March 13 to 19, 2008

March 13 to 19, 2008

Cabo San Lucas to Puerto Escondido, Baja California Sur, Mexico

 

Thursday ; San José del Cabo

Today was sunny and hot. We had a wonderful day, part of it on the most fantastic beach we've ever been to. This morning we prepared to move our trailer to another site, but none came available. By 10:00 A.M. it was obvious that nobody was departing this morning, so we would have to spend one more night in our partially serviced site. We left for a day of exploring. Erbon and Lorraine came with us in our truck. Kevin and Sandra took their toad and followed us.

Los Cabos are the 2 cities of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, 20 miles apart. Our RV park, Villa Serena, is between the two cities. We headed east along Mex 1 following the Sea Of Cortez coast line to San José del Cabo. With the assistance of Joanne's excellent navigating we found our way to the town square. We wandered around for a couple of hours, browsing and sightseeing. We had an excellent lunch in a restaurant with a roof top patio. The daily special, which most of us had, was 3 dorado ( fish ) tacos and 2 beers. After lunch we wandered around a bit more before heading back to the parking where we had left our vehicles. As we were leaving the parking lot, a black Mustang backed out of its parking spot and bumped into The Limey’s car. Fortunately, the damage was so insignificant that Kevin chose to just ignore it. We set off for an afternoon of exploring beaches. We found the gravel road that leads east, then north, following the Sea Of Cortez around the southern tip of The Cape. Rough road, tough driving ! We found our way to the beach that Joanne wanted to visit, La Playita ( The Little Beach ) at the village of Pueblo La Playa ( The Beach House ). Lovely ! We walked around awhile, waded in the water, took photos, and enjoyed the sun and warmth. Joanne wanted to see one more beach, at Los Zacatitos.

We drove very slowly for about 20 miles along the rough, narrow dirt road, wondering if we were on the right road. The road twisted and wound around rugged desert. Occasionally we would catch a glimpse of the sea. Finally, we reached the village of Los Zacatitos. WOW ! Multi million dollar homes of the rich and famous. All self sufficient, powered by solar panels, with their own desalination plants to produce fresh water. And on the edge of the little village ... a completely deserted beach, with thatched roof palapas on the beach to provide shade. We walked across the wide expanse of soft, white sand to the water’s edge where the greenish blue surf was crashing. We waded in, laughing like children as the huge waves would roll away, leaving us a hundred feet from the water until the next wave would crash and roll right up over our feet. I walked further out, bit by bit, trying to position myself to where I would be about knee deep when the waves would crash and roll, trying to get some good photos. I had positioned myself in the perfect spot when ... BAM ! A larger wave than most rolled over and crashed right where I was standing. It smacked right into me at about the level of my stomach, smacking me down onto my butt. OOOOOF ! Ouch ! It hit me so hard in the stomach it knocked the wind out of me. I scrambled to my feet quickly and backed away, toward the beach, before the outgoing rip tide pulled me out into deeper water. I thought I had taken a picture of the crashing wave just before it hit me, but pictures don’t lie. The picture is of the sky, as I fell backwards onto my ass when the wave hit me ! HA HA HA HA HA ! Next time we go to the beach, maybe I should wear my swim suit. DUH ! Not very far out into the sea we could see whales blowing and breaching. Based on our location it’s unlikely they were Bellenas Gris / Grey Whales. They appeared to be larger than Grey Whales. We sat on the beach for awhile, marvelling at the experience of being on this magnificent beach.

What a great day to be alive, being here, doing this !

As we left the beach area, beside the village of Los Zacatitos, there was a Mexican man standing by the side of the road, smiling, holding out his thumb, looking for a ride. There was only one way to go, so it was obvious he wanted a ride back to San José del Cabo. I stopped, and he jumped into the box of the truck. Okay ! We drove back to San José del Cabo. I saw in my rear view mirror that he was sitting there smiling and looking quite contented, despite the rough and dusty road we were driving on. Just on the outskirts of the city, Sandra advised us by 2 way radio that he appeared to be getting ready to jump out of the truck. I slowed down, he jumped out, smiled, waved, and walked away. Okay ... adiós, amigo. Hasta la vista !

We stopped at a large grocery store to replenish groceries and supplies. We bought a lot ! By the time we left the grocery store it was dark. Driving from San José del Cabo almost all the way back to Cabo San Lucas, and then finding our RV park, in the dark was difficult.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny and hot ... temperature in the mid 30's C. / 90's F.. It was perfect for what we did today. This morning I hitched the truck to the trailer, moved to a fully serviced site within the RV park, then unhitched again. What a lot of work for little results. I was tired before our day even really got started ! We drove into Cabo San Lucas and found our way to the harbour area where we parked and walked through the Mercado Marina ( waterfront arts and crafts market ) to the malecon ( waterfront walkway ). We hired a glass bottom water taxi to take us out to see the sights that the Cabo San Lucas harbour area is famous for. The six of us shared our water taxi with a Mexican family who wanted to be taken to Playa El Médano. The water taxi dropped off the family first then took us out to see a large rock covered with a pelican colony, a large rock covered with a sea lion colony, and an underwater reef area teeming with colourful tropical fish right underneath the boat, visible through the glass bottom. WOW ! We even saw some small barracudas under the boat. We passed by spectacular, huge rock formations, and saw a little arch in the rocks through which the Pacific Ocean splashes though and meets the Sea Of Cortez.

We passed by famous Playa Amor / Lover's Beach. And then ... there it was ! El Arco / The Arch at Finisterra / Land's End. WOO-HOO ! ! ! FINISTERRA / LAND'S END ! ! ! We made it ! Our objective has been achieved. Our RV'ing goal for 2007 / 2008 ! And what a spectacular sight it was ! A cause for celebration tonight !

We circled around Finisterra, taking many photos, giggling with delight at the thrill of being there. At least I was ... I don't know about the others. On the way back to the harbour, I asked our water taxi driver to drop us off at Playa Amor / Lover's Beach and pick us up again an hour or so later. Reluctantly he agreed. He pulled the boat up close to the beach and we prepared to jump off the boat into the shallow water and wade to the beach. A Mexican looking for tips ran out into the surf to help us. I'm not sure he was all that helpful. He helped Sandra jump off the boat, then gave her a little bit of a helpful shove towards the beach. She stumbled and fell. OOOPS ! She spent the rest of the day in wet clothes, and wasn't very happy about it.

We spent about an hour and a half on Playa Amor / Lover's Beach. Spectacular ! Our water taxi dropped us off on the Sea Of Cortez side. The water was calm. We wandered through the rock formations over to the Pacific Ocean side, where the surf was crashing in huge waves. A beach vendor came by selling beautiful jewellery, at reasonable prices. Erbon and I each bought a bracelet for our wives. Joanne's is a silver band with inlaid abalone and mother of pearl. I think it's quite lovely.

Our water taxi picked us up and returned us to the main harbour. We browsed briefly in Mercado Marina, then went off looking for a place to have a very late lunch. At the parking lot across the street from Mercado Marina, where we had parked our vehicles, there were a few "fast food" trucks. Kind of the Mexican version of a "chip truck" in Canada. I had the most spectacular fish dish at this food truck ! The man prepared Red Snapper fillets, fried in butter with garlic and lime. It was served covered in cooked garlic. I had never eaten a dish with that much garlic. I rarely eat dishes with garlic. But this was GREAT ! Served with refried beans, Mexican fried rice, and a salad made with lettuce, tomato, and avocado. It was a stupendous meal, particularly considering that it came from a truck !

Kevin, Sandra, Erbon and Lorraine left to return to the RV park. Joanne and I went off in search of a restaurant in a downtown hotel to get more information on a special weekly Saturday evening Mexican Fiesta meal that they advertise. It was a bit too pricey. We returned to our RV park where I napped for awhile while Joanne did some laundry.

Late in the evening I gathered our group together to celebrate reaching Land's End / Finnisterra, with a bottle of Okanagan ice wine that we brought from home.

 

Saturday ; Cabo San Lucas to Todos Santos & return

Gee, in the 36 years that I've known Joanne, I've never seen her this tanned ! Today was sunny and hot again.

This morning we went to the town of Todos Santos ( All Saints ) with Erbon and Lorraine. Kevin and Sandra didn't go with us, because they are planning to spend a month in Todos Santos later this spring. They will likely be staying in Mexico until September. We drove west then north from Cabo San Lucas on Mex 19, following the Pacific Ocean coastline. Just before we arrived in Todos Santos we stopped in the tiny village of El Salitral to shop at a Mexican blankets and textile "factory" called Chabelin. The "factory" was the owner's home, where she hand wove blankets, tablecloths, ponchos, etc. on a hand loom. Her son spoke English, and was the "salesman". We browsed through their little shop, then were invited into their home to see more selection. Erbon and Lorraine bought two table runners, and a gorgeous cape coat for Lorraine. Joanne bought us a tablecloth. She liked the pattern and colours of the tablecloth in their home. The tablecloths that they had for sale with that pattern were in colours not to Joanne's liking. "No problemo" said the son. He cleared off their dining table, and sold us the family's tablecloth, at a discounted price. HA HA HA !

When we arrived in Todos Santos we saw an estética / hair stylist shop. Erbon and Lorraine wanted haircuts. While they got their haircuts Joanne and I went to see an RV park in town. We did not go there when we passed through Todos Santos a few days ago because our guide book said the entranceway was too narrow for big rigs. They have since widened their entranceway and our big rig could easily enter. Too bad we hadn't taken the time to check it out a few days ago when we first drove through Todos Santos. Darn ! Kevin and Sandra will likely stay there for a month later this spring. We picked up Erbon and Lorraine at the estética and went for lunch to a restaurant called Pitayaha, which I think might be the name of a type of cactus. Erbon and I had the daily special. Tres tacos y uno cerveza por sesenta pesos. Three tacos and a beer for 60 pesos ( U.S.$5.69 ). Uno taco pescado, uno taco camarón, y uno taco carne asada. One fish taco, one shrimp taco, and one grilled beef taco. Joanne and Lorraine had huevos con machaca. Three scrambled eggs mixed with a huge serving of shredded beef, onions, tomatoes, and green peppers, served with roasted potatoes with onions and green peppers. Muy bien ! Very good ! While Erbon's and my lunches included a beer, Lorraine and Joanne were served a pitcher of freshly made melon juice.

We walked around "downtown" Todos Santos, browsing in the interesting arts and crafts stores. We found our way to the Hotel California, the lodging in Todos Santos that allegedly inspired the Eagles' hit. As I was standing on the median in the middle of the street taking photos of the famed Hotel California some of the Baja 1000 race cars came down the street. One by one they stopped right in front of me so that I could take their picture. Or so I thought. Then I realized that each of them stopped not to allow me to take their photo, but so that the navigator in each race car could shoot a photo of the Hotel California. HA HA HA ! It was kind of neat to be there as the Baja 1000 participants passed by. What a concept ! A thousand mile race down the Baja, from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas, mostly off road through the desert, on the kind of trail that we drove the other day to see the cave paintings, that took us an hour to drive 12 miles ! And the Baja 1000 race is completed in 3 days !

One of the little stores I wandered into was a tequila store. The woman running the store was eager for us to try samples of the various products. I'm not really much of a tequila fan, but ... the chocolate flavoured tequila was irresistible. HA HA HA ... I bought a bottle ! We drove through town trying to find the road on our little map that led to a beach on the Pacific. We thought we had found the right road, but after driving down it, an extremely difficult little dirt trail, we came to the end of the road, and we weren't at the beach. Oh, well ! I drove back through town, refilled with diesel at the Pemex station, and we headed south again on Mex 19 back to Cabo San Lucas. About halfway back to Cabo San Lucas I saw a dirt trail leading off towards the Pacific, and drove down it hoping to find a beach. I did ! We stopped and walked around on the beach for awhile, watching the huge Pacific surf crashing on the beach and the rocks.

We drove back to Cabo San Lucas. Back at our RV park we showed Kevin and Sandra our purchases before supper. After supper we all went over to The Limey's rig to watch the movie "RV". HA HA HA ! Been there, done that !

 

Sunday ; Cabo San Lucas to Los Barriles

Today was sunny and warm. It was a bit windy at Los Barriles ( Bar reel ace ... roll the "rr" ). We left Villa Serena RV Park in Los Cabos this morning and headed north on Mex 1. The northward migration has begun < sigh >. We'll be home in a month and a half. Even without the constraints of many rigs in a caravan, it's slow driving on Mex 1. Today we led our travel group, with The Limeys in the middle and the RoadTrek in the rear. We arrived in Los Barriles about noon, and found our way to East Cape RV Park, arguably the nicest RV park in the Baja. Perhaps the most expensive, as well ! We got set up in our site, had lunch, then napped. After napping we walked over to the nearby beach on the Sea Of Cortez. It was about a 10 minute walk to the beach. It would have been about 5 minutes if we hadn't had to fight our way through a construction zone and construction debris. Much of Mexico seems to be a construction zone. And construction debris is not cleaned up. Even long after the construction ends. It was windy on the beach. There were some kite flyers on the beach and wind surfers in the water. When we returned to the RV park Joanne went to the pool and hot tub. The hot tub wasn't working. It's not at all surprising in Mexico to find things not working. Yeah, I remember our wagonmasters' advice. We're in "Flexico". Here in Los Barriles, there is no water available after 5:30 P.M.. Irregular / intermittent water supply and electricity are just a couple more of Mexico's "endearing" eccentricities.

Our small travel group gathered for a communal barbecue dinner. One of our contributions was dessert. Joanne’s beloved Cajeta ice cream, served with my chocolate tequila poured over it. MMMMM ! It was very good. Our group sat around chatting until late in the evening.

 

Monday ; Los Barriles to Cabo Pulmo & return

Today was mostly sunny, warm, and a bit windy. I was feeling exhausted today. I need some rest soon, particularly from all the difficult driving, but also from frequent hitching and unhitching, and daily outings. I need a "day off".

This morning we headed for Cabo Pulmo, a small beach front town on the East Cape. Our guide book said that the Cabo Pulmo area has the most spectacular scenery in all of the Baja. We were a bit disappointed in that regard. We drove south on Mex 1 back to Las Cuevas, then turned off the highway heading east to the village of La Ribera, then south to the village of La Abundancia where the road turned to dirt. It was a slow, difficult drive on a narrow, bumpy dirt road to Cabo Pulmo, a town of about 100 people, with a few dive shops, and three restaurants, one of which was not open today because the owner had to go pick someone up at the airport in Los Cabos. We explored the beach. It was rocky. The wind was blowing, so the surf was high. Cabo Pulmo is notable for the coral reefs that start right at the beach. We walked around the town, and stopped at El Caballero Restaurant for lunch. The food was good. The service was not. After lunch we wandered on the beach a bit more before leaving.

We continued driving south on the dirt road, wondering if we could find a nice soft sand beach. Just before reaching the little village of Los Frailes we found what we were looking for on Bahía Los Frailes. We explored and rested for awhile on the beach before tackling the tough drive back to paved roads. On the drive back, when we got back to Mex 1 we turned south again, and drove a bit beyond the town of Santiago, to the spot on the Transpeninsular ( Mex 1 ) where a concrete sphere marks the Tropic Of Cancer. We had passed it yesterday driving from Cabo San Lucas to Los Barriles. We stopped and took photos, then drove back north to Los Barriles. We stopped in town for a few groceries, then drove through town to a different RV park than the one we're staying in, to see some of our Baja Winters caravan group who are staying there. We chatted briefly, then returned to our RV park.

I'm tired !

 

Tuesday ; Los Barriles to Ciudad Constutució n

Today was sunny and hot. This morning we said goodbye to The Limeys / Kevin and Sandra, and departed East Cape RV Park in Los Barriles. We hope to see Kevin and Sandra again in December 2008 in Texas, and hopefully again in British Columbia in the summer of 2009, if and when they head for Alaska. We headed north on Mex 1 towards La Paz. The first hour or so of driving was the most difficult stretch of highway driving we have encountered so far in the Baja. Mex 1 was very hilly and curvy, and as always, very narrow. Halfway to La Paz the road flattened and straightened, and the driving became easier. Well, as easy as Mex 1 can be, and that's not very easy. We stopped in La Paz to refuel, have lunch, and discuss whether to stay in La Paz tonight or continue on to Ciudad Constitución. Obviously we decided to continue. At the Pemex station we chatted with a couple from Michigan who had left East Cape RV Park 10 minutes after us, and arrived at the Pemex station 10 minutes after us. Later in the afternoon they arrived at Palapa 206 ten minutes after us. All daylong they were 10 minutes behind us. They had been travelling with a caravan group called Vagabundos del Mar ( Vagabonds of the Sea ). Their caravan wagonmaster recommended that they not travel from the night before Good Friday until the day after Easter. He also advised that the camping beaches near Mulegé will be filled from Thursday evening until Monday with young tenters partying all night. As a result, we are going to revise our travel plans for the next week.

We drove a long distance today. There weren't any campgrounds between La Paz and Ciudad Constitución, so our choices were to drive less than we wanted to in one day, or more than we wanted to in one day. We arrived at Palapa 206 RV Park, and while I got our rig all set up in our site Joanne went in the RoadTrek with Erbon and Lorraine into town to do some grocery shopping. I discovered that I had lost a hub cap off the trailer, probably due to brake heat build up in the first hour of driving the section of Mex 1 with a lot of hills. It has happened before. The trailer hub cap is functional, not just decorative. Without it dirt would get into the trailer wheel bearings. So I had to fabricate a "Tennessee hub cap" using a lot of duct tape.

Shortly after Joanne returned home from the grocery store, the lady from Michigan invited us to an impromptu Escapee "Happy Hour". We met under a palapa in the RV park and munched on Joanne's guacamole and tortilla chips, and the Michigan lady's bruschetta and melba toast. We invited the people from the only other rig in the park, a couple in an old Volkswagen camper, from Vancouver Island, to join us. HA HA HA ... that reinforces Joanne's theory that all the old Volkswagen campers in Canada have retired out to Vancouver Island.

 

Wednesday; Ciudad Constitución to Puerto Escondido

Today was sunny and hot. This morning we departed Palapa 206 RV Park, drove through Ciudad Constitución, and headed north on Mex 1 towards Puerto Escondido.

Last spring, just after having some work done on the trailer wheels in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I lost a trailer wheel chrome trim ring. Previously, when I've lost trailer wheel chrome trim rings I've been able to buy used replacements at Mexican operated tire ( llantera ... "ll" sounds like "y" ) repair shops along the Mexican border in Arizona or Texas. I decided this morning that since we're heading back north already I should start looking at llantera shops for a used replacement trailer wheel chrome trim ring. The first town we came to after leaving Ciudad Constitución was Ciudad Insurgentes ( Seeoodad Insurhentays ). Sure enough, the first llantera shop I stopped at had what I needed. Cincuenta ( 50 ) pesos, por favor, señor.

This coming weekend is a 4 day long weekend. We were planning to spend Thursday and Friday boondocked on one of the lovely beaches near Mulegé , then spend Saturday in Mulegé . But the stories about young partiers on the beaches, and heavy traffic on the long weekends persuaded us to hunker down here in Puerto Escondido until Tuesday. We'll get some desperately needed rest, and do some day trip exploring over the next 6 days.

We drove to Puerto Escondido, a short distance south of the city of Loreto, and found the Tripui Hotel, Restaurant & RV Park. We checked into the nice, cheap RV park, and went to explore Puerto Escondido. How odd ! In the 1980's, the Mexican government tourism development agency, Fonatur, started to develop a 5 star luxury marina resort development on the Sea Of Cortez waterfront at Puerto Escondido. They developed all the infrastructure, roads, street lighting, parking lots, docks for yachts, a waterfront promenade ( malecon ) and began constructing a huge, luxury resort hotel complex. And then ... they abandoned the project ! There is a partially constructed building, about 2 stories tall of crumbling concrete blocks. The roads are collapsing. The docks are okay, for the most part, and there are a few yachts tied up there. But the whole development is ... abandoned, deserted, and crumbling ! We returned to the Tripui and wandered around the hotel and restaurant grounds. Very nice ! The restaurant has a Mexican buffet special tomorrow evening. I think we'll go !

 

DSK

March 6 to 12, 2008

March 6 to 12, 2008

Mulegé to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot, with a bit of a breeze blowing late in the afternoon.

This morning we departed for an expedition to see prehistoric cave paintings in one area, and petroglyphs / rock carvings in another area, done by Cochimi Indians. We heard an "estimate" that they were 5000 years old, but that doesn't sound right to me. Dustin had hired a local guide to lead us. The cave paintings are in an area restricted by the government. Entry is only allowed when accompanied by a licensed guide, and a fee must be paid. We were somewhat stunned by the difficult access. We drove 12 miles through the desert on a dirt and rock trail. It took an hour to drive the 12 miles ! We understood then why our wagonmaster was organizing "car pools" this morning, taking only the biggest trucks and an SUV. As we drove along this extremely rough dirt trail, I occasionally had to lean out the window to ensure that I didn't scrape Lanoire's rear dually "hips" on large boulders. At one point when I was doing that, I noticed that I was passing a hub cap, just as the rear wheels drove over it. Hey ... that was a Dodge hub cap. Hey ... that was a Dodge one ton hub cap. HEY ... WAS THAT MY FRONT WHEEL HUB CAP ? ? ? When we got to the ranch where we parked our vehicles to go on the hike up to the cave paintings, I saw ... damn ... that was my front hub cap. I guess I had knocked it off against one of the large boulders.

We hiked for about an hour through a canyon to get to the cave paintings. It was a very difficult hike. Two members of our group could not make it and dropped out part way. After viewing and photographing the prehistoric cave paintings, we hiked back to the ranch where we had parked our vehicles, and ate our picnic lunches. Then we set off for the next part of today's adventure. We drove for about another 12 miles, another hour, to an area where there were prehistoric petroglyphs / rock carvings high up on the walls of a steep cliff. On the way there, Dustin found my crushed hub cap on the side of the road, picked it up, and returned it to me. It's quite damaged, but perhaps I can salvage it. If not ... guess I'll have to buy a new hub cap. We parked, then hiked for 15 minutes or so through an arroyo ( dry creek bed ) to the cliffs. It was hot, and dusty. We admired and photographed the petroglyphs. I decided to sit under a bush, in the shade, and have a drink of water. OW OW OW OW OW ... I sat on a segment of a cholla cactus that had broken off and rolled / been blown under the bush. Some members of the group had a great laugh, and wanted to take photos of the piece of cholla cactus embedded in the seat of my pants before Joanne pulled it out. After having my butt photographed, and Joanne carefully plucked the cholla segment off, I walk off into the desert to find some privacy to reach inside my pants and underwear and gingerly pull out the cholla quills stuck in my ass. OW !

We hiked back to our vehicles, and drove back to our camp. About another 12 miles, and about another hour. We stopped to look at, and pick up, some little round gourds we saw growing on vines on the ground in the desert. Becky looked them up in her nature book. They were a type of wild melon that grows in the Baja desert, called Coyote Melons. Back at Hacienda de la Habana, I noticed that at some point today, I had lost Señor Caballero. Señor Caballero was a little rubber Saguaro cactus with a smiling face and a cowboy hat, stuck on my truck antenna. I guess he got knocked off by one of the many low hanging Palo Verde branches that we drove under and through today. Darn ... a crushed hub cap, cholla in my ass, and Señor Caballero was gone ! Maybe there's some merit to the theory that problems come in threes. HA HA HA ! I guess today just wasn't my day.

As soon as we got back to the trailer we took Teddy and Bo for a walk. Dustin's dog Lobo, a pit bull cross about ten times the size of Bo ran over and sniffed Teddy. Bo lunged, snarled, and snapped at Lobo. HEY ... DON'T SNIFF MY CAT ! Stupid little terrier has such strong possessive and protective instincts ! Once again, as the sun set, we went and floated around in the swimming pool. I asked Joanne to prepare Fettuccine Alfredo for supper, so that I could cook the butter clams I caught yesterday, and add them to my Fettuccine Alfredo.I cooked them, loosely following the directions I had received. They were okay. I guess I'm not much of a mollusk fan. Good thing I had caught three dozen of them. There wasn't that much meat in each of them. I fed one to Teddy. He tasted it and spit it out. Guess he’s not much of a mollusk fan either. HA HA HA ! I spent the evening gettingcaught up on processing of photos.

 

Friday ; Today was another beautiful, sunny, hot day. We decided to take a "day off" and get caught up on some errands. While Joanne slept late, I puttered around with minor maintenance. I attempted to repair my crushed hub cap and reinstall it on the truck. Well ... I repaired it as best as I could, and reinstalled it on the truck, but I expected it might not stay on for very long. It was bent and cracked, and wouldn't snap into place very tightly. I repaired the little exterior light fixture that's under the front overhang of the fifth wheel. It's there to provide light when accessing the front trunk of the trailer in the dark. A lot of fussing and fiddling seemed to solve the problem. I guess that there was so much desert dust inside the light fixture housing that the switch contacts were coated in dust and unable to make good electrical contact.

We drove two miles into the village of Mulegé . By the time we got there, I had lost the damaged hub cap. Adiós ! We got haircuts ( cortes de pelo ) and I got a beard trim ( recorte de barba ) at Estetica Roxana on the edge of town. We drove into town to where I knew there was an open access Wi-Fi signal and parked. While I worked on the computer, Joanne went grocery shopping. I got most of the online work done that I needed to, although I was unsuccessful in uploading photos to my blog update. Not enough bandwidth on the signal I was using, I guess. When Joanne returned to the truck, she used the Wi-Fi phone to phone her sister. We returned to Hacienda de la Habana, hitched the truck to the trailer, and spent the remainder of the afternoon in the swimming pool.

When we had arrived here a few days ago, Joanne asked Ray, the Cuban owner of the campground and restaurant, if he would prepare a Cuban meal for our group. Tonight he did ! When Joanne asked him a few days ago to prepare a Cuban dinner for us, I unfortunately had a bit of a brain fart and forgot to mention that I am unable to digest pork because of my ulcerative colitis. DUH ! So, of course, he prepared a pork meal. I had to select something from the regular menu. I had a very nice steak. Oh, well. It was a very nice meal, even if it wasn't Cuban. Joanne said the Cuban pork dish was very good as well.

 

Saturday ; Mulegé to Loreto

Today was sunny and hot. This morning we departed Hacienda de la Habana at 9:00 A.M., drove through the town of Mulegé, and stopped at a Pemex station on the south side of town on Mex 1 so that everyone could refill their fuel tanks. Refuelling eleven rigs is quite a time consuming ordeal. We continued south on Mex 1, passing many gorgeous beaches along Bahía Concepción, all with RV's boondocked on them. We want to boondock on a Bahía Concepción beach on the way back north. Joanne and I played tailgunner on today's drive. Dustin was either ill, hung over, having a family feud with his parents, the wagonmasters, or all of the above. When we reached the town of Loreto, we drove through town to Loreto Shores RV Park. The rigs were brought into the park and positioned in sites one at a time. I don't understand how it could have possibly taken so long to position the ten rigs in front of us. Caravan travel is a lot of "hurry up and wait". I'm certain this will be our first and last journey by caravan.

Loreto Shores RV Park is on the Sea Of Cortez waterfront, but the beach isn't great. It's rocky and slimy. We quickly got set up in our site, had lunch, and by the time we were finished, the caravan's daily meeting was just finishing. Thanks a lot, folks ! Erbon and Lorraine had initially offered to drive us back into downtown Loreto in their RoadTrek so that we wouldn't have to unhitch, but Erbon was feeling ill and they decided not to go into town after all. I napped. Joanne did laundry. I worked online. I tried to fix a problem that one of our caravan's members was having with his computer. I failed.

Yesterday in Mulegé Joanne had purchased some chorizo pollo / chicken sausages that she cooked for supper tonight. Worst sausages we've ever had. They were like spicy sawdust !

 

Sunday ; Loreto to Ciudad Constitución

Today was sunny and hot again. We departed Loreto Shores RV Park in Loreto this morning at 8:00 A.M.. Joanne and I both slept poorly last night, and feel very tired today. Loreto is a noisy town. Or at least, Loreto Shores is a noisy RV park. The town seems to be filled with free roaming Mexican dogs who bark incessantly. And roosters in pens that crow incessantly. And traffic noise. We drove though town back to Mex 1 and headed south. We drove about 100 miles to the city of Ciudad Constitución, through the city, and to Palapa 206 RV Park at Mex 1 mile marker 206. Hence the name. Joanne and I were the tailgunners again today. Dustin had left the caravan to lead a returning caravan back to the United States. Joanne has become quite proficient at the tailgunner role, keeping the whole group advised by CB radio about traffic coming up from behind us and passing. And coordinating the passing vehicles around the next 2 rigs in front of us, driven by the 2 members of our caravan who are still struggling with Mexican roads and drivers.

Once we were all set up in our sites, and the toads ( motorhomes' towed vehicles ) were unhitched, everybody headed into town to replenish groceries at Super Ley, the new, large supermarket in Ciudad Constitución. We went with Kevin and Sandra, "The Limeys". My, what gorgeous pan dulce / Mexican pastries. I bought way too many, of course. I guess I'll just have to eat them quickly. HA HA HA ! I hadn't seen such nice Mexican pastries since ... well ... the United States. HA HA HA ! After returning to Palapa 206 RV Park and putting away our groceries, we joined Kevin and Sandra on an adventure to explore the nearby village of Puerto San Carlos on Bahía Magdalena on the Pacific coast, about a 45 minute drive to the west. Puerto San Carlos is a fishing village with a large fish processing / canning factory. We wandered along the beach for awhile. There were fishermen wading out in the shallow water of the bay, pushing or pulling some sort of a cart that looked similar to a floating wheelbarrow. We think they were fishing for / collecting abalone.

We returned to Ciudad Constitución and Palapa 206 RV Park in time for our second last daily meeting. Tomorrow after we arrive in La Paz the caravan disbands, except for those that are returning with the caravan company wagonmasters. We're going to be travelling independently after tomorrow. After the meeting I wandered around the campground, looking at the resident young goats and peacocks. Bo was very uncertain about meeting the goats. He alternated between wagging his tail and sniffing them, as he would do when meeting another dog and being friendly, and barking ferociously at them, as if they were an animal that he should attempt to chase away. Poor, confused Bo. He had never met goats up close before. In the meantime, I had left Teddy outside our trailer in his tent. I looked back when I heard Joanne outside the trailer shooing something away. Three peacocks had wandered over to our trailer and were very curious about Teddy in his tent. HA HA HA ! I didn't think that peacocks were much of a threat to a cat in a tent, but Joanne wasn't so sure.

 

Monday ; Ciudad Constitución to La Paz

Today was sunny and hot. Our planned departure time this morning from Palapa 206 RV Park in Ciudad Constitución was supposed to be at 8:00 A.M., but at 7:45 A.M. our wagonmaster was calling us on the CB radio asking us if we were ready to go. Everybody else was ready, and he seemed in a rush to get started. I guess he was eager to be rid of all of us. I don't blame him ! We continued south on Mex 1 all the way to the city of La Paz. Joanne and I played tailgunner again today. We stopped just before entering La Paz and everybody refuelled < sigh >. We passed through another military inspection station as we entered La Paz. We found our way to RV Casa Blanca. It's quite a nice RV park, by Mexican standards, right in the city. As soon as everybody was set up in their sites, we had our last caravan meeting. Adiós, mi amigos !

We had lunch, then set out for a day of exploring La Paz. Kevin and Sandra ( The Limeys ) have decided to travel with Joanne and me, and Erbon and Lorraine, for the next week or so. Our wagonmaster had strongly recommended against driving our own vehicles around La Paz, for a variety of reasons. The six of us took a taxi to the malecón ( waterfront walkway ). We wandered downthe malecón for awhile, admiring the waterfront scenery, browsing at some beach side vendors, taking photos, eating ice cream, and enjoying the sunny afternoon. We walked "inland" from the waterfront for a few blocks, then followed along a major street for awhile, browsing and sightseeing. Late in the afternoon,once we were all feeling a bit tired, we took a taxi back to our RV park. As the sun set, and it began to get cooler, we met beside the swimming pool and had a travel planning meeting, figuring out where to go, where to stay, and what to do for the next 2 weeks.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and hot. It was the first real "rest" day we've had in a couple of weeks. We slept late. We did things slowly. I discovered 2 leaks in my 20 foot sewer hose. I patched them. I probably won't find an opportunity to replace the hose until we return to the United States in about 3 weeks. I haven't used the 20 foot sewer hose recently. In most campgrounds I've been using our 10 foot sewer hose.

After lunch we went for a long walk with Bo around the neighbourhood. We are in a residential neighbourhood that seems to be a bit more affluent than average, for Mexico. We are across the street from a hospital, and there are many medical clinics nearby, so perhaps we're seeing the more affluent homes of doctors and other medical personnel. Most of the homes were behind locked gates. Each yard had a dog, some large, some small, that barked ferociously as we walked by with Bo. When we returned to our RV park, we spent some time lounging around the swimming pool. I read, then napped. It's nice to be able to resume my "normal" routine. Late in the afternoon, after Kevin and Sandra had returned from their day at the Immigration Office making arrangements to be allowed to stay in Mexico until September, our group of 3 couples met around the pool for a bit of a "natter". HA HA HA ... we are slowly adopting British terms that Kevin and Sandra use. We are all having fun trying to decipher one another's language peculiarities. I think Sandra is still wondering what I was talking about when I was explaining that I'm not using my "wodder heeder" ( Canadian pronunciation of "water heater" ) on electricity, I'm keeping it on the propane function setting.

Of the eight rigs of our caravan that arrived here yesterday, four left this morning. The remaining four, including our new travelling group of three rigs,are leaving tomorrow. This afternoon a large caravan of RV's arrived, crowding this RV park. They have already been around the southern loop of the Baja that begins / ends in La Paz, and they are heading back north already. The caravan company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and many of the group are Canadians. It’s obvious when a very well groomed Golden Retriever walks by with a large, plush, stuffed reindeer in its mouth that it’s a Canadian dog, not a Mexican one. HA HA HA !

 

Wednesday ; La Paz to Cabo San Lucas

Today was sunny and hot. Our day did not go as planned. And I had an "off" day. And I was very crabby ! I'm not sure which was "chicken" and which was "egg". My crabbiness was attributable to a number of things. So, of course, I felt it was ... well, at the very least, justifiable. My travelling companions would likely not agree.

We departed RV Casa Blanca this morning, drove through and out of La Paz, heading for the villages of Todos Santos and El Pescadero. Just outside La Paz, we stopped at a propane refill business so that I could refill a propane tank. It took a great deal longer than I anticipated. If I had known how long it was going to take, I wouldn't have bothered. And while the man refilling tanks was able to make change for the 4 or 5 Mexicans in front of me waiting to have their propane tanks filled, miraculously, after filling my tank, he was not able to make change. I'm getting rather tired of the ongoing attempts by Mexicans to rip off gringos whenever and however they can. I understand that it's a part of their "culture", but that doesn't mean I have to like it ! And by the time we had left La Paz, and I got my propane tank refilled, I had committed two traffic violations. That didn't improve my mood at all ! Mexico has some unusual traffic regulations, and it's easy for visiting gringos to run afoul of them.

A short distance south of La Paz, the road splits. Mex 1 runs down the east side of "The Cape", along the Sea Of Cortez to Los Cabos ( Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo ). Mex 19 runs down the west side of "The Cape", along the Pacific Ocean to Los Cabos. Mex 1 and Mex 19 form a loop around "The Cape". We wanted to visit the small, artsy village of Todos Santos. The nearest campground was in the nearby village of El Pescadero. We drove through Todos Santos, and just before El Pescadero we stopped on the side of the road. Kevin and I jumped into Erbon's van, and we drove into El Pescadero to check out the campground, listed in our guide books as "big rig friendly". Not ! There was no way either our rig or the Limey's was going to get in there. We returned to where we had left our rigs and wives on the side of the road, and discussed our options. With more angst than was necessary, we made a decision, and then had lunch on the side of the road. I never was fond of decision making by consensus.

We decided to just continue heading south all the way to Los Cabos, and visit Todos Santos as a day trip from La Paz when we return to La Paz after completing The Cape loop. We drove to Cabo San Lucas and found our way to our RV park, Villa Serena. There were 2 caravans already in the RV park. There was only one vacant regular serviced site. Kevin and Sandra got the last regular serviced site available. The park squeezed the Dickinson's RoadTrek into a little corner "overflow" site that they fit into. And they squeezed us into a little narrow space between a wall and the laundromat. We plugged into an electrical outlet on the outside of the laundromat, and connected to a water spigot beside the laundromat. We have no sewer service. Hopefully, tomorrow a regular site will become available. And despite the less then ideal conditions of our site, the park refused to discount our rate ! Hey ... just another opportunity to rip off a gringo !

After settling into our sites, such as they were, we met for a "Happy Hour" hosted by Joanne and me, on the very lovely patio area of the RV park. We munched on tortilla chips and Joanne's excellent guacamole, and drank some of the "Mexican eggnog" I had purchased in Los Algodones. I tried, but mostly failed, to shake off my crabbiness. We took Bo for a long walk around before supper. As Joanne was preparing supper, Kevin came over to tell us that while walking around the campground, he and Sandra had noticed a lovely, vacant site. It's typical Mexican efficiency for the front office to be unaware that there actually was another vacant site in the park, and stick us in an alleyway ! I guess we'll be at the office first thing tomorrow morning to arrange to be moved to that vacant site.

Kevin and Sandra, and Erbon and Lorraine, came over to our trailer to visit for the evening.

Did I mention that I'm in a bad mood ? ! ?

 

DSK

February 28 to March 5 photos

 

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March 3 to 5, 2008

Slow Wi-Fi in Mulege.  Will attach photos later.

March 3 to 5, 2008 ( second half of weekly entry )

Guerrero Negro to Mulegé

 

Monday ; Guerrero Negro to Mulegé Today was sunny and warm. This morning we departed Malarrimo's RV Park in Guerrero Negro at 8:00 A.M. and continued south on Mex 1. We drove a lot of miles today, and all the drivers are fatigued from the challenge of driving narrow Mex 1 for 5 of the last 6 days. But I've noticed, since we usually bring up the rear, that most of the drivers' skills have improved since we started. Most, not all ! Some of them are still regularly dropping off the right side of the road.

Mex 1 crossed the Baja today southeast, from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf Of California / Sea Of Cortez. Just before we arrived in Mulegé ( pronounced Moolahay ) we saw the Sea Of Cortez for the first time. On the northern edge of the town of Mulegé we turned off to Hacienda de la Habana ( Havana House ) RV Park & Restaurant, commonly called Ray's Place. Ray is from Cuba. It's a nice RV park, especially by Mexican RV park standards, which are very different than in the U.S. and Canada. We all got parked and set up in our sites, then had our daily group meeting. We were originally scheduled to be here for 2 nights, then move 20 miles south for 3 nights of dry camping / boondocking on a beach on the Sea Of Cortez. But the winds are forecast to be quite strong starting in a couple of days, and lasting for a few days. We decided as a group that we would prefer to spend 5 nights here at this serviced RV park, rather then spend 3 nights without services on a windy beach. We'll visit the beach on day trip outings.

Almost everyone in the group went for dinner to Ray's Place Restaurant. Joanne and I had dinner at our rig. Ray's Place Restaurant was closed today, but he agreed to make dinner for our group, serving Blackened Yellowtail, a local fish prepared the Cajun way. Joanne doesn't particularly like most fish dishes. And if I wanted Cajun food, I'd go to Louisiana. We would prefer to go to Ray's Place another night, and order from the menu.

I was a bit behind in some work I had to get done, so I spent the evening working on the computer. I had a backlog of about 100 photos taken over the last 3 days to process. My whale tail photo is now my new computer desktop background.

 

Tuesday ; Mulegé

Today was another lovely, sunny, warm day. Our group's plan was to sleep in a bit this morning, and depart at 10:00 A.M. for a day in the town of Mulegé . It was a good thing that I didn't sleep late this morning, because I ended up having to do a repair on the trailer before it could be unhitched from the truck. It took me over an hour to do the repair. I couldn't lower one of the front jacks to raise the trailer to unhitch it from the truck. A shear pin had come out. I found the shear pin and, after some difficulty, got it reinserted. I'm not completely confident that I've reinserted it in as far as it is supposed to go. I'll watch it closely for awhile, and redo the repair if necessary.

We went to town as a group. Becky and John guided the group to a lavamatica / laundromat, then gave us directions to where we were to meet for lunch. Joanne and I, and Erbon and Lorraine, wandered around town, sightseeing, stopping to browse and shop in grocery stores and candy stores. I bought some chocolate bars ( Yippee ... Coconugs ). Joanne bought some fresh produce. I wandered around town for an hour and a half with the Wi-Fi phone continually seeking an unencrypted Wi-Fi signal so that I could pay my U.S.$ MasterCard bill by phone. That's the only bill that I can't pay online. When I finally found an unencrypted Wi-Fi signal right near the restaurant where our group was meeting for lunch, I phoned BMO to pay the bill. Their computers were down and they were telling all "phone banking" clients to call back again later. I was really miffed ! Since I had a good Wi-Fi signal right near the restaurant, I let members of our caravan group make phone calls home using my Wi-Fi phone. We had a great lunch in a little taco stand restaurant. I had Mixtas. Joanne had Quesatacos.

After lunch we walked back to where the truck was parked near the lavamatica, and drove beside the Santa Rosalia River to the beach on the Sea Of Cortez on the edge of town. We walked around briefly. Lorraine waded in the Sea Of Cortez. Some men drive their big trucks into each new body of water they come to. Some men make their wives wade into the cold water. HA HA HA ! We drove back into town and went in search of two RV parks we wanted to check out, for consideration for our return trip. We found the first one we were interested in, Villa Maria Isabel RV Park. It was very nice. We were interested in it because it has a bakery. Then we found the Hotel Serenidad, which has a small RV park on its property. Our interest in the Hotel Serenidad was their Saturday night pig roast with Mariachi band performing. The RV park wasn't as nice as Villa Maria Isabel, but the restaurant, courtyard, and swimming pool were very attractive. We made a reservation for four, for the Saturday night pig roast and Mariachi band performance, for Saturday, March 22. The Hotel Serenidad has its own gravel air strip. Before the Transpeninsular Highway ( Mex 1 ) was built in the early 1970's, the rich and famous movie stars of the 50's and the 60's used to fly down in their private airplanes to the Hotel Serenidad for some private, peaceful, rest and relaxation.

We drove to the Misió n Santa Rosalia on a hill overlooking town. It's a church built in the mid 1700's, and there are great views of town and the surrounding valley and mountains from behind the church. Erbon and Lorraine viewed Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring overhead and "fishing" in the river below. That was a new and unexpected bird viewing for them. We drove back into town to pick up their laundry at the lavamatica. Here in Mexico, in most of the lavamaticas, one just drops off laundry, and it is washed, dried and folded by the laundromat staff. We walked around town a bit more, stopping to buy a cup of cajeta ice cream at an ice cream stand. Finally ... Joanne gets her beloved cajeta ice cream. We finally figured out that cajeta is caramel made with goat's milk.

We returned to Hacienda de la Habana. Joanne and I visited with Kevin and Sandra ( CB "handle" The Limeys ), comparing our whale pictures. Sandra took many more whale photos than I did, but I got the one really good one ! We barbecued supper, then I downloaded and processed today's photos.

 

Wednesday ; Playa Santispac

Today was sunny and hot. A perfect day for the beach. This morning there was some confusion about whether we were leaving for the beach at 9:00 A.M. or 10:00 A.M., and whether we were to bring a picnic lunch, or drive into town for lunch. The group decision making has become somewhat "fluid". That's okay ... it fits in with our wagonmasters' advice at the beginning of the trip to consider this a trip into "Flexico". Joanne and I, and the Limeys, Kevin and Sandra were ready to depart at 9:00 A.M. with picnic lunches prepared. The Limeys and we are the most inclined to break away from the group, so we decided to leave, and let the rest of the group catch up to us an hour later. We drove about 12 miles south on Mex 1 to Playa ( Beach ) Santispac on Bahí a Coyote within Bahí a Concepcí on. WOW ! Emerald blue clear water, white sand beach, brilliant sunshine !

We wandered around the beach. At the end of the beach near an estuary there were two couples from Washington dry camped on the beach, along with their three Jack Russell Terriers, and a Jack Russell / Chihuahua cross that they had rescued / adopted on another beach a little further south, three days ago. We had allowed Bo to be off leash, since we were on a fairly deserted beach. Bo saw the other four dogs, ran over, they all greeted one another, then Bo promptly lifted his leg and peed on their tent ! Since they had four male dogs, the people were all very understanding and forgiving. Within five minutes of our arrival, Bo had peed on somebody's tent, ran into the Sea Of Cortez, drank salt water, and rolled on a dead fish on the beach. Within another half an hour, he had stumbled into the muddy hot springs near the mangroves beside the beach, and was muddy right up to his eyeballs. Are we having fun yet, Bo ? ! ?

While Joanne, Erbon and Lorraine went on a hike to the muddy hot springs, guided by Dustin, I went wading in the shallow, warm water on the tidal flats / estuary leading into the mangroves. Lobo and Bo went on the hot springs hike. After I had been wading on the tidal flats / estuary for awhile, Bo came running around the mangroves, having decided to return from the hike on his own. He was covered in mud, up to his eyeballs. I found out later from Joanne that he had stumbled into the muddy hot springs. No problem, he came wading out into the shallow water of the tidal flats / estuary, swimming when he had to because the water was too deep for him to touch bottom. He certainly is one fearless little mutt !

We had our lunch under the shade of a thatched roof palapa on the beach. Vendors wandered by occasionally, selling jewellery, blankets, and wood carvings. A boat with a few fishermen / divers pulled up on the beach with their day's catch of scallops.. My goodness, what incredibly huge scallops. They were the size of oranges ! Members of our group quickly bought up the fishermen's entire day's catch, paying 100 pesos ( approximately U.S.$10 ) for a large bag full of scallops. I wandered back over to the shallow tidal flats, to watch the people from Washington catch clams. They taught me how to catch them, and how to cook them, so I caught myself a couple of dozen clams. Dustin says they are called butter clams. I wouldn't know a butter clam from a margarine clam. HA HA HA !

Kevin and Sandra are travelling with a couple of kayaks. Kevin invited me to go out kayaking. With Kevin in one kayak, and Bo and me in the other, we paddled around the bay we were in, around a large rocky point, and into another large bay. We could see different colours of tropical fish in the crystal clear waters. In the second bay, there were starfishes. In shallow water, I managed to reach over far enough to pick one up. Kevin was concerned that I was going to tip over the kayak, but I didn’t. I placed the starfish on the bow of the kayak, to take it back to show the others. Bo stood up on the bow of the kayak, very interested in the starfish that I had placed there. His standing on the bow made the kayak rather unsteady, so I made him come back down between my legs in the kayak. We’re a great combination in a kayak. A fearless dog, and a non-swimming, stupid man. HA HA HA !

Around 2:30 we left the beach to drive back to Mulegé . Our wagonmaster had arranged for a local organic vegetable farmer to have freshly picked vegetables for sale to us at 3:00 P.M.. We bought a lot of really nice, fresh vegetables, incredibly cheap. Joanne and I drove back into Mulegé . I wanted to get online and pay my U.S.$ MasterCard bill, and Joanne wanted to buy a bit of groceries. The Wi-Fi connection I was "stealing" was extremely poor today. I was on hold with BMO for 20 minutes until I got an agent, then he and I had to repeat everything we said to each other multiple times to be understood. But I got the bill paid, and that relieved me of some stress, for sure.

Back at Hacienda de la Habana, while Joanne put away the fresh vegetables and other groceries, I put my clams out to soak in sea water and cornmeal, following Dustin's instructions. Apparently clams under the sand will continually take in and expel grains of sand, so this will allow them to expel thesand that is in them and replace it with cornmeal over a period of six hours or so. I'll cook them for supper tomorrow. As the sun was getting low in the sky, Joanne and I went to soak in the swimming pool for awhile, watching the sun set.

What a great day to be alive !

In the evening we were invited over by The Limeys to have a British beer and see the photos Sandra took of me and Bo kayaking. HA HA HA ... what a fun loving little dog !

DSK

February 28 to March 2, 2008

Slow Wi-Fi in Mulege.  Will attach photos later.

February 28 to March 2, 2008 ( first half of weekly entry )

Estero Beach, Baja California to Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico

 

Thursday ; Estero Beach to San Quintin ( pronounced "Keenteen" )

Today was another beautiful day. It felt cold after the sun set, due to the wind blowing in off the ocean. We're dry camped / "boondocked" on a beach.

This morning we departed from Estero Beach resort & RV Park in 2 groups. The first group of six rigs pulled out at 8:10 A.M. and the second group of five rigs pulled out at 8:40 A.M.. We were at the back of the second group. My preferred position is at the rear of the group. In our group are seven Class A motorhomes, one Class B motorhome / van conversion ( Erbon and Lorraine ), two travel trailers, and us in our fifth wheel. We find it unusual that there's only one fifth wheel in a group of eleven RV's. The group is comprised of seven Americans, three Canadians, and one couple from Britain. We continued south on Mex 1, the only main road in the Baja.

The wildflowers were blooming. Very lovely ! We passed through some agricultural land, but mostly through the foothills of lush, green mountains. As we were leaving from our second Lenny break of today, my trailer brakes were seized and I couldn't move. The rest of the group left, and the "tailgunner" stayed back with us to help me resolve the problem. The group is led by a "wagonmaster", the couple who own the caravan company, and followed by a tailgunner, their eldest son. The tailgunner is responsible for ensuring nobody gets left behind by the group, or strays off from the group by making a wrong turn or getting lost. He also stays behind with any vehicles with problems, and helps resolve whatever the problem is. I quickly ascertained that my seized brake problem was insignificant. The trailer's brake safety cable had become wedged underneath one of the fifth wheel hitch's legs. Initially we couldn't get it unstuck. I had to lower the front jacks of the trailer to raise the trailer's weight off the hitch in the bed of the truck, then pull the stuck cable out from underneath the hitch leg where it had wedged. A simple problem, and a simple fix, and we were back on the road about 15 minutes behind the rest of the group. We caught up to them before reaching our destination for today.

We stopped for the night at ElPabellón ( The Pavillion ) RV Park on Playa ( Beach ) Santa Maria on Bahía Santa Maria, an unserviced beachfront RV park just south of the town of San Quintin. We parked our rigs beside sand dunes. The wide, soft, white sand beach was on the other side of the dunes. Upon arrival one of the heavy Class A motorhomes sunk up to its axles in the soft sand. It took Dustin, our young tailgunner over an hour to dig it out. The owner of the rig declined my offer of pulling him out with our truck, which is quite capable of the job. He was concerned that the front of his expensive motorhome might sustain damage if I pulled him out of the sand with Lanoire. So he let young Dustin dig him out. I sure hope the < ahem > gentleman gives Dustin a huge tip at the end of the trip !

At 5:00 P.M. we had a Margarita party followed by a potluck hors d'oeuvres supper. The caravan company owners / wagonmasters provided the Margaritas. Joanne contributed pistolettes, a Cajun recipe from Louisiana. They were a huge hit ... thank goodness. When she served them at a potluck in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island 2 ½ years ago, they flopped. The campground owner provided a pot full of fresh home made tamales. Afterwards we had a campfire. Everybody except Dustin, me and Teddy returned to their rigs quite early. Teddy loves campfires. I sat at the campfire chatting with Dustin, with Teddy tucked inside my sweater, just his head sticking out, getting his face and ear tips warmed.

 

Friday ; San Quintin to Cataviña ( pronounced "Kataveenya" )

It was a sunny hot day as we drove across the Baja Badlands. The desert scenery was the most spectacular we've ever seen. We saw a variety of desert plants and cacti that only grow in the central interior of the Baja.

We departed El Pabellón this morning in the second group of the caravan at 8:30 A.M.. Our regular tailgunner Dustin was the second group's wagonmaster and Joanne and I were the tailgunners. After two days of driving Mex 1 everybody's driving skills have improved considerably. Mex 1 is 19 feet wide. Each lane is 9½ feet wide. When our big RV rigs meet an oncoming big RV, or more frequently a big tractor trailer truck, the mirrors on each vehicle miss by inches ... if everybody drives well. We have to squeeze over to the very edge of the road. There are no shoulders at all. NONE ! And the road usually drops off at least a few inches to the desert beside the road. I think everybody in the caravan has dropped off the edge of the road at least once. I did it once today ... my first time. At best, there is a high risk of tire damage when that happens. At worst, pulling a large motorhome with a toad, or a large truck and fifth wheel back onto the road at highway speeds can result in a lot of swinging and swaying. Very dangerous !

Mex 1 turned inland from the Pacific coast and we entered the Baja Badlands desert. We saw Cirio ( Spanish ) / Boojum Trees ( English ) which only grow in the Baja Badlands. They look somewhat like giant, upside down, fuzzy, green carrots. We saw Cardón cacti, a cactus that looks somewhat similar to Arizona's Saguaro, but grow only in the Baja Badlands. At our "Lenny break", I took a lot of pictures. We reached our day's destination shortly after passing through the town of Cataviña. We stopped for the night at Rancho Santa Ynez, a working desert ranch with a small unserviced campground. After getting settled in the campground and having a late lunch, our caravan company's owners, John and Becky, and their son Dustin, took us on a trip to hike to a cave with ancient paintings inside. Since Dustin was bringing his dog Lobo ( Spanish for "Wolf" ) we decided to bring Bo. We drove a short distance, parked, and hiked up the side of a mountain. Well ... whenever we've seen such attractions as ancient cave paintings, or some other historical / significant area, it's usually been within the well defined and well developed confines of a national park or something similar. This cave filled with paintings was out in the middle of nowhere, near nobody, in the outback of the Baja Badlands. No signs telling us where to go. No parking lots. No ice cream stands nor water slide parks nearby ! It was an interesting but strenuous hike up to the cave. One at a time we each climbed inside this small cave, lay on our backs, looked at and photographed the paintings. The cave was perhaps 10 feet by 5 feet, 3 feet high. I wonder why some Aboriginals would lie on their backs hundreds of years ago painting pictures on the roof of this cave using dyes made out of plants ? ! ! Bo had a great time hiking up and down the mountain, off leash, running with Lobo.

After we returned to the ranch, we had an authentic Mexican ranch dinner prepared for us by the ranch / campground owner's wife and daughter, in their small restaurant. The little building had a thatched roof, made of palm fronds. As the sun set, we heard the sound of a generator starting, then the restaurant's lights went on. Oh yeah ... there's no electricity in the central interior Baja. And no fuel. We're in the middle of the infamous 200 mile long "Baja gas gap". The dinner was okay, but it stunk. When it arrived, one had to overcome the odour of the fresh goat's cheese shredded on top. Once we began to eat it, it was fine.

We had "special visitors" in the campground tonight. Mike and Terry Church were there. They joined our group for dinner, and afterwards for a campfire. Mike and Terry are friends of the caravan company owners, John and Becky. They are Escapees. And they are travel authors. They have written seven books, all of them travel guides for RV travelling / camping. We are using their "Camping Mexico's Baja" book as our "bible" for this trip.

I befriended the ranch dog. A non-descript, medium size, brown, short hair dog with pit bull lineage. Pretty much the same as most Mexican dogs. She was ... skinny ! I fed her quite a bit of Bo's food. Joanne said that if I'm going to be feeding every Mexican dog that crosses my path, we have to buy some cheap dog food so that we don't run out of Bo's food while we're down here. Mexican culture / attitudes towards dogs is very different than in the United States and Canada. Dogs are skinny ... very, very skinny ... roam freely, do not go into the houses, are often flea infested, etc.. I let the skinny, cold, ranch dog sleep on one of our folding chairs, beside the trailer, with the warm furnace exhaust blowing on her. She was an ugly mutt, like most Mexican dogs, but she was sweet.

 

Saturday ; Cataviña to Guerrero Negro ( pronounced "Goorrerro Naygro" )

Today was sunny and hot, a bit windy when we got to the town of Guerrero Negro. This morning we departed Rancho Santa Ynez at 8:00 A.M. and continued south on Mex 1 for a long day of driving across the Baja Badlands. Same spectacular scenery as yesterday. We crossed from the Mexican state of Baja California ( implied Norte / North ) into the state of Baja California Sur ( South ). The time zone changed from Pacific to Mountain. Mex 1moved slowly back towards the Pacific coast. We passed through a military inspection point. Some of the group, including our rig, were carefully and thoroughly inspected by young, armed soldiers. Just outside the city of Guerrero Negro we stopped to refuel. The largest, heaviest, most expensive rig of our group sustained a damaged wheel well at the service station. When he drove over a grate in the concrete beside the fuel pumps, the grate flipped up and ripped his fiberglass wheel well moulding. The owner was not very happy ! This trip is not going well for him. That was the rig that sunk in the sand the other day.

After refuelling we had to stop at an immigration office and fill out some forms before being allowed to enter Baja California Sur ( B.C.S. ). We also passed though an agricultural inspection station where all fruits and vegetables from "Norte" had to be discarded, and our vehicle tires were sprayed with a pesticide, for which we had to pay 20 pesos. In the city of Guerrero Negro, we got settled into the Malarrimo Hotel / Restaurant / RV park. Joanne went sightseeing / bird watching with Lorraine, Kevin, and Sandra to the estuary. I worked around the trailer, refilling our fresh water holding tank, dumping our grey water waste holding tanks, resetting all clocks and watches, and working on my journal entries and photos. I was feeling pretty tired from a series of very early mornings ( for us ) and stressful driving on narrow Mex 1.

At 6:30 P.M. we had our daily group meeting in the Malarrimo Restaurant, followed by dinner. The Malarrimo Restaurant has the reputation of being the best seafood restaurant in Guerrero Negro, and one of the best in all of the Baja. I had fresh Pacific Yellowfin Tuna broiled in a herbed garlic sauce, topped with a Dijon mustard sauce. It was quite superb, yes ! After supper I tried using the Malarrimo's Wi-Fi, quite unsuccessfully. I was online for just a few moments.

 

Sunday ; Laguna Ojo de Liebre

I TOUCHED A WHALE !  I was one of three members of our group who managed to touch a whale on our whale watching expedition today.

Guerrero Negro is a "company town". Its name translates as Black Warrior. It was the name of a whaling ship that sank nearby a couple of hundred years ago. The town grew up in the early 1970's to support the large sea salt production facility on the shoreline of Laguna Ojo de Liebre, which translates as Eye Of The Jackrabbit Lagoon because of what the lagoon looks like on a map. Amongst the gringo crowd, it's also known as Scammon's Lagoon, named after a whaling ship captain from San Francisco who "discovered" the lagoon and its huge quantity of whales. From January to March each year, the grey whales come into the lagoon to give birth and nurse their young before heading for the long journey back to Alaska.

This morning our group went in a small bus to Laguna Ojo de Liebre, about half an hour from Guerrero Negro, for a whale watching eco-tour. We got into small pangas ( fishing boats ), each seating nine people, and headed out into the lagoon. It was about a 20 minute journey by panga to the grey whale breeding grounds. At this time of the year, the mother whales are teaching the babies to swim, so sometimes both mother and baby are visible near the surface. It took our boat driver about half an hour to locate a pod of whales, but once he did, we had frequent sightings for two hours. It was amazing ! We all got covered in stinky whale snot from when the whales surface right near the boat and expel air and water out their blowhole. We saw one whale actually bump a nearby boat. The whales surface slowly near the boat, blow out their blowhole, roll over, stick their hump back out of the water as they begin to roll downwards to go deeper, and if you're really lucky, they stick their trademark fluked whale tail straight up into the air. I shot 36 photos, until my camera's memory was full. Thirty-five were crap. But I got a whale tail picture ! I touched a whale ! I had to plunge my arm into the water up to my shoulder to do so, but I touched a whale ! I'm now a member of a somewhat elite fraternity of whale touchers ! ! ! We saw the whales breach, coming ¾ of the way out of the water, rolling over, and splashing back down with a huge splash. We saw them "spy hop", sticking their heads vertically out of the water, opening their eyes, and twisting around, looking. The babies are old enough to swim on their own now, so we didn't see any mothers surface with their babies on their backs.

Once back at the town of Guerrero Negro, we walked over to a fish taco truck to have fish tacos for a very late lunch. I had a taco de pescado ( fish taco ) and a taco de camarón ( shrimp taco ), both intortilla harina ( flour tortilla ), as opposed to tortilla maiz ( corn tortilla ). Very good ! Especially piled up with toppings of guacamole and pico de gallo. We walked over to the town's Mercado ( grocery store ) and did some grocery replenishment, including buying some Mexican products that we've never seen before. A cajeta flavoured milk drink, a cajeta flavoured powder to mix into milk ( like Nesquick ), a walnut flavoured powder to mix into milk, and locally produced sea salt. Back at Malarrimo RV park we used our Wi-Fi phone to phone our sisters and tell them that I touched a whale ! We went into the hotel's gift shop and I bought a t-shirt that says I touched a whale ! HA HA HA HA HA !

DSK

February 21 to 27, 2008

February 21 to 27, 2008

Hemet, California to Estero Beach, Baja California, Mexico

 

Thursday ; Today was cloudy and mild. I had another day of doing nothing, trying to rest my leg. The pain in my hip and thigh diminished yesterday to just a slight level of discomfort, but it persists. I was hoping that 2 days of doing nothing would completely eliminate the problem, but apparently not. Tomorrow I'll resume normal activities, and hope that the discomfort doesn't increase back to the level that it was a few days ago.

 

Friday ; Today was cloudy and mild. The pain in my hip and thigh has almost disappeared. I can ignore the mild level of discomfort that remains. I hope it will completely disappear within another few days.

This morning I phoned my investment broker in Penticton to initiate an investment sale transaction. I need money to pay our MasterCard bills. I drove over to Staples to make photocopies of our driver's licenses which will be required as part of the documentation to be provided to enter Mexico with the RV. I drove around Hemet looking for the best price on diesel. The price of diesel fuel in Southern California is outrageous ! Almost a dollar a gallon more expensive than Arizona !

This afternoon I did some minor maintenance chores, then reconciled our MasterCard statements. At 3:30 we went to the RV park's weekly wine and cheese party. We drank wine, ate cheese and crackers, and chatted with people until it was time to meet our friends Glen & Rosi for supper at 6:00 P.M.. Glen and Rosi were our next door neighbours for 2 weeks in Pahrump, Nevada in November. They "live" nearby, although as full time RV'ers, like us, "home" is a bit of an elusive concept. Erbon and Lorraine joined us, and we all went to dinner to Marie Callendar's, a local chain famous for its pies. And we found out from a couple at our table at the soup supper a few nights ago that this week Marie Callendar's was having a pie sale. WOO-HOO ! We had a nice dinner, and a long pleasant evening of chatting with Glen and Rosi. And ... of course ... we came home with a pie.

 

Saturday ; Today was cloudy and cool. We had a lazy day. I read and napped. While it was a bit too cool for the swimming pool, we did spend the afternoon in the hot tub. Joanne went Wal-Martin'. I read and napped some more. HA HA HA ! Tough life !

 

Sunday ; Hemet to San Diego, California

Today was cloudy and cool. We departed Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet this morning heading west on Hwy. 74. We turned south on Interstate 215 until it merged with Interstate 15. At Escondido we turned west on Hwy. 78 to San Marcos where we found our way to Camping World. After shopping at Camping World we crossed the street to Home Depot where Erbon had to buy some hardware. We had lunch in the Home Depot parking lot before leaving San Marcos and heading back on Hwy. 78 to Interstate 15 where we continued south towards San Diego. Interstate 15 merged with Interstate 5 as we entered San Diego from the north. Just before the exit we were to take to get to the KOA San Diego, the freeway was closed due to a vehicle accident and we had to detour off I-5 onto Hwy. 54. Joanne did an excellent job of navigating us through a detour and finding our way to the KOA San Diego. Especially since Ebon was telling us over the CB that his GPS unit was disagreeing with Joanne's navigation. We ignored Erbon's GPS which was a good idea since we found out later that Erbon had input the wrong San Diego KOA into his GPS ! San Diego has more than one KOA !

After getting registered and set up at the KOA we had tea and Marie Callendar's apple pie at the Dickinson's RoadTrek before wandering around the KOA checking out the facilities and amenities. There is Wi-Fi at each site so I was able to spend enough time online in the evening to completely resolve my ongoing AOL software problems by downloading a new version of AOL. We gave stinky little Bo a bath.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. Another perfect "June 18" day. This morning I helped Erbon replace the RoadTrek's sewer hose. The RoadTrek's sewer hose is permanently attached to a macerator pump underneath the van, then routed under the van and out through a storage pod. He has already had the factory installed sewer hose replaced once under warranty, and it cracked again recently, in multiple places. Yesterday at Camping World he bought a much better quality hose. I also cleaned all our external fresh water hose ends and connection fittings in CLR to remove the heavy build up of minerals resulting from being connected to Yuma's hard water supply for 2 months.

Immediately after lunch wewent to the KOA meeting room to meet our caravan group and leaders. We received t-shirts, vehicle decals, documents, a binder fullof information, and a short orientation lecture. We had a 3 hour break until our next, more detailed meeting. While Joanne read the information in the binder, I rushed out with the truck to find a bank to cash some traveller's cheques, to pay for camping fees for the Baja trip, Mexico tourist entry cards, and a whale watching expedition. Crowded big city streets, a difficult to enter bank parking lot with parking spots too small for a dually, and a long line up at the bank < sigh >. After cashing traveller's cheques, I decided I might as well find a fuel station and refill with diesel. < another sigh > Like in many inner cities, it was difficult to find a station with diesel. I must have passed a dozen fuel stations until I found one with diesel. I refilled with diesel and adjusted the air pressure in the truck's spare tire. I returned to the KOA and had time to review the binder of information before the late afternoon meeting.

The late afternoon meeting of our caravan group lasted 2½ hours. While I'm eager for this adventure down the Baja, I've had apprehension since the very beginning about travelling as part of a group. Sure enough, as I expected, it's already obvious that the pace of the group is determined by its slowest member. And the intelligence of the questions asked is determined by the member with the stupidest questions ! And the importance of the concerns is determined by the member who's most trivial ! Oh, well ... it's only 2 weeks.

I received an interesting e-mail from Escapee friends of ours from Quebec. We met Marcel and Louise about 3 years ago in Mesa ( Phoenix ), Arizona. They were jugglers. I introduced them to magic. I taught them a couple of magic tricks. They taught me 2 person juggling. They became interested in magic, and have become quite adept magicians in the last few years. Certainly better than me ! They are currently in Guatemala, performing magic and juggling shows in schools.

 

Tuesday ; Today was another gorgeous day. This morning I took a propane tank to be refilled. Joanne went grocery shopping with Erbon and Lorraine. I visited with our next door neighbours who are from Lethbridge, Alberta. A younger couple with 2 young boys who were very fond of Bo. And Bo loved their attention. The family waspreparing for departure, to go to Yuma to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I hitched the truck to the trailer to be ready for departureearly tomorrow morning. Baja, here we come !

This afternoon Joanne did laundry. I puttered around with some minor maintenance and preparations for tomorrow's departure. We trimmed Teddy's and Bo's claws. I clipped two of Bo's nails too short, hitting the quick. They hurt, and bled a lot. I'm very sorry, Bo. But I learned something. It seems as if his two inner rear claws grow slower than all the others, and should be trimmed less.

We spent part of the afternoon lounging around the hot tub. We took Bo for a long leisurely walk around the campground. We found a beautiful Bird Of Paradise plant blooming in one of the KOA's flower beds.

 

Wednesday ; San Diego, California to Estero Beach, Baja California, Mexico

HELLOOOOOOOOOO, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO ! ! !

This morning we lined up for departure as a group from San Diego KOA at 8:00 A.M. Yup ... I am not going to like group travel ! We headed south on Interstate 805 to the border crossing into Tijuana, B.C. ( Baja California, not British Columbia ), Mexico. I think the caravan wagonmaster ( leader ) earned the entire caravan fee today just leading us through Tijuana. SHEESH ! We got onto the toll road leading south, Mex 1D, following the Pacific Ocean shoreline. Great beaches ! We stopped at one of the beach side rest areas for a "Lenny" break, the name our caravan company has given to rest stops, in honour of a previous client with a weak bladder. There were 3 toll booths on the highway from Tijuana to Ensenada. Just before Ensenada the toll road ended, and joined the "free" highway, Mex 1. We drove through Ensenada, the second major driving challenge of the day. The opinions amongst our group were divided as to whether it was more difficult to drive through Tijuana or Ensenada. In either case, I surely am glad that we had a guide.

Just south of Ensenada we stopped for the night at Estero Beach Hotel & RV Resort on Bahía ( Bay ) de Todos Santos. Our wagonmaster has advised us that this will be the nicest RV park of the entire trip. It's very nice, with sites backing onto the beach. As soon as everyone had a late lunch, we gathered for a short meeting then all piled into "toads" ( the cars towed behind motorhomes ) and set off for a trip to La Bufadora ( The Blowhole ). We went in the toad of Gary and Debbie from Tucson, Arizona. It was about a 45 minute drive around the Bahía de Todos Santos to the tip of the Punta Banda peninsula. La Bufadora is a cliff with a narrow chasm. The incoming surf and tide funnel water into the chasm at high speed and high pressure. When the water hits the back of the chasm it erupts upwards like a volcano, spraying high into the air. Very high ! I hope my pictures will do it justice. From the parking lot to La Bufadora is a half mile or so stretch of vendors. Kind of like "walking the gauntlet" of Los Algodones or Nuevo Progreso. I guess wherever gringos go, there will be Mexican vendors of all sorts. Of course, Joanne found a panaderia ( bakery ). Of course, we shared an empanada con leche ( pastry filled with sweet cream ). MMMMMMMMMM ! ! ! While walking back to the parking lot after viewing La Bufadora I stopped to watch the making of churros, a type of deep fried pastry rolled in cinnamon and icing sugar as it comes out of the deep fryer. I tried a free sample. MMMMMMMMMM ! ! !

We drove back to Estero Beach. I downloaded my photos of today into my laptop, and began to work on this journal entry before it was time to walk over to the restaurant on the other side of the resort, where our group gathered for dinner. It was a lovely, leisurely walk along the maleçon ( waterfront walkway ) at sunset to the restaurant. Supper was mediocre and expensive. We shared a table with Kevin and Sandra, a British couple who are spending two years exploring North America as full time RV'ers, and Julian, an elderly man from California who is travelling with our group down the Baja in an Airstream, by himself. His wife did not want to make the trip by RV.  She will fly down and meet him in Cabo San Lucas when we reach "Land's End", then fly back to California as Julian drives back by himself. Okaaaaay !

Because this caravan group departs much earlier in the morning than we are used to, Joanne went to bed at 10:00 P.M.. I went to the hot tub. Had the hot tub, surrounded by a lovely cactus garden, overlooking the beach, all to myself. AHHHHH ... life is good !

 

DSK

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February 14 to 20, 2008

February 14 to 20, 2008

Quartzsite, Arizona to Hemet, California

 

Thursday ; Quartzsite, Arizona to Palm Springs / Desert Hot Springs, California

Happy Valentine's Day

Today was cloudy and chilly. Rather odd ! This morning Joanne presented me with the most touching Valentine's Day card I've ever received. Thank you, my love. We departed Quartzsite heading west on Interstate 10. Just before crossing into California we stopped at Flying J to refill with diesel. The closer we got to Palm Springs the more menacing the clouds looked. We went to 3 RV parks in Desert Hot Springs before we found one with 2 vacancies. And even then, we're in an overflow area with only partial services. After getting set up and having a late lunch we all went to soak in the park's hot tubs fed by underground hot springs. Afterwards I needed a nap.

Joanne and I had a light, early supper, then we went into downtown Palm Springs in the Dickinson's van, to Village Fest, held every Thursday evening during winter. We attended Village Fest a few times last winter. About a 6 block stretch of Palm Canyon Drive is closed to traffic and becomes a pedestrian mall filled with craft vendors, food vendors, produce vendors, artists, musicians, street performers, etc.. We had to take the Dickinson's van downtown because I didn't want to try to unhitch our truck from the trailer while we're here for a few days. The trailer's "house" battery is dead. I don't think there's enough power left in it to raise and lower the front of the trailer for unhitching and hitching. I'll buy a new battery next week in Hemet.

We wandered slowly up and down Palm Canyon Drive. Erbon's leg problem is not improving. An evening of walking was pretty difficult for him. Joanne and I didn't purchase anything but Erbon and Lorraine did. Upscale pastries, upscale coffee, upscale bread ( everything about Palm Springs is upscale ! ) some oranges. Erbon and Lorraine had not had supper. Never take a man to a street festival on an empty stomach ! Since Erbon and Lorraine had not had supper, we went to a New York Jewish deli for a late, light supper / snack. Joanne and I had been to Sherman's Deli last year for lunch. Tonight we had a great, late night snack / light supper. I had a bowl of sweet and sour cabbage soup, and a chopped liver sandwich. Joanne had a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and a beef brisket sandwich. MMMMM ! Very New York ! Very Jewish !

 

Friday ; Joshua Tree National Park

Today was sunny and mild in Desert Hot Springs, sunny, cool, and windy in Joshua Tree National Park. This morning we drove into Desert Hot Springs so that Joanne could shop at her favourite thrift store. As much as I protested and resisted, I have to appreciate that once again she bought me 2 pairs of expensive casual pants, one never worn, for $5 a pair. I still wonder why never worn pants end up in thrift shops out here in the playground of the rich and famous. From Desert Hot Springs we headed over to Hwy. 62 for the drive north, then northeast to Joshua Tree National Park.

At the town of Joshua Tree we stopped at the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center, then entered the park at the West Entrance Station. We drove to Keys View, a 5185 ft. elevation viewpoint looking over the Coachella Valley from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea. The wind was so strong we couldn't stand near the edge of the viewpoint for fear of being blown over the edge. We explored the park by road, stopping for a picnic lunch at Jumbo Rocks. It was too cold and windy to enjoy the picnic. We continued exploring by road, heading east through the park, stopping late in the afternoon for a short hike around the Teddy Bear Cholla Garden. We continued east through the park, stopping at Cottonwood Spring to see the palm oasis, just before leaving the park through the South Entrance Station. I napped in the back of the Dickinson's van all the way back to Desert Hot Springs.

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm again. I guess yesterday's weather was an aberration.

This morning we went to the Thousand Palms Oasis / Coachella Valley Nature Preserve just a short distance from our crappy RV park. Erbon and Lorraine did some birding. Lorraine, Joanne and I went for a short hike through the fan palm oasis and through the desert to another fan palm oasis nearby, viewing birds, lizards, and studying the fan palms closely. They are very interesting trees. We returned to the first fan palm oasis, Thousand Palms Oasis, where Erbon was waiting for us. His sore leg prevents him from going on hikes, even short ones. We had a lovely picnic lunch, sitting at a partially sunny, partially shaded picnic table under a fan palm. We ate, listened to birds, and viewed birds. Erbon and Lorraine are avid birders.

After lunch we drove over to Flying J, Erbon refilled the RoadTrek's fuel tank, then we drove east on I-10 to Casino 29 in Indio for a free performance of a Chinese Acrobat Circus. Today was Chinese New Year. Casino 29 had the grand opening of their new noodle restaurant, and presented a free performance of a Chinese Acrobat Circus in their large show theatre. It was a great performance. Thank you, Joanne. She has become very good at finding free or low cost activities in the areas where we are. After the show we returned to our RV park and went for a long soak in the mineral water hot tub before having a late supper.

 

Sunday ; Palm Springs to Hemet, California

Today was a sunny and warm, beautiful day. Gee ... last night we were awakened by some jerk in a 40 foot diesel pusher motorhome pulling into the site beside us after midnight. His engine was so loud and vibrated so hard it made our trailer shake. And a park assistant manager was standing beside the door of our trailer screaming instructions at the driver. It's bad enough that some people are so incredibly self centred that they pull into RV parks with extremely loud units after midnight, but it's even worse, in my opinion, that the RV park allows arrivals that late. Most RV parks that we've been to, and we've been to literally hundreds, won't accommodate arrivals after 9:00 P.M.. What a bunch of self centred, Southern Californian jerks ! Joanne has always maintained that the only problem with Southern California is that it’s inhabited by Southern Californians !

This morning we left that dump of an RV park and headed west on Interstate 10, then south on Hwy. 79 to Hemet. We arrived, registered, and got set up in our sites at Golden Village Palms RV Park, an extremely nice luxury RV resort. We stayed here last year for a week. The only way we can afford to stay here is to use coupons for half price for the first week. Well ... our first week is our only week. We can't afford this place at regular price. Erbon and Lorraine are in a site about 3 streets over from us. This is a huge resort with over 1000 RV sites. After dumping the waste holding tanks, disinfecting and refilling the fresh water tank, and having lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the pools and hot tubs. There are 3 heated pools and 3 hot tubs in the resort's pool area. It's reminiscent of luxury all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean that we've been to. After the sun set and it began to cool off, Joanne walked to the shopping mall across the street to do grocery shopping.

Erbon and I spent much of the late evening driving around in Lanoire searching for a working, open access Wi-Fi signal. We found a poor one in the mall across the street in front of Staples. We found another poor one at Motel 6 just down the road. Finally I just drove around our RV park until I found a working, open access, slow but reliable signal, and we got our online work done.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm again. A few sites over from us there is a grapefruit tree in an RV site. There is a ladder under the tree. I took that to be an implied invitation, so this morning I walked over and picked some fresh grapefruits. In our site there is a kumquat tree, laden with hundreds of kumquats. Too bad ! Kumquats are as useless as ... well ... kumquats !

This morning I installed the Xtreme Vent I purchased recently in Yuma, on the bathroom grey tank's vent pipe roof cap. Unlike most projects, this one went extremely well. The Xtreme Vent came with an exceptionally well done installation instruction sheet. We spent the afternoon in the swimming pool and hot tub, chatting with Erbon and Lorraine, and others. Late in the afternoon we went to this park's weekly social hour, followed by "soup supper". We sat at a table of eight. Besides us and the Dickinson's there were a couple from B.C. and a couple from Michigan. Small world ! The B.C. man was one of 4 siblings who owned the flooring supply business where we purchased the vinyl sheet flooring when we had the carpet removed from the trailer and replaced with vinyl sheet flooring in Vancouver a couple of years ago. We bought our flooring from his older brother. The Michigan couple arrived one day later than us, and left one day later than us, from the dumpy RV park in Desert Hot Springs. They were parked just a few spots over from us.

After supper, everybody except me wanted to go shopping to the 99¢ Store in the mall across the street. While Joanne, Erbon and Lorraine shopped, I sat in the truck with Bo and worked on my computer.

 

Tuesday ; Today was cloudy and mild. A bit of rain fell overnight. Yesterday I awoke with a sore, stiff hip. I thought it would resolve itself during the day. It didn't. Last night it became quite severe. And today I continued to be in severe pain. Erbon and Lorraine suggested it might be a pinched sciatic nerve. I'll do some Internet research on that tonight.

This morning we all went shopping. First stop was an RV parts dealer. Erbon needed something. They didn't have it. Next stop was Wal-Mart for a "stocking up" of supplies before heading down the Baja. I couldn't walk. I had to use one Wal-Mart's electric carts. I suppose I'll have to eliminate my prejudice that suggests that those things are for the exclusive use of FUS women. No ... that's not feline urologic syndrome ... that's fat, ugly, stupid. HA HA HA ! I bought a new "house" battery for the trailer. It wasn't really pool and hot tub weather today, so this afternoon I napped, hoping that resting my hip would improve it. It didn't. Yesterday I used some of Erbon's pain relief / muscle relaxant medication, but it didn't seem to help much, and if I use medication like that for more than about a day, my colitis flares up. After napping Joanne helped me install the new battery in the trailer. She did all the fetching. Our neighbour back home, Stu, phoned to discuss my lost batch of January mail. It wasn't in Yuma. It hasn't been returned. Perhaps it's lost forever. It won't be the first time that's happened to a batch of my forwarded mail !

Early in the evening I got online, downloaded my investment updates, and did some research on pinched sciatic nerve. Well, the description of pinched sciatic nerve symptoms matches my symptoms to a "tee". I had intended to spend the evening updating my investment analysis files, but the pain in my hip and thigh became excruciating. I went to bed right after supper, reading and snoozing, hoping that rest would alleviate the pain.

 

Wednesday ; Today was cloudy and mild with intermittent drizzle. This morning my hip and thigh pain had diminished. I am convinced that it's sciatica, a pinched sciatic nerve. Obviously rest helps it and activity hurts it. I decided to spend at least one day, probably more, doing as little as possible, hoping that rest will resolve the problem. I had planned a full day of errands. Most of them had to be postponed. Joanne took care of some of them.

I spent most of the day in bed, resting my leg. That resulted in a lot of improvement. Joanne ran errands. She returned the trailer's old battery to Wal-Mart for a refund of the core fee. She took a propane tank for refilling. She did grocery shopping. She took Erbon and Lorraine to Lowe's. In the evening I sat at my computer desk, with no discomfort in my hip and thigh, and updated my investment files.

I had to send a one page fax to our Baja caravan company. Gee whiz ... this RV resort charged $3.50 to send a one page fax to a toll free number ! I stepped outside after supper and our next door neighbour was taking photos of the total eclipse of the moon. I didn't even know there was going to be a total eclipse of the moon tonight. Ignorance is bliss, I guess !

 

DSK