We're In Sonora, Texas

     Last night we stayed in a hotel in Matamoros. It was a very strange thing to drive into a hotel parking lot and see a dozen Federal Police trucks including an armored truck there and the Federal Police standing around with their machine guns. Okay, I didn't write about this last night because I didn't want to cause alarm to any of our family or friends. Apparently, the Federal Police live there so there was nothing to be alarmed about. It actually made us feel quite safe.
     It was pouring rain when we woke up and we believe the rain may have played to our advantage, much like the H1N1 did when we traveled to Mexico. We were told to be prepared for long delays but the whole process took only about 30–40 minutes from start to finish. Crossing the border went very well. We paid our toll to cross the bridge and then asked the question about where to turn in our FM3s (our missionary visas). It was actually on the other side so we needed to turn around. They opened a gate and we had to make a u-turn back to the immigration office. The officials stamped our FM3s stating that we were not returning and we left them with them. Next we turned in our car tag and we were on our way after we paid the toll again. LOL!  At customs, on the US side, they looked at the stuff in our car, asked a few questions and we were on our way entering the United States of America. It was the first time the kids and I have been in the USA since we crossed in May of 2009.
     Culture shock already... what is this language we are hearing? How do you order a meal in English? Wendy's, do they still exist? Apparently they do because we ate lunch there. It was the first place Jonathan wanted to eat. Erin wants to eat at Taco Bell. We have spent the last 14 ½ months with awesome tacos in Mexico and she wants Taco Bell.

     We continued the day traveling through Texas. Wow, this is a big state! We stopped for dinner in Junction, Texas and ate at Dairy Queen, another place we haven't eaten at in a very long time. We are now stopping for the night in Sonora, Texas. The kids are ready to get out of the car. We traveled about 550 miles today. Not bad since it took time to go through immigration and customs this morning. Tomorrow we will be heading to New Mexico. After some rain this morning, the weather has been pretty good for travel.

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The pouring rain outside our room this morning.

The Federal Police

We are in the United States of America.

Our first pictures back in the USA

I know, it's weird, but this sign was in English so I had to take a picture.

A highway with no topes (speedbumps), three lanes and they have lines between the lanes.