The goodbye was very emotional and tears were impossible to hide. We went from laughs and excitement to tears just moments before leaving. The next three hours driving were of silence and meditation, and inspection of some smashed up demolition derby cars we saw at a rest stop.
The first destination was Windsor, ON, Canada. The last Canadian city before crossing the border to the United States of America. The trip to Windsor was the Aceitunas first test, and she stumbled a bit. We had a minor problem with the engine throttle remaining slightly open, perhaps from being in cruise control for much longer than typical for her. But after some city driving in Windsor with fluctuating speeds the throttle loosened up and starting working normally again. There we visited Eric Page, a good friend we made at the University of Guelph, with whom we share many good memories. We arrived in Windsor at 6pm where he was waiting for us with a delicious barbecue and a couple of cold beers.
After spending a few of hours with Eric, we headed to the border. We decided to cross the border in the evening in hopes that with less traffic the guards would be in a better mood than during rush hour. Ildiko and Amanda also somehow found out that the shift change is at 10pm, so we knew that if we went through at 1030, the guards would be fresh and hopefully less irritable. The reason for this is because I (Diego) have had some problems before at the border for having confusing documentation, and for being an Argentinian, whom no one likes, so this was a critical part of the trip. I was nervous, I was shaking a little bit and did not want to talk to Ryan because if he noticed it may have made him nervous too, but he was a rock, like Maximus from Gladiator (I see that he did editions before posting what I wrote). Luckily, after a friendly chat, the typical strip search, and a search of the van, the officers let us go through. We entered the USA at approximately 11pm. From the border we began driving down the interstate to Chicago to visit relatives, Piti and Alicia.
