Day 9 (Friday)

Our adventure continues.....

We got up at 5:00 am to finish packing and to clean the guest house prior to leaving Mexico.

Breakfast consisted of fresh breakfast burritos made by a local restaurant in Porvenir. They were amazing!

We were on the road by 7:00 am just as planned. When inside the vehicle we collected the passports for re-entry to California. We had 15 passengers in the van and 14 passports. Not good! Someone was staying in mexico.....

After a check it was discovered that Donnie's passport was missing. Since it was not with the others it had to be in my personal bag. That bag was in the trailer. In the back..... on the floor ....under three layers of stuff. Figures!!!

So we pull over at the next Pemex Gas station, so I can have the honors of jumping into the trailer to find my bag with the missing passport.

As I'm rummaging in the HOT trailer, I find the bag. Just where I thought it was. Buried underneath everything from dirty laundry to snacks.

While searching deep in the bowels of the trailer for the bag, I could hear an air horn blaring from a semi truck. Thinking my life was coming to an end while sitting on stinky pile of dirty laundry at a Mexican Pemex station was not how I wanted to go.

Todd tells me, "ah, we need to move faster if possible". Apparently the Pemex gasoline truck wanted to park right where we were unloaded, so he could refill the underground fuel tanks. Great timing and he was starting to become impatient. I suppose it looked pretty odd with me inside..... feet hanging and LOTS of luggage all over the place.

Oh..... back to the passport.

So we were able to remove my bag and look for Donnie's passport.

After a through search, we found nothing!!! No passport, which could be an issue. We like Donnie, but...... we were just going to have to leave him. So we told him at least.

While we were looking for my bag and passport we noticed that the inside trailer light was somehow stuck in the on position. The light bulb was so hot that it was melting a sleeping bag. The good news is that if we didn't stop for the passport, we would have had a fire in the trailer. This trailer belongs to the orphanage since our original trailer is still in Tecate awaiting repair.

When I got into the van I checked in the map box, the console and under the seats. I found Donnie's passport under the seat! We told everyone that we found Donnie's passport.... well everyone except Donnie of course! Ha Ha

When we arrived at the border we were asked to provide all the passports by the US Border Patrol. The officer took the passports and immediately asked for Donnie to identify himself. How ironic that the person who didn't have a passport gets selected at the border to identify himself. Of course Donnie did not know that the Border Officer already had his passport. Funny time. Sorry Donnie :)

Crossed the border and picked up our new trailer. Robin and Jerry took the orphanage trailer back to Porviner, Mexico.

Arrived in Chandler, AZ at approximately 7:45 pm. The nice people at the Chandler Christian Church had dinner prepared for us when we arrived.

I think out of all the nights we have been gone, tonight had to be the most exhausting. I think it's all catching up with me!!