Since we hadn’t seen a single cop outside of Mexicali and San Felipe, we traveled a little faster and a little more comfortable on our trip back North. Though we did have one more run-in with the policia in Mexicali. As we followed the signs to Calexico, we amazingly ended up on the road to the border crossing. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get into the right two lanes easily and were trying to get someone to let us in, but the cops didn’t like that and lit us up. Trying to avoid any problems we turned off and circled back around. I didn’t time it, but it was probably close to an hour to get back across the border. Charlie and I were behind Mark as we went across the border. They seemed to check under Mark’s Jeep really close with the mirror-on-a-stick. Though when Charlie and I rolled through, he just asked us a couple quick questions and waved us through.

We met up at McDonald’s and had breakfast and lunch, as we were right on the cusp of the meal change. We said our goodbyes, agreeing that it was great to get together again for an adventure and that we’d do it again in a year or so. Mark wants to get us all to Moab for the Jeep Days, which sounds like a lot of fun.

Charlie and I drove non-stop from Calexico to Santa Barbara and it was grueling 6 hours. Traffic was okay, bad in the bad spots, but reasonable. It’s just always longer on the drive home, than on the drive out. We were fortunate to have XM Radio in Charlie’s truck. It was awesome to have satellite radio while in Mexico. And on the ride home we flipped back and forth between football highlights and NASCAR (he’s a big NASCAR fan).

We rolled into Santa Barbara at 6pm. We unloaded my gear and said a quick see ya later, so Charlie could get home to Lompoc. I took a shower, was asleep by 7pm, and slept for over 11 hours.

It was a great trip. I really enjoy having adventures with my friends and these trips have proven to be a great way for the three of us to keep in touch the last couple years. I think we all decided we probably wouldn’t head back to San Felipe. It’s such a long way to drive, and who wants to have to hassle with the cops every day. But there are so many other places to explore. Moab sure sounds like a fun idea!

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it…

Andrew