Don't Eat a Pound of Dried Fruit!

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David found out the hard way that if you eat a pound of dried fruit, coupled with drinking 3 bottled waters, you’ll be VERY sorry! Suffice to say he hasn’t had any more dried fruit since!

Sunday morning we left Palm Springs for Tucson, AZ. Before we left we drove around looking at stars’ homes. We saw Frank Sinatra’s and Eva Gardner’s home, which you could rent for a mere $2600 a night, Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s home, which you could have your wedding reception in, and we saw Lucy and Desi’s home. Did I tell you that I Love Lucy?!

It was so very hot driving from Palm Springs to Tucson. Once we stopped at a rest area in Blythe, CA and it was just like opening an oven door. When we drove through Phoenix, I saw a time/temperature sign that said it was 113 degrees. Yikers!

When we stopped in Tucson, we visited our nephews, Jon and Joe, Jon’s wife, Lela, and their two children, Noah and Owen. Our niece, Jenny, was bringing David’s sister, Brenda to the airport, so we missed the both. 😞 We hadn’t seen them since Owen was about 2 months old and it was the first time we met Noah. The visit was much too short.

After our visit, we went to Barnes & Noble – we decided it was about time to get a Lonely Planet book on Mexico. We decided it was too late to drive on to El Paso, so we decided to get a room and cross the border in Nogales instead.

I spent a sleepless night Sunday night worrying about crossing the border. You hear so many bad things about it and all the murders in the border towns. As it turned out, it wasn’t half bad! Granted, there was a lot of bureaucracy, but I think it was only made worse by the fact we didn’t speak the language! I’m so mad at myself for blowing it off and thinking, “Oh, I’ll learn it soon enough.” We’re planning on taking Spanish classes and I can’t wait!

While at the border, David discovered that his ATM card was missing. We figured we last used it in Tucson, but it was too late to go all the way back. It was one of our ‘Worst Case Scenarios’ and now that we’ve had it; things can only get better, right?

We drove to San Carlos, a beautiful fishing community of 4,000 people. It is well known for large prawns. It was pretty desolate this time of year because of the heat. Many Americans, as well as locals, come down in droves in November to kill many fish.

Today we drove to Culiacan. Driving in Mexico is a trip! MEX15 is a toll road that goes from Nogales to Guadalajara. David was averaging about 75 and cars were flying by him. The lanes were also very narrow and there was no breakdown lane; in fact, if you had to pull off for a flat tire, you’d find yourself in a ditch! There were several times that there were no lines on the road. Add to this melee people riding bikes, speed bumps, hawkers selling food in the middle of the street at toll booths and you get a very stressful driving situation.

Tomorrow we're planning to drive to Mazatlan. It should be fun!

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Photos

Elvis & Priscilla's honeymoon house
This is where Elvis & Priscilla spent their honeymoon. You can now rent this house for receptions.

I Love Lucy!
David took this pic of Lucy and Ethel.