So, we had a rude awakening on Friday morning. 5:00 AM! the alarm goes off - to bad music on the Mexican radio (oh oh oh oh ) (hope that songs runs through your head the rest of the day as it did through mine!) - some jokester had either set the alarm for the next guest (how thoughtful) or forgotten to turn it off when they left (how thoughtful!) I managed to get the alarm off without Bella howling, although Cejas woofed once, and barely managed that, but he takes his guard dog duties seriously, and somehow got back to sleep. Usually, once I'm up after about 3:00 in the morning, I'm up for the duration - until about half an hour before I need to get up, then I'm fast, fast, fast asleep and can't be budged. We woke up (again) about 7:00 and had coffee in the room and Bob got some danishes from the free breakfast buffett (Best Western, give them a plug). The best part of the hotel was that there was a huge field right behind it, and Cejas, Bella and Missy got to RUN RUN RUN!!!! They had so much fun! They had been cooped up in a car for two days and hadn't had any exercise since being at Casa Hallnass in Las Vegas two days before. Solavina can't run off leash because she will just take off to round up a pack of coyotes and teach them a thing or two! We were in the car and on the road at 8:00, right on schedule (hey, there's a first time in my life for everything!)
So, we started driving. And driving. And driving. West Texas goes from plains and desert with interesting rock formations (that make a strong argument for aliens being here and giving up on the place and going back home) to open , green, rolling hills... Texas Hill Country. We drove througb this for most of the morning (I admit - I napped a bit). It was beautiful and we saw lots of cattle farms and horse ranches and the occassional llama and goat. Around noon we approached San Antonio. Bob had been to SA in 1970 as part of his Army ROTC duty (he went to Mississippi State University on ROTC scholarship and was a medic and first lieutenant in the Army but managed to avoid going to VietNam by staying an extra year to get another degree in business in addition to his chemistry degree) but hadn't been back since. I was there about 17 years ago briefly, just driving through... anyway, didn't get to see much of the city except the freeways, but it was fun to drive by and is on the list of places to come back to visit. (So is Austin!) From SA, we drove south and the landscape changes from green rolling hills to green flat country.... with occassional hills and valleys. Lots of wildflowers in this area - sunflowers growing on the side of the road, just winking at you as you drive by. We saw lots more cattle ranches and horse farms, more goats, no more llamas, and drove through some cute, funky little towns, that if you'd blink, you'd miss them. We finally found our way to Weslaco, despite the road construction (do they close every exit that we need for our hotel?) and despite the GPS being drunk or something - the directions made no sense at all! We got onto International drive about 3:00 pm and were ecstatic! We would have two hours to complete our paperwork for the car and get our passports and FM3s stamped, turn around, go to the hotel, check in, enjoy the pool and the bar, and relax, have dinner and RELAX some more and then head out first thing on Saturday morning.
The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Especially when they include a border crossing.
Next post... Crossing the border.
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