4,000 miles of excitement...

It feels so great to be back at the base. Our trip to the border was unbelievable. We left last Saturday with two Suburbans, a Honda CRV, ten people and a lot of stuff. About an hour into the trip Matt noticed that our Suburban wasn't driving very well so he pulled over right as it completely bit the dust. We waited for 5 hours at a gas station while a local mechanic tried to fix the thing but it was hopeless so we all piled into the two remaining cars and went on our way. At 9pm that night we ate at a 100% all natural/organic restaurant in Acapulco and kept driving until we got to San Luis del Rio which is about an hour north of Mexico City. We got to our hotel (Hotel O' Puente) at 4am, slept til 9, and got back on the road at 2pm.
Dinner Sunday night was...strange (to say the least). Sue ordered us a plate of meat. Gross. See picture for vivid details. (Potential parasite entry number 1)

Stopping at the restaurant was great though because it gave us a break from the road and some entertainment. There was a man outside the restaurant that played an awesome air guitar and has some sweet dance moves. He tried his best to serenade me, but somehow I resisted the temptation.
After we left we got lost in the city for a little while but eventually found our way out and made it back on the road. Somewhere around 3:30am our remaining Suburban died on the Mexican superhighway. This is where the fun really began. The Honda went to the nearest toll booth to call for a tow truck while the rest of us entertained ourselves on the side of the highway. There wasn't room for all of us inside the tow truck so we had to ride in the Suburban on top of the flatbed tow truck for almost two hours. We were all slap-happy so anything anyone said was hilarious. Watching Bernardo pretend to drive while falling asleep at the wheel was worth the breakdown in itself. Then we got to the Bible school in Nuevo Laredo at 6am and took a 4 hour nap before getting back on the road. Our Suburban was fixed very quickly by replacing just one fuse but little did we know that the problem really wasn't fixed. We ate our leftover meat with scrambled eggs for breakfast. (Potential parasite entry number 2)
Crossing the border was uneventful and not very scary. Matt, Dalene, and I waited at a Wendy's while the Mexican boys got their visas at the border. I've never seen anyone eat as much as Matt did while we were at Wendy's. It was great to be back in the States.

We made it to Austin before the Suburban started having fits. It died the first time on the highway outside of Austin. Matt and Bernardo changed the fuse and got us back on the road. Needless to say, this happened four more times before we made it to the Chevy dealership. By this time Matt was feverish and sick so we called our dads and they came to get us.
My dad came to Durant, OK to pick up Bernardo, Checo, Juan Carlos, and myself, while Matt's dad came to pick up Matt, Rebecca, and Arnulfo. On the way, Arnulfo was amazed as to how easily Matt's dad put away a quarter-pounder, a large fry, a 20 piece nugget, and a large diet coke. It was pretty funny. Once they got to Rebecca's house, they were welcomed with open arms and Rebecca's mom gave Matt some chicken noodle soup and a dry shirt since his fever caused him to sweat through the other. He started feeling a little better and contemplated going to the hospital, but decided to try to sleep through the night. By 5:00am, he decided that he needed to go to the ER. He got hooked up to an IV, got some fluids and meds, and got feeling much better...especially once visited by the entire Gunselman family. Nothing like being served a happy meal in a hospital bed while in a stylish hospital gown to make a man feel better.
After spending a few days in Tulsa we were ready to start the journey back to Mexico. We left early Saturday morning and drove to San Antonio, Texas. That night we ate some amazing BBQ with Matt's aunt and uncle on the Riverwalk. The next morning we left at 4am and got our visas at the border and picked up our Mexican friend Rene who helped us drive through Mexico. The scenery was spectacular!!!

The drive back was much less eventful and we got to spend the night in a nice hotel in Cuernavaca. We got back to the base at 6pm after a grand total of 10 days of traveling. The end.