Here we go to Mexico! Day one - Oceanside to Tucson, AZ - 7/20/09

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things

Of sailing ships and sealing wax

Of cabbages and kings

Of why the sea is boiling hot

And whether pigs have wings...

The time has come for us to end our wonderful time together in Oceanside and head on down the road to Mexico. It's only 55 miles away, at Tijuana, but we don't want to be in Tijuana, and we don't want to drive across Mexico... so we are driving across the US and will cross at Weslaco/Nuevo Progresso, just west of Brownsville/Matamoros. I love it that the border towns have two names!

We left Oceanside around 10 am - I was pretty good at not crying until we got down the street! The girls and the dogs said their goodbyes - and we did too... the car is still crowded - I don't know where Bob got all this stuff or why he needs it. :) It's ok, almost all of it will be staying in Akumal. At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

First stop - Petco to get flea/tick medicine for the dogs - I ordered some online but they sent the wrong weight order - so had to get some there to take with us. Then it was onto East 78 to Interstate 15 and then to Interstate 8 to ...driving, some interesting landscapes, some boring... I dozed off for a bit for about an hour and woke up thinking we were still in the same area! Lots of high desert - 4,000 feet and it's hotter than Hades! Stopped in Yuma, AZ for gas and lunch and a rest stop... got out of the car and it was really windy - it felt like standing in front of a giant hairdryer. Poor Vina couldn't get comfortable and was panting almost the whole trip. Cejas settled down and actually slept after about two hours... Bella and Missy just cuddle up together on the back seat and go to sleep - although Bella likes to be a seat hog and stretch her legs out and kick the other dogs and even me sometimes. We drove through a thunderstorm that was the weirdest one we had ever been in ... big drops of rain hitting the car and had to use the windshield wipers... sun shining the whole time, really windy and big dust storms on the side, with lighting flashing. And then like that - snap - it's over.

The dogs are glad to be back together with us. They stay in the garage in Oceanside so they go in there after dinner and we don't see them too much until the morning... they have adjusted to it and seem to even like the garage - it's cool! We are at the La Quinta Downtown Tucson and they have carpeting so we don't have the slippery tile issue with Mr. Cejas!

Not too much new and different this trip... we are off tomorrow to Ft. Stockton, Texas.

I'm tired - I've been up since 5 AM and it's 10:30 now...so more manana...