Brandi - 9-30-2003 at 12:37 AM
Thursday, September 24
Once again, I'm awake early. Have dreamed all night about driving home in different vehicles and each dream ending in a different way. Again, the
tide is low and I go for a walk. We are surrounded by clouds. I can see it raining in the distance - towards San Felipe and towards highway 1. Mike
wakes up as I return from my walk. "What do you think we should do?" I ask. He replies "Well, there's no way we can take the blazer, and by the
looks of it, no one is flying out of here today, maybe we should take Antonio up on his offer" He also admits to dreaming about different ways of
getting home.
As we prepare to drive down to the cantina, the rain starts to fall. As we pull up to the restaurant, Antonio comes walking out. "We'd need your
peek-up, Antonio" we tell him. "No problema" he replies and walks with us to his truck, shows us where all the appropriate papers are and gives us
the key. "Regresaramos en martes" we tell him. "Iss ok"...."no worries"...."hasta luego"...I start to walk over to casa #1 when Antonio informs me,
that whole bunch is having breakfast inside. We enter and tell Mike Child we're driving out. He immediately begins to apologize and we stop him.
It's not his fault. He hasn't been controlling the weather. AND...I admit to him, I really wasn't quite sure how I would feel should I have actually
had to get back in an airplane again. We give our thanks, wish them a safe flight home and promise to call his office and let him know we arrived
safely back in Orange County.
Back at our trailers, we begin pulling necessary items out of the shed that may be needed on this long drive home. We know nothing about this truck
and just pray that it will get us down the muddy dirt road safely.
Meanwhile, I grab jackets, blankets, water, munchies, radios, flashlights, etc. I am prepared for the worst. Why not? So far, it seems we've only
attracted bad karma so why not be prepared? Mike is siphoning gas from everything he can find. The ranch has no gas, and everyone stranded in
Gonzaga is running on empty and waiting for the gas truck to arrive, so no luck trying to buy some off of anyone. By the time he's done, it looks
like we may enough to make us to Laguna Chapala....and hope they have some gas to spare.
10:00 a.m. - We're loaded up, locked up and ready to go. I ask Mike, "Which way are we going to go?" It's raining both directions and he replies,
"I'm not sure yet." We get to the ranch, make a couple of phone calls, get something cold to drink and head ?back out to the peek-up. Mike takes a
peso out of his pocket and tells me, "You call it" ...."if it lands this way, we head towards San Felipe, if it lands that way, we head towards
Coco's"....I call it and it seems we are heading towards highway 1.
We're off and gone and the drive to Coco's is uneventful. The road is better than I remember, and I'm now in a 2 wheel drive. In the bad spots, Coco
has painted rocks bright orange and made detours. What a guy. I have re-named him, "Keeper of the Roads". We arrive at Coco's Corner and visit with
our long lost amigo and before leaving, I invite him to dinner, telling him we'll be back in 5 days. Before pulling out, he advises us of one last
"peligroso" spot about 4.5 kilometers before highway 1.
Sure enough, right about where Coco said it would be, there was a horrible wash-out. The road ended abruptly, with a river raging through it. Mike
tests it out, and even though it looks treacherous, it's actually rather shallow and passable.
We arrive at Laguna Chapala, and we are in luck, they have gas. We buy a few litres and are on our way. The drive is peaceful and quiet. Not many
vehicles on the road in this weather. Time passes and I start to get hungry. I inform Mike that I'd like to stop and eat at Mama Espinoza's. I
precede to tell him that Mike Humphreville and others claim this restaurant to be one of the best and I'd like to try it out for myself.
Going through El Rosario, we thought maybe we'd missed it. We don't travel on this road, so we are not very familiar with it. But just about when
I'd given up hope, we found it. We enter and are the only people in the place. We order. Mike orders lobster tacos, and I, fried shrimp. Our food
arrives, and the shrimp is some of the freshest I've ever had. Thank you Mike Humphreville!
As before, the rest of the drive to the border is pretty uneventful. Time waiting to cross the border is approximately 15 minutes. At the border, I
make the mistake of answering the question "Bringing back any fruit or vegetables?" "Well, we have one apple and one orange in the ice chest" I tell
the man. He gives us a slip of paper and informs us we must now go to the secondary inspection point. GREAT. What now? Are we going to be detained
because of ONE APPLE AND ONE ORANGE?????? We pull up to secondary and the guy gives us a bad time. "Any live animals?"..."Any alcohol or
cigarettes?" "What's in those bags behind the seats?" I inform him we've just come from being stranded in the hurricane and all we have is wet
clothes and towels.
He scowls and takes our apple and orange and lets us go. Now why couldn't the guy at the first station take them??? It's late, we don't care and we
go on our way.
It has been pre-arranged that Gramma Etta will have our dog and our sons at home waiting for us when we arrive. We pull into the driveway around
11:30. We let ourselves in and all is quiet. My daughter and our sons are fast asleep. Puppa, our dog, is very happy to see us. We are a bit
disappointed that no one is awake, but the relief of being home, far outways the disappointment.
Urgent message on answering machine to call Heather. She wants to be assured we made it home safe and sound.
8:30 Friday a.m.
Receive a phone call from Gene. He has just gotten back also and wanted to confirm we made it home safely. He and the plane are ok and back in
Torrance.
I now have 4 days to wash, gather and be prepared to leave again, with 14 people. I am in charge of the food. Somehow, with luck, I will pull it off
and be ready to head south again on Tuesday.
Ahh, the memories of Baja. These particular ones shall be told and re-told for years to come.
Epilogue...
I send a heart-felt thanks to...
God...for giving us the best of circumstances in a bad situation
Gene....for one of the smoothest landings I've ever experienced
John & Heather - for being our heroes and coming to our rescue...we will be forever grateful
Gramma Etta...for taking such wonderful care of our children, your grandchildren, we love you even more (cuz we know it's not easy!..back &
forth...back & forth!)
Miss Carol....coordinating with Gramma Etta regarding our children.....your request has been granted.
And finally, Antonio....for graciously lending us your car when you knew we wanted to get home..muchas gracias mi amigo.
And now, I leave again tomorrow. I can't wait to see my amigos who will be in Gonzaga and this time, if I'm compelled to write, let it only be about
the good times.
Saludos and muchas gracias para leyendo mis recuerdos.....
Brandi
Bajabus - 9-30-2003 at 05:31 AM
Brandi, Thank you so much for taking the time to write up that story. Peace be with you and good luck in all you do.
David K - 9-30-2003 at 07:38 AM
Thank you Brandi for sharing this piece of your life with us. We are sure glad you are home safe. How kind are the people of Baja (Antonio) for their
generosity and kindness! Viva Alfonsina's!
Brandi - glad it all worked out. i'm curious
capt. mike - 9-30-2003 at 12:00 PM
of details on the plane's getting back to the states, any chance "Gene" can post or could you send me his e mail or him mine? . thx!
also - regards gonzaga this weekend, are there any runway reports? not sure who all still is going by air. My plans are indefinite as i was in mex
mainland last weekend and have the plane in for some maintenance work this week causing me to fly comm'l to SD wed, ugh!
Brandi - 9-30-2003 at 12:32 PM
Captain Mike...
Got a weather report from John Baretta, said it's been gorgeous and dry. Runway should be fine by now...especially Rancho Grande.
As far as the plane, had to go thru lots of red tape, a new "old" engine was put in and they flew it right off the highway. That's about all I know.
Don't have an email addy for Gene but when I talk to him, I'll give him yours! and YOU BETTER SHOW UP THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!
We're getting ready to load up the vehicles and we're off this afternoon. Spending the night in Calexico, have travellers coming from Tucson after
working all day. Tomorrow - it's SLG otra vez!
Sure hope to be sharing some memories and cold ones with you Friday......
Thanks Brandi.....
Debra - 9-30-2003 at 02:23 PM
First for taking the time to tell this story, and second for not leaving us on the edge of our seats waiting for you to get back to finish your tale.
One think I kept thinking about as you were telling your story, is how much worse it would have been had the kids been with you....SCARY!!
Have a great trip!
thx Brandi, all hinges on if i have my plane back
capt. mike - 9-30-2003 at 02:28 PM
but the sams are soliciting a plane for sat workers this weekend so we can have the new clinic ready for the following oct 10-12 grande opening after
2 years of rehab on the structure. i may have to volunteer for that if no one else steps up to the plate. enjoy a safe weekend if you don't see me,
and i'll have one with you/others if i do make it!