Well, it's finally "tomorrow"...

So where did I leave off? Oh yes, the shopping.

Every year, most of the coordinators fly down to San Diego a day early. We meet up for lunch at Olive Garden and then divide and conquer. A couple of people hit Home Depot while the rest of us invade the local Costco. It always amuses me to see the check-out people's eyes bug out when we line up our 8 or so carts and flatbeds (piled high!). By now we have the shopping & check-out procedure down to a fine art so it usually goes fairly smoothly. We haul it out to the parking lot and divide it pretty evenly amongst the one cargo van and 3-4 minivans. Then we head to the border.

We don't usually have a problem getting in. We're honest about what we haul. Our little caravan stops at the border while George, aka "Tango", goes in and talks to the guards to tell them what we're all about. He's down there a lot so he's become quite a familiar face at the Tecate crossing.

The "Tango" is a military reference. Each of the Club Rust vehicles is labeled for easy identification (Alpha, Charlie, Delta, Juliet, Tango, XRay - the buses have become simply "Bus 1", "Bus 2", etc rather than "Bravo"). One year, the rental company messed up our order and we ended up with more 7 passenger vans than we were supposed to (they were supposed to be 15 passengers) We went all the way up to "Lima" that year. That was a sight coming down the road!

After we get everything settled in at the ranch (Rancho la Paloma), we head in to Tecate for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Pollo Feliz. The best chicken you have ever had! If you're ever near the border, I highly recommend stopping in for a bite! Yum!

While eating we dole out the chores for the next day. Most of the group go back to San Diego to pick up & register the "campers". A few of us stay back to make sure everything's ready at the ranch and to boil eggs. Lots of eggs. LOTS of eggs. BIG pots. Very Hot. (Thank you, Maureen!) Zak, of course, spends the day in the pool. His favorite place. Now if only he could swim....(BTW, in case you are concerned, he is not left unattended in the pool).

The group usually arrives at the ranch around 7pm, depending on how the border crossing went. They come in very excited and raring to go. It's hard for everyone to get to sleep - the first night. After that, sleep comes pretty easily. I'll give you a general run-down of the schedule tomorrow.

Now, I'm off to sleep too!