The Journey of Discovery

The tide is going out. I can hear it only as it is dark outside and I’m sitting on a picnic bench awaiting the moonrise. It will be almost a full one tonight. Everytime I see the moon reflected on the Sea of Cortez, I cannot help but sing that “it’s a fabulous night for a moondance”.
Nine days ago we were in Portland opening Christmas gifts with our family. It seems like a year ago honestly. We are now in a warm climate with outside living. We BBQ daily, ride our bikes and eat mangos and avocados. It took us three days of driving and a lot of tolerance, but we all made it, happy and really glad to now be here.
Our first day of driving involved a previous night’s sleep in a mall parking lot. It was 25 degrees outside and we all slept in sleeping bags under wool blankets despite the fact we also had a propane heater going all night. As we awoke in the dark the next morning, we could not wait to get on the freeway despite the fact we would be driving all day long. The sun came up somewhere around Eugene which was covered with frost and a low fog. The kids got excited near Ashland when they saw snow remembering last Christmas when Portland was covered in a thick blanket of powder. In Redding we could really feel the temperature change in the bus and the windows no longer fogged up as we drove. We arrived at my parents house in Sacramento tired but ready to embrace our second Christmas dinner and gift giving.
My mother made her potato salad knowing it is my favorite. There was also ham, rolls, bean salad and sherry wine cake. It was the Christmas of my childhood. I was relieved after days at Steve’s parents house eating traditional German food such as Oyster stew and bag pudding with sausage and plums.
We went to bed very early as we had another long day ahead of us. We crammed in quick showers in the morning and were guided out of the “suburbs for seniors” by my parents in their golf cart. My Mom brought out all the neighbors for photos and rides in the school bus. It took awhile but everyone was in good spirits. Finally, two hours later, we found our comfortable position in the slow lane on I5 heading south again.
The evenings camping had not been planned out in advance. I simply thought we would find an easy place to bunk down for the night around San Diego. We did. About an hour north, we found a scenic overlook. Despite the close proximity to I5, none of us cared so we put up the curtains and fell quickly asleep.
During these two days of travels, we ate very well. I practiced cooking while driving. I baked sourdough bread, popped kettle corn, cooked beans in a pressure cooker and made hummus in my mini food processor. No fast food or sandwiches for our group. Although the pressure cooker was the most difficult to do, the split pea soup was fantastic with the fresh bread.
Sometime during these two days, we realized we were beginning to have a few battery issues. We seemed to be losing battery power in the bus and driving wasn’t refilling them. Somewhere along the road, we also realized it was actually our fridge draining it while we drove. Our fridge was supposed to be working off of propane but for some reason, it wasn’t. We would now need to find a repair shop before we could cross the border. An unexpected detour on what we were now calling the Journey of Discovery.
Our third day of travel had been planned a month before. Our group of nine would head to Sea World for the day.

We decided the fridge and batteries would have to wait as the kids deserved a day of frolicking. We saw the shows, aquariums and went on rides. At lunchtime we all headed to the bus and BBQ’d chicken. Late that evening, despite being tired, we drove to a nearby Home Depot and parked in the parking lot for the night. The adults stayed up late in the bus drinking beers and rum surrounded by oil lanterns. In the morning, we would get the last of our needed items before leaving.
After doing a little early morning shopping, we were off to an RV repair shop where our little group played in the parking lot across the street while our fridge got fixed.
We unloaded balls and bikes and had a picnic at lunchtime. We were trying to decide if we should rush the border before it got dark. The fridge was done in the early afternoon and we probably could make it. We decided to go for it since we had driven this stretch to San Felipe two times before and we knew exactly where we were going once we got to town. That and my birthday was the next day.
Of course we didn’t expect to get denied entrance to Mexico. Calexico is about 100 miles east of San Diego on the California side of Baja. We stood in a long line of cars waiting to cross through evening traffic. It probably took us 45 minutes to get four blocks. When it was finally our turn, we were waved into a separate lane for larger vehicles. The agent asked where we were going and then began to move the barriers. To cross into Mexico, you usually do not need to show your paperwork. It is only upon leaving Mexico that you need a passport.
While the officer began to move the barrier, a man yelled across the lanes to stop. He was obviously a superior. He approached our bus and I opened the door. He asked for our papers. I asked him if he wanted our insurance papers and he said no. I got our title and registration. He then asked for our commercial papers. I told him we didn’t have any. He said we needed them since we were driving a commercial vehicle. I invited him inside to see it wasn’t a commercial vehicle and he didn’t. He seemed quite angry at us. He told us to go back to the U.S. and ask them for the papers. At this point, we had no other options. Especially because he was kind of a jerk to begin with and obviously in charge.
Then he ordered the craziest thing. They stopped every person from driving through the border and had Steve turn the bus around right there. He turned across five lanes. He barely made it. There were multiple people involved getting cars out of the way, low hanging wires and one-way traffic. We ended up on a side street with a U.S. border agent.
The American agent asked for our passports and put the dogs on the bus for inspection. He told us to try another border nine miles down the road. He said that sometimes they just won’t let buses go through but there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason why. We headed down the road to the other border where we were searched and sent on through quite quickly. We all looked at eachother in awe and cheered that we had finally gotten the Blue Daisy all the way to Mexico in one piece.
Now I sit here, five days later feeling like Christmas was a lifetime ago. We’ve done nothing but read, eat and play on the beach since we’ve arrived. There are quite a few empty tequilla and beer bottles sitting around the bus, some sunburnt faces and sandcastle skeletons. The stresses are gone, the cold is gone and we are beginning to fall into a familiar rhythm.

Tomorrow we leave San Felipe and head down to new territory. Our six months in Mexico has now officially begun.