In The Land of California

In the exotic land of southern California, you are stopped on the freeway for a Border Patrol checkpoint. You're not told to exit the freeway, you are actually STOPPED on the freeway.....




And in the land of California (well, it's in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas as well...) there is HUGE steel fencing that can be seen from miles and miles away.
It's the border fence.



I wish I'd gotten a photo of it, but I was driving and it wouldn't have been safe....but I saw two Border Patrol trucks dragging used tires behind their SUV's to smoothe out the dirt between the border fence and the highway. (so they could better see if any fresh foot prints appear over the weekend)

Here's what it looks like when you're driving across the border from Mexico. The motorhome is Jim's, he's being questioned of course. He's shady...



See the cameras? They have scanners, too. The scanners are for passport holders who have the optional border crossing card. You hold it up as you drive past the scanner and all your information appears on the computer screen before you get up to the Border Patrol's window. Kinda cool.

When you get to the window, you are asked:

1. How you're doing (this is if the guard is in a good mood)
2. Your citizenship (American Citizen! Red White and Blue!)
3. If you have anything to declare (I declared that Tuna Casserole is my favorite of all casseroles)
4. If you have any drugs or alcohol in your vehicle. I always ask if they want to know about my ibuprofen and vitamin supplements. They NEVER care.
5. What were you doing in Mexico. I never joke at this point, because "dealin' drugs," or, "Looking for a new housekeeper," is never laughed at. In fact it makes your day very very long. And you don't need that kind of attention, especially at the border.

Every time I'm in line at the border, I observe the following:

1. Drug dogs doing passive searches on vehicles while they're in line. I ALWAYS see a vehicle get pulled out of line because the drug dog "hit" on it.
2. Beggars.
3. Mexican vendors selling candy, bottled water, Mexican newspapers, tiny toys. Oh, and hats.
4. Vehicles overheating. The line is always at least an hour.
5. Window washers. They carry plastic bottles of water and dirty rags, and offer to wash your windshield.

So there you have it. Now you don't need to experience the border in person.

SCORE San Felipe Race

We stayed in a brand new hotel, built sometime in the past year. After I'd arrived on Friday, Jim mentioned that he believed the hotel was built by looking at a picture of a hotel rather than blueprints. Then he showed me the light switches. Okay, I get it!

But it was nice, for me. It's in a quieter location (not downtown where all the partiers and fireworks are) and the heater actually worked in my room. With my ear plugs, benadryl, contoured pillow that I brought from home, and the working heater--I had the best night's sleep I'd EVER had in Mexico.
But then I took a shower. Cold water. Yuck.

The race begins at 6am, so we have to be in place with our computers and paperwork ready to go. We parked Jim's motorhome next to the arches--it's the gateway to the town and it also served as the Start and Finish line.
We were joined at the arches by a huge media trailer.



And I was an hour early because my alarm was set for the wrong time.

We had our usual military guards for security. But I don't remember there being a truck-mounted gun before!



We had 107 bikes and quads start their race, then a couple of hours later the trophy trucks lined up for their start:





We were surprised at the number of UTV's, or, Rhinos that were racing. This one is a UTV but I have no idea what kind:



250 miles later, he actually came back to the Finish line. On time!

We worked until after 10pm, then I gladly climbed into my perfect room in my cozy little corner of Mexico.

The next morning I was up before everyone else so I went downtown in search of some breakfast tacos. Obviously, there was quite a party the night before:



There were tents on the beach, and one of the tents was crushed and laying down. I figured it had been abandoned until I heard someone roll around inside it. I had to sit and watch because the guy struggled around for several minutes, as if he wasn't sure where he was at!

But the rest of the beach was silent, except for the waves. The tide was beginning to come in and the sun was coming up.



I found my tacos, got back to the hotel and we all caravanned up to the border.

We waited 90 minutes to get back across! Busy day at the port of entry.

After driving all day, and I do mean all day....

I made it home to my sweetie. Shay will be home in the morning and he'll see the cool autograph I got him from Robbie Gordon. Oh, and the cool t shirts. What a spoiled little guy.