The Sunday after Thanksgiving we drove east to Palm Springs. We were anticipating heavy holiday traffic so we left earlier than usual. The traffic heading east wasn’t bad. But notice all the traffic heading west towards Los Angeles. It was backed up for many miles. We always know we are getting close to Palm Springs when we see lots of wind turbines and road signs with names like Gene Autry and Bob Hope. 

We loved our campground with the beautiful tall swaying palm trees. 

Everything was perfect until we saw the paper in our welcome packet warning us of rattlesnakes. Fortunately in the eight days we were there we didn’t see any. 

We really enjoyed Palm Springs even though it has lots of traffic.

On our first trip to Walmart a big roadrunner was wandering around the parking lot, oblivious to all the cars and people. 

After spending three months in the spring and three months in the fall, or a total of half the year in California, on December 7 we left California and entered Arizona. We now pay about a dollar less for a gallon of gas and no longer need to pay can deposits. 

Our destination was Yuma, AZ where we will spend most of the winter. We have spent several winters in Yuma over the past six years so it feels very familiar to us. There is a very large snowbird population here in Yuma and it is a large sprawling city with three Walmarts, the usual large anchor stores found at malls and many restaurants. 

We pretty much picked up where we left off last winter with Bill rejoining the Yuma Amateur Radio group with their weekly breakfast meetups and monthly meetings. We went back to the Yuma Methodist Church where the pastor remembered us and we have some snowbird friends.

Our first week back we had our yearly physicals and blood-work. Always good to get that done. We drove the very short distance over the border to Los Algodones in Baja, Mexico where we rewarded ourselves with great tacos and nachos and of course big margaritas. They make their margaritas pretty strong! 

We are currently still in Yuma until mid January when we leave to spend three weeks in Quartzsite. We are signed up to enjoy Christmas dinner here in the RV park with other snowbirds. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

We were really fortunate that Bob and Sharon invited us to share their RV site at El Dorado Ranch.  It not only gave us a chance to spend more time with this wonderful couple, but all the campgrounds in San Felipe were full due to the Baja 250 which is an international off road 250 mile desert race involving motorcycles and all terrain vehicles of many classes. The top class is a “trophy truck” which has few rules.

Friday we went into town to see the parade of motorcycles and vehicles that were going to be in the race the next day. They had to go down the city center to be inspected by the SCORE race officials.  It was amazing to see how they do parades in San Felipe.  The streets are not blocked off and people roam back and forth across the street during the parade.  While the parade vehicles were stopped, people were free to wander off and look at the vehicles and talk with the drivers who happened to be the mechanics.  One mechanic found a way to get lunch while waiting in the parade line!    They were all headed to the inspection area where the vehicles were taken apart and inspected in depth to be sure they were within regulations.   Bill and Bob had fun looking at all the vehicles and talked with the mechanic of #21 which later turned out to be the winner of his vehicle class. 

Meanwhile during the parade people dragged chairs and coolers of beer through the streets to enjoy during the parade.  Only in Mexico could you bring your own coolers of beer on wheels.  We were amazed to see they charged $5 pesos (about 50 cents) to use port-a-potties.  Bill found a vendor who sold max trax which you put under your tires so you get un-stuck.  These would make the perfect gift for those of you who live in those cold snowy climates since they can be used on snow or sand!  Some people had very inventive strollers that went with the theme of the race.

Saturday morning Bill and Bob were undecided about whether to attempt to watch the race.  The main problem is the race is held off road and it is extremely dusty and therefore rather unhealthy to breathe.  The drivers of the cars wear special oxygen masks due to the dirt.  Bill found the race on his amateur radio and discovered that the start of the race was being delayed for several hours.  The race course had to be altered due to snow on the summit part of the race.  Yes, snow.  It does snow in the mountains of Baja even though the sea level area is warm.  So the guys were content to listen to the race on the radio and we also spent part of the day at the golf club and of course the hot tub.  Sharon made a great pitcher of margaritas to take to the pool

We packed up and waited for the Ensenada version of rush hour to pass since people drive crazy in Ensenada.  We stopped by a large supermarket on the way out of town to get some supplies for San Felipe.  They had a large display of pastries and sweets and since I had not eaten breakfast I decided to get something to eat on the way.  I looked for bags of some kind to put the pastries in and found nothing.  I knew they didn’t expect you to walk up to the checkout line with a handful of donuts, so I walked over to the bakery counter and asked where I could find a bag.  The man behind the counter did not speak English so I decided to try charades and pretend to put pastries in a bag.  All I got was a blank expression.  Bill got out his spanish dictionary and looked up the word for “bag” and I said bag in Spanish and pointed to the pastries, and again, a blank expression.  Suddenly a  lightbulb went off in his head and he pointed to some silver trays with rows of thongs and a lightbulb went off in our head and we realized we were supposed to put the pastries on the tray.  About that time another customer walked up with her tray of goodies for them to put in a bag and put a sticker on with the price to be used at checkout.  Moral of the story…when in Mexico do it the Mexican way, not the way you think it should be! When we were leaving we noticed a security guard with a big shotgun standing right inside the door because the ATM machine was being worked on.  I am used to security guards but not with shotguns! We had to cross yet another mountain with narrow, curvy roads with no shoulders.  Bill and I both commented how surprised we have been that Baja is so mountainous.  I will never get used to the roads here and I am always very nervous.  I don’t know how Bill drives an RV on these roads with tractor trailers flying past us! We passed one easy checkpoint where they only asked us where we were going.  When we arrived at the junction of Mexican HIghway 3 and Highway 5, we came to a very large, modern military checkpoint with multiple traffic lanes.  They said “inspection” which always means they want to come inside.  The soldier spent some time opening cabinets and drawers as well as the pantry and bathroom.  He then left and we were on the final leg of our journey to San Felipe.  We have read several articles recently that said all these military checkpoints in Baja are at the request of the U.S. government, and paid for by the U.S. government to stop drug traffic into the United States. Mexico Highway 5 which runs from the border at Mexicali to San Felipe was a wonderful 4 lane highway with wide lanes and a median down the middle.  What a wonderful surprise!  San Felipe is a popular tourist destination for Americans since it is such an easy 120 miles drive from the border.  We did read that many people speed on this road and get tickets.  We were warned that if you get a speeding ticket the police follow you to the nearest bank where you pay your fine before they let you go.  Needless to say, we watched our speed carefully, but normally stay under 55 MPH anyway! We arrived at the El Dorado Ranch where Sharon was waiting for us at the gate.  We received our passes and Sharon led the way to our campsite.  It was so good to see Bob and Sharon again and Bill and Bob quickly began setting up camp.  El Dorado Ranch is a gated community with private homes as well as private RV lots which is underdeveloped partly due to the downturn in the U.S. economy.  We had access to a golf course where we could go to check our email and Bob and Sharon took some lessons and played a few rounds of golf.  We also had access to a beautiful swim club with swimming pools and a great large hot tub which we enjoyed during our stay in San Felipe. 

After we got set up, Bob drove us into San Felipe to get a feel for the town.  This is a pretty progressive town…they even have a bike hospital!  During the 5 days we were there they were having their version of Mardi Gras.  We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the carnival atmosphere.  

We finished our first day in the hot tub with margaritas.  What a great day!  

Thursday we drove further south to more isolated areas and enjoyed seeing the beach areas.   Just like Bahia De Los Angeles, San Felipe is on the Sea of Cortez.  It is interesting to see the shore at low tide,  and to see how they arrange their campgrounds.  Notice the third campsite picture with the large water bucket on top for taking showers.  We came to one very small town where we found a post office and a library.  Sharon and I peeked in the library and actually found some books in English!  We finished the day with another beautiful sunset and fun times.

We loved our stay in San Quintin at Fidel’s campground.  It is not often that you get a beach all to yourself.  For most of the time the beach was deserted….no hotels, restaurants or people. The two RVs that appeared late Sunday were gone very early.  I find it so strange that so many people use San Quintin as a one night stopover.  It is such a shame they do not take time to enjoy the beauty and solitude of this wonderful place but instead rush on to their next destination.

We continued north for a two night stay in Estero Beach at the same campground where we had the Mexican Connection 8 rally.  The trip from San Quintin was fairly uneventful.  The four detours onto dirt roads were still there and the trip over the mountain was still unnerving. We came to our first military checkpoint where they asked us where we were going and if we were on vacation.  When we said yes they waved us on.  Our second military checkpoint was not as easy since one of the solders came inside and did a lengthy check of the bedroom and bathroom area.  This was the most extensive search done in all the military checkpoints and rather annoying but after a few minutes we were again on our way.

We arrived at the same campground and quickly settled in.  It felt somewhat like arriving home since we had spent a week there earlier, but also felt so strange to pull into the campground and not see it full of our friends and their RVs. It was nice to have internet once again to check email and work on the blogs.  Bill had planned on getting a cell phone in Mexico to use while we are here but it just wasn’t feasible or cost effective since the cell phone coverage where we were going was very sporadic.  It has been interesting spending a month in Mexico with no cell phone service and very limited internet.  In fact, it has been great!

Tuesday was spent doing laundry, catching up on a ton of emails, and working on the blog.  We had planned to go to San Felipe on Wednesday which would be our final stop before heading to the USA.  I emailed our friends Bob and Sharon to see if they were still in San Felipe since they had headed there when we went to south to Guerrero Negro.  She emailed me that they were still there and that all the campgrounds were full because the Baja 250 international race and annual carnival being held there this week.  She then generously offered to let us park our RV next to theirs since there was plenty of room.  We gratefully accepted.  We are really looking forward to seeing Bob and Sharon again and exploring San Felipe!

Today we took a last look at beautiful Bahia De Los Angeles and headed north once again to San Quintin (pronounced San Canteen).  When heading south we stopped at Catavina, but we decided to get an early start and skip Catavina and push ourselves to drive to San Quintin in one day.

I was a little nervous about the military checkpoint I knew would come up since that is the one where they reprimanded me for taking pictures.  This time they asked where we were going and asked to come inside.  One very young soldier entered and stayed less than 2 minutes.  He was all smiles and very polite.  A piece of cake this time to our relief.  Once again the narrow mountainous roads with no shoulders was unnerving at times with all the tractor trailers passing on the other side.  There seemed to be a lot of truck traffic today.

A few observations.  Bill commented that there were very few billboards of any kind.  The towns are very small and few and far between, so the roadsides are not cluttered with billboards.  Airplanes of any kind have been nonexistent during our time in Baja.  The times we camped on the beaches we have seen very few boats and no ships.  In the 200 miles between San Quintin and Guerro Negro there is no place to buy gas so you have to really plan ahead.  There are no traffic lights the 200 miles from San Quintin to Guerro Negro.  The towns have tons of speed bumps and stop signs, but no traffic lights, unlike Escenada which has a traffic light on every corner and the traffic is bad.  Bathrooms and restaurants are nonexistent or few and far between.  You pass through agricultural areas with greenhouses and vineyards, but after passing through a couple mountain passes the area is desolate, barren desert.  

We decided to try a different campground in San Quintin, hopefully one with electricity and water.  The entrance to the campground was like driving on a washboard but we were rewarded with a site right on the beach and a beautiful view of the ocean.  Our Mexican camping book said this place had electricity and water, but I don’t know what made us think anything had changed in Mexico.  Again low voltage and low water pressure, but good water quality.  The low voltage is especially a problem for an RV of our size.   Regardless, we were happy with our campsite on the beach and settled in.  It is costing us $15 a night.  In the U.S. a camping spot right on the beach with a view like this would be more than $100.  

We loved going to sleep each night and awaking each morning to the sound of waves crashing on the shore.  Saturday was very foggy and the mist blew by like smoke, but by late morning the skies cleared and the sky was sunny.  It has been such a long time since we have seen rain to amount to anything…probably not since Houston in November!  We had a relaxing and enjoyable day walking on the beach.   We were the only ones in the campground and the beach was deserted.  Very nice!

The owner of the campground, Fidel, gave us some firewood and Bill built a great fire on the beach.   Fidel sat with us around the campfire and talked for awhile.  He said before the 2008 economic down turn in the U.S., many Americans came to Baja and camped.  He showed us a photo album with pictures showing the campground full of campers.  Now, he said, only Canadians come to Baja.  Then in September, 2009, a typhoon hit Baja and his campground was wiped out.  Everything he had worked to build was swept away.  He showed us pictures of the nice campground he had before the typhoon.  We tried to explain to him that one big problem is that Mexico does not have the new highly filtered diesel fuel.  Since 2007, the US environmental protection regulations made it so that diesel engines could only use filtered diesel fuel (low sulfur).   Our Mexican Connection group was told that Mexico had the filtered fuel, but when we got down here, they did not.  There were several in our group who had planned on continuing south but could not because of Mexico not having the right fuel.  Luckily our RV takes gas instead of diesel, so it has not been a problem for us.  Until Mexico gets the filtered diesel, traveling to Mexico for some travelers will not be an option.  Fidel spoke and understood limited English and I don’t think we were able to get him to understand about the diesel, even with the help of a Spanish dictionary.

Sunday was another relaxing day on the beach and we took another walk.  We came across some amazing views of the sand dunes carved by wind and water. Since it was Sunday there were more families enjoying the beach and fishing.  They drive their cars right down to the beach.   It was nice sitting outside catching up on some reading and enjoying our own little Happy Hour.  

Later in the day two RVs rolled into the campground and we were so glad that Fidel had some more business for his fledgling campground.

Tomorrow we head back to Ensenada to the Estero Beach Hotel and Resort where we stayed when we first arrived in Baja.  They have laundry facilities and fairly good WIFI so we will have a chance to catch up on laundry and email.

We said goodbye to the last of the Mexican Connection group members and headed alone back north toward the US border.  Everyone else was continuing further south and staying 6 weeks or longer.  Since we were 450 miles from the border, we decided it was time to turn around and head back to the U.S. to continue our plans to travel north up the coast of California to Canada.  If we waited too long we wouldn’t have time to get back south before cold weather in the fall.  Our first stop was at a Pemex to get gas.  All gas in Mexico is sold by independently owned stations called Pemex and therefore they are all the same.  The price per gallon is about the same as in the U.S. but the gas is provided to all stations by the Mexican GOVT. They always have an attendant to pump the gas for you and we had been warned by the Mexican Connection wagonmaster to watch them carefully since they don’t always clear out the pump before starting and therefore you get charged too much. Next we passed a military checkpoint.  When we passed through traveling south they waved us through.  This time they made us stop and asked where we were going and asked to come in for an inspection.  They wanted to see our passports but the wagonmaster had warned us not to give them our passports but just show them our FMM’s (Visas).  They wrote down both our names and while Bill was taking care of that I opened the door so one of the solider could come in.  He came in carrying a screwdriver and opened doors, cabinets and drawers.  He knocked on the ceiling and walls of the RV.  Supposedly they are checking for concealed weapons and drugs.  I think a lot of it is curiosity and they are looking for something they might want to ask for.  Our wagonmaster said they once asked for a highlighter they had sitting on a table.  The solider made no comments and left.  I started thinking about all the border patrol we have encountered in the U.S. since leaving Texas and I realized that Mexicans visiting the U.S. must go through the same kind of thing with our own border patrols. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we entered the tiny town of Bahia De Los Angeles.  It was absolutely beautiful!  We happened to have a military truck it front of  us while entering the town and I caught them in the picture.   The town seemed almost deserted with very little traffic or people.  It did have a little roundabout   when entering the town and we stopped at a little restaurant for lunch.  Bill had fish tacos and I had a club sandwich and fries.  The sandwich was okay but the fries were horrible.  How I miss those Idaho potatoes.  It seems to us the prices in restaurants are about the same as those in Mexican restaurants in the U.S. which was surprising to us.  The difference is in Mexico the meals take longer and you get more for your money with the meal coming in several courses.  You usually get chips and salsa to begin, followed by some kind of soup.  They never ask what kind of soup you want, it is just whatever the cook has prepared for the day.  The main course usually includes the traditional rice and beans as well as several garnishments of fresh tomato, onion and cilantro and a bowl of fresh guacomole.  Meals take longer to be served since everything is prepared fresh. We pulled into our campground with a beautiful view of the Sea of Cortez.  Bahia De Los Angeles is on the Bay of California also known as the Sea of Cortez on the gulf side of Baja.  This is another dry camping site but staying here is well worth the view!  We have learned not to expect electricity and water while camping in Mexico because even if they advertise electricity the voltage is often too low to be of much use.  If we have water we only use it for showering and flushing the toilet and we use bottled water for everything else.  Many campgrounds on the beach in Mexico have thatched roof shelters called “ramadas” or “palapas” which are sometimes located at each campsite and sometimes spread out among the campground.  We have also noticed that picnic areas and rest areas with tables always have this shelter over the tables.   Even had a space set aside where you could clean your fish!  Wednesday we got up early to watch the sunrise and spent the day relaxing and enjoying the view.   Thursday we rode our bikes the two miles into town.  We were getting low on propane and found a place where we could take the RV to get it filled.  We then biked further into town and found a small grocery store to buy peanut butter and oranges.  We walked next door to a little restaurant where no one spoke English.  We managed to order some chicken burritos for Bill which he said was very good.  The town again looked deserted and it seems their busy season is the summer which is surprising because it must be very hot then. The bike ride home was pretty challenging due to us pedaling against a really stiff wind.  We felt safe riding on the road because traffic was so light and only a couple cars passed us. Later in the day we drove the RV into town to get propane.  It was a family business with the wife speaking a little English but her husband did not.  While the tank was filling she introduced me to her 6 dogs and 5 cats.  She wanted to give me a cat but I used the excuse that I would never get it across the U.S. border.  We have noticed a large number of dogs running loose throughout the towns and campgrounds throughout Baja.  Most campgrounds have a welcoming committee of dogs but we have found that they leave us alone and do not hang around the campsite and beg for food. Tomorrow we head further north towards the border.