Day One: Friday, March 16: Border Crossing at Tecate to Ensenada

Border Crossing - No Waiting!

Having scouted Tecate the day before, and picked up some pesos and our FMTs (tourist visas), along with the route through town, crossing the border was quite easy. No waiting, just pulled through and right on through town. Tecate is definitely an old-style Mexican town – it is not a tourist town at all, so the feeling after crossing is immediately of being IN Mexico. The road took us around two sides of the lovely town square, with statues, trees, and fountains, and even a sidewalk café. There is a pretty steep hill (for an older RV pulling a Jeep, at least!) leaving town, and there are stop signs on the way up.

The roads in Baja are narrower, rougher, and have little to no shoulder. They do, however, have a lovely white line marking the right side of the lane, which is very helpful when trying to move as far to the right as possible to allow trucks, busses, and other RVs to pass in either direction. It is especially helpful since not only is there no shoulder, but there is usually a sharp drop off at the edge of the pavement on the other side of the white line of at least 6-12 inches – imagine the RV’s front tire going off a 12 inch edge at 40 miles/hour – not too pretty of a picture! The lanes are officially 9.5 feet wide (narrower than in the US), and the RV is 8.5 feet wide, not counting the mirrors, which stick out about a foot on both sides. So you might say driving in Baja is a white knuckle experience in an RV. Devin is doing all the driving – I am sure I would have taken us off a cliff on a “Curva Peligrosa” by now! He, on the other hand, is a very calm and level-headed driver. And very skilled – he’s like a draftsman in his ability to drive ON the white line without going over for mile after mile! But after the first day of driving, we BOTH had sweaty palms, and I am worried we’ll need to reupholster the arms of the passenger seat where my nails have dug in repeatedly!! Note to self: cut nails short before driving further!

The scenery leaving Tecate is quite nice – not that we could rip our eyes off the road to enjoy it much… but the sky was quite hazy, although it had been clear blue skies in Potrero north of the border. I think the Maquiladora zone in Tecate, plus the fact that some marine layer from the ocean had moved inland up the terrain to there, gave it hazy skies. A few miles south of town, passing over some mountains, and we were back into blue skies and open county. Occasional small villages all had “topes” to slow down traffic – like speed bumps, only steeper and bigger! At least most of these are well marked, and also have mini-topes leading up to the big ones, increasing in frequency as they get closer. We took those all very slowly, since you could hear every dish in our cabinets rattle on each one! Little ranchos dotted the countryside, and the road wound to and fro, over and around the hilly and mountainous terrain. All the dangerous curves are marked, not only with signs, but also with the sad little shrines to those that did not heed the warnings and died at those places. The roadside in Baja is dotted with these shrines up and down its length.

After a while, we came to Baja’s “Ruta de Vina” – or Wine Country Route. The Guadalupe Valley opened out in the mountains to vineyards and olive trees, and other orchards, but mostly grapes. The Ruta de Vina seemed more affluent than many areas, with large homes adjoining each vineyard. In some ways, it made me think that it must still be similar to the old days of the Haciendas, where the landowners were wealthy and employed the campesinos to work their fields. Today, at least, those campesinos have a chance to become landowners themselves, but as we have seen in many cultures throughout history, breaking out of poverty is much easier said than done. The third richest man in the world is now a Mexican, though – owner of TelCel and many other interests throughout Mexico – not only is he Mexican, he is a first generation Mexican whose family immigrated from Lebanon. Though the division between the haves and haves-nots down here is quite wide, the New World is still a land of opportunity for some!

We began to feel the air get cooler as we neared the coast, and with relief we merged onto the 4 lane Mex.1 as we entered Ensenada. It would be a short period of relief – Mex 1 is 2 lane highway the rest of the way down Baja, except for short stretches near cities such as Loreto and La Paz. Ensenada is a big city! And it has the biggest flag I’ve ever seen – Americans aren’t the only ones that do the huge flag thing – this Mexican flag in Ensenada, I think, may be bigger than any US flag I’ve been amazed by! There was quite a bit of construction in Ensenada, and we were detoured from the main highway, but eventually got back to it in time to make the turn off to the Estero Bay Resort.

Detailed trip updates - Baja, One Day at a Time

As promised, following is the day by day account of our Baja travels so far - photos may not come through well because of poor internet connection, so watch for them to be added later if so!

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Baja - "brief" summary of the first two weeks

We are currently in Loreto, in Baja California Sur, Mexico. We have been having the most amazing adventures so far!! We are officially in love with Baja.

Yesterday, we drove out the 35 km on a rough dirt road through the Sierra Gigante mountains to San Javier - such incredibly beautiful desert scenery! With views back to the Sea of Cortez as we climbed, and Rupestran rock art greeting us along the way - several stream crossings, a few small ranchos, palms filling the arroyos and cardon, cholla, wild figs, and palo blanco hanging off the steep cliffs. San Javier is a piece of "old Baja" and this small ejido must feel great pride in what they have done - it is so beautiful and clean and well kept - cobblestone streets lead the way to San Javier Mission, which is the second of all the missions in the Californias. It was founded in 1699, and later moved to its current location in 1720 to make room for all the orchards - it is very well-preserved and very old feeling - simple, moorish architecture that I found more appealing that the ornate decor of some. It was really a gorgeous place, warm friendly people, tidy little homes and businesses, in such a beautiful valley in incredible desert scenery!

On the drive back the Jeep started making a horrible screeching noise - it seems something may have been caught in the wheel well, or was scraping on the metal disk brakes - it was awful and echoed in the canyon as we descended the steep rocky road with hairpin turns - we stopped in the road and Devin crawled under to see if it was something he could knock loose, and couldn't find anything, so we kept going a ways to find a better place to work on it - a relatively flat area with good visibility both directions. We jacked it up, and before removing the wheel, Devin did some more diagnostics and was able to pry the metal shield that covers the inside of the wheel away from the disk brakes, where it had been rubbing - probably a big rock got thrown up from the other tire and dented it. No more noise!! And we didn't have to take off the wheel. Yay!! We drove down to Loreto in the dark, seeing the glowing eyeshine of various beasts (mostly cattle, burros, and rabbits) along the way, outlines of Cardon (like Giant Saguaro) cacti, and enjoying the desert night as the lights of Loreto approached.

That was our most recent adventure - among others are when we've been surrounded by whales asking for a scratch on the back - they really do come right up to the small boats and bring their babies - they make the effort to gently float up close enough to the boat so we can reach down and "pet" them - their skin is surprisingly soft! It was amazing to be in this small panga, just us and our capitan, Leopoldo, in the midst of beautiful Ojo de Liebre (Scammon's) Lagoon, surrounded, literally surrounded, by whales - we had FIVE mother whales and their babies all at ONCE surrounding the boat, taking turns in the "line" to get a scratch! Truly amazing! Leopoldo was very good about not chasing the whales, but let them choose to come to us - he would pilot the boat to a place near where we saw spouts, and we would wait at a distance, idling, and if they didn't come to us, he would move on. It was a very moving experience - Leopoldo kept saying "bueno, bueno, bueno!" and spreading his arms as if to say, "see what I have brought you?!" What an amazing day.

More recently, we camped for a few days on the beach of the Sea of Cortez at Playa Santispac, which was just incredible - one of those places, like Saline Valley, that is so relaxing that you feel as if you'd already been there weeks when it has only been 2 or 3 days.

We met some wonderful people there - Alethea and Bernardo camped next to us for a couple of nights - she is a teacher from Alberta, Canada, who had been teaching English in Mexico, where she met Bernardo, who is from Guadalajara, Mexico. They were a great couple! Bernardo was very international - his family is from Germany, and he went to high school in England, so he is fluent in three languages - but he is Mexican born and raised. He speaks English with a British/Mexican accent :-) We shared a wonderful fish dinner with them on the beach one night, from fresh pescado bought from the vendors who came by every morning, and with a marinade that I learned from my former roommate Tom from Wrightwood - lime juice, soy sauce, cilantro, serrano chiles, purple onion, and garlic. Yum!

There were all sorts of beautiful shells on that beach, and wonderful bird and sea life. We rented a kayak and paddled out to an offshore island - a true "desert island" - covered in Cardon and Cholla and other cacti, but with Pelicans nesting among the cacti! We saw baby pelicans in their nests - omg they are SO cute! It felt like we were on the Discovery channel in the middle of a nature show - we floated silently through crowds of pelicans as we wove through small islets - close enough to touch, but we stayed silent and only paddled when we needed to, and only one hopped over to the next rock when we got too close. It was a solemn and stately procession of pelicans! American Oystercatchers and Spotted Sandpipers and Eared Grebes down at the shore on the rocks, along with strange prehistoric looking bugs - like giant pill bugs - which all swarmed up to just cover the rocks when we approached!! Below us yellow and black striped "seargent major" fish (I called them bumblebee fish) and a big blue parrot fish, lots of sting rays, dolphin fish (mahi mahi), jacks, and many others swam through the blue-green water, seaweed, rocks and sand we could see many feet down. Overhead, Turkey Vultures, Pelicans, and Frigatebirds made interesting aerial dance partners, and were joined by an Osprey that landed on a Cardon and watched us from on high. No photos of this experience, since we were afraid to bring a camera in case we dunked the kayak - ha. But it is certainly one of the more vivid memories we've had on this trip!

Another night at Santispac, we dined in style on a sailboat that was anchored in the bay - Tony and Marquita, from San Carlos and Albuquerque, came and got us from the beach in their dinghy and treated us to lasagna - I brought a bottle of red wine from Trader Joe's we'd been carrying for just such an occasion, and we stayed out on their lovely 34 foot boat until after sunset, being entertained by sailing stories, listening to the weather on the ham radio, and enjoying fine company. They also picked up Caleb, from a neighboring sailboat, who really looks like an "old salt"! People are very friendly and open down here!

Earlier in our trip, we traveled through the desierto central and stayed at Rancho Santa Ynes outside of Catavina for a few days. We explored some back roads there - went out to El Marmol, an abandoned onyx mine, where huge blocks of onyx have been left laying about like stonehenge, and there is a ruin of the only schoolhouse built entirely out of onyx.

We found when we were leaving Catavina, that our RV had a flat tire! We had probably cut the inside of one of our rear inside tires when we pulled back onto the highway from a rocky pullout before arriving, but since it was a deep slice, and we had had the RV up on its leveling jacks while camping, it hadn't been noticeable. As soon as we were pulling out, though, our tire monitors (a Christmas present from Devin's dad - thank you!) gave an alarm, and when we got out to look, you could hear air just streaming from the tire! Catavina is in the middle of the infamous "gas gap" in Baja - some 200 miles with no gas stations, and very little in the way of services or towns. Catavina itself is not much of a town - there is a hotel, and a few buildings - some guys that sell gas from barrels in the backs of their pickups, and that's about it. Well, we found one of those guys and asked for help - he was great! He and his wife came out to the rancho, had to make 2-3 trips back to get the right size tools, and helped us change our tire - not an easy task in an RV!! We gave them beer, soda, and more money than I think he was comfortable accepting, but we were so very grateful for both his hard work and their kindness. So now we are driving on our 10 year old spare, which still had the label on it, but it has been sitting for 10 years. It seems to be holding up fine, so far!

Which is a good thing, because the highway down here is no picnic! I know it used to be all dirt road beyond El Rosario, but even so, the lanes are MUCH narrower than in the US, with NO shoulders (often a drop off on the edge of the pavement of 6-12 inches that would be very dangerous to hit at highway speeds, especially in a 9 ton RV), guard rails are rare, and where they do exist are often smashed down from people going over them. Little shrines and memorials dot the highway's margins the entire length of the penninsula, solemn reminders of the dicho posted on one roadside sign, "Vale mas tarde que nunca" (better late than never). The roads are winding and often rough or full of potholes, and steep grades (including one that actually is officially named "cuesta del infierno" - the grade from hell - ha!). The lanes are officially 9.5 feet wide (though sometimes seem narrower!), but our motorhome is 8.5 feet wide, not counting our mirrors, which probably stick out a foot on each side, so when trucks or other RVs are passing, we have to have our right tires ON the white line, inches from the edge - quite the white knuckle driving experience!! The trucks don't slow down - they are expert drivers. We, on the other hand, slow to almost a stop when they pass us!! It's not hard to do because, fortunately, there is very little traffic, and most of the other RV's are heading north. The cars that do come from behind, we send around us using the Baja convention of the left blinker to let them know it is clear. People pass readily where most of us would never consider passing!! But the system works, and keeps us from being a rolling roadblock, so we can go as slow as we need to. Our top speed is usually about 40 mph, a nice speed for sightseeing! We typically drive under 100 miles on driving days, otherwise, this wouldn't be nearly as relaxing a trip.

Today begins the Semana Santa holiday - people have been warning us about the craziness of Semana Santa - the beaches, apparently, are where everyone in Mexico wants to be during the holiday, and thousands of people are expected at the lovely near deserted ones along Bahia Concepcion where we camped - in fact, they are moving a carnival onto the beach at Santispac! Playa Coyote will have 3 live bands, and there will be partying all night long. The roads will be full of traffic, and we are warned to beware of drunk drivers. Yikes! We just decided to stay in Loreto one more night so we can get an early start in the morning - we figure everyone who's been partying all night will be hung over and sleeping it off in the mornings, so if we drive early, we should avoid some of the worst of it. We may head north, rather than continue all the way south at this point, and we have decided we are definitely coming back. Next time, though, we will come earlier and stay much longer - perhaps January through March, giving us time for much more exploration and relaxation, and to truly settle into the Baja way of life.

I am going to try to add photos to this post, and maybe go into more detail, but I think our internet will turn off in a short while, and I wanted to get something posted before that happens - likely we won't have internet access until we get back to the US after this.

Some of our more relaxing pursuits other than exploration have been reading - I read Joseph Wood Krutch's "The Forgotten Penninsula" and Devin is reading John Steinbeck's "Log from the Sea of Cortez." I figured out Cielito Lindo on guitar, we've enjoyed birding and I've added several "lifers" to my bird list, and of course practicing speaking Spanish - my Spanish always improves by leaps and bounds in Mexico, of course, but I am still at the internal translation stage - so that when someone speaks rapidly, I can't always keep up, and it's amazing how quickly then Spanish goes from being a perfectly comprehensible language to complete gibberish! Here in Loreto is the first place we've found where many locals speak English, because of all the gringos here. There is an airport with direct flights, cruise ships come here, and many Norte Americanos have bought property and either have retired here or come to fish or vacation. I stubbornly insist on speaking Spanish because that is how I will keep improving!

I hope to post more details on the whales, San Javier, the desert, dogs, birds, etc. I hope I will not forget the soul-enriching beauty of this place.

Thanks for reading our blog!

Ahhhh, Mexico!

Well, we are officially "enamorados" with Baja (in love)! I have a lot to catch up on here in our little blog - so much has happened, so many "little stones of adventure" have been overturned in such a short time, it feels we've been gone for months. This won't be a "once in a lifetime trip" down here, because we are definitely coming back. We would like to come and stay for a few months, like many Norte Americanos in their RVs do - from January through March. There is so much to do and to really relax and enjoy it, it would be wonderful to be here for a longer time. We have plenty of time, but as spring progresses, it is getting warmer, and we would also like to make it all the way to Alaska by summer, with many explorations in between, so our self-imposed schedule sends us back north fairly soon.

We are currently in Loreto, Baja California Sur, and enjoying some city life luxuries along with the quirks of residing in a Mexican town - the Giant Megaphone cars that drive by on a regular basis announcing who knows what to the neighborhood, for example, the water vendor with his Woody Woodpecker horn, the roosters crowing before dawn, and here in the Rivera del Mar RV Park, the sounds of wind in palm fronds, and Orioles and Sparrows singing while building their nests. Oh, and a laundry and internet access!! All for $14 a night - quite expensive by Baja standards, but well-worth it to catch up on things like the blog, emails, laundry, groceries, etc.

What I will try to do is update in installments - separate posts throughout today detailing the last week or so of experiences - look for posts on beautiful beaches, great food, flora and fauna, deserts, jeep roads, whales, towns and people! Some preview photos are at Devin's Picasa album, at http://picasaweb.google.com/riley.devin/MiscBajaPics

This has been a wonderful trip so far!

More to come soon!

If it's not one thing...

It's another!

Okay, we are STILL in the U.S. ... but TOMORROW is D-Day! Departure Day...

We had to delay a day because the "check engine" light came on in our new Jeep. Pretty much something you want to check out before driving the Baja and exploring some of the backroads of the Vizcaino Penninsula and other places we've been reading about.

It was an error, according to the Jeep Dealer in La Mesa, so no worries. We thought it could have been a stuck thermostat because we bought one of those OBDCII readers that hook up to the on board computer and tell you what the problem is. Nice to have! The code was something about the cooling system, and it came on when the car was cold, but went off when it was warmed up. Of course, it went off before we got it to the dealer, and hasn't been back on since!

This is a lovely campground (Potrero) - it's too bad that although this will be our third night, we haven't really had a chance to enjoy it much. Folks here are very friendly, and pretty much everyone is either going to or coming back from Baja. We had a good test of the new Banks exhaust system in the moho just getting to Potrero - some steep grades towing the Jeep! It did great. We are really glad we got it.

We had planned to go to Tecate yesterday in the Jeep and head over with the moho today, but when the check engine light came on, we went to La Mesa instead - the Jeep dealer couldn't see us then, but said come back in the morning, so we went back up to Camping World in San Marcos and bought a spare water pump... we've been a bit worried that ours is about to konk out, so we figured we'd buy it now and then if ours doesn't die, we'll have an upgrade (we got one that is variable speed, and more powerful yet more quiet - so higher water pressure for showers, and quiet for midnight bathroom breaks).

That was a long day, and today was another - we got up early (for us) and went back to La Mesa and the Jeep dealer, got a rental car from them, went to Sport Chalet to get some "cheap" snorkel gear (at the recommendation of friends Tonya and Rich Mandl, who gave us a great list of Baja people and places we look forward to getting acquainted with!). Of course, we had a guy helping us who was a dive instructor and was super helpful and funny - and he showed me the mask HE uses, after which all of the other masks were just not good enough!! So I got a really nice mask. And a cheap snorkel and fins. I'll probably want a better snorkel... but the fins should be fine. Devin found a nice set he liked with short flippers, which work better for him, and he bought some webbed gloves, since most of his power is in his arms. I look forward to trying them out in the water!! (I tried them out in the RV when we got home - ha).

After we got the Jeep back, we went to Tecate and got our FMTs (tourist cards) and some pesos, and scouted the road through town we'll take with the RV tomorrow. Tecate is Mexico. I mean, it's really Mexico. I was expecting a border town to be a little more, I don't know - Americanized... but it feels like a small town in central Mexico - you cross that border and you are immersed in a completely different culture!!! No one speaks English, all the signs are in Spanish, everything is different. From the colors of paint on the buildings, to the music pouring out of the buildings, to the street signs and stores... although there was a McDonald's! That was the ONLY sign of Americanization I saw. Oh, and drivers are much nicer there! Twice in a short period people stopped and let us into traffic. I didn't like the traffic circles - I've never liked those. Too many variables! But I made it through twice, though I freaked out a bit the second time because a truck went through with us and the lanes are NOT well-defined. I'm okay now, though. Yay beer!

Speaking of beer, we decided not to go to the brewery - too long of a day already. It smelled just like the Miller Brewery up off the 210, by Irwindale. Our friend Graci would have liked it!! We'll drink plenty of Tecates, I suspect. Maybe we'll take a brewery tour on the way home.

So tomorrow, we go through the border and head to Ensenada. We are staying at the high end Estero Beach Resort there, which will be a nice way to start - we will have plenty of time for boondocking on beaches farther south, but up in this region, a high end RV park is more appealing.

After Ensenada, we will head to San Quintin to camp on the beach, then El Rosario for lunch at Mama Espinoza's (where we will say hi to Roly from Rich and Tonya, and be sure to try the spicy lobster soup!) and Catavina area may be a camping spot - beautiful cacti and rocks, an old onyx mine (El Marmol) which our rockhound friend Greg Arnold would surely love, may be some side trips we'll take, or perhaps we'll save them for the way back so we can get to see the whales in Scammons and San Ignacio Lagoons before they migrate back north.

Bahia de los Angeles is one of the areas I know we'll want to spend some time, but maybe we'll go there on the way back north so we don't feel rushed to leave to catch the "tail of the whales." So after San Quintin, we may power through to Guerrero Negro and camp right on the Lagoon (called Ojo de Liebre in Spanish - Scammons is the same place). So we are about 3-4 days from whales, and after than, whatever we feel like!

The water situation will be interesting. We are going to fill our water tank at RV parks, and chlorinate it ourselves for washing, but buy bottled water for drinking and maybe for cooking. I wish they made "Potable Aqua" in large quantities for 75 gallon tanks, so we could use the neutralizer tablets like I do for backpacking - no bad taste! And the Iodine tablets kill even viruses. We have some good filters that we use to fill our tanks - some people add Chlorine before filtering, some after. I like the "pour the bleach into the hose before connecting and filling" technique, since it sterilizes the hose, and some of the bad Chlorine taste should get filtered out that way.

Well, I'm going to get back to my duty as trip photographer tomorrow! And I'd better get to bed soon, since it will be an exciting day and our first day in Mexico in the Moho.

Wish us Bien Viajes!!

Still in Southern California...

But not for long!!!

Okay, the whole month of February is missing - I realize that and have a draft started, but so much happened!! I have photos and lots of stories to tell - moving out of our apartment and into the tiny storage with the big old truck, working on the Jeep installing base plate for towing and wiring braking system, redecorating the interior of the moho, errands and more errands, visiting family and friends - it's been very busy!! But we are ~almost~ finally ready to head over the border, so I thought I should do a quick update to the blog before we do.

First, one more excuse besides the busy one - my laptop died and we've sent it off to the Apple Mothership for a new hard drive, so updating the blog depends on when I can wrench Devin's laptop from him - ha. We'll pick mine up after Baja, so updates should start being more frequent. We'll at least attempt to post photos on Picasa or other photo sites and link to them from here!

Right now we are in San Diego at Campland on the Bay, trying to wrap everything up! The RV was in the shop at Camping World most of the day Saturday getting the SmartTire monitoring system fixed, and yesterday we ran more errands. Today we got new off-road tires for the Jeep and will take care of other items we forgot or were thinking of not doing - like putting together a camping kit for Baja in the Jeep. I just found out the 5th tire (spare) for the Jeep won't be ready till around 4pm, so it looks like we may stay here one more night, then head over to Tecate in the morning.

We plan to camp at Potrero County Park which is right across the border from Tecate, and head over to Tecate in the Jeep to explore and get our FMTs and visit the Tecate Brewery, scout the route through town, etc. Then the next day we'll cross in the moho with the Jeep in tow, and head straight down to Ensenada. A night or two in Ensenada, then on to points south - we look forward to exploring the Catavina area, Vizcaino Penninsula, Bahia de los Angeles, Scammons Lagoon, San Ignacio, Mulege, Bahia de Concepcion, and on down to Cabo and Land's End. Hope to find places to kayak and snorkel, side trips in the Jeep, take lots of photos, improve our Spanish, and just relax!!

More updates on the lost month, and on the coming weeks in Baja, as time and internet connections allow!

Oh, email if you'd like to hear from us in person - a lot of my contacts are on my laptop and not in online address books! And our phones may work in Baja - we updated to the North America's Choice plan which includes international roaming and long distance, so you can call either of us, too!

Why we are really taking this trip

Our friend Ushruf sent us the link to this comic, and it's so us, it's scary!! It comes from here: www.xkcd.com

Since I'm on here - here are some quick updates:

• Wednesday 1/31: We got our Jeep!!!! We love it!!!! Pics soon!
• Thursday 2/1: Devin's last day of work!!! Yay!!! (*gulp*)
• Move out: Next weekend!!!
• Last day in apartment: 2/13/07
• First day of the rest of our lives: Valentine's Day... awwww....

More to come when we actually hit the road!

STUFF!!!

How did I get so much stuff?

Mainly, papers... ugh. Someday, they will find me, buried under a fallen pile of "important" papers that I wasn't sure where to file. So sad - suffocation by paperwork. I HATE paperwork. Hate it. We've tried to get everything online - e-bills, e-newsletters, e-magazines - yet we still get too much paper mail. We've opted out of mailing lists and catalogs over and over, and yet they keep finding us!

Is the "Closet Maximizer" the answer?

Once, on Riders Radio Theatre, I heard a great fake commercial about the "Closet Maximizer" and the idea has stuck with me for years... a simple device, really - a large carboard box, lighter fluid, and a box of matches. "Not Recommended for Indoor Use"!

Well, lacking the backyard bonfire to try the Closet Maximizer, we are maxing out our apartment's recycling bins! I had 3 boxes full of files from AEOE, my organization where I've been newsletter editor, webmaster, and president, among other things... I had meeting minutes, old newsletters, and all kinds of stuff that is going straight into the recycling bin - I have pretty much all of it online now! So much information - conference workshop presenter contacts from 7 years ago, ideas for keynote speakers, workshops, etc. Now that there's Google, who needs files?

Information ages and ages...

I have these crates (yes, milk crates) of files I've carried with me for years - lesson plans from my student teaching days, notes and papers from trainings I attended as a US Forest Service Botanist, such as how to recognize ozone injury damage to pines, writing NEPA documents, habitat maps - how many trees were cut down so that they could give all their employees all that information? Tossing it forces me to admit I will either never be a Forest Service Botanist again, or if I am, all that information will be outdated anyway. At least I know that I left accessible information behind in those past positions. I hate it when someone leaves and takes all their knowledge with them. I've tried to avoid that, so I can recycle all that useful (or once useful) information guilt-free.

The boxes of files I have not yet been able to let go are my Park Service files. - at least one file box which represents hours and hours of research for all of my programs. I ~would~ like to be a Park Ranger again. I loved giving campfire talks, and most especially leading the 7-day High Sierra Camp Loop Trips in Yosemite. That is the best job I've ever had the honor of doing. So those files get stored.

Thank goodness for Freecycle and Craigslist!

I've been putting together collections of items to give away on Freecycle and Craigslist, things thrift stores would not want, but with the wider audience of the web, someone will not only want, but come to my door to pick it up! A box of old postcards and notecards, for example, and collections of phone cords, old tech books, out of date software, even pencils. No need to toss anything, practically!

I've also been selling items on Craigslist - household items we don't really want to pay to store for the next year, like our couch, coffee table, 36" TV, among other things. Found a college student with a new apartment that wants lots of it - cool way to help someone get set up and get rid of excess stuff, and make a little cash and save some money on storage and moving all at the same time!

The battle continues...
So I continue to get off mailing lists, with the help of groups like the Center for a New American Dream which has Junk Mail "Get off the Lists" resources, and by calling individual catalog companies to opt out, and by looking for opt out options (say that five times fast) on every form I fill out, every online purchase I make... it's a cause that requires constant vigilance! Freedom from junk mail!

The hardest battle, though, is the battle with myself. I am a packrat. I am a procrastinator. I dislike waste and if something is still "good" or could be used by someone, somewhere, I can't toss it. This is a good quality that comes from good values, but the effect, combined with procrastination, particularly, is not good!

Lessons: Don't let it into your life unless you love it or need it (preferably both); Don't keep it in your life unless you need it or love it; Take care of it right away if you neither need nor love it!

These are seemingly simple lessons, yet SO difficult in reality to stick with. Hmmm, ~maybe~ we could use that... someday... somewhere... Sigh. My parents survived the great depression and their garage was a monument to not wasting anything. My dad was a dumpster diver - he'd go for walks and bring back "this perfectly good doohickey" the neighbors were throwing away! Our garage was full of them. Whenever anyone needed anything or something needed repair, he had something in his garage for the job. So perhaps some of it is in my genes, and in my upbringing. Nature and Nurture are both working against me. But I am agonizing over getting rid of SO much history that I've dragged with me for the past 15 years at least, that I am hopeful I will not let it build up to that extreme again. Hope springs eternal!

Too much stuff is a symptom of the modern condition - we are victims of comfort, as Keb Mo said, and in our greed, we hang onto belongings we no longer need - the whole storage industry is a racket! If I don't need it or can't fit or use it in my house, I don't need it, period! Stuff should get recirculated back into the system, back into society, to be used and enjoyed by someone else, if I'm not using it! I always loved that quote in "Hello Dolly" about money:

I never did like the idea of all that money of yours lying around in piles in the bank, so useless and motionless. As my late husband, Ephraim Levi, used to say: "Money should circulate like rainwater. It should flow down among the people, through little dressmakers and restaurants, setting up a business here, furnishing a good time there."

Stuff is like that - it should circulate, furnishing poor college students' dorm rooms, keeping kids entertained, becoming someone else's collectible!

Ah, enough. Yes. Enough!

Quick Update

Okay, okay! I've been told by a few friends that we need to update the blog! That is SO cool that you are reading it! :-)

It's getting down to the wire on departure, and we've just been really busy, with getting ready and the holidays and all - and trying to fit in doing fun things with friends and family before we leave as well. And both Devin and I have been sick recently, too, on top of that - ick. So that's the official excuse.

Here's some of the fun stuff we've been up to, just since Christmas:

Last Saturday we went to Supercross Race "Anaheim 1" with friend Ushruf - his first race - my second. My favorite, James Stewart, won! It was a very exciting race for the first few laps, as Chad Reed started in first, and Ricky Carmichael got tangled up in the start, and both James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael fell, making it anybody's race for a while, but Stewart pulled ahead, and Carmichael took second, with Reed, racing with a fractured shoulder blade and chipped collar bone, in third. These guys are gladiators! Yet such cute nice guys, too!

Last night, I went to a Dead Cookie Party with friend Jenny Dodge. The idea is to create a gingerbread cookie of someone who died in the previous year.

People take this very seriously! Jenny sketches out her cookie design in advance, and most people research their person and bring notes! After baking and icing, we each did a short presentation on our cookie. Jenny did Steve Irwin, and I did Buck Owens. Crikey! Hee Haw!

On New Year's Day, we watched the Rose Parade from our apartment building balcony - since this is the last time we'll be living on the parade route, we figured we'd better do this! This year, George Lucas was the Grand Marshall, so it had some special effects... I liked the Star Wars band - a marching band (from Louisiana, I think?) that really rocked! The storm troopers were a little disappointing. I told Devin, "they weren't real storm troopers, just some guys in storm trooper outfits..." Ha. What I meant was, they were just fans and not trained and didn't march in step, even, so they weren't very imposing, as one would expect. But the floats were neat from our fourth floor balcony viewpoint! And the Stealth Bomber and Stealth Fighters that do a fly over at the beginning of the parade each year were truly awesome! Seeing it on TV cannot compare to the overwhelming feeling of having it fly directly over your head - low, loud, and fast! If I hadn't been at the start of a bad cold, I could have enjoyed the parade more, but after a while, I had to go inside and watch it on TV - funny - you could hear outside what I was watching inside.

Between Christmas and New Year's, we went camping with friends Anita and Greg and family out near Blythe at Coon Hollow campground. I went with everyone out to the Hauser Beds and the boys dug for geodes while Anita and I played with our cameras. Devin stayed at the Moho and did some repairs while I was out playing - he fixed two drawers and worked on a broken awning latch. Go Devin! That evening, I made my first soon-to-be-famous "Holy Shit Margaritas" while we grilled steak and veggies and mashed potatoes (well, Anita made the mashed potatoes - we didn't grill them - ha!). The boys each brought a friend and they spent a lot of time on their bikes making jumps and just exploring, when they weren't digging or climbing.

We really like having our solar panels! We can camp with friends in tents and not be obnoxious. Now if we could just keep our water pump and furnace quiet... well, we can - there are fixes for both, but we've spent enough money at this point that if it works, we'll probably just keep it as is, at least for now. We've considered getting catalytic heaters installed, which, along with the SHURflo Comfort Air fans that can work like a ceiling fan to help circulate the heat, would make a very quiet heater alternative, but our built in forced air furnace works fine to keep us warm, so we are holding off on that. And there are quiet water pumps and special accesories to make it quiet, but again, ours works okay, so we're holding off.

Well, that's an update of some of the fun stuff we've been doing - before Christmas we have had a few family get-togethers and camping in the desert over Thanksgiving with friends. The rest of what we are doing isn't so fun - sorting, cleaning, packing, storing... and getting the MoHo set up for our trip with all the details, and getting our business taken care of here - bills, and taxes, and mail and such. Once we hit the road I will update more often!!

We'll keep everyone posted on a Bon Voyage Party/Moho Open House - possibly in early February.

PS - our Jeep went to D1 status!! (That means it's scheduled to be built, so we'll probably get it later this month - yay!!!

Jeepers...

We ordered a new 2007 Jeep Wrangler 4 door!!

We are getting 4wd (of course - it's just ~wrong~ that they even make Jeeps in 2wd now!), with an anti-slip rear differential, 17" wheels, a dual top (it's the indecisiveness tax... we couldn't decide between the "Freedom" 3 piece hard top and "Sunrider" soft top, so we are getting both), side steps, side air bags, automatic, power windows and doors (on a Jeep! Weird, but in a good way), tow package and Sirius Satellite radio...

We've changed our mind on the color several times, but are now ordering "Greystone" with a khaki interior. Light colors don't show dirt as much, and are cooler out in the desert. But I like "Rescue Green" like in the commercial at right (and after all - toads are supposed to be green!)

We are getting all the amenities and a new Jeep instead of an old beater for our toad because we decided it will also be our main multi-purpose vehicle, most likely for a while. We are selling our Toyota Sequoia to pay for the Jeep, so it needs to replace the Sequoia as a camping vehicle for long trips, not just off-road adventures. And also the new four door Jeep has actual cargo space, so we can carry Devin's Segway in the back, and all our camping gear. It does drive more like an SUV than a Jeep, which is nice for those longer trips.

Now we just have to get the kayaks to go on top so we look like "a new species"!

Life in the Trailer Park

So, we tried out trailer park life this last weekend, and, not surprisingly, found it wasn't exactly to our liking. I mean, it was a nice park and all - very clean, landscaped, by a lake... but it was a trailer park! Excuse me, an RV Park. But there were a lot of people obviously living there full time - Christmas decorations competing in the Trailer Trash Christmas Spirit Beauty Contest (not really, but I did find the award winner if they were!) and, even though it was clean and well-manicured... it was just... odd.

So to back up - why were we in a trailer park? Well, we are moving out of our apartment at the end of January to move into the MoHo and get ready to hit the road as soon as all the arrangements have been made, and we thought maybe it would be nice to have a local place to "hover" for a while during that transition period. So we booked a weekend at the East Shore RV Park in San Dimas to try it out. They only had spaces available in their "lower" section, where the sites are closer together and it's more dense. We may have felt a bit differently if we had a spot up on the hill, with views of the Puddingstone Reservoir and city lights, and lots of space between us and our neighbors. But down in the low rent district, we kept our shades pulled all weekend, didn't leave any camping chairs out... listened to redneck conversations of some of our "neighbors" that obviously lived there full time... and pretty much decided that is NOT what we got the RV for!

So, if we need to hover around southern California for a while, it will likely be out in the desert, or up in the eastern Sierra region, or maybe at the beach. We don't need hook-ups, cable TV, and a paved pad to park on.

Devin was the wisest when he said this:

Instead of staying someplace like East Shore RV Park for a 2-4 weeks, why don't we just go to some nice location and camp for free or for a very low fee. We could spend 2-4 weeks exploring semi-local areas of California. Instead of listening to the redneck neighbors in San Dimas, we could be exploring Death Valley or other areas we like. Being a local in some area other than the LA basin. We could live in Bishop for a month and see how we like it. There would be lots to do, unlike in San Dimas. Why waste the beginning of our trip in San Dimas? There is no real reason to have to "kill time" in redneck land.

If we do spend some time in the Desert or other local area, we will have a car to come back to deal with other things if need be.

I think the San Dimas experience really made me have some doubts because of the neighbors. I do not want to become those people and being there made me question if that is what we were doing. It is not though. We are going on a trip to explore new places, see new areas to live etc. San Dimas is not on the list of places that I intended to go :)

This is why I love him. He has the ability to put things into perspective nicely, when I sometimes lose that perspective.

The RV is kind of like real estate - it's all about Location, Location, Location! The same RV out in the desert, at the beach, in the mountains, is worth SO much more to us than in an RV park. I'm really glad we have our solar panels now so we can stay pretty much wherever we want!

More about our solar panels soon!

I'm Blogging from the Freeway!!

Thanksgiving Day - and here we are, ambling down the freeway at 55 (or less when the traffic slows), and I'm on the internet, updating our blog!!

We got our Wireless Broadband Card, a Kyocera KPC650 PC Card, and life on the road will never be the same! We don't have the external antenna and amplifier yet, but when we do, we should get cellular service up to 50 miles farther than normal from a tower, and when we aren't getting broadband (EVDO - "Evolution Data Only"), we will get National (1xrtt) service, which is like an old dial up connection speed-wise, but it's still a connection! All over southern California so far it has been broadband, which is pretty darn fast!

This weekend, if we get service, we will experiment with the wireless router, to see if we can both be on at the same time with our laptops. Of course, not while driving... he he.

I like being able to check email, blog, and surf while driving (well, passengering, anyway)! Need a map? Oh, let me just get a Google map of the area... Find a campground? Let me check one of the many online directories! Oh it's so useful, and much more fun than I usually am in the car - head nodding, drooling, snoring loudly... ha.