Living it up in Tucson

Well, here we are. ....back in the USA.
It has occured to me that I have not ever really discussed how it is to return across the border into the US. ...
The car lanes are always busy with vendors; some are aggressive, especially the young men who want to climb up on our car and wash the windshield. One of our guide books says to take your middle finger and point it at them and wag it back and forth, while shaking your head from side to side. I tried that in Navajoa and it did not work, and I felt very embarrassed and stupid doing it. So just we shake our heads and say, no gracias, and they don't listen....so we lock our doors and yell, no, gracias!!!! And by then they are on the hood of the truck trying to wash. So we turn on the wipers and usually they get off and go to another car.
At the border there are many women selling huge plastic maps of Mexico, and plastic brooms and dust pans, plastic toy drums and tom toms. Lots of food vendors want you to buy what they have. Then there are several people that look like they might be gringos, begging for handouts. This is very unnerving to me. I think, why are they here, begging? One man wears dirty, old Banana Republic looking clothing and is barefoot. If someone gives him food, he shares it with other Mexican vendors.....I don't understand..... Bill says I should bury my head in a book or take some dramamine......

The border crossing is a busy place but drivers seeem to be patient. We have encountered 2 long waits of around 30 minutes each and one crossing with no wait at all.
Of course, I always have the passports and visas ready, laying on the console between us. Only during yesterday's crossing did the customs agent ask to see them. She asked about our place of residency..... Alamos, and where we were going...... Tucson, and why....... to visit.
She took a flashlight and shined it into the truck and walked around the truck. She then went in the booth with our passports, and I am thinking...did we pay all of our old parking tickets?
Then she told us to have a good trip. As we drove on through we noticed that customs agents were holding the arms of the lady who had been in a Missouri plated van in front of us and steering her into the customs building...we drove straight to Carl, Jr's.

Now going for a burger immediately after crossing the border back into the states is not something we do. We are not burger food freaks, but we are looking for a restroom stop before we continue on to Tucson.
And the Nogales, US, Carl, Jr., has an okay restroom.

In Mexico, when we stop at a bathroom, the first thing I do before I get out of the truck is stuff napkins in my pocket. I put 3 pesos in my pocket with the napkins. Then I find the bano. Sometimes an old senor or senora wants my 3 pesos. He or she will give me toilet paper in exchange for the pesos. Once inside I am looking to see if there is any toilet paper available, so I can save my napkins and the paper I was given for another day when a senor or senora will not be there...... a waste can is always in the stall.....paper goes in the waste can.....never in the toilet.....I would not want to be the gringo who puts toilet paper in the toilet and then flushes the toilet, causing it to overflow onto the floor, thus making the old senor or senora come into the bathroom with the mop.......if the toilet does not flush, there might be an old empty bucket to put faucet water into the toilet tank so I can flush by pulling the float thingy up.... which I know is what I should do because there is no cover on the toilet tank and there is the empty bucket.....

Before we go into Carl, Jr's, I grab my 3 pesos and my napkins. I go inside and look for the bano. There is toilet paper in the stall, there is no waste can in the stall, there is a lid on the tank and no empty bucket on the floor.....I put my paper and pesos back into my pocket and remind myself where I am......