Our Baja Adventure!!

It's time - it's FINALLY time!  After packing for days and going over daily lists, we were ready to hit the road for the Baja!!  6 weeks!!!!  WOW - can I stand to be away from the kids and grand kids that long??  Guess I'll find out!!  But in this world of technology, I can face time them whenever I want!

Before we headed out, we celebrated Rayna's 16th birthday!!  Yes, our oldest grand daughter will be turning 16 on March 2nd!!!  Hard to believe!  We gave her an early gift with lots of best wishes for her special day!! (notice her brace - 2nd surgery is done!!)

And on Saturday, Feb. 24th our adventure began!!  We loaded up the truck with the ATV and a blowup rubber raft plus a small motor in the back end, and everything else in the 2nd seat!!  I tried to pack light but wanted to bring a few kitchen things as I knew what was in the casita and what wasn't!!  One of the main things I brought for ME was my espresso machine, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup AND topping, and a can of spray whip cream!!  We had a small ice chest we put in the back (which held the whip cream and food) along with a fair sized bag of snacks to eat on the way!!

It was 1061 miles to Calexico, CA where we would stay the night before crossing the border and we were unsure at that point where we would spend the first night!

I enjoyed riding in the truck - you sit up high and it's loaded with all the options inside - and with the weight of the ATV in the back, the ride was pretty smooth!

We drove south through Colorado and into New Mexico and then west into Az.   I've always loved the look of cactus so had to take this picture at a rest area!  There was also a sign that said "Beware of scorpions and snakes"!!

Here we are just driving along!!  Glenn actually did ALL of the driving!!  I was willing but I make him nervous - ha ha!!

We stopped in Holbrook, AZ for the night - Glenn had fought the wind all day so we were glad to stop for the night!  Our room was at The Travel Lodge and Glenn was glad we could park right in front of the room - and most nights he ended up putting the motor in the front of the truck!  We ate Mexican that night which was very good!   I can't say the breakfasts at the hotels are anything special but it's nice to grab a quick bite before we head out!

The 2nd day of travel we left at 6:30am at a balmy 20 degrees!!!  It was fun to drive through parts of AZ that we were familiar with - it was 6 degrees when we drove through Flagstaff!!  I checked on my phone and found there was a coffee place in Camp Verde so we got off the interstate and actually found it!!  HOORAY - a great cup of coffee!!

As we entered into CA., we saw these huge sand dunes!!

And before we knew it, we had arrived at Calexico for our 2nd nights' stay!!  Glenn requested a ground floor room so we could keep our eye on the truck and since that room wasn't ready, we decided to head to a place to exchange money!  The dollar to the peso is still very good and we ended up getting 17.30 pesos to the dollar!!  The exchange places were all very close to the border and the town was hectic and busy!!  There was an Applebee's within walking distance so we decided to just eat there - in the meantime I realized I had NOT made copies of things you need to have to cross the border - drivers license, passports, copies of the truck title and ATV title, and the Mexico insurance!

All I could remember was when we used to cross in Nogales and drive to Kino Bay, if you didn't have copies, you would have to stand in another line and pay $1.00 per copy as that was what the officials needed to look at!  So we asked the nice receptionist if she would be willing to make copies and she said sure - in return we brought her back a large piece of chocolate cake and ice cream which she loved!!

Morning arrived and it was time to cross the border - it's always a little unnerving to cross the border, not knowing what the officials may ask and want!  But it was a breeze that early in the morning with not a lot of traffic yet!  The official had Glenn roll his back window down so he could look in the 2nd seat and also wanted to see the ATV title - but that was it!!

1st step accomplished!!  Now we needed to find the immigration office to do the paperwork!!  And again, all we had to go on was our prior trip where you pulled into a huge parking lot and walked into an office where you stood in line for a long time to do the paperwork!  We pulled out and started looking but saw nothing so drove a few miles while I was frantically trying to look for it - we finally turned around and decided to park the truck back by the border and ask the officials where to go!

By this time, parking was another issue and it was NOT a great part of town - border towns are NOT my favorite!!  We saw a spot that had a white line painted on the curb but had no idea what it meant - I told Glenn I was SURE we would get a ticket before we got back there!!  So we walked over to the area and tried to find someone that spoke English - a taxi driver pointed us in the right direction and we soon were in line with a LOT of other people.   I knew this line wasn't right as it was all Mexicans and sure enough, it was the line to get BACK into the US!!  Finally a really nice guy said he would walk us to the office in exchange for a cup of coffee - DEAL!!  So he takes us there into this office - one guy sitting behind the desk - no line - no other people!!

The guy had us fill out the paperwork for the two of us and pay our money - I then told him we needed to do the paperwork for the truck as we were driving and he said there was no paperwork to do - none was needed on the Baja!!  (now realize I had researched this for hours online, trying to figure it all out but info was extremely limited)  So I showed him all the copies I had on the different things and he waved them away - he needed nothing else!!  REALLY????  I wasn't going to argue!

So we walk back towards the truck and then we realize what the white line is - it's a bus stop!!!  YIKES!!!  And there's a bus there squashed in behind our truck!!  Oh man!!!  We stayed on the other side of the street until it left and then raced over but no ticket on the window!!  OK - time to get out of this town!!!!!

And so day 3 is started down the Baja!!  We soon found out that the highway is narrow with no shoulders and about a 5" drop off  - semis that make you feel like you're going to blow off the road - but beautiful scenery!!!  Lots of cactus and lots of just barren ground!!  We did stop by the ocean and have lunch (which was what we did every day - between the bag of snacks and the cooler, it was just easier to not have to find a place to eat!!!)

And then out of the blue, there would be a stretch that DID have a shoulder and a better highway!! 

It was a great day of travelling and we knew our first stop was to be at Alfonsina's - a small resort on the ocean - I had tried to make reservations but because they didn't take credit cards, it was just too difficult to get money to them so I just said we would arrive and hopefully they would have a room!

And more about that tomorrow.........................