Finally Photos!

 Again we have a ton of photos and 1 bar 3G` cell… even proclaimed wi-fi is not really anything more then text-able speed.

2/20/23

On the way further south as there is a stretch of coast which is on the eastern side of Baja above cuckoo-Cabo. It is an 85 kilometer sand-dirt road that hugs the coast starting at La Libera going south until San Jose del Cabo and where the grey whales swim close to the shore. After a long day of sand washboard road and replenishing our supplies (small towns have very little as far a groceries) we went through a horrid gringo vacation spot … yikes. Thank god they choose to go there and not where we are. It is a frenzy of stupid with lots of excessive toys. 

                                                                    Needed alone time.

When in Rome

The Moon and Jupiter with Venus below

Miles to walk

The Taj

                                                                Puffer fish ... 'killer sushi' 

                                                                        Cabo Este

We are currently camped at the end of yet another arroyo on the beach… a miles and miles of white sand beach where the whales go by maybe a quarter mile (half?… I have a hard time judging distance over water) in pods of two’s and three’s they rise, blow, arched submerge in slow graceful rhythm.  My neck hurts from holding the binoculars. Mobula rays in large groups jump out of the water in what looks like a popcorn popper, I suspect in a feeding frenzy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobula

Another popup, Palomino camper with a young couple from Quebec on a year trip in month 10!… just as crazy as we, drove  here… I do understand their need to escape the Canadian cold. They are camped further up the arroyo tucked in behind some trees. They also have a wacko dog, a lab puppy. Lucy is not so well behaved wanting free rein to wild-ass tear around and we hold here back!  The stars here are beyond superb (and my camera for longer sky exposures has a bad battery!). 

There are, as always, things that, under stress in travel conditions, crack (besides relationships). A number of things which might have been well used before the trip decide to give up the ghost early so to avoid a long drawn out demise. My very old iPad which holds all our off-line maps (which has had a cracked screen for 5+ years decided to go schizophrenic with every app opening and shutting randomly every few seconds. Chair pins seem to have waited to be over the border to decide to jump chair. Camera battery. Screen on camper door, oh yea, that sensor in the truck, my cheap sunglasses… I bet if I kept going it would be no time a’tall before every material thing we have dissolved and we’d be left naked in the wilderness! 

Time has ticked down to leave us with less than a week to travel north. We had gone where we may and now have to think more linearly in day drives; point to point, repeat. It is around a thousand miles back to the border and not on American highway roads. I think 450 kilometer days would be max for me (300 miles) and that would not be much fun. So we plan to head north tomorrow or the next day if the weather changes (we felt our first drops of rain in 6 weeks just now… all 2 of them). There is still the possibility of a whale watch boat for Luann… si .. puede ser manaña señor, no se (yes, maybe tomorrow sir, not sure)  All will be revealed.

Ejector seats. When I was a kid in the late 50’s and early 60’s there were shows with pilots in the new fighter jets, … always getting into trouble and bang!.. they’d eject right outta there. I  thought if I was a pilot I’d look for a chance to try it. Then as I aged I thought wouldn’t it be grand to have one attached to the seat of your pants and at any awkward or painful predicament one could fire that baby off and you’f be outta there just like that bang. Teenage years especially but also now as I am in the señor years I no longer have the patience nor grace to not ruffle a social feather, sometimes I just want to be ‘outta there’! When you are young you sneak out of the house to go to a party…. at my age I sneak out of a party to go to my house. Traveling can be really fun and at times a real pita. There are times when it would be great to fire up that seat and land back home. “Trissal trassal trisal trome time for this one to come home” (Touché Turtle, Mr. Wizard ).

Stayed three days on the beach on southern east side....glorious wildlife.

2/25

After leaving a three day beach camp on the white sands of Cabo Este we went south to Cabo San del Jose… near Cabo de San Lucas to catch the route 1 north. Stopped in to a grocery store which happened to have steel roof covers over their parking … roof covers that have steel bars across the top…. steel bars that can not be seen when driving under them…. steel bars that go crunch when they tear off the roof vent and jam the camper in tight. 

Now then this may seem a catastrophe and it did sure sound like it!  It is also the event I may have talked about before about a time warp event that the brain goes through that denies the event really happened then gets a kick in the pants when one looks at the damage. While Luann shopped for groceries I started to remove 90% of the air from the for tires. Do you remember the “Curious George” the monkey who got into all sorts of trouble and the “man with the big yellow hat” (his ‘owner’) came to the rescue? There was a story of a time a big truck got stuck going under a big bridge and the humans were flummoxed as what to do! Curious George let the air out of the truck tires and saved the day! 

                                                                        Duct tape in Spanish 

So there I was channeling Curious George and a guy comes up to help… young man who was one of the many car washers who people most store parking lots…. he jumped right in with a whole bunch of ideas of how to extradite me from the overhang. It was a great experience. He was A GOOD MAN. With his help up on the roof we were able to twist the crunched vent cover enough to remover the 4 hinge screws and along with the air down of tires got the camper out in time for Luann’s return from the store. I refused to accept no for an answer as he did not want to take some money for his help. we talked for an hour in Spanish and he told me of his family. Both parents died of Covid a year apart while he was in the States ( since he was 2) He returned to help them and now can not get back into the states. His English was pretty good but I asked him to speak in Spanish to help me. Leaned a few tool names I did not know!. So out of a bad thing a good one. Gave me a huge sense of appreciation for what makes a real person. I’d vote for him in a second. (Like Jimmy Carter, just plain decent).

TOPE! 

To be truthful one can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs so it goes with the trip. We have a number of ‘to be replaced’ items on the list. We have traveled to some very rough places. If you have traveled a washboard road for 50 miles and lost a few of your teeth fillings then you have an idea. Everything is rattled. My truck is 7 years old and has been places; that’s why I bought it, so, I accept the damage with a Greek mask smile. 

We went back to a beach we had camped on on our way south and sure enough got down the mile arroyo to our hiding spot on a rocky beach. We stay 2 nights so we have a day to heat the solar shower. Last night we watched an Oligarch’s yacht come into the bay for the night. It had a helicopter on the back …yes it was huge. Four helicopters came and went probably to the mountain exclusive golf course hotel with armed guards, the entrance of which we drove by and saw. Or perhaps to fly a few hundred miles to eat in Cabo. Bizarre. 

Local guys on their way home from work fished for an hour and caught 6 Sierra... imagine that in Sushi dollars!!   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_sierra

Six Sierra

                                                                        In Front

                                                                        In Back

Tomorrow we set off to Laguna San Ignacio …yes for Luann’s second try at a whale watch boat trip. Lucy and I will sit it out in the camper and ponder great thoughts of kibble and scratches. Today was also a day where we were in a place where there is a 3 bar 3G cell signal and was able to send out a few texts and check on the house network as there is a storm in the works for Buckland. Our dear friends the Taylors from Ashfield responded to a text and went to see our house… and it was still there! They checked the temperature inside to confirm my app was right as well as to see the propane percent in the tank. I found out a month ago the unit on the tank was bad and would need to be replaced. Now knowing the level we can order a refill after the storm. Thank You Taylors!!

A wonderful Whale Watch it was!

California has the nerve to have cold weather on the week we cross the border. If this trend continues a return through AZ and NM higher elevations will have to be scrubbed and mayhaps a southerly route examined. Heuristic indeed. Currently 80 photos to post … more than likely they will wait until in USA currently scheduled for March 2nd. I will venture to say (admit) my truck has suffered from the Baja roads even more so than from Labrador, The Yukon, The North Maine Woods, Alaska, all combined. The washboard is bad sometimes for 80 miles. Worse though are the hidden unexpected BANG freon a deep hole where there should be none...like a troll deep in the earth decided to pop up like a submarine in the arctic. I tore my beloved heavy duty mudflap off on one of those... it hit so hard the front fender also popped. I figure I have done most of this damage after having not slept well and the next day had to push through past "optimal performance" right into numb brained.