mev

Yup...

Back in 1988 I was cycling with a friend from Boston to Minnesota. All was well until we accidentally threw away her wallet, including ID, at a McDonalds near London, Ontario. We didn't notice until ~10 miles later when we stopped to fix a flat. We went back, looked through as much of the trash as we could, but didn't find the wallet. Not sure what to do, we went to the police station to file an official report we could use later. We also cancelled a credit card and ATM card.

Coming back in through Port Huron, MI we talked with border officials, showed the police report and were let back in the US. It wasn't completely smooth sailing though since our primary source of extra cash (other than ATM) was some $100 traveler's checks. There was a story on the local news about people passing fake travelers checks that made them a bit harder to cash with a signature but not ID. ATMs were still part of "networks" and my card was part of the Plus network. The system had a 1-800 number you could dial with local exchange but we discovered Plus machines weren't very prevalent in Michigan/Wisconsin. I eventually called my bank back home to understand there were four Plus related banks in all of Wisconsin. We eventually had her parents wire some funds to a Western Union near Green Bay so we had enough funds to complete the trip.