Hmm, I wonder which lanes they don't want you to drive in? (Click on the photo for a larger view)




It was likely a good decision to move out of central San Diego before packing it in for the night. In spite of the signs warning against overnight parking in the Walmart parking lot, the security guard went out of his way to assure me that it would be fine to spend the night there if I wished. But worried that morning rush hour might complicate things, I opted to move to the outskirts
where I had spent a night last spring, in a National Wildlife Refuge area.

Since I was there 11 months ago, the entire area has been burned over, but it is greening up nicely. It was burned over most of the way from San Diego to the Tecate border crossing , and there had been massive efforts to try and reduce and control the resulting erosion.

Made it to the Mexico border crossing at about 0830 and there was zero lineup.
I finally found the missing tourist card that I never did find during last year's trip, but I guess it was no longer good?
But it was unlike last year when I had to drive all around Ensenada trying to find a bank to pay for the tourist card, or two years ago in San Felipe where I spent a weekend waiting around for the immigration office to open, but finally gave up!
In this case, the bank (which was open!) was right across the road from the immigration office, which was right at the border crossing. It was almost too easy!
Then, one block away, I found another bank with an ATM, so I could load up with fresh Pesos.
Then it was out onto the open road of Mex 3 highway. Soon we were behind a very slow moving heavy truck, heading up a long grade in the rolling green hills. I was starting to wonder if this would impact my schedule, when the familiar left signal came on - indicating that it was now clear to pass.
I must say that it is nice to get back to highway speeds and distances being posted in kilometers.

Made it through Ensenada without problems, thanks to Google Earth, and past experience. Took a few photos at the big mall.Even a ScotiaBank!
at the southern edge of the city. Watched a large, loaded container ship attempting to get into the terminal. It was listing and fighting the waves, but appeared to finally give up it's attempt. The harbour entrance is very narrow and exposed.

Located the El Pabellon campground, just a few kilometres south of San Quintin, Mexico. The posted price was $10, but the friendly
manager escorted me in to the best site (it was empty at the time), and charged me $5. Then he spotted the ball cap I had in my truck. It was a Canadian Recreational Hockey hat that had been left there since I got it at hockey in Banff in January.
He wanted to know how much I would sell it for - as he wanted a Canadian hat. I decided that $5. was a good price - so my camping was then free! It was nice to be back on the coast, listening to the sound of the surf again.

The one-legged sea gull.