At the Mexico Border

I completed another leg of the trip today by driving from San Antonio to San Miguel de Allende. This trip was another 714 miles. Since Monday, Randal has covered 2,317 miles. In these three days, I have put enough miles on the spirit to equal 3.8% of the mileage accumulated during the 17 years Kutztown native Clarence Rahn owned the car.  Put another way: Clarence averaged the mileage of our three day trip every 232 days.

The drive itself was very pleasant. Texas was humid and rainy, but after I crossed the border, blue skies and an 80 degree day developed. The scene at the border was entertaining. A group of 5 Mexican guardsmen, one armed, enveloped my car. I stepped out into their semi-circle of Spanish chatter and laughter. I was later informed by the lone English-speaker of the group that my car was not a "Gringo car" and that they thought I might have stolen it from a Mexican. Between the ownership questions and my ragged appearance in ripped jeans, white t-shirt, and truckers hat, a full scale drug search began. Other cars around me were not subject to this process. First, I led the team on a full cavity search of the Dodge even looking under the hood where hoses and tubes were prodded and poked (again, no other cars had their hoods opened). Next, came the drug sniffing dog and a series of questions vaguely addressing 'smoking' habits.

Perhaps the best part of the search though occurred when I left my keys in the trunk while the rest of the car was locked. At first I became flustered and unable to conjure the eventual contingency plan. After the first bead of sweat formed on my brow though, I calmly walked to passenger door remembering my defunct power windows and effortlessly slide down the window from the outside to open the door from the inside. The inspectors loved it and gave me looks ranging from approval to shock.