San Diego, again, but different
20221219 – We got up very early, had coffee, finished packing and got loaded up. The Michin jumped ship once but when hailed, immediately returned aboard.
The first hoopty, Hoopty Valioso, Puerto Escondido
I went to load the Michin into the car, but he, having other ideas, exited through an open side door while I was closing off his escape out the back. We heard him yowling plaintively as he tried to find his way back aboard. I finally caught him (not by my skill or ingenuity, he allowed himself to be caught) then we got away by 0510, only 10 minutes off schedule.
We drove all day, past Loreto, paste Mulege, through Santa Rosalia, through Guerrero Negro, through San Felipe, and got into Mexicali ahead of schedule. There we got into the correct (non-Sentri) lane for clearing the border and sat for nearly three hours until getting through without issue. The Agents at the border do their jobs well but I am firmly of the opinion that the Sentri program is a racket; paying more for preferential treatment is fundamentally distasteful to me. Besides that, we could not even sign up for the program if we wanted as the information requirements rule us out.
Once across the border we rocketed over to San Diego, whipping the little hoopty as hard as we could. We arrived at the hotel and got checked in around 2200. We ate supper from the drive-through at that Scottish restaurant then crashed once we got the furniture as protected from the Michin as possible. I also filled out the forms and paperwork for the dental appointment on the morrow before I racked around 2300.
The following day, Tuesday the 20th, we went to the dentists. I got fitted for a new crown, Jimena got a deep cleaning. I had to go back to following day for the real thing, then we spent the rest of the time shopping for parts for the boat, picking up packages of parts for the boat, spending more money on the Break Out Another Thousand.
San Diego Harbor Island toward Point Loma
On Thursday morning we took the Michin to a veterinarian’s office where she checked him out and boosted a couple of his vaccines. He was a very good boy throughout the ordeal, putting up with all the unpleasantness and indignities with nary a bite nor scratch to anyone. We dropped him off at the hotel then went for provisions to Costco. The boat will ride lower on her lines.
Thursday evening, our last in San Diego, we went to dinner with Dennis and Tabatha, and met Masie, Sarah, Yulia and Viktoria. All great people to spend an evening with, with the added benefit that they fed us. We got back to the hotel by 2100 and crashed out.
On Friday we got up very early and headed out by 0530 Mexicali time. We made it over to Mexicali and through the border in good time. We stopped at the POE, went into the big building to the left, and re-upped our visas for another 6 months then headed south,
We drove through Mexicali, then San Felipe, and then met with near disaster.
Just south of San Felipe I departed the highway and took the hoopty out into the desert. At the conclusion of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride poor Hoopty was destroyed but we were all three unscathed. Jimena was very gracious in not saying “I told you so” and she called the rental car company. Luckily we had insurance to the hilt so the good people at Alamo took care of everything: they got us a new car delivered out of Mexicali, they got the Insurance on the case, they lined up the grua out of San Felipe, just superb service all around. We sat in the desert with poor Hoopty for about 4 hours, then we got back on the road in the stand-in hoopty.
Poor Hoopty.
By 2200 we were topped off for fuel in Sant Rosalia but, with two plus hours to go to Puerto Escondido, and being tapped out for driving around curves at night, we checked into Las Casitas in Santa Rosalia for the night. We slept the sleep of innocent babes.