Under the catagory of the stupidest thing I ever did
One night in my Jr year at UT I and three of my buds decided we were going to drive to Mexico
Nuevo Laredo was the destination and was 240 miles in my volkswagen bug
So us 4 guys piled in the bug and off we went
When we got to the border we were waved through with no hassle
After sitting in a bar for 3 hours we decided to go back to Austin
It never dawned on me how suspicious this looked to customs
When we got to the check point we were told to park off to the side which I did
They asked us to get out of the car and a German Shepherd proceeded to sniff all four of us from head to toe
They then told us to have a seat while the dog and 3 guys proceeded to search the bug
This scared the holly crap out of me
I knew we didnt have any drugs or alcohol but you just never know if they might plant something
finally the head guy comes over and says
you drove all the way from Austin stay a few hours and you cross back over with nothing
I said yes sir
He looks at me and says youre free to go
which we did very quickly
I have similar story. In 1982, I was working a construction job in San Antonio at Randolph AFB.
A couple of buddies and I decided that we would drive to Del Rio Texas and cross into Mexico for a day trip. We were all 18 -19 years old and didn't think much of it.
We borrowed a friends fairly new car (small car, don't remember make and model), drove to the border and crossed with no issue. Instead of drinking, we just went around to the local shops. My friend who was 19 at the time, bought a bottle of Mescal and the rest of us bought some stupid crap, nothing illegal. We did go into a couple of bars and have a couple of drinks, but no where near enough to get drunk.
Coming back across the border, my friend declared his bottle of Mescal and because he as of legal age, he simply paid the duty on it. However, like your story, they asked us to park and get out of the car. Then a couple of officers began to search the car. Like you, we were not really concerned because we didn't do drugs and never worried they would find anything.
When the officers were done, they simply gave us the keys and said we were free to go.
When we returned and returned the car to the guy who let us use it, I told him about getting searched at the border. His face went flush and he looked nervous. I asked why the worry and he immediately went to the car. He opened up the drivers door, reached inside a cloth pocket on the door and pulled out a joint. At that point, I almost panicked and asked why he had that in there and didn't tell me. He said that he thought we would park on the US side and walk across the bridge.
The moral of the story, don't drive a car that is not yours, across the border. LOL Also, pick better friends.
