San Diego to Mexico!

We left Memphis ridiculously early for our 7.30am flight to Phoenix, Arizona (which took 3hrs, but as we crossed into Pacific Time, we gained 2 hrs), then had an hour to spare before catching our connecting flight to San Diego, where we picked up the van. We had to get the van from San Diego, as no-one in Las Vegas keeps Sprinter vans, & John particularly wanted that type, because of it's size & capabilities.

But we were dissappointed when we saw it, it's a bit shabby-looking, with rusty spots here & there, & numerous little dents & creases. Anyone who knows John will also know that he likes to keep his van in good condition, & the Sprinter he has at home always looks tidy. Never mind, I thought to meself, it's me that's going to be driving it most of the time, & on the plus side, no-one is gonna notice if I put a few little dinks in it myself!

Anyway, we had the night in San Diego, which just happens to be sooo close to the Mexican border that His Nibs wanted a photo for his ABC of Touring. That's a competition HOG runs each year, & you have to get your photo taken beside all the different place-names of the alphabet. More places, more points. He came joint 3rd last year (& that's worldwide, mind, so he did very canny), but it just made him more determined to come 1st this year. So, we were whisked along towards the border by the speeding motorway traffic, & before we knew it, there it was. Now, all we intended was to grab a quick pic, & turn right around, without ever crossing into that rather scary place. Mexico is unchartered territory for us, & that, coupled with the fact that his satnav maps stopped at the American side of the border, plus it was getting kinda late (& dark), convinced us we really shouldn't hang around. But we'd been spotted by an armed Border Patrol Officer, who said NO PHOTOS in no uncertain terms, & no U-turns either. We had to go through - but not before one very sneaky photo - see above!

So we showed our passports, which luckily were still in my bag after coming from the airport, & the van was searched. Of course, we'd just picked it up so it was absolutely empty. But we couldn't help smiling as we wondered what they thought we were trying to smuggle in to Mexico! We got through in less than 5 minutes, drove less than a mile to the first roundabout, went right around it & headed back to the border & the USA, still smiling at those border guards searching the van on the way in. But the smiles slid slowly from our faces as we realised there were 7 lanes of traffic all trying to do the same as us. It was total gridlock.
This gridlock mustn't have been unusual, because little Mexican businesses had sprung up amidst the queues of cars. There were youths with wet rags, washing not just screens, but entire cars, as they crawled slowly forwards. There were women with small children, selling fruit smoothies, men selling jewellry, great big crucifixes, blankets, sombreros - you name it, someone was weaving in & out of the traffic lanes trying to sell it. So at least we had plenty to watch as we sat there for 2 whole hours, waiting to get through. When it was our turn to go through, we did have a bit of difficulty explaining to the guard why we had a great big empty van, & didn't even know how to work the locks properly so he could search it, but once he established that we weren't carrying any drugs on the inside, or cling-ons on the underside, I think he just decided we are weird english folk, & eventually waved us through. From there, we went straight back to our hotel, relieved to be back on American soil.