Since we had to get up pretty early to make our drive to Los Algodones, Mexico I did not post anything to the blog until late morning while sitting in the waiting room at Dr. Ureña's. By the way, they have wonderful, free WiFi! I posted the actual blog Tuesday evening around 7 pm, so it you did not see it the title of the blogpost about Monday is called 'Monday recap....'.
We went to bed Monday night thinking we had to be in the VW by 6:30 am to make the drive to Los Algodones for our annual dental checkup scheduled for 9:30 am. Google maps indicated a 2 hour and 19 minute drive so we wanted to give ourselves a buffer in case we had any issues. We planned to be up by 5:30 am. I woke up about 4:50 am and was lying there talking with TLE when she suddenly interjected...."our 9:30 am appointment is Arizona time, right?", and I said, "yeah, so?"....she says "well we are not on daylight savings time yet, so they are one hour ahead of us, so I guess that means we should be in the VW by 5:30 am our time, not 6:30 am".....by this time it is a little after 5 am, and we now have less than 30 minutes to get ourselves together.......oh how I dislike surprises.....lol.
We were in the VW at 5:36 am, so a little behind the 8 ball to start our drive. We also need to put fuel in the VW as we are down to 1/4 tank, so a quick stop at the ARCO Travel Center in Salton City was in order. We cover the 22 miles to the travel center arriving at 5:57 am.....I fuel up the car, and we are back on the road by 6 am.....some fast pit stop, no? As we head south to Interstate 8 the sun begins to peak over the eastern horizon......
......the drive, other than heading directly into the sun for the last 50 miles, was uneventful, and we arrive at the Quechan border parking lot at exactly 8:30 am, so even leaving 6 minutes late, and stopping for gas we still covered the distance in less than two hours, and we didn't even exceed the speed limit.
We have 1 hour before our dental appointments so TLE and I stop off at Best Optical to get some new eye glasses ordered. We both needed new prescriptions, and they provide that service, so they take TLE first, and she is out by 9:15 am, and heading down to Dr. Ureña's office while I go in for my exam. I'm out by 9:30 am and after placing my order for reading glasses, cover the two blocks between locations in less than 5 minutes arriving before TLE is called in for her cleaning.....perfect! TLE had two small cavities which they filled while I was getting my teeth cleaned, but I had zero cavities for the 5th year in a row, but I do need a 'deep cleaning', so I set a return appointment for March 3rd.
Our friends, Steve and Candy, are wintering in Yuma, AZ and were coming to Los Algodones the same day, so we made arrangements to meet them for lunch around 11:30 am at a place they referred to as 'The Patio'. We were finished with our checkup by 10:45 am, and headed back to Best Optical so TLE could place her order for some new tri-focals. We were done there right at 11:30 am, so began our walk to what TLE thought was the restaurant Steve and Candy had designated, however, upon our arrival it was immediately clear it was not the the place to which they referred. We asked someone for directions, and they sent us off in another direction to what we thought was going to be the right restaurant. We arrive in the area to which we were directed to find no restaurant, and no Steve and Candy. We ask for further directions from a parking lot attendant and he confidently directs us a few blocks down the street to another restaurant, which is also not 'The Patio'. As we are standing there somewhat befuddled, and the hour getting ever later (it is 10 minutes to noon by now) a very nice gentleman approaches us and offers to personally guide us to the correct restaurant.......and he did! As we walked down the street with this nice man it became apparent this is what he does to earn money, so I happily gave him a tip for getting us to our destination. As it turns out, 'El Patio' is less than 100 yards from Best Optical.....lol! We finally found Steve and Candy after walking about 1/2 mile in circles!
I was so relieved to find our friends I completely forgot to take any pictures, but we had a great time talking, drinking Tecate cervesa, and enjoying some great Mexican cuisine. We met their friends, Mike and Cathy, also Elks Lodge members, who we thoroughly enjoyed meeting.....by the time lunch was over we felt like we had known them for years. Our eye glasses were to be ready for pickup around 1:30 pm, so around 1:45 pm we bid our friends, and new friends adieu and headed back to Best Optical. By 2 pm we had our new eye glasses, and were making a 'B' line for the border to cross back over to California. The line was very long by this time, but what do you know? I saw Steve, Candy, Mike and Cathy right near the front of the line, and they quickly invited us to rejoin them. We were over the border within 10 minutes and on our way to our cars. We exchanged 'until next time' hugs once again, and began our drive back to the Anza Borrego, arriving home just after 3 pm California time having gained back that hour we lost going east.
By the time we changed clothes and settled down to relax after a very long day of driving, it was 4 pm, and the next sunset was closing in upon us once again......
......we did not have a fire for the first time in a week, but did enjoy the subtle sunset through our front windows....thanks for stopping by!
When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!
You cut the line? Shame! Hahahaha, btw when we went a couple weeks ago we had to wait well over an hour in line. Busy time at the border.
ReplyDelete