NE Day 1 – Staging in San Diego

I worked this morning a bit while I completed my checklists for the trip. Went through and tried to make sure everything would continue to work for Linda while I was away. Technology in the house seems to revolt when I leave.

Flew to San Diego in the afternoon and was met at the airport by Jim and Luis. Plan was that Luis was going to fly down to Guatemala today and prep the vehicle while Jim and I took care of some other preparations. That was the plan… Volaris apparently had a different plan.

Volaris (Mexican airline) somehow found a way to print the reservation and make it look like Luis was leaving today. I saw it myself. We planned on him leaving today, we really did. The reservation however was for yesterday. He had missed his flight and didn’t know it. He will now be flying down on the same flights with Jim and myself.

Luis has family in Guatemala and was planning on spending time with them while getting the vehicle prepared. It’s also his birthday Friday! So with this small delay the timeline may slip… a bit.

I also lost the bet on how much the tool bag weighed. It’s a large piece of luggage that contains a spare wheel for the G-Wagon and a bunch of other items I am sure we will be needing. I guessed 87. It’s 115 pounds. Way off! I am buying first round…

So back to the car to head to Jim’s for the night. Driving away Luis noticed a sound. We stopped and found a nice addition to the tire. It’s now our good luck charm!

Of course we had a spare…. with no air. So we drove daintily to a station, aired up and changed the tire.

Great conversation and bullshitting so far! Tomorrow we are headed for Tijuana and then onto Guatemala. Going to be a long day!!!