Cup of Coffee

January 15, 2025: Fresh Air

9 Comments

I don’t know if Minnesota has emissions testing yet, but I’ve got to say, the employees there are some of the most exacting people I’ve come across. I don’t know if I’ve ever been called “Sir” in such a hostile manner.

9 thoughts on “January 15, 2025: Fresh Air”

  1. I don’t know if I’ve ever been called “Sir” in such a hostile manner.

    Clearly, you’ve never accidentally crossed the Canadien border without your ID.

    1. Ugh, I hate Canadian customs. There's always issues and attitudes. My friend has a cabin on the Canadian side of Rainy Lake (on its own island; man I love that place). We park in America and hop into the boat to cross the border. Each time we've gone we stop in a nearby Canadian town and call Customs to let them know we've entered the country. Each time they come and do like a strip search of the boat. It's like, guys, we came here and specifically called you. That's a pretty stupid way to smuggle anything.

      1. That reminds me, on the flip side, there's just a little phone booth on the American side that you call into. My passport was actually expired, which I told US Customs and they were like, eh, you're fine.

        1. Last time I went to Canada, I had the opposite experience

          Entering Canada was like "Welcome, got anything we should know about? No? OK, off you go"

          Coming back I got the 3rd degree.

          1. We played pick up hockey every Sunday in Fort Erie and would have to dump out the hockey gear every time on the American side. We got to know the agents a bit but still had to have our supporters inspected.

  2. We used to have emissions testing back in the 1990s. I remember failing once because of a bad PCV valve. Drove to the parts store, installed a new one in the parking lot in about 30 seconds, drove back and passed the test.

  3. Rumor was back in the day that the State had some kind of emissions sniffer near the Fairgrounds. Guys I knew who took their cars to MSRA’s Back to the Fifties would talk about it. The idea of hooking a Fifties-style hopped-up street rod up to an emissions tester always amused the heck out of me.

Leave a Reply