First Visit NOB, Border Crossing and Arrival in La Cruz

We just spent six weeks north of the border, our first real visit back since our retirement.  Boy, were we busy!  Our from Chapala to Kansas City was uneventful and safe - which was always toog.

Matt drove like a mad man out of Mexico and had us about an hour into
Texas on our first day.  I didn't think that was possible.  We spent our second night in Austin so we could see Matt's brother Shane and his partner Ken.  Then our last day was from Austin to Kansas City.

We were able to spend a lot of time with family and friends and enjoyed that very much--but ate way too much.  Matt spent lots of time with his grandkids, but think he wished he could have had even more.  We traveled to Lake of the Ozark area for Marshall's wedding, which was beautiful!  Wonderful couple and so happy they have each other.  Ryan and Brandee came to the wedding so I was able to spend some good days with them.  Bryce couldn't make it, but I went to North Carolina to see him and Jennifer.  Had a great visit and I enjoyed getting to know Jennifer.  We also got caught up on our medical, vision and dental care, got our South Dakota plates for the car (makes it much easier to have a car in Mexico if you ave SD plates), and started the process for our temporary residency permits at the Mexican consulate.

Marshall and Alix on their Wedding Day

Ryan and Brandee

Our New "Chapala Plaes"

We left Kansas City on October 11th and took Matt's mom for a visit with his brother Scott in Dallas.  We stayed at Scott's that night and left about 6:00 am  We made it to the border at 2:00 p.m. and despite acting like stupid gringos we were able to get our passports stamps, tourist visas and car permit in just over an hour.  When crossing at at Laredo, you turn left in Nuevo Laredo to get to the aduana office.  The signs are very small and hard to spot but we were going the right direction.  After several blocks there was a guy waving us to turn left.  We ended up making a U turn and headed back to the border crossing, what we should have done is cross over into the side road that runs just north of the road we were on.  So here we were, heading back over to the US.  We stopped at the gate and luckily the attendant spoke some English...enough to tell us we weren't where we should be (although we already knew that).  He called for his supervisor who cleared out the cars that were waiting behind us so Matt could back out (meanwhile all the Mexicans waiting to cross the border were honking at us and remind us how stupid gringos can be).  The supervisor moved some traffic cones and motioned for us to drive through, then he walked by our car and opened two gates for us to get us into the back entrance into the aduana office.  We felt dumb, but lucky that they were all so helpful to us.  When you get a vehicle permit that allows your US car to be legal in Mexico, you need the original title and a copy, proof of Mexican insurance, and copies of your passport.  It helps if you have copies of all of this made in advance.  They'll also need a copy of the tourist visa, which you'll have to pay to have made in the aduana office  And know your tag #.  If we'd had all of this in advance, we could have seriously cut our time in that office.  But still, less than an hour so not bad.

We were able to continue on to Saltillo to stay the night.  Very nice city with lots of very familiar options for overnight stays:  Holiday Inn, Hampton, DoubleTree to name a few.

Then our third day was about ten hours in the car to get back to Chapala.  Hermann had stayed with his second mother Nila so he didn't have to make the long trip and we needed to pick him up.  Our friends Joe and Sharon offered us the use of their casita for the two nights we were there so we were very comfortable.  We were actually to see almost all of our Chapala friends during these two days so good to check in.  Sunday was my birthday so I was serenaded at our favorite restaurant in Chapala.   I also was able to spend some time at the ranch, although that was sad for me.  We'd lost two dogs since I've been gone and my personal favorite, Lola, is having some serious health issues.

Celebrating my Birthday Chapala Style

We also looked at some housing options for next Spring when we return.  Think we've found the place we want, but Matt is going to try and negotiate a bit on the rent.

So Tuesday morning it was off to La Cruz.   Matt drove the first half of the trip and it was truly a beautiful drive.  We were on four lane cuotas (toll roads) most of the day.  There were some hills, but not too bad - although any hill is too much for Matt.  We took a break about three hours into our trip and I drove the final two hours.  This was a good decision as Matt would have had a total melt down if he was behind the wheel.  We had about 50 miles of winding roads and nearly hair pin turns.  That I could handle, what freaked me out were the idiots that were passing or trying to pass.  The double yellow line meant nothing to these jerks.  When we got behind a caravan of cars slowed down by a very slow moving truck, I was actually relieved.  I felt like this offered some protection;   But the good news is that we made it in about five hours, we had expected at least a six hour drive.  The casita we're staying in is lovely but small.   Trying to figure where to stash all our things.

The road to La Cruz...before it got scary!

Plunge Pool at our Casita

More on our new home soon!   But no pics except this one of our plunge pool until we get it organized!