Getting to San Luis, AZ

So much energy, time, and thought went into this last trip down to Nayarit that I think I may be mentally exhausted from it all.   The day before I embarked on my journey down South, I planned to load the truck and cover it with a tarp so that the next day after arriving home from work I simply had to take a shower and get behind the wheel. 

Packing the truck was a 3 hour event.  Getting everything up on the truck wasn't difficult but arranging it all so as to minimize breaking things was cumbersome.  Also, I had things brought to me at the last minute that I literarally threw on top of the pile which kind of annoyed me as I was already stressed out with the loading and packing. 

After everything was loaded I began to cover the truck and start tying it down.  I had some help, but I could tell the help didn't really know what he was doing.  It took him about an hour to get the tarp tied down.  The truck was visually weighed down and looked like I was going to be hauling a heavy load.  I didn't take many pictures and now regret not having any visuals.

The next day I got home and ate a quick meal, jumped in the shower, and gathered last of my stuff.  I kissed my tearful mom goodbye and assured her that I would be ok and jumped in the truck.  My first stop was to get a full tank of gas as I forgot to do that the day before.  After filling the tank I merged onto the freeway where I was met with minimal traffic as it was about 4:30pm. 

All was going smoothly until I got a 1/4 tank into my drive,  in the shadow of the truck I could see that the tarp was flapping in the wind a bit.  About 5 minutes later I saw that a large portion of the tarp was flapping in the wind and I thought darn it! I knew that it was going to come undone because the person that tied it for me didn't seem like he knew what he was doing. 

I stopped at the next rest stop and hopped down from the truck, circled around to the back where the tarp was flapping and sure enough the rope had come undone and was lying in a heap next to the back tire.  Ooohh what to do, what to do?  Well I was going to give it my best shot at tying that sucker down, that was all I could do.  As I was tying it down all I kept thinking of was the long drive ahead and how I needed to be sure the tarp wasn't going to come untied again.  Also, I was trying hard to scan my surroundings as there were many semi-trucks parked and people parked to use the bathrooms.  Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a trucker watching me as I was tying down the tarp, and I tried to determine if he was threat.  I looked rather like a crazy lady, wind blowing through my hair, on my knees and floundering to make ties in the rope so I wondered if he was contemplating coming over to help me or something else.  I think I was just paranoid.

After about 20 minutes of tying ropes and checking other knots, I was ready to be on my way.  I had to use the bathroom but decided I should just get going and that I would go when I stopped to get gas.  I merged back on the freeway and looked over in the shadow of the truck to see if the tarp was going to hold.  It looked ok but from this point forward I was never confident that the tarp would hold.  I was so concious of it that I stopped again shortly after stopping at the rest area to check on it because I thought it may have loosened.  I regretted pulling off the road as I pulled off on an exit that is seldom used and I immediately felt my heart pounding as I jumped out of the truck to check the ropes.  My surroundings included an old farmhouse and what looked like miles of fields.  I remember thinking why the heck did I use this exit?  Again I was just paranoid I guess, or very cautious.  Once again I plopped back in the driver's seat and merged back onto the freeway. 

It was smooth sailing to my first stop for gas.  I had planned on stopping further on my route but made a last minute decision to stop before the sun went down to check on the tarp.  After pumping gas I made a quick restroom visit and got back behind the wheel.  I have to say travelling by yourself is no picnic, I think I watch too much Forensic Files because everytime I stopped I felt like someone was out to get me. 

After my stop I got back on the road and sailed through Los Angeles and made it close to Indio before having to stop for gas again.  It was close to midnight when I reached the gas station,  I don't recall the name of the town but I just remember there being several Indian Casinos.  Again I hadn't picked an ideal place to fill up.  When I pulled into the gas station it was off the freeway a ways and a train was passing by ever so slowly off to the side.  All I kept thinking of was that somebody would jump off one of the freight trains and walk on over to the gas station.  Everytime I stopped I phoned my mom to tell her where I was stopping for gas.  This particular time I stood on the phone with her until I got back on the freeway because nobody was at this gas station but me. 

I was nearing the end of my journey and knew I had about 3 hours left to go.  I wasn't too tired at this point just more nervous as I was getting closer to the border.  About an hour after I left the gas station I started going through the Arizona desert and it was very dark.  It seemed like I was the only one on the road that night and I started to feel my eyes getting droopy. 

Fatigue started to set in and I wasn't sure if I had missed an exit onto another freeway so I stopped at a gas station to ask for directions.  It was 1 o'clock in the morning.  As I got out of the truck I saw a man approching the vehicle next to mine which had a 4 wheel motorcycle in the back, you know like the one's that are used to patrol the borders, and I immediatly thought this guy to be one of those minute-man.  Shrugging it off I began asking him for directions only to be met with a hand to my face and a response of "No."  I felt crushed.  Some stranger waved me off and I felt like I wanted to cry.  I felt helpless.

I gathered myself and walked into the store and approached a woman, not wanting to approach another man, and asked her for directions.  She shook her head and said she was sorry but did not know.  Feeling helpless I looked around the store and saw some maps over in the corner.  I headed over to the maps and started looking to see where I was.  I was able to determine that I was on track and that I should be ok to reach I-95 which was the last stretch of highway before reaching my destination of San Luis, AZ. 

As I got back into the truck I remembered being dismissed by the man and thought to myself "what did I get myself into?"  I eventually made my way down to the border and spoke with B minutes before I arrived at the border.  He assured me everything was going to be ok and that he was already staying at the same hotel we had stayed at previously.

I reached the infamous red light green light button, pushed it and waited.  It turned red, which meant I had to pull over for inspection.  As I pulled over to the inspection area I saw B waiting there and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.  I knew I didn't have to handle the Aduana check and that he would do all the "negotiating."  Eventually we were able to leave but not before handing over $100.  We asked for a receipt showing that we had "declared" our items but said that one was not needed.  They pocketed the money and sent us on our way.

We didn't know what was to come in the following days but we were just so happy to be safe and reunited.  We drove into the hotel parked and got some much needed z's.