Originally posted by Bajagypsy
The night before our trip was a busy one for us, so much to do, and as per usual we had procrastinated until the very last moment. The weather
outside was horrendous, snow, blowing snow, -30 Degrees Celsius. Todd was trying to do the necessary vehicle maintenance for a trip that long, I was
packing for children and ourselves, buying groceries, and assuring four somewhat sad children that yes we would return. Exhausted we finally fell
into bed, expecting sleep to just over come us. After about an hour of lying there Todd finally asked “You asleep?” “No”, I practically yelled, “I’m
so excited, I feel like a child at Christmas time!” We talked and talked into the wee hours of the morning, discussing our hopes, dreams and fears of
this trip. 6:00 am comes early when you have only fallen asleep at around 4:00 am. Groggily we crawled out of bed, did the final checks, of luggage,
got dressed, sent the kids to school and ourselves to work.
The day dragged by, like when you are at work, and have a ton to do, but none of it is what you really want to do. Every 15 minutes we emailed each
other, “Is it time to leave now? How ‘bout now?” Finally the clocked said 4:00 pm, we could leave work, both of us speed home like our house was on
fire. Hurriedly we ran into the house changed into our pajama’s for comfort on the drive, hugged, kissed and promised to call our children made
promises of the gifts we would return with and jumped into the car.
The first thing we realized that we didn’t plan oh to well for was our departure time. Now Saskatoon isn’t a big metropolis or anything like that,
but we do have rush hour traffic. The biggest hurdle in driving in Saskatoon is the horrific drivers. Either everyone has gotten their license form
a small town with a population of 8, or they are 150 years old and should not be driving anymore. I looked over at Todd as we were waiting at a red
light, for what seemed forever (in actuality it was probably only 2 light cycles), and noticed the vain in his temple starting to throb. This is
always a sure sign that he is going to loose his mind. “We should get something to eat” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “No, behind
schedule already, we need to make up time” he replied. My theory behind stopping for food was two fold. I was absolutely starving, it is almost a
perpetual state for me, and I also thought that if I could raise his blood sugar to a normal level, it might stop the vein in his temple from
exploding as it now looked like a rope coiled under the surface of his skin. “I think you will feel better if we get something substantial now, and
then just snack along the way”. I got his special look, and tried to give my version of the special look; although I’m sure I looked like an absolute
half witted marooon. After many words back and forth and promises of a 5 minute stop max, we pulled over at a subway, just on the outskirts of town.
I quickly ran in and wouldn’t you know it, every single person from the age of 5 – 105 was at this store ordering, much to the dismay of the SINGLE,
person working there. I looked down at my watch, and back out to the car, I could see Todd, tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel. How was I to
get in and out of here in 5 minutes? I knew it was an impossible feat, so I decided no matter what he said when I returned I would stay calm, and
make him think it was only 5 minutes. Twenty minutes later it was finally my turn, I practically screamed my order at the poor sub maker and waited,
I got our order and ran out to the car, expecting a “What in the hell took so long?” I got in the car, barely closed the door when the car was
backing out of the parking stall, quickly I unwrapped the sub and handed it to him, noticing that the vain was slightly large than when I had left.
Todd took a huge bite chewed, took a drink of his Coke, looked at me and smiled and said, “Thank you honey, it was just what I needed”.
Now when we originally printed off our directions from MapPoint, we had chosen the quickest route from Saskatoon to Cabo the reason being, is neither
one of us has any patients. We want what we want now, not later. Both of us had skimmed he directions, not overly concerned on what they had to say,
figured we would read it as we drove along. The most difficult portion of the trip seemed to be near San Diego, when you leave the I15 and get onto
the I5 to enter Tijuana. We had been driving along for about an hour, when Todd asked If I wanted to do some driving, so that he could rest and then
do some driving later on. We pulled over, made a quick switch, and Todd picked up our mammoth binder of directions. “All we have to do is turn just
before/after we get into Medicine Hat, I’m sure we will find the turnoff, they are bound to have signs saying Canadian/Us Border this way”. Utterly
confident we speed away in the dark.
Now I’m not the most confident driver when the roads are icy, and it is dark outside, after about half an hour of my driving at 100 km/hr (exactly the
speed limit), Todd couldn’t take it anymore, and had me pull over so that he could drive, till we got to the US, he promised the road’s would be
better there, and I would feel better driving on them in the dark. After all the excitement of the past day and a half, I promptly fell asleep.
After a few hours had passed, Todd woke me up. We were in Medicine Hat, Alberta; did the directions say anything about where to turn? Try as we
might we could not find the street we were to turn on we only had one choice, ask where we were. I know that both of us were feeling a little
apprehensive now. Good God, we hadn’t even left Canada yet and we were lost!!!! Todd got out at a gas station, filled the car with gas and got
detailed directions on where we were to go. Back in the car, and the race is on. The road was only half a block away, thank God, so we were back on
our path of adventure.
Going through the US border was no problem, it was around 2:30 in the morning, I think the boarder crossing guard, was just to lazy to get out of his
booth to check our vehicle, looked at our passports and off we went. I drove for awhile, and when we got to Idaho, I needed to pull over in the
mountains for a pee break. Let me tell you, it was another moment when I wished I could pee like a man; it wasn’t much warmer than it was at home,
and I literally froze my butt off!
I’m not sure about any of you, but Utah, is not my favorite state. I do not want to offend anyone from Utah, but man oh man, does that state go on
for ever. When driving it I feel like it takes about ¾ of our driving time just to get through Utah.
We finally pulled in to Vegas, and needed to seriously stretch our legs. It was February 13th now around 6:00 pm, and we had been driving for 24
hours straight. We drove down the strip, as neither one of us had ever been to Vegas, and it was something we both wanted to see. We found a parking
lot, parked the car and went for a walk. Now having drove for 24 hours straight, we looked a sight, both of us had food stains all over our clothes,
and probably seriously smelled like a dead rotting carcass, strangely enough people didn’t even look at us twice, although I did notice that know one
got overly close to us either!!! After about an hour of walking around, we figured that we should get back in the car, as Todd’s Aunt and Uncle were
expecting us at their house in Palm Desert. Little did we know that traffic from Vegas, to California is as crazy as it is. Todd is a real pro
driver though and got us to his Aunt’s and Uncle’s house in record time.
I have to had it to his Aunt and Uncle, the welcomed us with huge hugs, (even though we really smelt), a big glass of wine, a wonderful sit down meal,
shower and then a soak in their hot tub. I was content to stay there forever. As we were having our wine in the hot tub, I looked over at Todd and
could see that he looked like how I felt. We decided to hit the sack, as we were planning to be on the road first thing in the morning.
We awoke to the smell of fresh coffee, and toast, not the way we usually wake up at home, with 4 children clomping around the house in what I swear
are heavy army boots on the tile and hardwood floor. Aunty made us breakfast, and a lunch, while Todd and his Uncle figured the best way for us to
get to Tijuana. With many hugs and a promise to stay with them for a few days on our way home, we jumped in the car with our lunches and headed for
the border.
If we thought we were excited leaving Canada, let me tell you, we were about as annoying as a bunch of kids let loose in Santa’s work shop. I was
bouncing in my chair, and felt like my heart was going to explode, Todd had a big burro grin on his face, we could see the ocean!!
Finally the signs started showing up, dire warnings of what will happen to you if you bring firearms into Mexico, Beware of children and mothers
crossing the highway, the anticipation was going to kill us. Then finally we saw the border sign, there was a bit of a wait so we took some pictures.
Finally the traffic started moving, with great anticipation we were thrust into Tijuana, and suddenly, we were in downtown Tijuana, with car’s honking
at us, and we had no idea where to go or where we were. “Quick look at the directions, where are we suppose to be?” Todd asked, with a note of panic
in his voice. “I’m looking I’m looking, I can’t find anything”. We both looked at each other and realized we were royally screwed, we were lost in
Tijuana. I knew that we needed to get Visa’s, knew that we needed to get onto Highway 1, but had no idea how to accomplish this, was this the end of
our adventure, would we ever get to Cabo?
[Edited on 3-25-2007 by Bajagypsy]
[Edited on 3-26-2007 by Bajagypsy] |
I'm working on part four as we speak, hopefully it will be posted tonight.
Thank you everyone for your incouragement and suggestions it means a lot to me.