The first day!!! San Felipe

Our morning started early, packing up the truck, cleaning my mom’s house and saying our last goodbyes.

Then it was down to Solana Beach to meet Kristin and Chris of www.drivetheamericas.com .  Unfortunately our phones had been turned off so we had to stop at a rest stop to contact them and let them know we would be late.  Oh well, it had been a while since I used a pay phone and I guess I needed the practice.  Meeting with them was definitely something I am so grateful we did.  Just to meet face to face with another couple who has done the journey made us both realize that one, we can do this and two we really want too!

Then it was to Mexicali, our first border crossing.  While easy enough to do, it did take some time. The first step was to find the office that would do both the car and our visas, strange that can’t be done at the main border but only at the border near the airport about a 30 minute drive (only 11 kilometers but you know how they love the “Alto” signs in Baja.)  Once we found the office the fun began.   First to “Migracion” for our visas, then to the cashier where we paid and got the paperwork for the car, back to immigration and then back to finish the car, all in all about 1 ½ hours. 

That left us in a bit of a pickle, darkness was quickly approaching and we still had a two hour plus drive to San Felipe… the plan was to head back in to Mexicali find a hotel and stay the night.  We didn’t completely retrace our steps but were told that there was a cut off road that would get us to San Felipe.  We found the road and the only issue we had was the poor woman who lives in our Garmin screaming at us to “get back to the highlighted route” we finally did connect with that route but were well outside of Mexicali.  We stopped at a Pemex to see if there were any hotels or camping spots and were told it was 1 hour back to Mexicali or 1 hour to San Felipe, by now it was really getting dark (sorry mom). 

We had driven the road about 3 months ago and I remembered that it was in very good shape, except for a 5 or so mile part that had construction.  With Fritz promising to go slow we pushed on, we were lucky enough to get behind a car that wasn’t going to fast and follow him close enough to see where he slammed on the breaks or fell of the road, all the while getting passed by lunatics going 100+ MPH down and pitch black road.  I am glad to say the construction on the road is complete and we arrived around 6:30 with no problems.

Instead of finding a camp site we found a hotel and settled in for the night with a delicious dinner of street tacos and a warm shower and coffee this morning.  Today we find a place to camp, watch the superbowl and then we will head to Gonzaga… Manana maybe!