UPDATE FROM YESTERDAY

**this picture will make more sense at the end....

I'm not going to dwell or go into terrible detail, but for the sake of telling the WHOLE story, I must include the events of yesterday..... and okay, maybe I'll end up going into detail.  Forgive me. :)

Valerie woke me up at 6am, having not slept since midnight, when her IV ended.  She slept for 2 hours, then was awake and "on her own" from then on.  She has only been taking pill for medication since 6am yesterday for things that they had been giving her an IV for... for 2 weeks - pain meds, anxiety meds, and nausea meds.  So, it has been a big adjustment.  And she has done MARVELOUSLY.

So, we left off on the last post with me loading the car - the car wouldn't start - and a guy across the street was charging the battery.

We went back in an hour and it wasn't charged enough - come back in another hour.  During that hour, Valerie vomited up all of the food she had eaten the hour before.  This day is not going so well so far.

After another hour, ---- and let me clarify, when I say hour, I mean an hour or TWO, no one is very prompt around there ---- after that hour, it wasn't holding the charge and he said he could have a battery brought to the shop in 30 minutes.

An hour and a half later, we went back over (Dorian was very busy and we were waiting on him).  After looking at 2 plain black - no labels or markings - batteries IN THE BACK OF SOMEONE'S TRUNK, Dorian picked one and the guy asked for $53.  Thanks to Tracy K., I had a $50 bill in my back pocket.  I offered him that, thinking.... it just came out of the back of some guys trunk!!  He wanted $53!!  Dorian, being the guy he is, pulled out the rest in pesos and paid him.

THEN Dorian actually put the battery in the car..... and no, it didn't start.  The lights, locks, etc. worked - but it wouldn't turn over.  Dorian got down and fiddled with something by the fuses and BAM - it started!!  He either lied or really doesn't know - but he says he has no idea what he did to make is start.

I asked him if I could turn it off and back on.  He says "sure."  And low and behold, it started again!  Okay, so things are FINALLY working.   So, at about 5:30pm --- 6 hours after our first attempt -- we loaded up and left the Oasis.

The next obstacle came with trying to find the right ramp to get on that lead to the border.... that took about an hour.  Mind you, Google Maps said that from the hospital to the border was about 10 minutes.  Well, call it HORRIBLE signs in TJ (Tijuana), call it traffic coming from 6 different directions and you have to pick a lane NOW.... whatever, we kept SEEING the right lane, but we just couldn't figure out how to get IN it.

So, we finally got in the line to get to the border and it took another hour - of just sitting in line - to get across the border.  And these are some fun pictures of what you see when you're driving across from TJ to San Ysidro.  There are a line of shops on the right (no sidewalks) - they just sell to cars.  And down the middle of 2 of the 4 lanes of traffic, there's this tiny lane occupied by vendors.  You can buy anything from a poncho, to a jesus on a cross, to ice cream.  Next time, I'm going with a list.  :)

Once we FINALLY made it across the border, it only took us a couple of minutes to get to the cozy Motel 6.  It was about 8pm when we got holed up for the night.

We were both a little hungry, so I order pizza and spaghetti.  In no time, Valerie had eaten 3 pieces of the pizza.  More food than she's eaten in any one sitting in awhile.

At 9pm, Valerie wanted peanuts or something, so I got out of my PJs and back into my clothes, then made a trip up to the vending machine.  That picture at the top.... it LOOKS like the Wasabi Nut Crunch is falling doesn't it?  NOOOOO, it's not falling, it's just hanging there taunting me!!!!  I'm serious.... after the day we just had, that almost put me over the edge.  I had thoughts of going all primitive cave woman on the machine until I got my Wasabi Nut Crunch to fall.  But the machine was right outside the office.... that's the only thing that kept my sanity.

Then, as I'm walking back to the room with 2 bags of Wasabi Nut Crunch - because I had to put more money in to make the 1st one fall, I open an email from a coworker that says, "Up and down, up and down, ...it's almost obscene.  You're almost there, keep the hope where it can be seen."  I laughed out loud!!!  :)  Thank you CM - I didn't ask to reprint your material, so I won't name you. :)  It was a perfect ending to a not so perfect day!