Richard Olmstead
Steelhead
Too many to count.
Was it coming in from Cuba via Cancun in 1996 with a full plant press (I’m a botanist), which the agents insisted on pulling completely apart and asking me to tell them what each specimen was and why I had brought it with me from Cuba, or maybe the time I was leaving Bogota for Miami in 1975 after hitching around South America when someone came up behind me and gripped me firmly at the elbow while directing me into a little unmarked room where I was strip searched and my rucksack completely torn apart, because they thought I was an emerald smuggler?
Instead of those, how about the time I drove the AlCan to Alaska in 1978 with a couple other guys to climb Mt Hunter. We had all our gear and supplies for 6 weeks on the mountain crammed into an old ‘66 Ford van. We had crossed into Canada at a sleepy little crossing on the Idaho panhandle, where the Canadian agent didn’t even check IDs. We didn’t discover until a couple days later when we were stopped by the Mounties that one of my partners, Glenn, had left his wallet at home with all of his ID ( the Mounty just admonished him not to drive any more).
A few days later we had to cross the border back into Alaska. That’s when the $#!T hit the fan. We had found an expired union card with Glenn’s name on it on the floor under the seat and we were about able to BS through customs when they found a wallet under a bunch of junk at the bottom of the glove box. It belonged to someone from South Dakota who none of us knew. Glenn had found it when he was camping in the Needles the year before and meant to send it to the guy, but had forgotten about it.
I‘ll let your imagination take it from there. It should include several iterations of accusations of foul play and/or identity theft, multiple phone calls to try verify the existence of the wallet’s owner, and a stripping down and repacking of the van. Many hours later we were let go and on our way. Yes, we did succeed in climbing Mt. Hunter by the first direct ascent of the north ridge from the Tokasitna Glacier. 51 days on the mountain, including 19 days of continuous bad weather on the glacier after the climb before the plane could land to fly us out. But this thread isn’t about strange flight layovers, so I’ll leave that part out.
Was it coming in from Cuba via Cancun in 1996 with a full plant press (I’m a botanist), which the agents insisted on pulling completely apart and asking me to tell them what each specimen was and why I had brought it with me from Cuba, or maybe the time I was leaving Bogota for Miami in 1975 after hitching around South America when someone came up behind me and gripped me firmly at the elbow while directing me into a little unmarked room where I was strip searched and my rucksack completely torn apart, because they thought I was an emerald smuggler?
Instead of those, how about the time I drove the AlCan to Alaska in 1978 with a couple other guys to climb Mt Hunter. We had all our gear and supplies for 6 weeks on the mountain crammed into an old ‘66 Ford van. We had crossed into Canada at a sleepy little crossing on the Idaho panhandle, where the Canadian agent didn’t even check IDs. We didn’t discover until a couple days later when we were stopped by the Mounties that one of my partners, Glenn, had left his wallet at home with all of his ID ( the Mounty just admonished him not to drive any more).
A few days later we had to cross the border back into Alaska. That’s when the $#!T hit the fan. We had found an expired union card with Glenn’s name on it on the floor under the seat and we were about able to BS through customs when they found a wallet under a bunch of junk at the bottom of the glove box. It belonged to someone from South Dakota who none of us knew. Glenn had found it when he was camping in the Needles the year before and meant to send it to the guy, but had forgotten about it.
I‘ll let your imagination take it from there. It should include several iterations of accusations of foul play and/or identity theft, multiple phone calls to try verify the existence of the wallet’s owner, and a stripping down and repacking of the van. Many hours later we were let go and on our way. Yes, we did succeed in climbing Mt. Hunter by the first direct ascent of the north ridge from the Tokasitna Glacier. 51 days on the mountain, including 19 days of continuous bad weather on the glacier after the climb before the plane could land to fly us out. But this thread isn’t about strange flight layovers, so I’ll leave that part out.
. Then for the next 21 days my friend and I proceeded on a sightseeing trip riding trains and hitchhiking through Austria, Switzerland, then back through Germany, through The Netherlands, and finally back to Frankfurt Rhein-Main. We had decided it was best to be on a train instead of hitchhiking when crossing the international borders and all were routine passport checks-stamps.
. He took out the first bottle, unwrapped it and set it on the table. Repeat 2X more. Then he looked around in the bag and not seeing anything that looked different, he looked up at me with a quizzical look on his face and said, “Alles beir???” I replied “Ya!” 
He rolled his eyes 
