After an epic night of sleep (in top 10 one of the comfiest beds we’ve ever slept in) at Under Canvas, it was time to hit the road again.
We were excited about the day’s drive ahead. Our halfway point was going to be stopping for lunch in Lake Havasu, Arizona and we had both heard great things about this place.
Unfortunately, the day of driving started off on the wrong…paw? Kennedy does not do too well in the car, and if she doesn’t get her anxiety meds early enough, the fun starts. Panting, shaking, and trying to climb in the front seat make it a fun exercise for the whole group. Eventually we gave in and Ken snuggled up on a pillow in the front seat and took a snooze for part of the drive.
Hello, Lake Havasu!
Lake Havasu’s drive-up scenery was gorgeous: a backdrop sprinkled with palm trees and mountains and lakes along the horizon. It was the first time we’d seen a real city, with real stores in awhile. We arrived a little before lunch and found a local beach area to get out of the car, stretch our legs and let Kennedy run out some energy.
We ventured into the downtown area where we found a fun, local lunch spot called Burgers by the Bridge. Right on the water, a dog friendly patio, offering close-up views of the original London Bridge. We ordered a bucket of shrimp and enjoyed a couple of ice-cold beers, making it the perfect stop for taking a break from the road.
Next Stop: Brawley, California
While the skies were sunny through lunch, a dark cloud quickly approached so we got back on the road en route to Brawley. The roadside scenery varied quickly from mountains to plateaus to rolling sand dunes, the Imperial Sand Dunes. Who knew? We didn’t know about this amazing geogrphic area, so it caught us by surprise. If we weren’t bascially car zombies at this point, we could have had some awesome photo opps. We managed to get one from the car window .
Brawley was surrounded by lush farmland and did not have many offerings of hotel options, but it did put us just a few hours from our Tecate border crossing in the morning. We were all mostly excited to be out of the car for another evening!
Our Last Night Before the Border
We checked into our room at the Best Western Plus Main St. You’ll notice we opted for a cool, nice hotel experience (Under Canvas) in between our not-so-swanky evening stops (Moab & Brawley). Now it was time to crack a bottle of wine, eat the last of our perishable snacks (since this was likely the last hotel room we’d have a fridge), and start running through our checklist for tomorrow.
This included re-packing and organizing bags, printing Mexican car insurance paperwork, immigration forms, copies of our driver’s licenses, and paper versions of our road trip outline, maps of the Baja roads, and anything we thought we’d need before going “offline” in Mexico. We had no idea what to expect for phone service and wanted to make sure we had everything we might need on the road.
With everything re-packed, printed, and set by the door ready to go in the morning, it was time to try and get a few hours of shut-eye before our next chapter of adventures!
We’ll fill you in on our Tecate border crossing experience and time in Mexico wine country in our next few posts.
