As we approached the border, the guesstimate game began. I guessed the longest, at 2hrs. This was based on typical stories I'd heard in the past. Matt & Vicky were at 1.5hrs and 1hr respectively.
If you haven't seen pictures of the TJ border crossing, or experienced it for yourself, you'd be in for a shock. Vendors littered the approach, trying pry away those last few pesos left in your pockets. Picture three lanes of traffic, and movable displays on either side of every lane. Then you had the stationary vendors on the far right side. Food, drinks, clothing, pinatas, paintings, etc, etc, etc. Getting a drink here is a bad idea. With no washrooms in site, and a looooooong wait ahead is not a pleasant concoction.
Once across the border demarcation line, the vendors are gone and three lanes split into five, then 7, then 10. The crawl through the vendors turned into a dash for the border, as vehicles shoe-horned their way into the optimal lanes - sometimes making new lanes. The final number of lanes/booths open was 24. With all this traffic, we didn't see a single RV or trailer. Hmmm, did we miss a sign? No turning back now.
We got to the booths, gave our info, and then were asked to pull ahead and park. Another search of the trailer, no big deal. We had to be at the wrong location though, because there was no place to pull over. The border guard directed us to make a left turn after the booth (the exit to the highway was right) and park facing oncoming traffic. Great, I'd have to back into traffic to get out.
We had to wait about 5 minutes before two border guards came over to search the truck & trailer. We all stepped out, but I remained with the truck at the request of one of the guards. As he looked, he asked me a few questions. When finishing up, he asks "Any guns?" I laugh a bit and respond "No, we're Canadian." Luckily he had a sense of humour and laughed along, then said, "OK, you're good to go."
When we were back in the truck and ready, the two border guards blocked traffic so we could back up and get on our way. The 14 lanes of cars we blocked off weren't too impressed.
Back in the USA, I checked into a trailer park for the night on the South end of San Diego and dropped Matt & Vicky off at the bus station. They were heading back to BC the following day, and wanted to stay in the city. We'd meet up later for drinks. BTW, this is New Year's Eve (yeah, yeah, I'm waaay behind).
Set-up the trailer, did some laundry, then headed into the big city. Drinks had to wait though. First, we had a show to attend. Those of you familiar with Red Bull, will also be familiar with their sponsorship and production of extreme events. If you read my blog entry on the tour of the USS Midway, you may recall I referenced the set-up. This year on New Year's Eve, San Diego would see a tandem jump of a motorcycle and a snowmobile in the yacht club harbour.
Fog rolled in and out of the harbour all evening, and people all around were questioning whether or not the event would happen. And, if it did, would anyone see it. Well, as if by magic, the fog mostly rolled out just before go-time, and off they went.
You still couldn't see the entire run-up and landing due to some light fog remaining, but we were in a great location to see the landing. Of course that's the most important part. Anyone can launch a bike or snowmobile, it's the landing that counts. They hung in the air for what seemed like hours, but both landed safely. A new world record distance for both.
The youtube video can be found here.
And more here
After the show, we funnelled into the streets of San Diego with about 5-8000 others. Could have been more, that's a conservative estimate.
We walked up to a few pubs, but most had a New Year's special on for $50+. We finally found one of the brew pubs only charging a $10 cover. Good enough. Or so we thought. Took 20 minutes to get a server, then we had some of the worst beer I've ever tasted. EVER. Wow, this stuff was bad. We only had couple - second for me was not theirs - and a bite to eat, then headed down to the USS Midway for a fireworks show. Unfortunately, the fog had rolled in again, so the show was a bust.
Not wanting to get on the drunk train (last tram of the night), we said our goodbyes and I headed back to the trailer.
I was looking forward to getting out of the city tomorrow and into some mountain biking & moto terrain.
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