Crossing The Border/Breaking A Rule

It was an early morning to grab a bite of breakfast at the hotel and head to the border!  Glenn had decided to cross at the other border in Calexico instead of the other one after reading reports online and it was a good choice!  We didn't have to go through all the downtown traffic as this border is just a few miles out of town and easier to navigate!

Inspection on the vehicle was a breeze - except for the fact the guy wanted to see the original title to the truck and the ATV which I didn't have - everything I have EVER read says to NEVER take the original, just a copy!  And Glenn had brought 2 motors - which meant he had to pay a duty import on one of them to the tune of $65.00!  He will know better in the future now!

We did have to park the truck and go to the correct office (went to the wrong one first and stood in the wrong line) to get our paperwork done for entering Mexico - then walk over to the bank to pay the fee - and then walk back to the original office to hand in the receipt!  Luckily they weren't that far apart and soon we were on our way!

It seems to take forever to get out of Mexicali but once we were out in the country, it was good driving for a while!  There were beautiful purple flowers growing on both sides of the road for many, many miles - the Baja had gotten a lot of rain and we enjoyed seeing the flowers!

But as we got a little further down, we had about a 10 mile stretch of horrible gravel where the road had washed out!  We knew some bridges were out due to a tropical storm last spring but we had no idea it was this bad!!  The detours were worse than ATV trails that we ride on!!  And it sure slowed us way down!!  Here are a few pictures of the bridges - some places there was no road at all!!

There's one more picture at the bottom of the blog that wouldn't properly place!!  Anyway, it was extremely slow going and we knew we were losing time!!  And we also had the 21 mile stretch of gravel that we knew about from last year - luckily there is a small portion that did get paved but it still took us about an hour and 1/2!

We didn't stop for lunch - just ate snacks in the car and only stopped for diesel as we knew it was getting later and later!  And we also know the rule in Mexico - NEVER DRIVE AT NIGHT!!  But soon that sun dropped behind the mountain and before we knew it, it was pitch dark out!  And we're out in the middle of nowhere!!

There was no place to stop for the night, even if we wanted to!  So we trudged ahead, only driving 30 to 40 mph because the reason you don't drive at night is because it's all open grazing and the cows tend to come to the highway to sleep on the warm pavement!

It was a harrowing experience - poor Glenn drove it well though and I was on the lookout for cows - we came across 7 sets of cows right by the highway!!  And of course once in a while you would meet a car and the blinding lights were awful!

After almost 2 1/2 hours of driving in the dark, we FINALLY reached Santa Rosalia and we knew the campground we were staying at was only about 6 miles out of that town!  Of course we missed the turn off because there are no street lights out this way but we found it and breathed a sigh of relief!

Luckily we had good directions to the trailer we were staying in (VRBO) but when we got there, it was all locked up - we figured the property manager had given up on us coming in!  We knew there was a small restaurant in the campground so found it - they were just getting ready to close!!   By this time we were starving so asked if there was any way she could fix us something to eat - we didn't care what!!!  And this is what she brought us!

It was bacon shrimp with cheese on top, mixed in with mangos - delicious!!!  And check out those garlic potatoes served in a shell!! We devoured it!!!  In the meantime, they were trying to get ahold of Oscar who is the property manager but to no avail............I finally texted and called the owner who lives in CA but no answer!  But apparently she got my text as soon Oscar called and said there was a misunderstanding on the date we were coming  in and he felt SO BAD - he was frantically cleaning the trailer along with his sister and asked us to wait 15 more min before we came back over!

He was very apologetic when we got there and we assured him it was no problem - we just needed to get to bed as we were exhausted.  Oscar said they would be back in the morning to finish cleaning and that was fine with us!!  That bed felt SO GOOD!!!  What a day!!!