Back in Baja

We made it safely after an arduous five day drive. Road conditions were awful-starting off in the dark with fog, then it got terribly icy and continued so into day two through Montana and Idaho and into Utah. We had no trouble with motels and Milkshake but the afternoon of day three in south eastern California we got a flat tire. We had just driven past the Imperial sand dunes where there must have been a few thousand quads and dirt bikes and thousands of campers. Bob discovered it was the valve stem so couldn't patch it, but just when we were about to dispair a mobile tire repair truck appeared in the wee rural gas station beside us. In short order he had it fixed and back on the dodge and we felt we had received a miracle and were on our way. It wasn't far to El Centro where we stopped for the night preparing to cross the border at Tecate next morning. More winding twisty roads and fog. It was a breeze crossing-no questions asked, but no office open for immigration to stamp passports. We were in Ensenada before ten so while waiting for the port office to open we had a wonderful seafood breakfast. I had the seafood soup because I came down with a horrid head cold and hoped it would make me feel better - it did! However, the port office did not open at ten - guess New Years' Day the hangover was just too severe. We stayed at LaPinta in Guerrero Negro and the restaurant was open so we had dinner but we arrived too late for immigration to be open and left too early. Oops! So we're in the country with no entry visas or stamps. Next problem will be to find an immigration office and do some explaining and hope they are reasonable about it.

Around 8 pm as we rolled by our Alaskan friend, Rick Coley's place Bob crossed to the wrong side of the road and hollered 'Yanke Go Home' and of course was invited in for a much needed drink. I took the truck home and opened up the casa which was a good thing because keys are always a challenge with six doors to choose from.

All was in order and the yard looked great. Bob unpacked the truck the next day and I got the house operating and organized-well, it still needs lots of cleaning and sorting out but its not bad. Our second day here I invited everyone we know to a potluck dinner and made a couple of large pots of chile. We fed twenty-one folks and six more showed up after dinner including our buddy Farris. A great time was had by all and we had one of the latest nights in years - Rick went across to Rebecca and Dave's with them just before eleven and Farris departed at eleven - way past Baja midnight.

Bob was busy replacing tires on all the quads and putting in new batteries that our Wisconsin friends brought down for us - thinking that we were flying in. The past couple of days he's been trimming palm trees and they do look very neat now. Will have to take some photos to post soon.