Good to be Back Home

Buen dia!
I returned home early Friday morning after an twelve hour surreal black and white bus trip down from Tucson. The only color I can recall was the Nogales city border crossing which was colorfully lit with storefront signs. We arrived at the border around ten, Thursday night, and US border guards, who spoke perfect spanish, came on board first to ask to see all of our papers. They walked right by me and did not even look at my passport which I so dutifully opened for them. Off the bus, aduana took over and requested we put our bags on the conveyor belt, which did not run, so we had to push our bags along. We each had our turn to press the pass through button and from what I could see, everyone got a green light.

The trip home was very short compared to the trip north. On Monday, the fifth, I boarded a nice and roomy TBC bus in Alamos around nine pm.

We stopped at the large bus stations in Navajoa, Obregon, and Hermosillo and as many small bus stops in between that the driver found neccessary. Sometimes we would pick up passengers at these out of the way stops, but our bus was always full.

Things seemed to be progressing smoothly. I had seat number four, which is right up front behind the plexi glass barrier. I recommend this seat because you can see what the driver sees as you are barreling down the highway, straddling two lanes. You can also see what the driver does not see, which can be a bit worrisome. I know he saw the goats begin a short sprint across our lane because he swerved to miss them. But I am not sure he saw the large pile of rocks in the right lane until he looked in his large rearview mirror after he ran over two of them.

Several hours south of the border, near the town of Santa Anna, is a military checkpoint. I have told you about it before. It is the checkpoint that we believe the US government paid for and constructed and is only a bother if one is heading north. Because of the heavy Semana Santa traffic, it took three hours to get through the checkpoint. I do not recommend bus travel during the Easter week, unless you do not mind crying babies, loud talking hard of hearing grandmas, chirping chickens and old snoring men for a long extended period of time.


Getting off at the Nogales, Mexico bus station, taking the cab to the border and walking across the border worked like a charm. However, US customs did not mess with my bag or my passport. They did ask me if anyone had asked me to carry anything across the border for them. I had refused to take those chirping chickens, thank goodness.

The seven passenger shuttle concerned me a little after passenger number fifteen was loaded and all the bags were removed from the shuttle and thrown in a trailer that got attached at last minute to the van. I put on my seat belt but noticed no one else bothered. Arizona has that click it or ticket thing, but I did not know if that applied to fifiteen people in a seven people van or not.

Sure enough, at the new US border checkpoint at Tubac, Arizona, we were told to pull over so customs could see all of our papers. They ignored me once again, but checked thoroughly the papers of all the Mexicans onboard and asked our driver to open the trailer. The agents did not seem to mind that we were obviously overloaded in the people department and after waving us on, our driver proceeded to drive over the curb twice before we continued our journey.

At the airport in Tucson, I caught my breath and settled in for a four hour wait for my plane to leave and when my family picked me up in Dallas, we continued a northern drive for around an hour, and I calculated that I had been on the run for almost twenty four hours.

Although I moved away from the state in the early seventies and went to Santa Fe, there are just certain times of the year that make the Lone Star state a real gem. I believe April, and then September, are the best months to visit. The air is still cool in the mornings in April and then, cool in the September evenings. Days are lazy and warm, but there is usually a good breeze.

We had several adventurous country drives, down near Corsicana and Ennis, where we searched for Bluebonnet flowers. We were not disappointed as we saw fields of blue mixed in with the delicate reds and pinks of Indian Paintbrush. We baked bread, we baked praline cookies, we ate barbeque, we watered the lawn, we went to an art showing of one of my mother's paintings, we went to garage sales, we spent time out at my sister's farmhouse, we went and watched airplanes land at the small local airport, we watched tv!

This was a wonderful April trip. I may just have to go back in September and do it all again.
I would just probably travel differently...................

Senor picked me up at the small downtown bus station on Friday morning. I was already off the bus, sitting on an iron park bench beneath the cottonwoods. Several people I knew walked by as I waited................ a mother taking her daughter to school, one of the Alameda sweepers, the store owner from across the street and a man on his bike. We either waved to one another or chatted. It felt good to be off the bus, good to be sitting on something not moving.

At home, it all looked the same. I asked Senor what he had been working on and he showed me...........all little detail stuff that is important to making the bigger stuff work.

Then suddenly the water pump broke and Senor started hauling it out of the little locked storage area and laying it in the back of the truck so he could take it to the water pump fixer man and Umberto wanted to know if I had a good time in California and Cookies tried to bite me and I noticed that the dishes had not been done for awhile and that there was dust everywhere and two of my petunia plants looked dead. I sighed, it was good to be back home.

The Amazing Adventure

Buen Dia!


We have just celebrated Semana Santa, the holy (Easter in the US) week. Schools here have a two week vacation and some businesses have been open half days or closed on Good Friday and Santa Semana day.

For many Alamos Mexicanos the scene is at the beach and they leave town for Huatabampito, which is about an hour away. But, Alamos then becomes the destination for hundreds of Mexicano tourists. So, town has certainly been very crowded. But even with many tourists, it has been somewhat quiet. This is a religious holiday and it is taken very seriously. Fiestas are low key and done mostly with family.

The Mexican tourist is easily spotted. The men may be walking around in shorts with a tecate, girls or women may be wearing short shorts and exposing their midriffs, women may be openly smoking in public, there is alot of cell phone, video and camera use.


With the exception of the Tecate, these things don't typically happen on a regular day in Alamos. This is a very, very conservative town. Women rarely wear shorts, even men do not wear shorts and women do not smoke.


Yesterday Senor and I sat at the Plaza and ate fruit and watched the tourists. There were many children dressed for communion and a local friend said it is quite popular to drive to Alamos and have your child take communion at the church here. On this morning, there were no shorts or tecates............... everyone was dressed in their very best conservative churchwear, young girls were wearing hats with ribbons and bows, young boys were in white and gold.


We were busy here at the casa during the Semana Santa week.

Senor and Umberto made placas. These placas will become the portal roof. They will lay diagonally over the vigas. Senor says we need about eighty. Looks to me more like eight hundred, but he says I am wrong and my math is not good.
I was very surprised I did not get asked to make them. But that is okay with me. I have my own projects right now.





Trying to make glass tiles for the sconces that will go in the bathroom has been my project. I have been making a few in the small hot box kiln, but have yet to get a good technique down.

I think it will take me awhile. The tiles look great until the light is behind them and then the colors fade together and the different colors can't be seen. So, I am working on adjustments for this.

Yesterday the cowboys moved the bulls down from the mountains. They came down our street and continued onto town for their adventure.

Tonight I am going on my own adventure.

I will be taking a 9pm bus from Alamos to Nogales, Mexico, where I hope to arrive at the Nogales bus station around 7am. I will take a taxi from the Nogales bus station to the downtown Nogales border crossing. I will then proceed to walk through customs and across the border and find the shuttle that will transport me to the Tucson airport. I will next take an afternoon flight to the Dallas Fort Worth airport where I will be picked up by my sister. We will then drive north for an hour, where I will spend a week visiting with my father and mother and sister. I feel like I am on The Amazing Race.

This is the way many Alamenses travel to the US and is recommended because if one takes the bus straight up to Tucson, there is often a very long delay at the border crossing due to the folks on the bus who do not have their papers in order or do not even have papers and will be told they cannot even cross the border, but find that it is worth it to pay money to go to the border and be told exactly that by US customs...............

So, this will be an amazing adventure for me, I am sure.

I suggested to Senor.............when I return maybe the casa be done.............

Home Again

Hola!

After two weeks we are back home.

Days are longer now and as the sun sets farther to the north, the sky is brilliant in the twilight. We spent a few days in Bisbee, Arizona, before coming back to some Tucson shopping and then, the border crossing on Sunday.

Bisbee seemed a little sleepy, like a town just coming out of hibernation, a little worn and a little tired. But, the lure is definitely there, with alot of people in the restaurants and hotels, excellent food, and endless shopping. But at night, Bisbee seemed to tuck itself in early, with its streets deserted well into the morning hours.

Everywhere we looked cypress trees soared skyward and stood guard over churches, schools and homes.

The old Lavender Copper Mine tumbles deep into the ground and its sulphur pool, at the bottom, is ringed in copper, blue, gray and pink.

An even older section of town had a few gasoline pumps and old cars parked along its streets. Old rickety doors and broken window panes and old pool and snooker halls were boarded up.

Back in Tucson, we said our goodbyes to Senor's brother and his wife and quickly got as much shopping in as we could. We were beginning to miss home and Cookies.

We sailed across the border at Nogales. We never pull in here and it is easy to continue on directly toward Hermosillo.

The red light/ green lights are inside the interior at KM 21, which is where we meet aduana trouble if there is going to be any. On this crossing we stopped to declare our new 26" tv, which we will use for watching dvd's. It was time to pay our dues.

In the declare office, we showed our Target receipt. Aduana filled out a short paper, and then sent us next door to the bank, where we waited for ten minutes while the bank lady finished her lunch. Then we paid her $28.50 (US) in tax for the tv. We received our copy of the paperwork and left.

We were third in line to cross. The first car got a green light, the second, a red and then, we got a green.

Is that the system..............i asked senor..............green, red, green, red........can it be that simple? We will somehow just have to sneak right in line after a red light has shown. I told Senor I am sure he can figure out a way to do that...................

Our green light flashed quickly before our eyes and Senor hit the gas before I could even tell him to get going. Nothing exciting, absolutely nothing unusual..................

The truck of pigs below was about the most interesting thing we saw on our way home. If you look at section five of the left side of the truck, you will notice a pig's leg sticking out through the bars. We were so close Senor, who was in the passenger seat, could have tickled its toes.

So, I am really ready for a nap...............Baby, the burro (I call her Louise, but Jose, her owner, calls her Baby) was moved from down the street to up the street and across from our casa yesterday.........there is also a new rooster somewhere over there. Those two, with their crowing and braying, and some endless singing last night by the nightingales made for quite a party over there..................but Senor, who slept through it all, has requested that I paint two cement vigas so he can finish the varro blanco ceiling of the bathroom.....................I guess that is more important than my siesta, so adios..................

Border Chill

Hola! It is almost siesta time here.
The plant truck just went by, but most of the plants look as hot and humid and wilted as we do. It is 95 degrees out and the humidity is 75%.

BUT there is a cloud cover and it looks almost like a repeat of yesterday.


The cloud below has moved down off the top of Mt. Alamos.

Now it has increased in size and darkness and is heading down the street from the south.

Meanwhile, another stormy batch of clouds has decided to make a run from the east.

The two systems collided over our house, with a light rain and some thunder and lightning and before we knew it, they said goodbye to each other and a little sunset appeared in the west.

While the sun was peeking through on the horizon, lightning flared up over the mountains in the north. When we went to bed, around nine, a little rain was still falling, but the crickets were chirping and the fireflies were out and the wind was very still.

Senor said there were too many systems going on and no one could take charge............

We returned to Alamos early Thursday. We had planned to be back Tuesday, but Senor ordered an additive to go in his roof mixture. He thought it would be in Tucson on Monday, but no, it was in Phoenix on Monday. So we had to wait for it to be shipped to Tucson.

On the drive home, Senor and I had a border spat.

We never see anyone at the main crossing and we never stop.

At KM 21, we always drive through and sometimes we get a green light and sometimes, red. We rarely get asked any significant questions.

The problem is Senor drives through as the light is green and he hesitates ever so slightly. It is like he is stopping and waiting for a red light. All the while I am saying...........go! go! keep going!

Okay, I think I have probably already told you about this. But, it drives me crazy........especially if the light turns red while he is just sitting there..............and not going through at a faster pace.

Well, this time he hesitated and I kept saying............go, go, hurry, hurry, keep driving!!!

Senor calmly continued through on the green light and then, parked the truck. He looked at me and said............. you drive...................

He has parked the truck almost right on the other side of the light. We are practically still in the lane. You can't just stop right here!...................now they will come out to talk to us for sure...................i said.

He just got out of the truck and walked around to the passenger's side and stood there, waiting for me to close my mouth and get out and go get in the driver's seat.

So, I thought for sure someone would come running out to say something, like, what are you doing?.....................You two people look highly suspicious changing drivers in the car lane here, let us see your passports.

But nobody came to say anything and Senor and I did not say anything for a couple of hours. Later he said he did not like me to tell him how to drive.

Now I do not think I am bad about that. I usually do not tell him when I see topes coming, I do not tell him about the construction in the right lane, I do not tell him about the surveyors that are just standing in the road ahead, or the goats that look like they are fixing to make a mad dash across the highway. I figure he can see all that. So if he hits a tope going thirty and everything flies off the console and onto the floor, I think, that's ok, he just missed one, but I do not say anything.

Maybe I just still need to chill out on the border crossings. Even if we get a red light as he hesitates, the most that usually happens is someone might want to come out and practice their english or talk about Alamos.

...............or we need to flip a coin on the drive south now as well as the drive north. If I win, I will drive through as quickly as I can. If I lose I will keep quiet.

...............or next time, I will have a peanut butter sandwich handy and start eating it at KM 21.

Before I go, the tiny yellow butterflies are everywhere. They are very fast and do not like to have their picture taken, but Senor was able to sneak up on some of them and quickly take their picture. If only he were that fast driving through the border crossing.....................

I hear thunder................adios, linda lou

No Gracias

Hola, what a day of rest this has been. Town was very quiet last night, which is unusual, Thursday and Saturday nights are party nights, but either we were too tired to be disturbed by it or there was no party.......

It is also very cloudy today, but not a drop of rain has fallen. There is the persistent cloud over Mt Alamos, but no rain.


In the photos below you can see how things are greening up, especially along the hillsides. A few more monsoon rains and the hills will be sparkling green and thick with jungle vines and other growth.

I cannot say thank you enough to the folks who offered to take care of our furniture for us, Chrissy and Keith, of 99 reasons we will move to mexico, offered from Phoenix and Margaret (whom I don't even know at all!) emailed me from Scottsdale. We would certainly take you up on it if we only could. But the matter of getting a storage unit key to someone is a big issue in itself.

So, we are planning to head north as soon as the moving company calls us and get there as quickly as possible and get back as quickly as possible. They say they will call and let us know twenty-four hours before they arrive in Tucson.

I don't trust them to do that. My bag is still packed. The trip will take us about ten hours if we can do it in one day. I am ready to go.......... and, by the way, my need to go is certainly being fullfilled.

Crossing the border lately, to go north, has proven an emotional challenge for me. The hawkers at the Nogales Mariposa crossing seem to grow in numbers each time we go across. The men who want to wash the windshield have gotten younger and it is alot harder for me to tell a nine year old little kid to get the heck off the hood of the truck than it is for Senor to tell them.

All he has to do is look at them and they are gone...............

Sometimes I want to just pay them to wash the windshield and get it over with, except we tried that and when you say yes to one, that means yes, to about ten and suddenly you cannot see out the window because there is an army of windshield cleaners all over the truck.

You cannot just pay the one you said yes to ...............

They seem more and more persistent and sometimes get angry when you don't oblige them, or at least open your window, neither of which we do. If you dare to open your window, the food or the little guitar or the seat cushion...........whatever it is they happen to be selling will suddenly be in your lap and it is yours..................So we do not make any friends with the hat sellers, the mop and pail sellers, the map and cd sellers, when we are crossing the border. I try to smile and say no gracias, but that is bad, because it is seen as encouragement. Then they will tap! tap! tap! on the window until you have driven far enough up the line that they become bored with you.

It raises my blood pressure if senor is driving.

It raises senor's blood pressure if I am driving.

He says I should take a dramamine before we get to the border and just sleep through it.

I say we should flip for the driver's seat before we get near the border.

Whoever wins gets to drive.

Fair is fair.....................

Maybe I will suggest that when we go back this week.......

Or maybe I need a baby shade so I can just pull it down across the window when we cross. I think I will paint on it, NO GRACIAS.........

Another Roof Bites the Dust

buen dia!
ahh, the sound of an old roof crashing to the ground, music to my ears, because it means we are that much closer to a new roof going on.

If you recall, this is the room that will become the master bath. It has the little fireplace in it and it was once the old kitchen. Somehow, when the roof fell, it knocked out some of the electricity. Once it cooled off late yesterday, Senor spent about an hour repairing it until the thunder and lightning and rain knocked out all of our electricity. Oddly enough, this morning, everything he thought still needed repair is working again.

So, we now have created three roofless rooms. When the rain came last night, we scrambled to cover up everything that needs to stay dry.

Monsoon season starts June 24th. That is the official date, I have no idea who chose it. It is on my calendar, maybe it is a holiday?

Several mexican men we know say that June 24th means nothing, the monsoon season starts as soon as there is a big cloud over Mt. Alamos. Well, the cloud was huge yesterday. And it is there today as well. The weatherground forecast says there could be rain here for several days.

I want to tell you about our border crossing and FM3 renewals. I will make it quick and orderly because I have to go refire my glass. Senor accidentally pulled the plug on the kiln last night. Now if you asked him?...............he would say he did not do it. And I would say.......well, think about it, would I do it?

Then he would make up something about the electrical repair, the power outage and blah, blah, maybe one of the cats did it and the story would sound really good.

But if there is a power outage the kiln restarts automatically once the power comes back on and the kiln is nowhere near all his electrical stuff that went out when the roof came down. So I would see right through that tale....................

Border crossing.......going north there is a new military checkpoint..............it is huge, south of Santa Ana. There has always been a small military checkpoint in this area, but there is now a very large structure with a number of large and small covered bays.

We happened to go through a small bay the day the facility opened. Where are you going, they asked and where do you live...............then we were waved through. There are always miles and miles of trucks lined up in this area, waiting to get through the checkpoint, often waiting to get all the way up to aduana at kilometer 21.

On this day, there were absolutely no lines and we thought wow! they have solved the truck problems. And we were excited to get through so quickly, until we reached the old military checkpoint a few miles further up the road. We sat at the old checkpoint for an hour. Then, they did not even wave at us when it was finally our turn to pass.

When we came back south last week, we noticed all the trucks were lined up for miles and miles, again, just like old times. Maybe they have some kinks to work out of the new facility............

FM3 Renewal

On our way south we stopped at immigration in Hermosillo to renew our FM3 visas. We were about a week outside of the 30 day renewal time, but had been told on a previous stop at immigration, that did not matter. We were sure we had everything we needed with the exception of the SAT form, which we hoped she would have or that we could get nearby.

She asked for two copies of our passports and visas. I only had one. She said......... okay, es bueno.............and took those.

She took copies of our telephone and water bills.

She glanced at our passports and took our visas.

She took our letters that requested the renewal.

We had heard grand stories of people getting their renewals in Hermosillo in one day. We had high hopes.

She did not ask to see anything else. She asked if we came across the border by plane or car.

She sent us to the bank to pay for the visas. We picked number 37, waited 30 minutes for the light to tell us which bank window to go to, and paid one lump amount for both of us.

We took the receipt back to immigration.

No, no, no, no.................she smiled and said..............cada persona pagar seperatado (each person pay seperate).

We drove 20 minutes back to the bank, walked up to the window where we had been helped before and waited behind the person who was there. Two different people told us in spanish to pick a number. The lighted board said they were serving number 149 and the machine told us the next number pulled would be 201. We did not budge.

After three women came and keyed in numbers on his computer, we got two seperate receipts and drove back to immigration. By now the place was filled with people trying to renew visas.

She waved to us and called us to the counter right away, smiled and took our receipts and told us to come back in thirty days.............

Roofing Beams

Buen Dia!
It has been awhile..............we had to make a quick tax trip last week to Tucson. It is fairly easy to file taxes from Mexico, the IRS even mailed a one inch thick booklet to us (so large it did not even fit in the postal box). Unfortunately we waited too long to mail all the stuff back, so we had to go north.

The good news is we discovered Tubac, Arizona, on this trip and really enjoyed seeing the art community there. If you want some good prices on Mexican wares, this is a great place to go. We did, of course, see (for example) merchandise in the Tubac stores selling for $10.00 and we have seen the same items in Guadalajara for $5.00. But, if you cannot get to Guadalajara, Tubac is a cool alternative.

Our border crossings were quick, maybe they know us now?
The US always checks our passports, but Mexico just waves at us. They do not even come out of the little casita....and of course, I had a list.

The days are getting longer here and the sun has moved farther to the north. It is daylight around 5:20am (I am up and heading to the track) and it is twilight a little after 7pm.
The sunsets, as you can see below, are spectacular. Bill has begun to lay the concrete beams over the first section of the house. Some of the electrical wiring is inside the beams.

Over these beams will go the layers of ladrillos, styrofoam, plastic and dirt, and palo blancos, but probably not in that order. I will have to check with Senor about the order and how all that is put together. Working fast and hard to try and get this done before the rainy season begins in June, is the daily routine.

Of course, you will not find me up on the roof. You will find me brushing the layers of dust from the tops of furniture and sweeping it off the floor and out into the yard. You will find me doing dishes and other daily cleaning chores. Then I might walk to the Mercado for fresh vegetables, stopping on the way at the Palacio for the mail. You might find me sitting on a bench at the Plaza for awhile, people watching and reading the mail. Back home, you'll find me firing tiles (they are coming along great!). Then I will probably study my Spanish for an hour or so. Then I will be back at work on the tiles, or checking something out on the internet. Then I will water all the plants as it gets later in the day, turn the compost and begin to think about starting dinner.

Of course, every day is different. One of the little pots I bought in Tubac fell out of the car during a stop in Guaymus. Well, I need to glue it all back together. I'm sure I can do that. I have a stack of papers that needs to be filed away. I need to go and pay the $15 water bill. A lady commissioned me to fire four identical glass coasters for her and I have not started. I need to make some silver bails for a pair for earrings. I really need to go down to the fabric store in the Mercado and buy some oil cloth to make an apron. I wore last night's spaghetti.

And I have been informed by Senor that soon I will get to begin work on the coyote fence! I am a very busy person.

Maybe I will talk Senor into a short walk tonight. Some men are working on the property one block over. An adobe wall has gone up around the property and activity has started inside the wall. We probably need to go and check it out.

No more sitting around. Adios!

PS: I see that there is now a myspace good2go2mexico account. It has no connection to our good2go2mexico blog. We do not have a myspace account.

Into Mexico

This is not the greatest photo, but it is certainly a photo of what we see alot.....cars and trucks loaded to the max with what appears to be all of the family belongings. We call these the IKEA trucks....

The only thing I can add to Bill's post (which by the way, generated quite a few emails and/or comments) is that there is another border crossing at Kilometer 21. You know it's coming, but it just shows up out of the middle of nowhere and when we did see it, the aduana there (customs officer) was leaning on an orange cone and barely flipped his hand up.

We drove straight through and were almost to Hermosillio, when we realized we had not bothered to stop and get the car permit which allows us to be driving in Mexico......fortunately we were able to get a permit in Enpalme, which is outside Guaymus.

Once we got to Enpalme and breathed,

Bill said, "hey' let's just go unload in Alamos and turn around and go back and get more stuff and cross again. That was easy."

Linda said,"hey, that's what you said after we had our first child..are you CRAZY????"

The photo above is the Sea of Cortez, in Guaymus. Very beautiful landscape..... on our visit to San Carlos (located outside Guaymus) last fall, we found too many foreigners. Well, they were still there on this trip and they have brought all of their friends and families with them. But we did love the area and we actually stayed in San Carlos for several days. It is very low key, very relaxing, very popular with both foreign and Mexican golfers who take turns hitting golf balls off the decks of local seaside restaurants. We would go there again.

But, we are not looking for a town with quite as many foreigners, and that is one of the many reasons we have chosen to live in Alamos.

The shrimp boats below are taking the day off.

Bahia de Kino mountains and saguaro cactus at sunset.

Bahia de Kino was not at all what we expected. We thought we would find rows and rows of development and hotels along the beach. The opposite was true. There is one main road that stretches for miles and miles along the seaside. There are wall to wall homes of varying architectural style on the seaside. There are many rundown, abandoned homes on the opposite side. But, it also looks like efforts are being made to repair some of those. There were only a handful of motel/hotels, but alot of rv campgrounds. And not many places in which to eat. Bahia de Kino does have a gorgeous beach and gentle waves. Lots and lots of Mexican families were lounging in hammocks under palapas along the beach, playing in the waves and it was just a very quiet place to be.

If you are wondering why we did not just blast off to Alamos and instead took this scenic route, it is because our realtor had a prearranged meeting for the closing of our new casa, June 19th, in Navajoa, at the officina of the notary public. So we did have some time on our hands even though our cats think differently after being in the truck and various hotels/ motels since May 26th..or 28th, I can't remember now...I have been in the truck too long as well....June 19th has come and gone and I will tell you all about it in my next post.

Bill's 1st post (aka do not miss this or the mattress inspector will call on you)

Months. Many long months. Since we made the decision to take our Adventure, we have spent long grueling months, 24/7, preparing to make the move. I concentrated on each step needed in succession (ie: remodeling the house) to arrive at the ultimate goal of crossing the border. The "one step at a time" approach. Linda concentrated on the ultimate goal of crossing the border; getting nothing but (literally) "green lights" at the border crossing. The "come on/lets go" approach. There is no right or wrong; I am simply giving background.

So, as I was doggedly completing project after project to complete the house for sale, Linda was incessantly organizing for our border crossing. My god this woman I love worked hard! Organizing things to go. Packing everything into boxes. numbering each box. Listing the contents of each box in order to pass through customs. Redoing 30 some boxes because they were'nt properly inventoried the first time, so we feared (she was up til midnight doing that one day, all out of the ultimate fear of being turned away at the border). Segregating those boxes we would need and take down to our new casa on the first trip from those that would be stored at the border for subsequent trips. Thirty years of culled possessions from the house sale, carefully packed, wraped, boxed and numbered. Such long hard work! But absulutetely necessary to be allowed to cross the border: one mistake, one mislabled or forgotten item and it would be "NO CROSSING FOR YOU!"

The ultimate goal for Linda in this process of preparing to get us across the border were the.... LISTS. If the inventory lists for each box weren't perfect she became convinced we would not be allowed to cross the border. No green lights for us. Nada. The lists soon became the most important aspect of our move. More important than whether we had transportation to get there (never mind whether the cats or I (in that order) were accompanying her).

When we were packing the truck and trailer we had to double..triple check the LISTS. At one point I was sure I would be not allowed to continue with her and the cats as I had removed her shoes from a plastic bag (ie: inventoried on the LISTS!) to pack them separately so as to fit in the truck. This was a poignant moment: She stood her ground that we would not be allowed to cross the border if they were removed from the bag, while I stood equally firm stating they would not GET to the border unless packed separately. I saved my own life by promising to repack them in the bag before we crossed the border. She didn't see my crossed toes.

As I said: this is all background...months and long months of background (and long summary as well, I know!). But, you already know why it has been necessary to give such a long background narrative........

We left Tuscon, less than an hour from the border at Nogales, at late morning. You just imagine her increasing anxiety about whether her LISTS were complete and accurate enough to allow us to cross the border the closer we got. We decided to stop for a quick bite to eat before crossing. Due to the anxiety of the moment, Linda elected to have a salad to go. Just as she opened it, an emergent call from our daughter (eg: "What should I do about....?") By the time the call ended, I advised Lida the border was only 10 mins away. Oh my god! I have eat! I dont have time! But this salad cant be taken across the border; its contraband!!...gobble/snarf/swallow without chewing/choking now/quickly hiding the remaing salad in the plastic bag and under the seat as the crossing looms near. "I feel like throwing up I am so nervous!" she said. "Do you have the passports, visas, cat papers and the LISTS handy?' I quietly inquire. Without regard to the other documents, her reply was: "THE LISTS! #!@%$ where are the LISTS?!?"

Just then, there it was. Th border crossing. To the left was the red/green semaphore. I slowed WAYYY down (were we moving so slowly as to attract attention?). What's wrong? I wonder as the light is niether red nor green..is it broken? Oh, oh! the guard!! The guard is sitting on a fokd out chair in the shade to our left..we are now within 40 feet! I am expecting the ubiquitous hand held out in the "HALT!" position....everything is now in slow motion yet transpiring in nano-seconds...a glance at Linda (still searching frantically for the LISTS) tells me we may need medical attention for her soon.....Where is the HALT signal I wonder, as I simultaneously notice the guard's attention is not on us; she seems preoccupied with something down to her left..a strange insect activity on the ground perhaps?, I fleetingly wonder, as just then she languidly raised her right forearm (while keeping her elbows on her knees) and with a very limp wrist motion, without even looking up at us, gave one and one-half waves of her hand for us to proceed into Mexico.

It took a few hundred yards for time/space reality to return to consciousness, at which time I started to howl with laughter at the irony of our (read Linda's) long (so very long and anxious) work on the LISTS, believed to be so very necessary for our entry across the border, received with only an unconcerned wave of the hand. Normally, my laughter would have been my execution warrant, but Linda was so enormously RELIEVED to have crossed the boreder in any event, my life has been spared.