November 29, 2008
We are here! We are here! We are here at La Penita RV Resort and it is not anything like I imagined. I guess we get something in our heads and it seems right, but looks so different when you actually get to see. Let’s see .......what seems different. The setting first….I imagined a big open campground and much more level. It is all built on a hill overlooking the surf below. The palapa community party place, in the park, is like a terrace on a hill. The beach….you walk down to the beach or up to the town. The people are different than I imagined. We have yet to meet many of them….the ones we have, that are guests, are mostly Canadians. People of the USA are the minority of those we have met. They tell us that there are less US people since 9/11, could that be? So many nice people here…especially the other Shirley that goes on walks early in the morning with a group (and we joined this morning) and the young Mexican at the office that arranges for everything you need and signs you up for all of the things on his bulletin boards. He arranged for someone to pick up all of our laundry (four loads anyway that we have accumulated) and will have it delivered back at our site later today. Carole, that runs the park, is a surprise. I am not sure what I expected, just a more business woman type. She is a cute smiling blond that is always relaxed (nothing gets her down), friendly, and into every phase of making sure the venders that come in are only quality and the people in here are happy. She is a dynamo with personality…..looks a bit like Deb and Lin’s friend, Paula. Her personality is somewhere between my cousin, Jackie, and Dick’s Alma. Now you will know her when you see her.
The trip to the park, driving from Tepic down to Rincon de Guayabitos, the toll-free way, was one of our big adventures, not being dissimilar to the Wildcat road, only without any shoulders and with different rainforest and farming kind of scenery. Most of our trip, we have used the toll roads, to the tune of 2600 Pesos (about $210 USD) total to get down here, that we purchased from the bank before leaving home. Fuel needed also to be paid in Pesos, so we had to be well prepared with Pesos. We have the top bus drivers in the USA: Andy, Bob, and John! I was only terrified once bad when Andy decided to look really well in his rearview mirror to see where John was behind us. I cannot imagine what would happen if one wheel went off the edge of the pavement. It was beautiful though and tropical with little palapas along the edges with mouth drooling fruit piled high for purchase from the farms that we drove by, pineapple, coconuts, mangos, and bananas. Fields of sugar cane and banana plants are all part of this agricultural area....these people have to eat like kings (except not much beef). Coming in yesterday, we made good time and got here around 2pm, so had the afternoon for a bit of local tour….at least around this park. It is sooooo exciting just to be here. The pool is different than I expected, too, for some reason, but contains all the right stuff for swimming and water sports. There is sort of a center road in the middle of the park with the sign up office, another area for the washers and dryers (outside), and an area for tent camping that has counters with sinks and hot plates for cooking. Everything is left open and there are no misquitos to speak of….some no seeum bites though. We have a resident Iguana in our tree.

The temperature is to

....die for…......you’d love it…..all of us do!

Right next door here is one of the B & Bs that we were looking at for the kids, when they come, and we drove by the one that we booked. It, too, surprised me, in that it is in a gated yard and among a hundred little houses on a back street. It looks like an Italian or Greek villa in white stucco, but we couldn’t see the pool area. We will when we get more settled.

Meanwhile, we have already driven and walked around La Pinta town and Rincon de Guayabitos, walking with the early morning group four miles through town, looking at the many stores and even grocery stores that will be so fun to explore, and having dinner at a new Italian restaurant, would you believe? (One that Patty and Joseph will especially love – opened in what was once a rich man’s home of more white stucco overlooking the sea). The food was excellent and the company, too, as we took Carole from the park with us too and she has stories and jokes that kept us entertained ……..also, a flute guitar player kept us entertained (playing both flute and guitar at the same time!) Right now two good looking young Mexican “Pool boys”, as Shirley calls them, are washing our bus and car that have enough dirt and diesel fuel on them to make mud pies. They are going to do both for 400 pesos….that is about 37 dollars and the kayaks will be on top of the cars….a good investment, along with having the laundry done. I’ve been told that we will be so pleased when we get the laundry back and how neatly folded it will be…..small things please me. One, especially is the fruit and vege market that comes into our park twice a week. We bought fresh shrimp too from them and cooked them on our barbcue skewered to colorful peppers and brushed with oil, garlic, and lime. Shirley is getting really excited about cooking with all of the wonderful fresh food down here, and I didn't think she even liked cooking!

November 27, 2008
A lazy day in the sun, shade, on the beach, on our patio with this computer on my lap, talking to neighbors about this campground being a “find” and what Mexico used to be like….making us wonder why we want to go any further. The people here laugh at the Americans saying that it is no longer safe to go to Mexico because of all of the killings near the border. They laugh because it is usually Mexicans killing Mexicans on the border problems that alert Americans to the dangers of Mexico and there is as many problems in our own country and there are as many killings too. If you are not into drugs or illegal activities, mind your own business, keep on truckin’ through, then get lower down into the country, the people are all wonderful and friendly. They wave vigorously as we drive by and are so eager to help. We were not even stopped by a agricultural or military check spot on the way down…..just waved us by. There are shrimp hatcheries on both sides of us and they must keep the beach water clean here (one point in favor of staying here. It is truly beautiful and quiet, Celestino RV resort between La Cruz and Dimas (kilometers number 78 turnoff and 75 turnoff……75 is hard to find from the highway, rough, but shorter). After happy hour in the sunset patio over looking the water, the Webers set us up for our Thanksgiving feast on their patio with wine and pumpkin dessert. The six of us are the family unit for Thanksgiving and we each expressed something for which we were thankful ; although there is much for us to be thankful for this Thanksgivng. I said I am thankful for my family. This is the first Thanksgivng that I can ever remember having without them.November 27, 2008
A lazy day in the sun, shade, on the beach, on our patio with this computer on my lap, talking to neighbors about this campground being a “find” and what Mexico used to be like….making us wonder why we want to go any further. The people here laugh at the Americans saying that it is no longer safe to go to Mexico because of all of the killings near the border. They laugh because it is usually Mexicans killing Mexicans on the border problems that alert Americans to the dangers of Mexico and there is as many problems in our own country and there are as many killings too. If you are not into drugs or illegal activities, mind your own business, keep on truckin’ through, then get lower down into the country, the people are all wonderful and friendly. They wave vicorously as we drive by and are so eager to help. We were not even stopped by a agricultural or military check spot on the way down…..just waved us by. There are shrimp hatcherys on both sides of us and they must keep the beach water clean here (one point in favor of staying here. It is truly beautiful and quiet, Celestino RV resort between La Cruz and Dimas (kilometers number 78 turnoff and 75 turnoff……75 is hard to find from the highway, rough, but shorter). After happy hour in the sunset patio over looking the water, the Webers set up us up for our Thanksgiving feast on their patio with wine and pumpkin dessert. The six of us are the family unit for Thanksgiving and we each expressed something for which we were thankful ; although there is much for us to be thankful for this Thanksgivng. I said I am thankful for my family. This is the first Thanksgivng that I can ever remember having without them.November 27, 2008
A lazy day in the sun, shade, on the beach, on our patio with this computer on my lap, talking to neighbors about this campground being a “find” and what Mexico used to be like….making us wonder why we want to go any further. The people here laugh at the Americans saying that it is no longer safe to go to Mexico because of all of the killings near the border. They laugh because it is usually Mexicans killing Mexicans on the border problems that alert Americans to the dangers of Mexico and there is as many problems in our own country and there are as many killings too. If you are not into drugs or illegal activities, mind your own business, keep on truckin’ through, then get lower down into the country, the people are all wonderful and friendly. They wave vicorously as we drive by and are so eager to help. We were not even stopped by a agricultural or military check spot on the way down…..just waved us by. There are shrimp hatcherys on both sides of us and they must keep the beach water clean here (one point in favor of staying here. It is truly beautiful and quiet, Celestino RV resort between La Cruz and Dimas (kilometers number 78 turnoff and 75 turnoff……75 is hard to find from the highway, rough, but shorter). After happy hour in the sunset patio over looking the water, the Webers set up us up for our Thanksgiving feast on their patio with wine and pumpkin dessert. The six of us are the family unit for Thanksgiving and we each expressed something for which we were thankful ; although there is much for us to be thankful for this Thanksgivng. I said I am thankful for my family. This is the first Thanksgivng that I can ever remember having without them.

November 26, 2008

This is the day before the most unusual Thanksgiving that I have ever had. I am not sure that I have ever had one without a turkey and family. I guess Andy is family and these friends are like family, but no turkey? It is a challenge for me, and as Shirley said today, it isn’t about the turkey, but about being Thankful. I am that and can celebrate it tomorrow without the bird. It doesn’t seem right though. I hope everyone at home will send a note to tell me about the Thanksgiving days at home. Our Thanksgiving day will be here in a new place we have found, Celestino RV Resort, on a remote beach 75 kilometers North of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
There are a few towns around us and a little one to the South named Dimas is the home of one of the best restaurants in this state, even competing with Mazatlan’s unique restaurants. We just came home from driving there for dinner of fish cabobs, steamed oysters, neatly prepared Mexican dishes, and flan for dessert. Shirley really wanted oysters after we saw so many on the beach today and know how fresh they must be. No one spoke English at the restaurant and we were the only Gingos there. It was a bit of a drive in the dark to get there. The roads are so different than at home, that I am glad someone else is driving. John, who is doing the driving, tells us that he is only the driver and has to know nothing. Yet, he always gets us there. Some of the approaches to the toll road are almost invisible especially in the dark, and they are not paved. The campground is new and was a challenge for us to find on dirty, dusty roads, but a gem when we got here. It is right on the beach, quiet, and well run. It is near a Shrimp farm, turtle release location, and many picturesque villages to explore; besides the major joy is hiking on the beach and kicking your feet in the water all along the way. The owners are nice and the few people staying here are so helpful telling us all of the places to see and directions. We are going to stay another day.

This morning we drove our rigs out of the campground at Las Glorias about 730 am and drove the entire day through beautiful agricultural and farming land. There were acres and acres of corn planted, at all different stages of growth. There were fruit trees and pepper farms, some cattle with long horns and some large areas to be planted that resembled dirt covered cookie sheets with edges. We wondered if they could be flooding areas to grow rice. We enjoyed the green country and the water sources that made it that way. There were so many toll stations on the toll road that we think we may have spent $160 Pesos every 70 miles and kept digging into our Peso supply. We need to use Pesos for tolls, fuel, camping, and food. The three of our buses stopped for fuel, paying tolls, and traffic and that is about all, fixing lunch as we drove. We were passed on through the agricultural and military inspection stations with just a wave and never had to stop. The Mexican people all waved at us with big smiles. I imagine we are a spectacle (our huge buses pulling cars and piled with kayaks, four wheelers and looking like a party going somewhere to happen. It was enough driving for our drivers at about 1pm when we arrived in this campground and wound our way into the new hookups. There are only back-ins for us as we are so long. Even then, our noses will stick into the road. The women all get into the cars while the guys unhitch the buses and we drive the cars off to park until the bus drivers have the buses in place. These spaces have concrete slabs, gravel to park on, and tropical landscaping between each of our spots. It didn’t take long to get into a relax and exercise mode…….taking naps and long walks on the beach. It’s warm and breezy.

November 25, 08

Is this the right turn off? Have we gone too many Ks? I think we have gone too far. We can’t turn all three of us around here. We will have to disconnect the cars. Watch out …..here comes a pickup….does he have room? That guy is trying to tell us where to go…does he understand English….No….are you talking to him in Spanish or just making gestures? Yikes, Barb yelled at John! The car is disconnected, now I hope he doesn’t run into me with the bus. Is John going to make that corner…yes!...oh, he is awesome….a pro! Then we are (all three buses and our tows hooked up again) back on the road going the other way and Bob (on the CB) says,

“Andy and JoAn are you glad to have us for leaders now?”

Actually, it had only been about an hour longer than expected when we arrived at our destination, on the beach at Las Glorias at the Mr. Moro hotel and RV resort. This campground is only a few miles south of Los Mochis and has become a favorite destination in the last few years. It is paradise but pretty quiet here and the owner,Tavo, wants to know why we think there are no others that have come this way. We explained the state of the economy in the states right now and told him that he needed a better sign on the highway turnoff. Even when turning in here, the sign out front is inadequate.

The beaches are clean, uninhabited for miles (except for an occasional fisherman and the huge Shrimp boats parked off shore), and they are so very full of shells. I truly believe that I have never seen this many shells and the colors on any other beach anywhere, and we have seen our share of beaches. Our time has been spent today walking on the beach, exploring the shells and houses along the shore, and then piling into John and Barb’s Chevy suburban to drive through the picturesque, and very town and eat at a seaside restaurant where we were the only customers. The food was excellent and the six of us kept the chatter going while we waited for only two people to take care of us. A young boy waited the table and didn’t speak any English….but was game for anything and smiled a lot. The fish we have had in the restaurants has been so delicious and fresh. In the afternoon there was a table under the palapa in the RV resort to play Mexican dominos and we did that too. Bob has spent some time repairing his windshield to a point of preservation until he can get it replaced and finding out how to set his inverter to a lower amperage. These bus guys are found anytime working on their buses.

Our travel campanions:

Bob & Shirley Lewis have '95, 45' Marathon that he upgraded to better suit their likes. He put a lift on the rear where he carries a Bombardier quad, and tows a Toyota Tundra V-8 pickup behind. They are hauling a very full load of things for people they know in La Peñita. It is nice when people who have enough are willing to give of themselves like that. Shirley is the one getting friends to help her make clothes for a couple hundred Barbie dolls for an orphanage in the La Peñita area. Bob and Shirley have Infinity Coach in Sumner, WA

The other couple are super people as well, Barb and John Weber....he, a retired orthodontist. They left their 2000 Country Coach 45' Prevost at home and brought their 37' Eagle. It is a Model 07 with the bogie or tag removed and shortened from a 40' bus. The conversion is maybe 16 years old but is a beautiful job and is immaculate. It if full of nice extras including a 300 gal fuel tank. They bought the bus from a wealthy Alaskan who was determined to be prepared for anything in bad weather so it was an extra good and thorough job.

November 23, 08

A fun day before traveling tomorrow on towards our destination….

Today we kayaked, went to see the pearl farm, but it wasn’t open, went to lunch at a cool Mexican restaurant over the bay and had fancy fish tacos and cervasas. We are planning dinner outside potluck among us three couples. so interesting to say is that we (Andy and I toured the pearl farm on our last trip here....I am sure it is the same one). We had a neat experience in a huge Mexican mall and grocery market, buying such things as coconut yogart, Mango juice and
a huge Papaya for dinner.

Into Mexico

November 22, 2008

San Carlos El Mirador RV, Mexico. Something hit us as we came in down the hill....what hit us was the thought that this is the same place we stayed with the caravan coming home from the Copper Canyon in March 2007. We recognized it right away and remember it was a wonderful place on a small bay in Guaymas, Sonora Mexico. Check it out at http://www.elmiradorrv.com/

But, wait a minute, let's go back to yesterday still in Tucson....our bus registration came to the office early in the morning the day after Jack and Lee Ann Walstrom put it in the overnite express mail. Thank you both, Jack and Lee Ann, for "beyond the call of duty help" and for making our entry into Mexico all okay today. The Lewis' and Webers decided yesterday that we would stay another day so we could leave really early at 6am , so we stayed another day to explore Tucson. Andy and I chose to go to the Tucson Desert museum, one of the best desert museums in the world. The other two couples went to the Biosphere 2, the other site we had so enjoyed.

The museum was as much Zoo as museum with wonderful desert enviroments for the animals of the desert, including birds and fish and marine life in the rivers. The enviroments for the large animals, like mountain lions, mountain sheep, and wolves were huge red rocks with caves, waterfalls, and shrubs. There were aquariums with all kinds of water animals, snakes, reptiles, and a wonderful aviary of birds that were very tame to walk up close to. The docents showed us many new views of plants and animals. Andy's favorite cactus was the Agave and mine, the Ocotillo, and I wonder if it would grow somewhere at Central park....not very desert like though.

It may be said that the restaurant for lunch at the desert museum was also one of the best in the world and we were served a Prickly Pear Marquerita, Prickly Pear iced tea, and a main course of Ocotillo Pollo Tower, with slices of grilled chicken breast, grilled zuchini, grilled eggplant, grilled Mozarella cheese stacked on a pat of green chile polenta with Prickly Pear marinara sauce over it. The salad had a cactus dressing and dried cherries tossed with the greens. We had started the meal with a Cilantro Pesto spread on bits of french bread....out of this world good!

There was so much to see and do at the desert Museum that we had to break ourselves away at 5pm because they closed. We had been there since 11am and not seen any of the outback.

We had ribs (more food) in our own Montgomery's restaurant in the evening with Lewis' and Webers....We really are enjoying the company of these people. The next day they surrounded us with protection, one driving in front and one in back of us, to lead us through the steps of entering the country of Mexico.

We left shortly after 6 am this morning, driving towards Nogales crossing. The drive was nice and we are glad that it was not so windy as it had been the day before. I did enjoy following my "Mexico On the road travel log" that I downloaded with its stop light, PEMEX, and tope (speed bump) detail. We followed our leaders through the desert and into Mexico with no incidents. However, when getting our travel papers at the Mexican Immigration, we were detained about 2 hours, and shortly after that, Bob and Shirley got a rock missle thrown into their windshield that almost went through. They can see to drive, looking under the place it hit and, at least, the window did not fall out, but it will need to be replaced when they go home.

Sightseeing through our picture window windshields in our comfortable turtle shell houses rolling down the toll road to the coast of Mexico's Sea of Cortes, there were no more incidents other than drivers that came too close for comfort or had trailers a bit out of control. It was a beautiful day and in the 80 degree range all day. This evening we sat outside quite awhile with cool beer after our warm drive until we got up enough energy to go out to dinner at one of their favorite hangouts, Blackies. Whatever you have to eat at Blackies ends with a piece of chocolate cake and a fluffy delicious Brandy Alexander. Tomorrow, we plan to stay here one day and play on our toys tomorrow, the kyaks and four wheelers, etc. It is a really tough life.

November 19, 2008
Today was RV fixit day and I am not sure what was fixed at a mere $105 an hour. They dug into everything and found in the dash panel, 5 nuts missing that should have been on the wires to keep them connected. When fixed and tightened, we may have solved several of the problems we have them looking for in our bus, but we are not sure…..all does not work right yet. They test-drove the bus and two of the problems seemed to be working a little better. We are scheduled tomorrow for a few more $105 per hour hours to do more exploring of the problems. I am not as easy as Andy is with this and want to see an end to it all. I did enjoy the shopping part of today and printing pictures for my album and writing this blog. I did also enjoy talking to a Linda in Customer Service that has a true calling for her job. She is so “Jack of all Trades” that she is almost irreplaceable and has retired once already from General Motors, a job she worked at for almost 30 years. She told fascinating stories about the bosses that she has organized and has taught the talent of nonprocrastination, or is it deprocrastination? She didn’t sound like a braggert , just a fun and caring person that took good care of us all day. She helped us mail Joseph’s birthday gift in the very back of their building where they send out their own UPS packages, giving us a tour through the whole complex, the doily makers area and the Lug Nuts area .
We are excited that Shirley and Bob Lewis arrived late afternoon….they have a ton of shopping to do, etc….. like we did when we arrived yesterday. They are parked one space away and excited, too, about our trip starting together. We need to wait until Friday to go towards the border, however, for John and Barbara, another couple that will be going with us.
Another pastime that I am enjoying is watching Jupiter and Venus in the western sky, just above the horizon, after the sun goes down. There was an article in the Tombstone newspaper about the planets from the High Knoll Observatory. I enjoy watching the night sky and getting update info about such things as the meteor showers in November and Leonids (meteors that are fast and bright and will be visible in the sky Sunday to Tuesday coming up). Andy is in bus fixit mode and we purchased such things as new fans, a new outlet, new plugs and wire at Lowes to install for the benefit of the internet equipment, along with a few groceries at Wal Mart. We may get Christmassy and put a Christmas wreath on the nose of MAC bus J.

November 17, 08
It was some adventure in Tombstone with the Johnsons. We picked them up at a pre-arranged pick-up point….like picking up a tour group with only two members. David and Lisa climbed aboard, first going over the bus to check it out. Then we settled down on the cushy chairs, looked out the picture windows, and enjoyed the desert scenery. We had a sort of 70 mile “chat and drive”, going southeast on US highway 10 and down State 80 to the location of the famous 1881 gunfight at O. K. Corral and the hangout of old West heroes like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. Lunch was first on our program when we got there. Trying to decide which place of history to try, the Crystal Palace Saloon won our choice, with 23 bullet holes in its copper ceiling still left from the 1880s and beautiful and massive all wood bar with mirrors behind it and gunslingers sitting at it drinking Sarsaparilla or beer. Our food was good and the waiters and waitress dressed the part. Tombstone is preserved and recreated to look as it did in 1881 and we could have spent many hours in its museums and shops. Instead we took a trolley past the historic locations including Boot Hill. The driver shared with us the history that shaped Tombstone. The town was full of gunslingers and we watched a reenactment of the shoot-out at the O.K. corral. The actors were quite good and we enjoyed that too. We hiked around some and explored through Boot Hill cemetery and the newspaper print shop that printed the 1881 Epitaph newspaper. Getting back on board our own bus, we were impatient to get back to Tucson where dinner was being prepared by David’s mother. She had promised to prepare India cuisine for us. We had dinner one other time with David’s parents and were disappointed that she cooked American food (although it was very good). She was born in India and is an excellent cook and very nice. Howard, David’s dad is a wonderful man. The two of them were so kind to include us in this family gathering. Dinner was so good and besides that, David’s brother, John, came with his family and entertained us with their family music. The whole family is so talented and sang and played instruments for us. We did so enjoy the whole evening. They are releasing their first CD on December 5th…..check out their website:
http://www.j4band.com/
November 18, 2008
This evening finds us at the Beaudry RV Resort, in Tucson. Andy and I hiked early this morning on one of the hiking paths in the Catalina State Park, had our protein juice drink, went to Best Buy to have someone update our Nuvi GPS, picked up a few groceries, and then got back on the road for the transfer to Beaudry. It was not as easy as it seems to get here and took us well over an hour because of construction on Interstate 10. It has been extremely wonderful once here though. This resort has two swimming pools, two hot tubs, a good restaurant, a congenial office staff, and a huge Laundromat. We took advantage of all of them since arriving and especially the swim in the big pool with its waterfall. It seems hot to us in Tucson although it’s only in the 80 degree range. I guess it gets much hotter in the summer than now. The pool was delightful. This resort is the place we plan to meet Bob and Shirley Lewis before we all go on into Mexico and also where Andy has scheduled last minute repairs on the bus. There are 60 bays at the RV repair facility here ready to help RVs. Our appointment with them is at 830 am tomorrow morning. Andy is going to have them look at the air pressure gauges, the SmarTire gauge, the cruise control, the brake lights that stay on sometimes, the electric horn, front door latch, entry door air latch override, and the roof leak from installing the awnings. Whatever does not get right will have to go with us through our travels in Mexico.

Sunday November 16, 08
Road Runners…..we’ve seen two run across in front of us but no camera fast enough.

Today was another great day….a true gift. The object of our exploration today was the Biosphere habitat just north of our campground and Tucson. It was built as an experiment to see if people could completely live self sufficient in an isolated and enclosed environment, raising their own food and making their own oxygen supply from vegetation raised inside the locked-in environment. Just the buildings alone were impressive and the tour fascinating. Space Biospheres Ventures began construction in 1986 and Human inhabitants were enclosed inside in 1991 and another group in 1993 – each group intending to spend 2 years isolated in the Biosphere and working to feed themselves, do maintenance and scientific experiments while inside. In July of 2007, the University of Arizona assumed management of Biosphere 2 and today it is open to public tours and study by university students and scientists from all over the world. Inside is a miniature ocean with the correct sea salt balances, fish, coral reefs, ocean plants and animals. There is a rain forest, a desert, an agriculture growing area, and quarters for the inhabitants that lived there. When the doors were unlocked and it was time to enter Biosphere 1 again (our own planet), they had learned a lot and were weak from hunger and lack of enough oxygen. The climate was not as warm as planned because of two bad weather years (El Nino’s) and the crops did not do well and so the food and oxygen was not enough for them. The “lungs” of the Biosphere 2 impressed me the most of all. Two white dome-like structures, each as big as a stadium and air alone holding up a huge 16 ton stainless steel dish shaped disk fastened to heavy rubber diaphragm. The whole thing acted like a huge lung and kept the air pressure even at all times in Biosphere 2.
Check out this website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

David and Lisa Johnson and two of their three daughters and his parents invited us to attend David’s sermon for the students of University of Arizona. For his sermon, David touched on politics and Bible verses and announced that it was a one way conversation because he would have everyone fighting over their views and wrecking the place if it were opened up for discussion. It was definitely a college atmosphere and coffee of Starbucks variety was served beforehand. Afterwards they took us out to a Sauce pizza restaurant with their specialty in thin pizzas and unusual salads. Afterwards we had Gelatos for dessert next door. There are hundreds of restaurants in Tucson area and as many shopping malls, even though the economy crunch has slowed the building of them down to none almost. We are making an adventure with them tomorrow to Tombstone in the bus….and dinner tomorrow night at David’s mothers (India fare).

14 November later in the day…
There was an early morning hike for us before the heat starts. We just hiked among the campers, checking out pets, flags, and license plates from everywhere….many from Canada. Breakfast was a fruit and protein drink. The blender found its way inside our bus before we left home and I find that the Crockpot may have been handy too! Frozen lasagna was main fair of the day yesterday.
The desert sun was getting warm as we pulled out of the BLM Park and left our friends Jim and Buddy. This BLM site is located just outside and west of Quartzite. It is free parking for a limited number of nights, as most of them are.
While camped with Jim, we met a couple that were with the Baja bunch when we all went to Baja together and another couple camped next door that are neighbors to Jim and Myrna at their home in Bruno, Saskatchewan. Jim aimed us towards a BLM camp that the RVers call Casa Grande (although it is a few miles from the town of Casa Grande). It is less than 150 miles to drive, but we dilly dallied and took our time. Andy is trying to figure out his new tire pressure and heat sensors. They are a good idea if they work. He worked for awhile on deciphering his GPS to see if it would find BLM parks, altitude, or touch points that he selects. Jim had taken a picture of us and our bus-abode before we left and I printed some business cards on photo paper as we drove. Arriving at the BLM camp designated turn off number 151 on highway 8 (aimed towards Tucson), we parked to hike and find the camp. We hiked along a dike wondering (fleetingly) about tarantulas and rattlesnakes and finding no camp next to the intersection. There was a lot of chatter when the boys on the other side of the freeway told us that it was a mile north down the road further than we had looked. They did offer for us to stay by their place, but they were kind of scary and we wanted to find this famous camp to use again sometime. The camp, Pinal County West Park, was as we expected, quiet, spacious, and safe feeling with lots of RVs around. Desert parking is a different kind of beauty and we enjoy simple things like sitting outside in the shade and enjoying the heat and Saguaro cactus living natural garden scene. Jim told of another nice camp called “Why” if we had gone on down highway 85 towards the border. I don’t know why, do you?

November 15, 08
Catalina State Park, Tucson, AZ
At the foot of the hills and above Tucson It is quiet and desert gorgeous. There are big area spaces to camp with tables, full hookups, paved biking paths, and a huge selection of hiking paths. The sun is descending so the shadows are long and shady. Andy has wonderful XM radio playing in the bus with Anita Kerr singers singing “The Windows of The World” and all of our windows are open to a breeze blowing through. He is busy with his treasure – cleaning outside the bus, and happy as a cat in a lap. There is a shade tree and our chairs are set out. We get to stay here for three whole nights, long enough to set in awhile. We want to get things updated (I want to download an update for Nuvi GPS streets and cities and one of Mexico) and get all ready to meet Lewis’ to go into Mexico. Our plans here include spending time with David Johnson and family. They are planning to go for a little side trip with us to Tombstone in the bus. Driving out of the park, we can go across the road into one of Tucson’s newest big shopping centers with a Home Depot included. It is a great state park we are in, one of the best we have seen. I am on my way to see if we can get out our new folding bikes to tour some of the bike paths!

November 13

Each day is like no other. I am getting to love the desert. My joints and sinus love it too and feel better. You can guess from the picture who we are with. Jim Lawrence arranged us to park right in front of him in his BLM camp near Quartzite, AZ. His dog, Buddy, an old buddy of ours, too, is getting old but is still looking in some ways like a puppy and as friendly as ever.....just some stiff joints like ours. Talk flew. We missed Myrna being with him. Then Jim dug in as he usually does and helped us get on line again and replace one of the cords connecting the motem and the router and we are on line again. I wonder how we can do this in Mexico....we are having so much trouble with it. Out loud, I did mention that Jim should accompany us to Mexico.... Instead we took him out to lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant that serves "Sombreros" (elaborate taco salads on flat tortillas) along with Jim and Jan Meneely from my class of 56 that live here on a nice lot with a big new mobile and fun landscaping that Jim works on all of the time. Jan sews and makes purses out of bright materials that open up to picnic basket size, fold over casserol carriers, and other talent required crafts. Her sewing room is impressive .....as is their home with it's antler horn lamps and desert designs. We sat on their porch in the shade and watched a Road Runner that they were trying to feed hamburger. They are so good to see and fun to know. Being from Sandpoint ID, we had lots to talk about. One of their friends from nearby came over while we were there. He is from Sandpoint and was in the high school class with brother Bob. It seems to be a small world....one we are enjoying seeing.

Some time is spent working on our projects, repairing bus fans and installing clocks that were taken down during the bus remodeling, printing pictures and journals, and rearranging the storage....whenever we can take time.....Mostly we like to travel.

Driving down from Henderson to here........ the day before, was beautiful from our bus with it's picture window-size windshields. The Colorado River winds down through Lake Havasu City and the Parker Dam areas and the scenery won't quit. We walk and hike through little towns to see along the way....always new things to see and enjoy.....I am part Hobo. Andy is gaining lots of experience in this lost art.

November 12, 2008

It is an interesting way to do the travel journal, especially when the internet is being worked on and I have no access. If I compose on a word document, I will have it copied and pasted to the blog site later, I hope.
We are in Henderson, near Las Vegas, with the Motosat man and he is trying to put in a new router for our computer satellite. Updating our system has made various problems with the installed systems and we want it straight before entering Mexico (and also to be on a Mexico available satellite –satmex 5 – which we were not). We are in Sam’s Town RV park and have til noon checkout. Ashley Teasley of Satellite World, Inc. is performing his miracles with the satellite dish. I am glad that I tried to print something while he is here because the printer was connected through the old router!
Yesterday a.m. we drove from our overnight campsite again at Zion near Kate, getting her for a good long visit the night before and dinner at Ted and Allen’s sports bar. At Henderson, we stayed in a Wal-mart parking lot on Marks Street until the Satellite people could tell us what we needed to do and did some Wal-mart shopping and had a great visit with Rick Williamson. Rick just met us in our bus and gave us an hour or so of his valuable time and we loved our visit all about the new bridge they are building at the Hoover dam site and about his job . No overnight parking is allowed in any parking lots in Clark county- because of messes left, so they say, but I think it may have something to do with lost revenue to the casinos when you do not stay in the casino lots. The satellite people came and made a date with us for this morning at Sam’s Town casino RV park. While they are working, I have packaged the new old router to send back to Dan for credit and boxed the Casio camera to ship to repair. Casio requires that in order to cover the camera with warranty we need to have a notarized letter, especially since we don’t have any receipts to copy to send them. Thanks to United Parcel mailbox stores. They have notarys!
We were awarded an extra hour for check out and left the RV place about 1pm with our tummys full of prime rib leftovers, our satellite fixed, and our parcels mailed with tracer numbers…..but, I didn’t tell you the best part. Getting towards twilight we took a romantic adventure last evening. It was about 20 miles to Hoover Dam and we really wanted to see the new bridge. Rick had said that it was one of those colossal achievements that will be part of history and the huge heavy bridge parts were sticking out over the Dam canyon with only cables and concrete holding them in the air (waiting for the connecting sections to be built) and with tiny looking ant sized heavy equipment working below it, way far away from yourself (we were at the top of the dam). He was right and it was even more dramatic in the sunset hours. Pedestrians are not allowed to walk out on the dam after dark and we were two of the last people to go over and back. I told Andy that it was sooooo romantic. Besides that, we found Lake Las Vegas on the way back. It was a place I did not think I would ever see again and brought back old memories of a Mother’s day spent there with the Drake family and Nate and Patti, the first time that I met Graydon Meeks. We walked through the shops with all of the trees dressed in white lights and it too was the most romantic. Andy was fascinated with the little city, the gondolas, and the shops (mostly closed). It was a favorite time with Andy.

We are this morning, Monday, November 10, in Utah sitting in our home on wheels next to Deb and Lin's house. They have the most wonderful vacant lot with a flat spot and electric cord to make us really comfortable. However, I did not get any good pictures of them, so here are the pictures to share of Patti and Kristen. Patti is the second of our daughters that lives in Utah and Kristen is her daughter.

While in Utah we stopped in St. George to stay one night at the Zion Gate RV Resort in Hurricane and visited with Patti and Kristen. Patti and Debbie at their individual schools are at report card time and very busy. Deb is Business Technology Coordinator and Instructor at Southwest Technology College in Cedar City. Patti teaches first grade at the Coral Cliff elementary school in St. George. Patti loaded all of her report card work up in the RV and went with us for the weekend in Cedar City. It is forcast to snow in Cedar City, so we are not staying long there. In Cedar city the entertainment is wonderful with all of the family together and, oft times, it is also dramatic as we watched through the trials and hardships of Gina McCoy giving birth to her new baby boy. He is delivered at 8lbs. 14 ozs and the name is under decisionship....even though we all thought it was to be Oliver! She had too much work having the baby and we were all the cheering team. It was better for me than a major league ball game. The guys may not agree, but the results are indeed superior. They resorted to doing a C section after trying to have Gina give up the baby in natural child birth. She and baby are doing well. Look at Kate and Graydon's web site (above) to see pictures.

Another of our enjoyments of this visit was seeing Graydon's parents and having dinner together and comparing stories and Genealogy sites. Kate and Graydon had time to spend with us and our old friend and Jake's owner, Rod, gave us good visits. We saw more friends and met new ones. The newly wed Meeks helped set up this blog and caught us up on their Exfuze dietary supplement juice business. Deb let me check out her classroom at the Technology College and I am impressed by what all she does. Patti and I baked apple pies with Central Park apples. Our internet is not up and running, so we are staying hooked as long as possible to Drakes wireless network and leaving this afternoon for St. George again and Las Vegas on Tuesday to work on the Data Storm satellite dish. The weather has stayed pretty good for us so far although we can see snow on the lowest part of the mountains around us and we have had some rain. It gets below freezing at night. Mac Bus and our tow Honda with it's kayaks is taking the cold okay, but they will enjoy going south this afternoon.

Nov 08 holiday RV adventure

Traveling in a Converted bus to Mexico
A converted bus is not the same as traveling in an RV, especially if you yourself have contracted the conversion. Our 1976 MCI 8 bus conversion, that we call “Mac”, is now looking and acting like a 1994 model with beautiful new paint in red, maroon, black, and white swoop and point designs. The inside, too, is all upgraded with new wall and ceiling coverings, upholstery, floor coverings, audio visual, and lighting. We are told that it is finally finished and simply working well, but is it? There have been delays.

On THE day, we start out later than planned, not by an hour, but by several days. There is still a leak in a tag wheel, a slow one. We must stop first at the tire repair shop. We negotiate our bus, towing a car with kayaks on top, down our twisty Wild Cat road. After a short but pleasant ride down, we pull up at the tire repair place in Fortuna, CA. There it is found to be more than a leak ….there was an actual crack in the wheel next to the valve stem. The tire shop sent to Eureka for a new wheel and it was delivered in about an hour…..so we meanwhile went to have breakfast at Pepper’s. Pepper’s was a mile long walk and we needed the exercise.
The weather is turning. It was the week to turn the clocks back for the year, so we should expect the weather to change. The tire was being installed as we came back from breakfast.

After a pleasant ride down highway 101 and across the lakes Highway 20, we arrived late in the Sacramento area. We drove through the Fall colors and new bridge construction while communicating by texting with our daughter, Deeana. She and a friend are planning to meet us in Sacramento. They are traveling by train from Corvallis Oregon. Late in the afternoon our dinner is at one of our favorite stops, the Chinese restaurant at Cache Creek Casino in Capay Valley. About an hour later, bucking some traffic, our Mac bus (with us on board) cruises into the KOA campground nearest West Sacramento and the CHP academy. Our plan is to attend the graduation of a grandson, age 23, from the CA highway patrolman’s academy. It is an exciting and proud time for our family. Friends had already arrived. We are coming in late. There is a gracious young man waiting for us in the campground with a reservation envelope….our name on it, and he guides us neatly into a very long pull-through space. Our bus is forty feet by itself. With our car and kayaks, we are some 62 feet long, but this space is big enough for two of our size rigs. We are tired and crawl into our bed and sleep the night long.

Our plan for Halloween day is to pick up Deeana and her friend at the Amtrak station and take them with us to the graduation ceremonies. She is the mother of the graduate and very excited about her train trip to Sacramento. They are to arrive early at 6 am, however, I am getting messages on my phone that there has been a delay. It is more than a small delay. The train had to pull off during the night and replace wheels under the train and they would be four hours late, perhaps missing graduation itself at 10 am, and, instead, they plan to take part in the parties afterward. We feel sorry that they will miss the main part, looking as forward to it as they were. The other grandparents of our graduate are here in the same campground in their beautiful new fifth wheel camper. We enjoy their company at Eppies for a long leisurely breakfast and then use our GPS to find our way to the CHP academy. We call our little GPS “Miss Nuvi”, and turn her off if she says “recalculating” too many times. The graduation is wonderful and we are so proud of our handsome and smart grandson. He is second from the top of his class scholastically. Only three guests per cadet can go into the ceremony and the rest watch from closed circuit TV. It is a highlight to watch our cadet’s girl pin on his new badge and he, in his new uniform, looks to be in his prime. We take many photos and go to dinner together afterwards, finding Deeana and her friend at a hotel near the train station and taking them with us. It is Halloween, so we have bracelets of bright glowing colors to wear and are waited on by a Hippie girl and a padded farm boy in costume. Bella Bru is the restaurant and our graduate Tom’s girl is our hostess. She has been the manager here until she quit to go with him to his new assignment as a brand new CHP in downtown Los Angeles. It was late when we arrived back at our bus home.

November 1st, 2008
It is our plan to go to Folsom to kayak with friends. The rain starts and we find our new windows have a major leak, filling cup after cup with rain water inside the window. Then we find that we are so lucky to have the computer satellite dish repairman in this area for a few days and, since we cannot seem to go on-line, he comes to our RV to help. Kayaking seems less likely as we wait into later afternoon and the satellite dish is still not responding. Our Folsom friends have invited us for dinner and overnight and breakfast and to kayak in the morning if the rain goes away. We cannot refuse, though it means leaving the dish repairman in our home to finish his long process and us leaving, and he hiding the key in the electric box when he leaves. After a wonderful visit and dinner with our Folsom friends, we decide to drive back to our RV for the night. We are still parked in the KOA and have grandparents number two worried about why we are still in residence. I have somehow injured my rowing arm, the weather has not cleared, and we must check the leak water accumulated. More bad news: the repairman has finally concluded that the satellite dish has been damaged from being out in the weather during the bus’s new conversion. He finds that we plan to be within a couple hundred miles or so of Salt Lake City and that is the location of the manufacturer of the satellite dish. He insists that our best interests would be addressed by going directly to the manufacturer in Salt Lake for repairs before we venture into Mexico. If we go directly to Salt Lake, maybe we can get over the mountains before too much snow. We hook up, go though the last minute inspection to get underway and pull out of our very long pull-through space, not realizing that someone has taken the pin out of the hitch that holds it on the car. It could have fallen out somewhere, but, how would that have happened? Turning tight at the end of the road in the KOA Park was all the hitch needed to let go and we heard the screaming for us to stop from the workman that were watching. Scared, Andy stopped the bus a bit too quickly, making the car bump into the back of the Bus, damaging the back bumper, and bending the hitch as it doubled back. It didn’t shape up well to have to roll backwards over it to be able to release it. We must decide we are lucky that we did not leave the park in that condition. We are wondering if this trip was not meant to happen or someone is trying to tell us something. The rest of the day was spent, first going to Camping World in Rocklin to see if they know how to repair the hitch on a Sunday. JoAn drives the car and Andy drives the bus to get there. They cannot do a Blue Ox hitch but know the company that can and send us there, also, letting us stay overnight in their parking lot. We show Allied RV repair, in downtown Sacramento, the damage and purchase a new locking hitch pin. So much for getting over the mountains this weekend. Being positive thinkers, we luckily hit the time of day that both of them were open on a Sunday. Allied RV repair, who have Blue Ox hitches, closed at 4 pm and we were there, coincidently, about 330 pm. They will order a hitch for us in the morning and we must call Blue Ox on the east coast tomorrow at early am (before we pick up new hitch) to see if there is a warranty. My right arm is now feeling so bad that I must lie down and Andy goes into the stores to get repair tools for the leak above the window.
Our schedule is all off. Andy had prepared a day by day itinerary that included seeing also our youngest son in Tracy and his new house. Son Jim ended up helping us all day on the phone with his computer since ours is not working. He found numbers and locations that have Blue Ox hitches and directions to get there. We are not even going to have time to go his direction to see him now as we want to get over the mountains as soon as we can. We will make a definite stop coming back to see them. Today they are buying furniture for the new house. We are finding so many nice people that are willing to help us with our problems. They have been so nice at Camping World, Allied RV repair, and Dan, the MotoSat repair man.

November 4, 2008 – Tulare, CA
We are outta Dodge (or in this case Sacramento), finally. We have been here finding parts and pieces and putting ourselves back together for six days. We still have a small leak and my arm still hurts, but we sealed most leaks; then found that my camera problem was no more than needing a new $30 battery, and our satellite dish is okay and we need not go clear to Salt Lake City to fix it. The hospital today, here in Tulare, took x-rays of my arm and says I have rotocuff tendonitis and not a dislocated or broken arm. My arm seemed immediately better ……just knowing I guess. It means canceling our kayaking plans until later though.

We shopped for a new monitor for Andy’s laptop as his would turn black after just a few seconds of being turned on. Then we decided that he could buy a cable to connect his computer to the TV monitor and get by for now. Then he found by pushing a function button above the keyboard to make the screen brighter the monitor came back to life. The more he pushed the button the brighter the screen became. Somehow the adjacent button had been accidentally pushed which darkened the screen clear to black. That saved hundreds of dollars for repairing the screen, or a couple thousand for a new computer. The new Blue Ox hitch for the car was costly, $800, and there are now two new locking pins to hold it on.

Wall Mart Tulare has a friendly and knowledgeable guard that drives around with flashing lights, a happy smile, and Chamber of Commerce information for anyone who asks. He tells us that they will love to have us stay in their parking lot for up to three days, would you believe? We proceed having a wonderful dinner at Chili’s, taking my Naproxen prescription to Wall Mart to fill, and then even put up our TV antennae to watch the final results of the most talked about election in history. Things are looking up for us in spite of the crunch in the overall economy and it looks like Barack Obama will be our next president of the USA. and a benefit of going this southern route is that it is not raining—leak or no leak.

November 5, 2008
Andy drove out of the Tulare Wal Mart parking lot in the early morning hours with both GPS instruments programmed to go to the Temple RV park in St. George. The GPS is so useful….from the minute you leave the parking lot to get you out to the highway to keeping you in the right lane and guiding you into your destination at the end of the day. It is especially appreciated in big cities when it politely says “keep left” to keep you from ending up on the right for a left turn. It gives you good forewarning of things to come. Andy really appreciates the GPS, but, thank goodness, it doesn’t replace me and I still help guide and translate.
The Fantastic fan broke. It caught the wind on top of the bus and broke the mount that holds the motor in. Andy found a small extension that he needed to fix it by buying an opening mechanism of a different brand for parts. He is a mechanical genius that I cannot do without, along with being a superb husband. At one of the “stretch” breaks we took, he fastened it down until we have more time to fix it right. When we settle somewhere for a time, he has several fix it projects like putting a rotating vent with a weather vane for on top of the bathroom vent and a strut in the lift up seat of the bench. We make some interesting accidental discoveries as we are exploring. Near Fresno we found a Camping World at the end of a dead end after getting fuel at a truck stop. It was just in time for buying the part for the Fanastic Fan. We probably would not have found the wonderful parking at the Tulare Wall Mart if we had not found a hospital near it to get an exray on my arm. Today we had an adventure in Boron, the home of the 20 mule team wagons that mine Borax. We have been here several times, in this small town in the middle of nowhere, and find neat treasures. There are three good restaurants and a museum that is so interesting. The Boron compound mined near this town of Boran is the element used in more than 150 different products including Bone China, alloys, fish egg baits, atifreeze, dyes, matches, and paper. The 20 mule team that was used before they had trucks (at least the huge 150 ton trucks they use now). To be a 20 mule team driver, you had to be able to drive 12 lead mules and 6 mules that were trained to leap over the chain in the middle and pull to the opposite side of the team to keep the chain in the middle of the turn. Two draft mules close to the wagon were actually two draft horses. To be a 20 mule team driver, you would be some sort of hero.

November 6, 2008
Last night was a great sleep at the Buffalo Bill Casino’s back lot at Primm, NV. With the world’s largest rollercoaster outside our starboard side and trucks and RVs all around doing the same as us….sleeping, eating or gambling in the casino. This morning, first light, found Andy moving our unit to an uninhabited part of the desert to give it a wash with our own water from our now-diminished tank with a bucket and squirt hose. It just glows with beauty now and stars its new paint job. Bob and Shirley Lewis are staying at a fancy resort, Signature, in Las Vegas on a friends lot. It is far too expensive for us to stay a night, between $75 to $160 a night, but has a easy huge parking lot in front for us to park and Bob and Shirley picked us up for a little tour and breakfast at the Casino nearby. We had an animated visit catching up on news and talk about our long stay together ahead of us in Mexico. They dropped us back at our house on wheels and we drove to the Speedway Blvd. exit of I-15 for fuel and telephoning the Utah kids to say that we are heading their way to the Zion Gate RV resort and want to all meet there this evening and maybe go to dinner together.