Hola México!

We made it!

We did some grocery shopping and got the car washed near our hotel in Phoenix, then we drove for a couple hours past Tucson and shopped for perishables (fruits, veggies, and meats) at Fry's. We packed the groceries in around the luggage. Thank goodness for air conditioning. Then we met my new boss, John Dinkleman, at the Safeway in Nogales, Arizona. We then caravanned over the border. I was expecting a huge line with many lanes and customs agents. But we went through another, smaller crossing. When we stopped to talk to the US border patrol, we just had a brief conversation about who I was and where I was going. When we next stopped to talk to the Mexican customs official, Mr. Dinkleman did the talking. The nice young man got the picture of my official status and then said that was fine and sent us on our way.

As we entered the Mexico side, some of it seemed similar to Honduras, some of it didn't. Different: lanes clearly marked on the street and cars stuck to their lanes. They also waited at the traffic signals, including turn lanes! When we turned onto the street to go to our neighborhood, we turned at the Dairy Queen and Papa John's. The neighborhood is fairly nice, without being super rich, per se. And hey! They have street signs. When we got to the house, we sort of recognized it from our Google Street View tour online. But we didn't think this was the house because, although it has razor wire along the top of the fence, it doesn't have a 12 foot high wall -- just a high wrought iron fence.

The consulate staff and "Dink" did a very good job having the house ready for us. We have a welcome kit with mostly brand new items (bedding, kitchenware, TV, etc.), and our UAB (what we shipped from DC) was also waiting for us. They had also set up the cable TV and Internet service for us. Most TV stations are in Spanish, but some are in English. In addition to all that preparation, Liz Dinkleman had given us a welcome fruit and chocolate basket. What a treat! The staff unloaded our car for us, then gave us a tour of the house and security features. Then Dink and Mary and I sat and talked for a while. He offered to take us out for dinner, but we said we were just going to have a light dinner and work on putting away groceries and some unpacking. So we'll probably go out tomorrow. He has been very supportive and encouraging. His family has a house in Green Valley, where his wife and children are living for the summer, and will move back here in time for school. And it's nice to have an LDS boss. We may end up going to stake conference in the U.S. this weekend. He offered to let us spend the night Saturday night, since conference is in south Tucson. We may well take him up on his offer.

Our house here is rather big for just the two of us. Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and an office. Downstairs is a living room, family/TV room, dining room, kitchen, laundry, and half bath. There's also a patio that includes a small storage room, and another bathroom (?). Downstairs from that is the carport and a room just off of it that was used as an exercise room.

Overall, the house is quite nice, fairly modern, roomy, and with tile floor throughout. The kitchen is even better than we expected. It's fairly big, with an island/bar in the middle. The refrigerator is fairly big, with water and ice (although we don't know that we will consume the tap water and ice, but will use the bottled water), a new gas stove, and a dishwasher! There are also ceiling fans and air conditioners in nearly every room. And Mary likes the colors of many of the rooms; they're not all off-white. So, although it's a shame we don't have more family here to enjoy these rooms, I think we'll be very comfortable here. The one thing that detracts from the home is the bars on the windows. Not a surprise to have them, but this time they're all on the inside. So it's hard to see the nice windows and blinds. Well, we need something to remind us we're at a foreign post, I guess.

So, all that said, our almost 6 week, 7500 mile journey from Washington, DC, across the country visiting church history sites, visiting each of the children, then south across the Arizona desert to Mexico, has come to an end. Tomorrow we have an appointment at the US Customs and Border Protection office to get frequent traveler passes. Then it's off to the consulate for my first meetings. So it's "buenas noches" to all.

Almost There

Saturday we drove about the same distance as the day before. This time we went from Panguitch, Utah to Gilbert, Arizona (southeast of Phoenix). I chose to drive south on Alternate 89, which took us through Fredonia, AZ, then across the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon, through the Navajo Nation, Flagstaff, then on to Phoenix. What an amazing array of landscapes! Before crossing the Colorado River, we hit the summit at 8,000 feet, which still had a dusting of snow. Later, we were driving through deserts with red sand. We saw painted rocks and mountains, pine trees and cacti. Like almost all of our trip, it was downright chilly: 45 degrees when we left Panguitch, and in the high 60's in Flagstaff. It wasn't until we got to Phoenix that it really warmed up. In fact, here in Phoenix is the first really warm weather we've had on this whole trip. The cold just seems to follow us. Even though it got up to 95 degrees here in Phoenix today, that was still 10 degrees cooler than a couple of days ago. And it will warm up again as soon as we leave. Weird, huh?

Last night we got dinner from Panda Express, and a movie from the Redbox at Walmart and had a quiet evening in the hotel room. Today we mostly rested. I went to church at a nearby chapel, just for Sacrament meeting. I had to smile at the number of women with what we call the "bump" hairdo. But even more numerous were the men (nearly all of them under, say, 50) who used gel to scoop the front of their hair upward. Oh, yeah. The talks were nice, too. Then we got lunch at Costco (caesar salad and a polish dog) and ate it in the hotel's breakfast room. Finally -- and this is the reason we came to this area -- we went and got Melissa for dinner and a visit. Where Darin and Julea live is way out in a newly built-up area. 25 miles away, but no hotel, and only fast food. So we drove all the way back to near our hotel for a nice Italian restaurant. Then we went for a short swim at the hotel and then had to take her back home. Our car's GPS had us go way around the first time, probably because it didn't know about some of the new roads. When we took her home, I used my own instincts (with the GPS as backup) and cut our travel time in half. 

We were a bit anxious about the visit with Melissa. She really needed to get some of her frustrations off her chest. The job is tough, living with her cousin and her friend is not that easy, and so on. But Mary gave her some good advice. We wish her the best and a very successful summer!

Now we need try to relax and get ready for the last leg of our journey tomorrow. It's a 3 hour drive, or so. We're going to do some grocery shopping on the way (keeping in mind that we have to fit it in our car, with all our other stuff). Then we're going to meet my boss in the Safeway parking lot in Nogales, Arizona. I assume he'll help us with the border crossing, then accompany us to our house. I don't think I'll be going into the consulate tomorrow, but I don't know for sure. Last night, after watching the movie we rented, we spent some time on Google Maps street view, going up and down the street where we will be living, trying to guess which house might be ours, then viewing around the consulate, and locating the LDS chapel and viewing it. Kind of an interesting way to preview our future "hometown." We were told that everyone usually shops north of the border, but we noticed in our Google tour that there's a Walmart Supercenter just around the corner from the consulate (on the Mexican side). We'll check it out and may use it for basic shopping. After Honduras, we're not afraid to shop in the local version of US super stores!

Now, relax, get some sleep, and pack the car and shop in the morning. No turning back now!

Nothin' to do but drive

Today was all about driving -- about 475 miles from Elko, NV to Panguitch, UT. We saw lots of mountains, sage brush, juniper, pine, sand, salt flats, in rain and sun. We took turns driving and sleeping (but not at the same time). What more can you say?

We did stop off in Provo real quick for lunch and saw my brother, Don. What did surprise us was the weather. It was mostly in the 50's the whole way. We expected it to be hot as we got to southern Utah, but it's quite chilly here.

Panguitch is a quaint town, with more quaint motels than we expected. They had a dinner theatre notice on our door at the motel, but we got here just after it started. That would have been fun. So we went to the Cowboy Smokehouse for dinner. I saw that there's a Lions Club breakfast tomorrow morning, but it may be too chilly to eat outside!

We have about as much driving tomorrow, so I better post this and get some sleep... and let Mary sleep, too.

Hey! It's Elko, Nevada!

I took a day off from blogging because I didn’t have all that much to say. Plus, I didn’t have a good network connection. We’re not at a hotel this time; we’re at Mary’s brother Chris and his wife Stacie’s house in Elko, Nevada. Drove over from Reno yesterday. What a drive. It wasn’t all that far, but I was really tired for some reason, and there isn’t a lot to keep you awake on these highways. In fact, I take everything I said about how desolate central Oregon is! If you like views of dry alkali lake beds, sagebrush, and the the occasional mountain peak with nothing else around for miles, then northern Nevada is beautiful, too… in its own way… I guess. One interesting note: in some places the westbound and eastbound lanes of the Interstate are at least a half a mile apart. The only reason I can think of is because… they can! There’s tons of empty space here!

Last night after dinner we played with the Wii. It was my first time handling or even seeing a Wii system. It was fun. It was especially fun to play and watch the girls, including 4 year old Kaylee, dance to the Just Dance game, where you get points for following along with a dancer on screen. Lots of fun. 

Today we took care of some chores: getting our auto insurance for Mexico, doing laundry, etc. But we also stopped by the Elko Mining Expo! Tons of equipment, trade show booths, and so on. And a lot more people and kids than I would have expected. I had thought you would really need to be into mining for something like this. But it turns out that bored local citizens turn out, too. Everyone seemed to be gathering bags full of trade show swag. Kind of like trick or treat, without the costumes. All in good fun, I guess. The weather turned windy and chilly, so we didn’t spend a lot of time outside. But we did go to the grocery store and bought ingredients for Mary to cook dinner. Spaghetti and homemade meatballs. Mmm-mmm. Good to have Mary’s cooking again. 

The hard part about our stay here was sleeping on the futon. I know they’re supposed to be comfortable, and we really appreciate our relatives’ hospitality, but the cotton mattress is a little hard for our aging bones. So I got out the mattress topper we’ve been carrying in our car, and put that on. It should help. I hope. Tomorrow we have a long drive. We had planned on staying in a hotel (not to put anyone out), but I couldn’t find a room available, what with the Mining Expo, and all. 

Mary is talking with Stacie right now. They’ve talked a lot lately about all the family dynamics here. And Mary is always wise and loving. But I do hope she comes to bed soon… after I get that last load out of the dryer. 

Headed to Mexico

With less than one week before I report to work, this morning we began the leg of our journey that I consider "on our way to Mexico." With just some stops to see Mary's family in Elko and Melissa in Arizona, we're headed fairly directly from Oregon through Nevada and Utah to Arizona and northern Mexico.

After a wonderful breakfast with Rebekah at the Breadboard restaurant in Ashland (I had sourdough pancakes with real maple syrup), we headed south on I-5, over the Siskiyou pass, and on our way to Mt. Shasta. This was a familiar route, but one we hadn't been on in a long time. I was once again impressed with the beauty of the Siskiyou mountains, Shasta, Black Butte (you can check Wikipedia for pictures & descriptions). Near the town of Mt. Shasta, we left I-5 to head toward Susanville and our goal for the day: Reno. On the way, we were treated to more beautiful mountains, including Mt. Lassen. I really am a Northwesterner at heart; I just gotta be able to see mountains and volcanoes!

The odd thing is, I never stopped to take any photos. I just wanted to get to our hotel before dinnertime, so we wouldn't be eating and going to bed so late. Plus, I had this thought in my head that Mary would be driving faster than I was. That didn't make me go much over the speed limit, but it did make me not want to dawdle.

A little more than halfway, we switched so Mary could drive and I could have a snack. I was still full from breakfast, so we never stopped for lunch. Mary commented that she had to be careful about speeding in the long stretches through the pine forests. Some years ago she got a speeding ticket near Susanville. But as we were getting closer to Susanville, a cop pulled us over for speeding. Ticket number 2 for this area. I refrained from saying anything like "I told you so," because I really hadn't. She readily admitted it was her own fault for going too fast, and for not realizing the speed limit was different there. She will be a good citizen and pay her fine when the ticket comes in the mail. I guess this will be coming out of her allowance!

The hotel had me worried because it is old and looked a bit run-down. But they did a fairly good job refurbishing it, and we're fine so far. The bed's a bit hard and bouncy, though. We'll see.

After a steak dinner at Ruby River's, we came back to the hotel and I plugged the laptop into the LCD TV so we could watch a Netflix movie. Ain't technology fun? It was nice to have some time to relax.

Rebekah Day

** This post is for Monday, June 7. But the hotel's Internet connection died, so it didn't get posted until the next morning. **

We got to spend all day with Rebekah. What a treat. We had breakfast at the Wild Goose Cafe. Then, while Mary went back to the hotel to do some computer work, Beckah and I went to SOU. I left my job there almost 6 years ago. There were a few changes, but most was pretty much the same. We visited the Computing Services Center, and chatted with a number of people I used to work with. There was a kind of depressed feeling, from recent layoffs to ongoing budget struggles. But it was good to see that some of the things I started, such as Blackboard course management system and the Help Desk.

We also visited the Theatre department, where Rebekah picked up some of her graded course materials, and where I got to hear great compliments about her. When we went to see the library, we ran into Hart, an old friend that I worked closely with on Blackboard training and the Master in Management, including the Guanajuato, Mexico exchange program. She indicated that I should also stop by to see Meredith, who was also one of the coordinators of the Guanajuato program. The funny thing is that I think I saw them yesterday at Crater Lake. They accompanied some visitors from Guanajuato on an outing. We may have run into some of these visitors; that is, they may have been the Spanish speakers we overheard. But when we were leaving the gift shop, I thought I saw a couple of people at a table in the care that I knew, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't stop. Funny, huh?

After that, we went to Costco, where Rebekah bought a Wii system she had been saving up for. While in the area, we got a car wash and went to look for other old friends, the Veilleux's. Unfortunately, although we think we found the right place, it seems they moved not long ago. We also drove by our old house on Rio Street. The trees that we planted were huge! But the landscaping was mostly the same. The house was a different color, though. And most surprising, they sold off our big back yard and another house was there. It was interesting to see it and the old neighborhood. Overall, it was less changed than we might have expected. 

We then went to Red Robin for lunch. We had a french dip sandwich in Kansas City and really liked it. But we’ve gone to Red Robin in several cities since, only to find they didn’t have it. We were happy they had it here. We told the waiter we had driven thousands of miles to get it! Beckah also enjoyed a veggie burger. We ran some other errands, and then ended up in downtown Ashland, where we strolled through Lithia Park (one of my all-time favorites) and enjoyed Ashland Creek. We also strolled around downtown, looking into store windows and looking at real estate flyers. Ashland continues to be extremely expensive. In the end, we bought some very expensive -- but delicious -- chocolates. Then we went back to the hotel to hang out, chat, and watch “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” on Netflix. It was not only hilarious, but great music. 

Okay, that’s a lot of detail, but it was a fun day. 

It's Like Coming Home

We're in Ashland, Oregon tonight. We lived in this part of southern Oregon (mostly Medford) just after we got married and for the next 10 years, longer than we've lived anywhere else together. As we've driven around, it seemed not that much has changed. A few things, here and there, but not that much, really, since we moved away 6 years ago.

At the start of our travels this morning, Mary wanted something different for breakfast, so we went to Safeway, and she ended up buying some Chinese food and a pastry! Of course, since we often get out of the hotel so late each day, it was almost lunch time when she started eating her "breakfast" in the car. I'm glad she shared. We had also stopped at Costco and bought a turkey croissant sandwich with caesar salad to eat later for lunch.

The drive from Bend was beautiful -- lots of mountains and pine trees. Since it was Sunday, we listened to some General Conference talks and music for part of the way. Then we took a detour to see Crater Lake. Magnificent. Still lots of snow up at the rim, including drifts as high as 12 feet. We had thought that we would just eat our Costco lunch outside, but it was chilly and getting colder as storm clouds were rolling in. Fortunately, we were able to eat in a large room upstairs from the gift shop. Even there, we were looking out the second story window at drifts of snow that came all the way up to the window. We enjoyed the view, strolled around outside to take pictures, and then got rained on.

We called Rebekah along the way, and she told us that some old friends of ours, the Woodard's had invited us over for dinner. That was a nice idea. Unfortunately, we got there much later than we originally said, because of the time spent at Crater Lake. And there was no cell phone coverage to let them know until we nearly got to Medford.

But it was nice to see Rebekah and then to visit with the Woodard's. They served on of my favorite Sunday dinners: waffles! It was so much fun catching up with them, that an hour went by between me saying we should really go and when we actually left.

We look forward to spending the day with Rebekah tomorrow! We let her know that we really did drive all the way out here just to see her. I'm sure glad we could.

Back in the Saddle Again

Recently there has been a bit of tension when it came time to write my blog entry. Not a fight, just annoyance. It seems that we have been getting back to the hotel rather late, and Mary and I each want to check our e-mail or do other things on the computer. So it has often been after 11 or 12 before I write the blog. By that time, Mary is very much ready for lights out. That’s why the entries are often short. So I thought I’d get a jump on it tonight. 

I’m writing this in the car in the middle of nowhere. Literally. We’re on Highway 20, the Central Oregon Highway. We left Burns about 30 miles ago, and have about 85 miles to go until we get to Bend and our hotel for the night. While most of this is cattle country, I haven’t seen a house or ranch for a while now. Just rolling hills, lots of sagebrush, and occasional pine trees. We’re listening to Prince Caspian on CD. 

It’s 9:30 on my watch, although we’re in the Pacific time zone now, an hour earlier than we were on. So we may get to the hotel by 10:00 instead of 11:00 (even though it will still be late on our body clocks). 

{Mary just mentioned she’s having a hot flash. She’s been informing me of these little moments several times a day for the last few weeks.} 

After loading the car this morning (a very tight fit), we went back over to Charie and Bill’s (on the Idaho side of the river) for breakfast. They had ground some wheat and made whole wheat waffles and bacon. Mmm-mmm! Then we went back over to the Oregon side and visited Mary’s mom for a little while. Then back to Idaho, this time almost all the way to Boise. We stopped to do some shopping, but Mary was still not able to find a red dress to wear for Liz’s wedding. Then lunch at Costco, and a little more shopping. Still no luck. This time, I took a nap in the car while she and Melissa shopped. 

From there, it was time to take Melissa to the airport. She had a tearful farewell. On the one hand, it’s kind of exciting to be off on her own, but she was also pretty nervous about it. I told her: “You have a passport, a driver’s license, a plane ticket, and $20 in your pocket -- you have the whole world at your fingertips!” After she left, it really occurred to us: now that she’s graduated from high school, she’s 18 and is going off to work for the summer before going off to continue her education in Rexburg, I think this means we really are empty nesters now. 

The funny coincidence is that Melissa is going to working and living in the Phoenix area. So we will stop by and see her in a week, on our way to Mexico. For now, it’s more central Oregon high desert for a while. 

Look Out World, Here She Comes

She did it! Melissa got her license. In fact, the DMV tester said it's been a long time since he's given a 95, but Melissa did it. Of course, I took the credit as her instructor. After all, I should get something for all the checks I've written to the DMV over the last couple of days. And, as predicted, it rained during her drive test, but not much before or after.

Besides the DMV, we spent more time visiting Mary's mom and sister. It's been a blessing to be able to eat lunch and dinner at Bill & Charie's house (and breakfast at the hotel). It's helped the budget considerably. It was also nice to be able to our laundry there, without having to get a roll of quarters!

I spent much of the afternoon and evening on the computer, working out plans for Liz & Jacob's honeymoon, and locating and booking hotels for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, we struck out for a hotel in Elko, Nevada next week, to visit Mary's brother and sister-in-law. It turns out the Elko Mining Expo is going on next week and every hotel room is booked. No kidding.

It makes us weary thinking about all the driving we still have ahead: east to the Boise airport to drop off Melissa tomorrow so she can fly to Arizona for her summer job, then turn around and go west to Bend, Oregon (too far to go to Medford in one day); to Ashland/Medford the next day; visit with Rebekah; then southeast to Reno and then Elko, Nevada; then a long drive to southern Utah, and another to Phoenix. We'll take a day off there, and check in with Melissa. Finally, we drive to Nogales the next day. Whew! Roughly 2200 more miles in the next 10 days (counting visiting days). I'm sure glad I have a great car... and a beautiful driving companion.

Border Hopping and Driver Training

Today we went to the Oregon DMV here in Ontario and renewed Melissa's permit, and my license, and got a replacement for Mary's license. Then Melissa and I spent a couple hours practicing driving. She's a pretty good driver, and I suspect she'll pass her test and get her license tomorrow. I hope it doesn't rain.

We had lunch across the river in Fruitland, ID with Mary's sister. Then we fell asleep on their couch! After that we went shopping for a new bed for Mary's mom. We were concerned it would take us a couple days and visiting various stores before we found something. We actually decided on something nice at the second store we went to, across the street from the first one we visited, both here in downtown Ontario. Melissa and Mary took Charie to go pick up a car for one of their sons, while I hung out at the in-law's house. Melissa's been doing all the driving since we went to the DMV!

We ended the day with dinner at Charie and Bill's, followed by introducing them to Arrested Development TV show on Netflix.

I'm glad things are going well as we really start to ramp up for being in Mexico for 2 years.

Oregon Trail

Mostly driving today. Actually, we had one last visit with Liz and Jacob, over breakfast. Then we filled out and mailed Melissa's apartment application and deposit. Then we drove.

It's a bit of a nuisance driving with the car so full you can't see out the back window. I have packing the car down to a science. Everything has its place. And I'm getting faster at packing the car. It's still a bit annoying that we have so much stuff, though.

Much of the drive, especially along I-84, follows the Oregon Trail. And it was quite a feeling to return to Oregon after having been gone for a while.

We stopped in Fruitland, Idaho, just over the border (Snake River) from Ontario, Oregon, to visit Mary's sister and brother-in-law. They gave us a nice homemade Mexican dinner, in honor of our upcoming assignment. We didn't stop to see Mary's mother here in Ontario, because we visited Charie and Bill so long. But that's on the plan for tomorrow.

Decisions, decisions

It's hard to blog about me today, as our efforts were mostly focused on Melissa. We got a tour of Evans beauty college. We were impressed with the breadth and thoroughness of their program. Enough to pay the application fee. Unfortunately, she's on a waiting list for September. Fortunately, the director feels she has a 90% chance of starting in September because they are expanding their facility over the summer.

We then looked at some housing options and narrowed it down to an apartment near the school, but farther from BYU-I and grocery stores and probable job locations, and fairly inexpensive; and an apartment next to BYU-I, but a bit more expensive. It would be nice to know that she has a good singles ward, even if it's not a "student" ward. Transportation is always a concern. The decision is tough on her; she doesn't want to get it wrong. So we'll hope she can make a decision soon. It's hard to find the right balance between telling her what to do and staying completely out of it.

I also got the 5,000 mile service on the car today. We've had it just over a month and have already put over 5,000 miles. Weird.

We've especially enjoyed all the time we've been able to spend with Liz and Jacob ... and the meals we've enjoyed together! It's good to get to know Jacob, to talk more with Liz, and to see them together.