In 1970, I made an epic bus trip (mostly on a free pass), from New York City to Fairbanks. I connected via Sweetgrass, MT. I disembarked the Intermountain Transportation Company bus from Butte there, walked across the border into adjacent Coutts, Alberta, and boarded Greyhound Lines of Canada to Edmonton.Yes. I liked the Port of Del Bonita. MT, especially for access to the Cut Bank Amtrak station. On the other hand, as I've written here before, at Sweet Grass, MT I was questioned by US officials as to why I was leaving the U.S. As a Berlin veteran I'm touchy about questions like that.
The inspector asked me where I was going, and when I told him Fairbanks, he wanted to see my passes to my destination, as well as a couple of hundred dollars to insure I had the means to
I once rode the Bangor and Aroostook RR (Highway Division) bus between Bangor and Fort Kent. Prior to reaching Fort Kent, the bus crossed the St. John River border bridge from Madawaska, ME to Edmundston, NB. It picked up a border agent at the border, who rode the bus the short ride to and from the Edmundston depot to clear passengers getting off in Canada, and did not inspect those going thru back into the US. Anyone (no one on my trip) getting on in Canada would be inspected by US officials back at the border crossing. I suppose there were more doing so going the other way.The only time I ever had a real problem with US Customs was in 2005 at the Blue Water Bridge when the agent asked me how long I was in Canada and I replied about 5 hours as I was driving from Boston to Chicago and driving through Ontario shaves about 100 miles off the trip and she told me to go to the office. ( Let me add I have dual citizenship because my Mom was from Newfoundland and there was a loophole because of when Newfie officially became part of Canada)
What I have noticed since 9/11 is that US officials are not as local to their assignment as they once were.
A few years ago I entered the US at Fort Kent, Maine which is not a busy crossing and and the US agent had a southern drawl.
View attachment 34277
I blew a gasket one night on the Lake Shore Limited when the Border Patrol did a sweep in Northeast Indiana when I had splurged on a sleeper from Chicago to Boston.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/nyregion/30border.html
I was used to the sweeps around Buffalo but Indiana?????