Lots of Updates...

First I would like to say that everyone is safe and doing well. Sorry that we have not had a chance to update anything before today, but we haven't had a chance to go to Rudy's for an internet connection until today.

A bit of a collaboration, I had the young men write about the trip through the boarder on the first day. I figure, this is something like my 10th year on the trip so I feel like you probably want a fresher perspective on things...

After we landed from Jet Blue (unlimited snacks and TV on our flight=win!), we made the arduous journey across the tarmac to the rental company (less than 100 yards away), we got a really good deal on rentals: instead of 5 cars, we ended up getting 3 12 passenger vans and a Yukon to drive to Mexico. Long Beach is about an hour away from where we normally land in San Diego, so we had a little drive ahead of us before we could cross the boarder.

We picked up the trailer at Amy's house, and surprisingly, it weathered the 800 mile trip down here incredibly well. After hitching up, we made a few quick stops at Costco and for dinner and we were on our way to the boarder. After some minor complications, One of the vans split off to go to make a return trip to the airport while the other two headed south to follow the trailer.-BD

Here's the rest from Daniel Ehlig and friends...

"As we headed through San Diego towards the Mexican Border we faced many obstacles. The first of these long obstacles includes crossing the border. That one was a doozy. At first, we thought we would try getting the trailer in past customs through the commercial gate. We snaked our way around through some side roads looking for the gate crossing until we were pulled over by the boarder patrol. Fear not, as the patrolman informed us that we were merely on the wrong road and that the commercial exit was just a few more miles down. He kindly escorted us back to the highway and we were off towards the boarder.

We decided to place the trailer first to make sure that that could get through. When we made it to the boarder, we were promptly informed that the trailer did not count as a commercial vehicle and that there wasn't enough people for all the supplies it looked like the trailer was carrying. We were instead directed to the normal tourist crossing in the opposite direction. We all turned around and trekked back to the other crossing.

At the next crossing, more chaos ensued. On our way through, the vans were waved on through customs while the trailer was stopped for questioning. The vans stopped a couple of feet into Mexico and pulled off to the side of the road. Billy pulled his van off to the side of the road and further over and stopped into what looked like a separate lane while the other van waited.

It turns out that that was a bad idea, as a couple hundred feet down the lane, a taxi cab pulled in head on and stopped. As we stared at his lights, billy slowly backed backed down the lane between the pylons back into what was essentially the US no-mans land that is customs. We ended up waiting there for the trailer for about 45 minutes only to hear that we would be going though that way with the trailer. The officers at the gate then said that "The trailer is a commercial vehicle and needs to be checked as one; go back to the commercial gate." Here we go again...

So by this time it was already around 11 at night, and on top of that we had to make it back across into the United States. turned around and forced our way through the dense traffic line back through the RETURN TO US gate at the boarder. The guard at the boarder harassed us a bit about the enhanced ID (obviously another lack of communication by customs) and we headed back another 15 minutes to the commercial boarder.

Something amazing happened before we made our now 3rd attempt at a boarder crossing Taylor, stopped us and noted that we had neglected to do something very important: PRAY. It is funny how that in the midst of doing God's work, that we sometimes neglect to ask him for guidance. Taylor made us all get out of the vans hold hands and ask God for his blessing and direction when crossing the boarder. A great reminder of what we are truly on this trip for HIS purpose and in HIS service.

We finally went through customs and they let us though, but not until they took a "quick" peek under the tarp. We waited for the agent for about an hour as we removed all of the ropes and lifted the edges of the tarp. The agent came over and was friendly enough. Luckily, Adeliz was there to interpret and talk with the agent as we were able to explain why we were taking the trailer to Mexico. They however, wanted to make sure we would NOT be leaving any clothes down there, so he decided to pull 20 bags from the truck. Luckily, we selected these bags and he looked though them with no problem and finally, after about an hour, sent us on our way.

We finally rolled into Wal-mart to hook up with Heath and the other van that had veered off to the airport before the crossing. Apparently the other van "shut the place down" while they were waiting for us at Wal-mart. We were finally back together again and drove the remaining 3 hours to San Vicente.

"This hotel was pretty cool because it had the tallest palm tree in the town, sticking out of the roof. But at the time we got there we didn't know this, because it was 4:30 in the morning, and still dark. So after a long day of traveling we finally got some sleep."- Daniel

"I remember getting up to make sure the van was locked just after I put my stuff away and seeing the sun rise and the rooster crow- I was like man... its gonna be a long day tomorrow!" -BD