One thing about the passport situation mamaj - I didn't have time to get one, and blew it off. I was just in so much agony I didn't care.
I called the border patrol office before I went, and they told me I MIGHT be detained for up to an hour while they checked me out. They suggested I bring a drivers license and a birth certificate, which I did. Fortunately, at the border crossing they just “waived us through” so there was no problem, but even if they had wanted to be "hard nosed" about it...
The fact is, if you're a United States citizen with no outstanding arrest warrants, passport or not, there isn't a thing they can do but let you go home.
