the date in. He told me I could carry on with my proposed trip, but told me that he was obligated to check and see if I was actually heading staight to Lewiston to cross back over. He said it should only take me about 1/2 hr, but he told me that he wouldn't check for 45 mins to see if I had crossed back over by then. I later wondered how they knew, because at the Canadian Border the lady didn't swipe my license or anything, so they wouldn't know, electronically, if I had crossed back over. He said if I hadn't crossed back over by the time he checked I could potentially face charges...I guess if I don't get a call in the next couple of weeks I will be ok.

Anywho...this is a long blog, so I will wrap it up now. It was an interesting experience, and I understand why they had to do what they did, but it sure didn't make me feel better about our neighbours to the south. HOMELAND SECURITY...lol.