Heading South
TRS said they were picking him up at 3 PM on Thursday. I waited until Thursday morning to start packing but I only had to put my curling iron and blow dryer in my bag to be ready so I didn't need much time after I got home to be ready.
After getting antsy at work, I decided to bail out about 1:45 and head to Dress Barn. I need (OK, want) to get some cute stuff for my next weekend of travel. $105 and 30 minutes later, I had two pairs of shorts, pair of capris, new top and a light weight denim jacket that is perfect for the beach. Sweet!
That left me with plenty of time to get home, finish up my packing and impatiently wait. I spend that time texting TRS "how about now" several times (which I started about 10 AM) and he replies with "not yet" or "have another beer".
Imagine my surprise when I sent a "how bout now" text at exactly 3 PM and TRS knocked on my door 20 seconds later? They were early! Wow. Just wow.
We headed down the road and I had a plastic bag of some sodas and a few Miller Lites to put in TRS little cooler that we use in the car. That he didn't pack. What up with that? I drank the sodas in no time but I held off on the beers because we were still in the U.S. and I am a rule follower.
As we got on the highway, I thought "Oh, crap, I forgot my hat." The Captain was more dramatic with what he forgot. He started slamming the steering wheel and muttering something. It took us a while to figure out that he was talking about the bottle of Grenadine that the boys had bought when they were fishing and were planning on taking to Annette's so they could have Tequila Sunrises while the girls drink our Mimosas.
We decided to bypass our usual Gila Bend McDonalds stop and forward on to Mexico with one stop in Ajo to get gas. One of my friends had posted on Facebook to beware of the road work on the other side of Why. (Why is a little town between Ajo and the border.)
Man, he wasn't kidding! Not only did we get held up for the construction, someone had run off the road so they were cleaning up from that. We came to a dead stop which would have been restful except some yay-hoo had to crank up his bass and play loud, crappy music. The desert is just gorgeous in that area so I would have been content to just stare out of the window and relax.
We finally got through the construction and then saw the accident site. A smallish car had crossed over the lane to the other side of the road, taken out a bunch of trees and ended up stopped against some other trees. The car was still there and didn't look too bad, considering.
The Captain made up time by passing multiple cars at once (and scaring the shit out of me while doing so) and we got to the border in good time. We saw a border patrol guy drop a woman off at where you cross by foot. The Captain declared, "She was the one driving the car." Really, how do you know? "She's got an accident report in her hand." What I saw in her hand was a yellow piece of paper with big writing on it - looked like magic marker. We debated with him for a while and I really, really wish I had followed my instinct and said, "Pull over" so I could ask her. I would totally do that.
We got through town and the Captain pulled over so his passengers could get a road soda. Since my Miller Lites were still sitting in the plastic bag on the back seat, I made do with a Dos Equis Amber. Man, it tasted good!
The Captain's first drinks of the night - beer and a huge ass shot of Tequila.
Our plan was to meet up with Annette at The Oasis, a cool little restaurant that's just as you're pulling into town. She told Julie she'd be there between 7 and 7:15. By 7:30 or so, I was getting up to see if we missed her somehow when she came in.
Annette was primed for a beverage! She'd been running around the house getting things cleaned up for us and, literally on the way out the door, decided to flush the toilets to make sure they were working. The guest bathroom was working all right. Too well. The tank overfilled then overflowed so she had to do a quick mop up before leaving.
We had a nice dinner at The Oasis. The subject of the Grenadine came up and Annette had forgotten to get some, too. So, she asked our waiter if they had a bottle we could buy. He came back with a huge bottle that will last for years and told her it was $8. She paid for it separately but hadn't realized that in making change for dinner, the Captain had switched out her $10 for a $20. When the waiter came to get the bill, she waved off the change. The Captain tried to stop her but she waved him away, too. It wasn't until later that he told her she paid $20 for her bottle.
Annette, her bottle of Grenadine and TRS.
Dinner completed, we headed to Annette's and unpacked and spent a lovely evening laughing and having fun.
