I live in Houlton, Maine ... 3 miles from the Canadian border.  I cross
into Canada (New Brunswick) frequently and occasionally at crossings
where they wouldn't know me and have no problems doing so without having
to show a passport.

I have friends who live in Canada and they cross into the US and back
with equal ease.

Maybe some locations are just more strict than others.

Mike

Robert Fisher wrote:
> We flew from LA to Halifax in the summer of 2000. We were told (by whoever
> my wife checked with at U.S. Customs) before we left that we wouldn't
> need a
> passport and something like a state ID would do, but at the checkpoints
> both
> going and coming we were asked for our passports and told that the ID thing
> was wrong.
> The lady on the Canadian side wasn't being to hard-assed about it, and it
> helped that my in-laws were there and promised to be 'responsible' for us
> (at least me and the kid). The guy on the U.S. side on the way back was a
> Taiwanese or Chinese guy that was wearing latex gloves, a particle mask and
> had an accent so thick as to be nearly unintelligible (behind the mask); on
> top of that his actual use of English was very poor. Now I don't
> particularly care where the guy was from or what circumstances led him
> to be
> in that job, but I think that as part of his job requirements as a U.S.
> Customs official he should at least be able to communicate clearly in
> English.
> I had expected from the information we got from the Canadian official that
> we were going to have to talk our way back into the states somewhat but I
> didn't expect to have to do it in Mandarin.
> I was standing there with our California IDs and it was clear this guy had
> heard of Cali but that was about it. I had to do an interesting tap dance
> between smooth talking and playing dumb to get past the guy- in the end I
> think I just wore him down and got him worried about his huge long line
> that
> was forming behind me. I barely kept my temper, but the idea of me getting
> arrested and stranding my wife and daughter at Chicago customs helped me
> hold on.
> Anyway, if you're gonna cross borders, you might as well get a passport and
> save yourself some hassle. My in-laws did so for their last visit (post
> 9/11) and fairly breezed through.
>
> This makes me wonder if the Canadians (Frank, Gary, Ben, etc.) that drive
> down here run into any problems, or if Larry ran into any problems while
> driving up and back. What do they look for when you're driving across the
> border? I wonder if it's more of an issue when you're flying versus
> driving?
>
> Cya,
> Robert
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "jimt" <camper@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 4:51 PM
> Subject: Re: Coast toCoast!
>
>
> On 4/12/05 17:32, "Robert Fisher" <refisher@MCHSI.COM> wrote:
>
>> They call it 'The Mother Road', among other things. I dunno if you really
>> want to go to Chicago but I guess you could leave it in Tulsa for points
>> east and south.
>> I'm probably going to drive from SoCal to Nova Scotia someday. Might be
>> interesting to make that drive part of the trip.
>>
>> Cya,
>> Robert
>
>
>
> With the new home land rules going in I think we are loosing what has
> been a
> "right" of mexican, us, and canadian citizens.  The right to cross the
> borders with an id card and no passport required.  Prepare to have
> passports
> ready for the trips across the lines.
> ........................................
> jimt
> Planned insanity is best.
> Remember that sanity is optional.
> http://www.tactical-bus.info (tech info)
> http://www.westydriver.com
>