Today will be a day which we will not easily forget. This morning we went for a hike through the desert plants on a trail near our campground. On this trail we came across some beautiful creatures of nature amongst which this big dark blue butterfly. We also saw many lizards, different cacti, small flowers and also … a turtle! We drove over a snake (not killing it, it fitted between the wheels) on the way to the trail as well!
Patrick wanted to get our car key duplicated so we drove to a Toyota dealer in Tucson. Having to wait for 2 hours we were driven to the nearest mall where we bought a new card game called ‘Gloom’ which we can use to fill the dark evenings and we went for lunch in ‘The Cheesecake Factory’ (for all the Big Bang fans … Penny wasn’t working there but it was still very good food :)).
Then we were taken back to the Toyota dealer where we waited for another hour while the paperwork was in progress.
And then … we got lost looking for a campground nearby Naco. Unless you want to drive 8km on a non-paved road or want to drive through water pools 10cm deep, we didn’t seem to be able to get any closer to our goal. So whilst driving back to the highway we forgot to pay attention and got our first tourist experience. Patrick got a ticket from a police officer for ignoring a school bus arm sign staying ‘stop’ – thinking it was applicable to the people from the other direction as we don’t have these arms in Belgium, but apparently you are breaking a serious law in case you drive past the bus even if nobody is on the road. So now he has to go to court and pay a fine…. Tomorrow we want to drive out of the USA for Mexico so we wonder how that’s going to work… I suppose it’s a good thing that the court offices don’t work over the weekend so the border officers won’t know yet… I’ll guess we’ll see at the border line tomorrow.
As the nearest lodging option in the neighbourhood seems to be 70km away from here (according to the GPS at least), we just took the first option we came across. Luckily it’s a beautiful inn B&B so at least that gives us time to prepare for Mexico, read up on the Mexican road policy and have a good night sleep.
I never meant to make you cry,
My head was floating in the sky,
And nothing looked to be out of place.
Keep Calm and Drive South 
Gloom is niet nieuw, maar wel een interessant concept. Blij dat je de spellenmicrobe nog niet kwijt bent. 🙂 Zeg, mocht je ergens het spel ‘Hemloch’ tegenkomen, mage je dat gerust meepakken (niet te vinden hier).
En succes met de boete. Dat is inderdaad iets dat je zeker moet meemaken op reis (wij kunnen ervan meespreken 🙂 ).
Heya, we zullen ervoor uitkijken maar nu we de grens oversteken, gaat dat misschien moeilijker te vinden zijn. Mja, de boete, ik kon er minder om lachen eerlijk gezegd. Ik had nog gezegd dat hij moest stoppen … maar ja, koppig è … Hebben jullie ook eentje gehad op reis dan? Vele groetjes, Marijke
Zoals het ware criminelen past, zijn we naar Mexico gevlucht!