Tunnel to Canada stories and memories

[CassTechGrad]

Back in the 1970’s my buddies and me would go to Canada to pick-up some 5% alcoholic beer and take advantage of the favorable exchange rate. On one trip in the tunnel, the second car ahead of me broke down about halfway in..so we’re all stuck just sitting there. Well luckily for us the car in front of me is a Caddy and he touched bumpers and pushed the stalled car all the way out. I stopped using the tunnel after that.

[401don]

Tunnel Bus trips back from Tiger Stadium on hot, humid July nights in stop & go traffic. Everybody loud and sweaty standing cramped together but having a good time, especially after a win. Seeing all the empty liquor bottles lining the sides left by those 19 & 20 yr. old Americans.

[Kathleen]

5 kids in the car...each one peering ahead through the windshield to see who can spot the flags first! We always enjoyed our trips over to Windsor to see our cousins.

[GPCharles]

14 years old [[1968) and taking the tunnel bus by myself to get to Windsor Arena for a hockey game, schlepping my hockey bag. Can you imagine that happening today?

[DetroitSoldier]

I used to play in a hockey beer league in Windsor with a couple Americans that would make the trip every Tuesday night. One night during the return trip home to Detroit, my car was selected for extra inspection. Turns out a family of 4 cats was living under the hood of the car to stay warm during the cold February winter. Neither the border patrol nor I knew how to respond to the situation. We had a good laugh about it. No idea if those cats originated in Canada or the USA.

[Jimaz]

... Turns out a family of 4 cats was living under the hood of the car to stay warm during the cold February winter. Neither the border patrol nor I knew how to respond to the situation. We had a good laugh about it. No idea if those cats originated in Canada or the USA.

Um, so what happened to the cats? How did the border patrol handle that one?

[Bong-Man]

All I'm going to say about the border strip-search was my buddy looking the 3 border guards right in the eye and saying, "Man, you guys sure got a strange way of making a living". The search was prompted by a flashlight inspection under the driver's seat which produced a single seed.

[mikeg19]

Saw "Daylight" with Sylvester Stallone when I was a kid. I take the bridge.

[Zacha341]

^ How's about that!

Some parts of the tiling always looks damp even on the hottest dry day! I'd not go thru there with a traffic jam.

[softailrider]

Um, so what happened to the cats? How did the border patrol handle that one?

Maybe the guards were of Haitian lineage, and they ate them.

[JBMcB]

In the early 2000s I worked with some Canadians in downtown Detroit, and we'd shoot over to Windsor through the tunnel for lunch sometimes. This was back when, even post 9/11, you could get through the border pretty quick, especially when you had both Canadians and Americans in the same car.

Fast forward to roughly 2018. We're at le Cellier, a steakhouse at the Canadian pavilion in Disney World for my in-law's anniversary dinner. The maitre d starts talking to the people waiting for a table, and it turns out he's from Windsor. We ask what he's doing working at EPCOT, and he says Disney has a cultural ambassador program through the University of Windsor. "Cultural ambassador from Windsor?" I say, "We used head over to Windsor to grab lunch at the Penalty Box..." "Oh yeah, man I miss the chicken delight..." he replies.

[DetroitSoldier]

Um, so what happened to the cats? How did the border patrol handle that one?

They were all placed in a cage. No clue if they were taken somewhere or dropped in the river. I'm only halfway joking because one agent joked about how it would save time on paperwork.

[Jimaz]

... Turns out a family of 4 cats was living under the hood of the car to stay warm during the cold February winter....

Um, so what happened to the cats? How did the border patrol handle that one?

They were all placed in a cage....

Ok. I know they have wide latitude on how they handle unusual cases. At least they didn't detain you for something beyond your control. That's cool.

It's refreshing to hear stories of bureaucrats behaving reasonably. LOL!

[gnome]

I hear Windsor has a pretty good ballet.

[CassTechGrad]

This occured in August 1983.

[MikeM]

I witnessed this while waiting in traffic for a customs booth to open. I didn't see him shoot himself because he had rounded the corner out of my sight, but I did see him come out of the office, waiving his gun at first - I think to shake loose the holster, then quickly scanning to see which way to run. Saw the officers shoot at him and I thought they had killed him. I never knew he shot himself. August 28, 1981.

[CassTechGrad]

This happened in California a few years ago, huge tunnel so it's not so bad. Guy was going crazy fast.

[Franksgoodnephew]

I remember going through here with my family as a kid. We had an aunt and uncle who had a cottage on Belle River ONT. Dad would honk the horn as we passed the border spot! I still do that myself whenever I go through!

[MichaelAnthonyVideos]

so many memories. When I was a kid, older family members would say that the water was gonna leak through the tunnel and then when we take the bridge, they say we were gonna drive up those cables that go up to the tower.

[Downriviera]

Many times through the tunnel for the Windsor Hat Trick. Park a block from the tunnel than walk for a Rib dinner at Tunnel Barbeque, Spitfires game at Windsor Arena [[the best place ever to watch a hockey game) then Cuban cigars at the Windsor Ballet.

[oladub]

When I was a child, this was long before 9/11, our school class was taken on a yellow school bus to Jack Miner's bird sanctuary outside of Windsor. Our bus had paused outside of the US customs building. Who should we see headed toward and entering that building but Col. Sanders in his white suit. I have no idea what that was about.

Col. Sanders biography

[EASTSIDER BALDUCK]

Have to add...

2000 or so, before 9/11 attack.

Going to Canada was always a breeze.
Coming back was the usual place of birth/why/how long/anything to
declare?

Last time, was a frenchie US border control asking.
Purpose of your trip to Canada?---Lunch with my aunt and uncle.
How long have you been in Canada?---an hour and a half.
Where does your aunt/uncle live?--Toronto.
So you had lunch with you relatives 4 hours away in 1.5 hours?---Yes, they are on their way to B.C. and stopped for lunch with me.
Pull into secondary!

Secondary gave me the run around about my El Camino vehicle and all of the secret hidden compartments. Hood popped, front seats, ash tray searched along with bed, in which I had to pull up the liner protection.
Free to go.

Never looked behind the front seats in the spare tire area which could hold 3 big suitcases.

[Canadian Visitor]

For lack of any ability to put this anywhere else I'm sticking it here for now.

Lowell, please feel free to give this post its own thread, but the site repeatedly blocked that claiming it was 50,000 characters. For the same reason, it would not let me send a private message about it.

****

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/winds...iner-1.7467020

[msamslex]

Not me, but my mom & aunt who are both seniors. Years ago, they'd run over to Casino Windsor for a few hours, play the slots, pick up their free gift if there was a giveaway with their loyalty cards. Spend a couple hours. Always took the tunnel.

One year my mom & aunt took the tunnel home, but my mom got pulled over. They were sent into the border patrol office to wait while her car was searched inside out, plus the trunk by the dog.

After about an hour, they were told they could leave. My mom was never told why she was pulled over, but at the time she had a black Chrysler 300 & she figured that border patrol was looking for somebody who drove that model car, it just wasn’t her.

Being seniors, that really scared them, especially my aunt. She’s skittish, but everything turned out ok.