Our drive to Playa- DAY 1

Noon...right on time. This is the time that we anticipated to leave Dallas.This is a very large accomplishment for us since we are the couple that you see running to their flight, yelling down the corridor to please hold the plane! I think that we were right on time because we were truly excited about starting this journey. We had a countdown...3 days and a wake up, 2 days and a wake up. Well last night we only had a wake up left to go and we were completely ready. No last minute, oh my God stuff to do today other than go into work for a few hours. It was nice to be prepared before this morning. Everything was done. The Tahoe was loaded including the tightly wrapped headboard for our bed and the black rooftop cargo bag that was to ride on top. Lets just say plastic wrap and duck tape are great things to have laying around the house! Okay...we looked like the Clampits but who cares...we were ready to get on the road (coming from someone that cannot stand to be locked in a car for more than 3 hours). We measured the top of the truck to the ground just in case we came upon a bridge we had to go under. 2.5 meters. So we hopped into the Redneck mobile, of course the Redneck himself was behind the wheel (Dave), we said our little prayer that we always say right before a trip then headed off to the Freeway.

What a great trip this is going to be. Dave did such a fantastic job loading and packing and securing that I had the utmost confidence that I was going to worry about nothing today. But then we got on the freeway, we could only go 65 mpg or the Tahoe would get squirrley since it was so heavily loaded. The truck sounded like it was going to fall apart! What was that noise and is it going to stop? Dave assured me that it was just the plastic that wrapped the headboard flapping in the wind. Was the headboard and the rooftop cargo bag going to fly off the truck? What about the bikes hanging from the back? After debating on whether or not to stop and check...the noise FINALLY went away and all was good. (Sigh).

We are driving down the road, enjoying the silence with our thoughts bouncing through our heads, not really believing that we are finally doing this when all of a sudden, my uptopia was interrupted. Why was there so much traffic at noon???? Why are we in a traffic jam??? I don't care if it is Dallas and it's to be expected; don't these people know I need to get to Mexico?

After what seemed like eternity, we were in San Marcus. If you know nothing about San Marcus, just remember that it has, what appears to be, miles of outlet shopping just off of the freeway. Every store imaginable including some of my favorites. If only I could just stop for a moment...I could save alot of money here. But the inevitable happened...Dave said no way! Damn the luck!

By 5 pm we were in San Antonio. God I need out of this truck and I need a drink. We got to stop at a gas station and get diet cokes. That's okay...Susango said she was drinking two for me anyhow.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff31/macanded/Drive%20to%20Playa/Redneckmobile.jpg

So we are driving down I-37, almost to Corpus, which by the way is the LONGEST, MOST BORING stretch of hwy that was ever built with nothing but mesquite trees to look at, when all of a sudden a small SUV with a rooftop cargo box and a man-made trailer came zipping by. I wonder if they are moving to Mexico, I asked. 2 seconds later, a minivan with the same cargo load on top and the exact same man-made trailer behind it passed us by, too. Confirmed...they MUST be moving to Mexico! I said, "let's keep up with them" but they were hauling butt. Us...well we are still stuck at 65 mpg! Future friends gone forever.

Still driving, I come to the realization that bugs must migrate north at night. Maybe they are migrating north because they instictively know that it is their duty to go north, to the colder states, to die off. I'm okay with that thought. I don't like bugs. However, I really wished they would have picked another day to go north because I am traveling south...perhaps I should think of it as my good deed for the day because I prevented a gazillion bugs from taking the time and energy to fly such a long way and allowed them all to splat all over my windshield! We determined that everyone that was pulled over on the side of the hwy with their hazzards flashing had also allowed them to utilize their windshields to expedite the dying process. Gosh we are such nice people for doing them that favor!

Finally made it to Brownsville. We had no idea where we were going to stay despite that I printed off a list of hotels in every major town/city that we could stay in all the way to Playa. We settled on a Hampton Inn. We were lucky to find this place. The room was $109 with free internet and breakfast but the best thing about it was the reservation guy at the front desk. He saw that we had two bikes on the back of the truck and insisted that we park up under the entrace way (the covered driveway area into the hotel where you drive right by the front door). That way he could keep an eye on our bikes for us while we slept. He sounded geunine enough and regardless of what happens, I still deeply appreciate the kind gesture.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff31/macanded/Drive%20to%20Playa/parkingspotfortruck.jpg

Bud Light in hand I think that at the end of this very long drive so far, I can say that I saw parts of Texas that I've never seen and I didn't bestow my vast knowledge of driving skills upon my dear husband. All in all, I would say that this was a very good day!

Tomorrow morning up at 6 am and off to the border by 7. Customs opens at 8 and I want to be in the front of the line with anxiety. We will be driving to Tampico. Let's just hope we get the green light.Tomorrow I will post day two with very detailed information and lots of pictures. Stay tuned...

Menaje de Casa (Household Visa)

Well we did it. Well, I say we did it. Our Menaje de Casa was approved by the Dallas Consulate on Friday. I cannot tell you what a relief this was as it's just one more major milestone for our move.

For those that do not know what a Menaje de Casa is, let me explain. IF you are planning on taking anything, other than just a car load of items, across the border and you have your FM3 visa, you must seek the approval from the Mexican government to do so. It's bascially a list of your household items, organized in a spreadsheet format, listed by box with the contents of each box and in Spanish. We were fortunate as the Consulate provided the format for us to use so there was really no guessing on what they wanted to see. We also had to list the value of each box or item that we are taking.

Dave and I toyed with the idea on whether or not we would even take anything as everything that we needed could be purchased in Playa or Cancun. However, once we saw that we wanted to take those things that are precious to us and things that we just could not part with, such as photos, certain Christmas decorations, our soft sheets and fluffy towels, we decided to move forward with the process of buying a 6x10 cargo trailer and taking whatever would fit into that. and obtaining approval from Mexico to bring these things into their country. Sounds easy enough, right? I'm not sure that I would have called it easy. It was very stressful. In hindsight, the only reason it was so stressful was because we were under a deadline to get approval for this. Once an FM3 visa is received, you have 90-days to get the approval from the Consulate for the Menaje de Casa. Now don't get me wrong, I can work under deadlines with the best of them but when it comes to my personal life, including deciding what I am going to take that will fit in such a small space, it wore on my emotions. 2500 sq foot, fully furnished house down to nothing. Very emotional. But...guess what. It's liberating to know that it's just stuff. Stuff that can be replaced. Stuff that holds you back from making many decisions in life. Stuff that collects dust and stuff that you don't need or use any longer. I've asked myself over the course of the last few days why in the world would I have bought so much stuff???? You know how much money I could have saved? Instead, I gave my stuff away with a smile knowing that someone else out there is collecting stuff and they might, even if for a very short moment, enjoy my stuff. FREEDOM and LIBERATION. I hope that I never collect that much stuff again.

Now, we are faced with getting our remaining stuff across the border by Sept 24th. We will either head to the border to begin our journey on Aug 16th or Sept 5th. Not sure just yet. I can guarentee you that I will have a bottle of champagne in hand though when it happens.

Here's a copy of a sample menaje de casa; just click to see larger view.

Stay tuned...