20 minutes in Windsor:

Wow, I couldn't believe that a few of you hadn't heard this story, but apparently I didn't manage to tell the whole world about it.

Two years ago, I went on the Scav Hunt road trip. We went to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Flint, Cleveland, and Detroit. Detroit was a bit of a problem. See, while we were in Detroit, we remembered that one item on the list had been Kindereier, which are difficult to impossible to find in the US. So we figured that while we were in Detroit, we would just pop across the tunnel to Windsor and pick up some there.

Getting into Canada was no problem. We showed our driver's licenses to the immigration officer, she smiled and said "Welcome to Canada."

Finding Kindereier in Windsor was similarly no problem. We drove through the dingy streets lined with sketchy clubs designed to appeal to Americans between the ages of 19 and 21 if you get my drift (I wasn't exactly impressed by Windsor; it's apparently in the yucky part of Canada) until we found a drugstore. Greasy Alex from Shorey got out, went in, and came back to the car with Kindereier.

The problem came when we tried to get back in the US. We handed the immigration agent our driver's licenses. She looked at them for a moment, then looked back at us. Alex and Laundry Boy were in the front seat and did all the talking.

Agent: How long were you in Canada?
GAfS: About 20 minutes.
A: Why did you visit?
GAfS: We're doing a Scavenger Hunt. We needed to buy some Kindereier.
A: This is another country. You can't just come across to buy some candy. You have to realise that this is another country.
GAfS: We're sorry. The Scavenger Hunt is really important.
A: Do you have any other form of ID?
GAfS: No, I'm sorry. We weren't planning to come to Canada.
A: You-- you can't just do this. There was a terrorist attack on our country on 9/11 and you can't just do this.
GAfS: Yes ma'am.
A: The terrorists had driver's licenses, and the terrorists had Social Security cards, but the terrorists didn't have passports and they didn't have birth certificates.
GAfS: Yes ma'am.
A: We're going to have to search the car. Pull over.*

Alex pulled over. I started to take a mental inventory of the car. A box of 2-day old Skyline Chili. Four heads made of chicken wire and garbage bags, one looking uncannily like a cross between Richard Nixon and a chicken. A pretty expensive video camera. A giant container of red Kool-Aid and a bag of gummy fish. A VIP card to a casino made out to Chunk. A Blues jersey with "Red Wings suck. Yzerman swallows." taped to the back on cardboard. A can of sardines. Of course the Kindereier. Walkie-talkies. A pile of Polaroid pictures including one of an old man in the Chixon head. And then I wondered if we would have to play the video. The footage of Laundry Boy in the Chengwin head running away from the guy at the dog track in West Virginia. Alex oxidising the pennies at the Andy Warhol Museum. Us dying the reflecting pool in Pittsburgh with Kool-Aid.

Oh, God. I don't think the immigration agent would have found this amusing at all. Luckily for us, the guy sent out to search our car took one look at us and waved us on our way. Just some dumb kids over to drink in the Windsor clubs.

*The dialogue is slightly altered. This was a year-and-a-half ago, and I don't remember exactly what was said. But this is pretty close.