Indian Wells trip

                                                  March 18 2016

Greetings loved ones, 

We have arrived back in Isla Mujeres after a trip to Indian Wells CA to watch some tennis and visit some family and friends. It was a really fun trip. 

We left Second Star early on the morning of the 9th and it was a long travel day. We got to the Cancun airport plenty early, got checked in and had breakfast. The flight to Mexico City was uneventful. We thought the connection was going to be tight, but when we got to the gate we found the next flight was delayed. So we had time to grab a sandwich for the ride to Tijuana. With a good tail wind we made up some time in the air and only got in a little later than expected. At the rental car place they had our reservation but wouldn't take the voucher and prepaid insurance we'd gotten on line. It took quite some time to get things sorted out and get on the road. By the time we left there to cross the border it was almost 1700 hrs. The border crossing at Otay isn't very well marked if you don't know where you're going and we accidentally ended up in the line for people with passes who go back and forth a lot. We were very apologetic and asked how to get back where we supposed to be. We were told that we'd "passed the point of no return" and that at this point they would give us a warning and search the car. That was fine with us especially when the warning turned out to be "don't do it again" and the whole thing saved us at least an hour over doing it right. 

It was a long drive up to La Quinta and we needed to stop for food. When we got off the highway, and made sure we were heading the right way we'd passed all the fast food places but we saw a little Mexican restaurant on the side of the road. I told Capt Johne "we are in southern California; this will be good Mexican food." He thought it was funny to come from Mexico to eat Mexican food in California but agreed that it would probably be good, and it was there. We enjoyed the meal very much and got back on the road. 

We arrived in La Quinta about 17 hours after leaving the boat. After another hour or two of visiting with Bob and Karen it was definitely time for bed. 

The next day we had a lovely morning visiting over coffee, sitting out on the back patio, overlooking the mountains and the golf course. Bob had to be at work (the Plexipave booth in the tennis gardens) by 1030 hrs. He had gotten us tickets for every day we were going to be there, which were general admission to the whole event with reserved seating in stadium 1. We ran a couple of errands on the way in and, once Bob was in the booth working, we had the rest of the morning to explore the event, watching practice sessions and matches as we chose. My sister Ellen was driving down from Sunland to visit for the afternoon so we got back to Bob's booth before noon so Johne could have lunch with Bob, and I could hook up with Ellen. She and I had a wonderful afternoon visiting and taking care of more errands we both needed to do. 

Bob's daughter Lindy had arrived from Reno sometime in the afternoon and that evening we all got back together at the house, got cleaned up, and Bob took us out for a fabulous dinner at Arnold Palmer’s restaurant. There was lots of laughter and the food was outstanding. After that Ellen had to head home. The rest of us were pretty tired so we called it a night. 

Friday and Saturday brought more great days of visiting and watching tennis. It was very exciting getting to watch some of the big name players live in person. Sunday our friend Janet came up to see us and we also got to have lunch with Johnes Aunt Hope. Hope is the eldest living member of Johnes family. It had been several years since we had last seen her. She is doing great and it was wonderful to see her and have a chance to catch up. We had to leave very early (0430 hrs) the next day so that evening after dinner was for getting everything organized and packed. 

The drive back down to the boarder had some small stress with weather (a bit of fog and rain) and heavy (but not horrible) traffic. We got to the boarder before 0700 hrs and, after choosing the nothing-to-declare lane, we were waved on through without even stopping. I had a small freak out about being in Mexico without a visa. But Johne said we'd find immigration at the airport and get it straightened out. So after we'd return the car, we got to the terminal and the first thing you see is the immigration counter. The sign says, if you need a visa go there before checking in at the airline desk. Since you can walk or drive across there they just have it before the check in. But it would be very easy to be an illegal coming in there.

The flights were, once again, uneventful. So, after another very long travel day, we arrived back at Second Star, worn out, but in the best way. 

Live your dreams...