Baja at Last

We spent our last couple of days in the US traveling back & forth to Algodones, Mexico. It is right across the border form Yuma, people park on the US side & walk across for cheap dental, eyeglasses & prescriptions. We crossed for tacos, beer, our Mexican immigration cards & the chiropractor. I have had a "crick" in my neck for over 3 wks, which was fixed in a jiffy by Dr Madrid!
We had a wonderful surprise as we were walking down the street in Algodones, we ran into Serge & Suzanne. This was the couple from Quebec that we spent time with along the Baja last winter - Robin & Serge hit it off splendidly & it was good to catch up & then to look forward to future meetings along the road.
Driving towards Tecate, Mexico (our crossing) we passed huge fields of lettuce, broccolli, cabbage - quite the sight. Another fairly common sight in the US are monstrous windmills.

Our crossing was largely uneventful, they did look at our vehicle registrations & checked inside both the car & RV but didn't care to see our passports or "visas". We drove thru wine country, lots of small wineries & a few big ones. We stopped for a tour & tasting at Encuentro Guadalupe & were amazed by the tiny hotel rooms perched on the side of the hill. We got a barrel sample & private tour, then went up for the standard tasting - they only sell one white & one red wine, but their samples were very generous & he included a taste pf grappa. This made the remaining few miles into Ensenada less stressful!

We settled into Corona Beach Resort facing the ocean, less than 20 ft from high tide. We enjoyed delicious carne asada tacos & beer for about $8 at a nearby taco stand.

We met the neighbor next to our site, a pleasant mix of Richard & Uncle Tom - he has been a wealth of information but initially he was upset with us for bringing cloudy, cool weather, but it resulted in an amazing sunset!

We ventured into Ensenada after watching the pelicans diving for breakfast & two dolphins swimming by our front window. The required stop at Costco for beer & some snacks & UHT boxes of milk, then on to the harbour for fish tacos & fresh halibut & shrimp for the freezer. We reactivated the internet stick that we bought last year - we should have service wherever there is cell service (not everywhere, unfortunately), so will be able to keep up with the world. We probably still won't have a clue of the day or date though! We have arrived at the same time, again, as the Baja 1000 race. Apparently this is to off-road racing as the Super Bowl is to football. There are crowds everywhere & noisy off-road trucks & dune buggies on the streets. The downside is that the "chase/support" vehicles travel on the highways which makes them even more hazardous - we hope to keep a day or two ahead of them.

Today is a quiet day, watched a cruise ship come in, cut Robin's hair, long walk on the beach to Big Burro for the largest burritos ever seen! On the way back I took a picture of a Mexican car wash. We were entertained by a fellow who comes regularly to feed squirrels right near our RV - they eat cheerios out of a dish! Soon after Robin had it eating peanuts from his hand. Many of the cottages in this park have been painted but none as elaborate as the one looking like an aquarium.

We are not quite as penny pinching as last year, we have already bought a lovely souvenir that sums it all up - Another Day in Paradise!

Thanks to everyone that is following our humble travels, we appreciate the comments & emails.

Rock Hounding in Quartzite

We left Vegas behind, but I think we took a few extra pounds with us - too many buffets! We wanted to go see the Hoover Dam as it's been quite a few years, and much to our surprise we ended up driving right over the dam in the RV. There were spots to park, but not our monstrosity so we kept going & poof, we were over the dam. Security before the dam is tight - we had police search through our RV & open most of the storage compartments looking for explosives, the majority of the traffic is routed across a new bridge unless they are tourists.

Next stop for pics was the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City - yes they actually bought the bridge from London as it was no longer able to handle the traffic. It was taken apart, moved & rebuilt at a cost of $5,000,000, plus they had to create a waterway for it to go over!

We arrived at Quartzite & set up camp in the BLM land - free camping in the desert for up to 14 days. No services but you can have fires & there are miles of desert to explore. We found the 1050 year old ironwood tree in Quartzite & stopped to get a close look at a cotton field.

One of the campers gave us a "rock hounding 101" talk & we are back to collecting rocks, so much for pine cones! We also spoke with a woman in Quartzite who has a rock & mineral booth who sent us out on a day trip to Planet Ranch mine area. She promised us blue/green rock deposits- Chrysocolla & she did not disappoint. We brought back about 50 lbs (no joke). We checked out an abandoned mine town/ ghost town, Robin tried his metal detector (found some bolts), he saw a wild burro, we saw lots of little lizards & we found some sand dunes. Great day!

Had a lazy day, I went shopping in Quartzite at Beales - 4 swim suits, 3 tops, 1 pr capris for $90! We set up our hummingbird feeder & they have found it. Time spent sorting our rocks, yes we left some behind.
Another day of rock hunting - for Jasper & geodes - using out new book, Snowbird Gem Trails. Not so far to drive, but more hiking as the roads were pretty bad. Another 50 lbs or so, pretty red, brown & striped Jasper along with lots of geodes. We didn't have much luck breaking open the geodes, but we found lots open on the ground from previous hunters. We're building muscles hauling all these rocks around, hope the springs of the car hold out!

We've had many strange looks & several comments regarding our bright yellow kayak, joking about "no lakes around here!" Soon it will see water again.
We are now in Yuma, settled into a park with full hook-ups, so back to using our new Vitamix blender for morning shakes with carrots, beets, etc - actually quite good! We spent today checking out new RV prices here in the US, planning for the future. Another couple days & we head across the border to Baja, I can almost taste the shrimp & ice cream!
Temperatures are high 20's, still loving it!

Nevada - Gambling, Hiking & Overeating

It's been a busy week, first up was Cedar Breaks National Monument - drove up to 10,500 ft, 3 degrees, snow & ice on the trails! Beautiful amphitheatre, looking down into red, yellow & white peaks & canyons. Not much hiking as we really didn't want to slide down a mountain.

Picnic lunch, then off to Kolob Canyons, a part of Zion National Park. Here we were looking up at amazing red peaks, did some hiking ( now 20 degrees), & started a pine cone collection. Somehow we seem to end to collect stuff! One hike took us along a creek & required us to cross this water 6 x each way!

Went to Sonny Boys BarBQ for some yummy eats, including deep fried cauliflower & hush puppies. We ended our time in Cedar City by watching their agricultural parade, the highlight do which was herding about 1000 sheep down the main drag! quite a sight to see.

We moved on to Mesquite, Nevada & boondocked in a casino, spent $1.00 & left with $30.00. From there we drove out to the Valley of Fire State Park - spectacular scenery, lots of petroglyphs, good hiking & 27 degrees. We had breakfast at the Virgin City casino- $3.99 for eggs, hash browns, toast & a 16 oz., bone in ham steak!

We are now in Las Vegas, have had a couple buffets, of course, wandered The Strip, spent a few dollars, took a lot of pictures. We took in Freemont Street with Pat & Trudy- lots of street performers & lots of "interesting" people dressed in costumes expecting tips for photos - everything from Superman to Mario to showgirls. I foolishly ate some deep fried Oreos & Twinkies - this I don't recommend. We walked The Strip on Halloween night, even crazier than usual, lots of bizarre costumes again!

We can remove one more thing from the Bucket List - we drove 2 hours out to see Death Valley. Everything from the view at 5000 ft from Dante's View, to 282 ft below sea level at Badwater Basin. Every color & shape of rock formation that you could imagine at a cool 24 degrees. Now I feel that we got our money's worth from the National Park pass that we bought last October!

Had our last buffet tonight - we must have eaten over a pound of crab legs each, along with clams, shrimp & of course, dessert! probably won't sleep very well, but I think it was worth it!

We head further south in the morning, not nearly warm enough here & no beach!
Having a blast!

On the Road Again - October 24, 2013

Here we go again, it came up quickly this year, not sure if we are really all packed.

We made a big change this summer, selling our house in Penticton and moving to Edmonton into the townhouse that we own. We are close to the kids and grandkids which was worth the move, plus there is almost no yard work (but still room for a few veggies & flowers).

Before heading south we went on a road trip in the RV with Shane, Sarah & Scott out to visit with Adam, Jen, Emma & Ty. We had great weather, did some hiking & sightseeing & spent time playing with the grandkids. Emma is quite the little lady, great imagination & way too little fear of anything. Ty is growing so quickly, starting to walk & thankfully not really making strange. We will miss everyone while we are away but hopefully we have mastered Facetime & Skype to keep up.

We left October 21 south through Calgary, but stopped to check out some new RVs along the way - dreaming more than anything. Montana lives up to it's name of Big Sky Country, mountains in the distance & flat prairie. We saw several herds of antelope & the only snow was on the peaks.

We stopped at a roadside rest stop at the same time as a tour bus - Robin was chatting with the driver & discovered that the bus was full of Korean tourists travelling from Vancouver. They were excitedly taking pictures of semi trucks & one fellow was heading our way. We were outside the RV with the door open. Robin waved the fellow over & before we knew it the entire busload of people was crowding into the RV, taking pictures of it & of us then thanking us profusely for "the tour"!

We stopped in Idaho Falls & took several pictures of the falls - beautiful fall colors everywhere. No need for jackets midday, still cool at night.

We ordered 2 pair of  binoculars on line & picked them up at Cabelas in Salt Lake City - amazing how well you can see with good ones. Crazy big store too, complete with resturant, a shooting gallery for kids & an aquarium!

We are now in Cedar City, first actual campground with hook-ups - nice. Tommorow we are off to do some hiking in Kolob canyons, part of Zion Park, then to Cedar Breaks Nat. Park for more sightseeing & hiking. After that we head to Las Vegas for a few nights.
Life is good, happy to be back on the road, still loving it!