1/25
I promise not to rub in the fact that there is no sleet, freezing rain, slushy snow and dreary grey days, really I promise. All this darn sun is drying me into rawhide. We exited the Big Bend Ranch State Park and are in an Air B&B in Fort Davis for three nights. After 9 days camping we needed time to clean out the dust and wash clothes, I also had to do some scheduled maintenance on the truck as we expect the trip to be about 8,000 miles or more and we have put on nearly 3,000 so far. An oil/filter change and also the diesel engine fuel filters sometime on the road. So that's what I did this morning in the B&B's driveway and we are now all set until we are home. As to the last posting, turnbuckles need also to be checked and retightened today and the tires brought back up to pavement pressure. Makes a big difference in mileage too.
I like this small town of Fort Davis. Not much to it but a main street. Kids walk home from school for their lunch (like I used to do) and they wave and say hi passing by. Sad though to see there had been a boon in tourists passing through before covid and half the town's small businesses are shut. Folks are nice and generally curious as to our license plates. Don't think that many people from our state pass through. Funny too when they try to pronounce the states they sound like me when I was a kid with a stutter, usually takes about 3 or 4 attempts before they just let it go. There is something very nice about taking a walk to the end of the town and back. It is flat as a pancake with bluffs rising up along the length on the north side. We are fortunate to have a big window looking right at it. Long ear hares take over at night. Dogs go nuts in their fenced yards. Seems like a simple and relaxed place to put your feet up if you wanted to retire to a Mayberry kinda place. I just do not think I would survive the summer sun. We took a day to go to the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, with a green house Museum of Cacti. Great hike around with beautiful views.
The ride out of Fort Davis was beautiful going up in to the Davis Mountains on route 118 past the McDonald Observatory. The landscape was one I could immediately say I could enjoy being in. Topography! Trees. albeit few but Oak! Juniper and Willow. Yes more Javalinas! But the eye had things that drew attention every minute. Wide open spaces. Then back on the dreaded route 10 west. to El Paso. All I can say about that is fugettaboutit. Ick. Sad place to live. If you have to know 50 years ago, yes half a century, I was on a hippie bus called The Grey Rabbit (there was also the green tortoise and something rainbow). It was a 1950's greyhound bus with the seats torn out and a platform in covered in mattresses. $60 from Cambridge to San Francisco. Non stop, three and a half days. We were a motley bunch of longhairs and tie dye drawstring pants. I had a Smith college T shirt on that read " A Century of Women on Top".... passing through Mississippi we had some interesting moments but we had a bus issue (Ok an accident) in El Paso... driver went through a stop sign and hit a car. So we had an opportunity to cross into Juarez, Mexico for an evening of diversion. Then it was simply walk across the border. Long story short we returned one passenger short due to a bar incident and Mexican police finding pot on a passenger. We left him in jail and the bus rolled on. Well I think it was a better place back then. "Less progress" and more pollution and sprawl.
Our eyes on the prize (Baja) we wanted to get across the desert along the incredibly sorrowful "WALL" we drove along side of for hundreds of miles while your own quiet thoughts contemplated the realities of human nature and the altruistic ideal of open borders or even dare I say no borders (ya hippie but "If I were king of the forest?!") We had to get distance and so a pin on the map, Leasburg Dam north of Las Cruces NM, a convenient place to roost for the night... then pack up and hit the road. Hint: always double check train track location... 5 freight trains passed that night at an apparently important train whistle toot spot. Wake up and make coffee!
Then on to the Whitewater Draw AZ near Douglas on the Mexican border. Sandhill cranes and Snow Geese in the thousands. We went to a place unbeknownst to us, where my sister Elizabeth had been just a few days before on a birding tour! the photo she took was of Sand Hill Cranes and there they were. We boondocked in an area called the overflow and it was quiet... but there was the gurgling honks ofd the cranes. We got up yup at dawn but still too late to catch the over flight and thousands take off from the draw wetland)_
Through sad Tombstone …harley davidson’s sold image of masculinity retro reinforcement. guns and spurs loud pipes, saves lives…. yea sure..... loud pipes cause deafness. But, if you like to see what appears to be western types with spurs'n-all with a loaded Colt on the hip. Here it is. Re-enactments of the shoot out at the ok corral, three times daily.
On to a new rolling desert hill with trees to Patagonia in Coronado Nat Forest (section) BLM land to disperse camp. A windy dirt road into the hills where there is the Arizona Trails system of 800 miles of horse/hiking trails. A great evening in the boonies and a nice hike in the AM before getting back on the road to Painted Petroglyphs in Southern Arizona …Sonoran Desert Saguaro Cacti! My favorite. A BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where any American can camp free where they want mostly.
The plan is to head north and west along the Mexican border to the town of Tecate. From Fort Davis, it took five nights camping to get there. It is on of the smallest border crossing spots and is situated so we could choose to go down the east coast of the Sea of Cortez or down the west Pacific coast. Either way we will do the Valle de Guadalupe. The wine capital of Mexico. We have our Truck/camper insurance papers complete as well as the multi-page FMM tourist visa for each of us. This will be exciting and fun. But border crossing is always a bit anxiety producing due to all the formalities and forms.
https://www.discoverbaja.com/baja-california-information/cityregion-guide/valle-de-guadalupe/
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/valle-guadalupe-mexico-guide
Here's another side track. It was gently pointed out to me that somehow I forgot to mention one of my screwups. Huh, not sure how that could have occurred but awhile back when we were just going into the National Big Bend, we were gob-struck at it all and we had checked in to the station and off we went to our (what now seems pretty tame 'remote' site). The road was a tad bumpy and I had opened Lucy's window, as, what do dogs do? Head out and inhaling cataloging what's there. On we went with the other side truck window apparently, unbeknownst to me, open and trucking on rocking back and forth up the dirt road. So we are settled in and camped and I notice the rear window on the gear side of the truck was open. Open? And, there is nothing on the top shelf of the gear box. Huh. Flash back to opening Lucy's window... Well Luann seems to be missing a small but vital stuff sack of clothes. Mind you, protocol clearly states: all gear on said top shelf needs to be carabiner-ed to the hanging said carabiner (my stuff was!). Well then ... gone. On our departure from the park a couple days later, we went by the center to dispose of out 'spelunker-ed take out' and I went to the desk to query about said sack. Lo and behold Luann's stuff had been turned in by a kind camper, found on the shoulder of the 'road'. Mea culpa. Mea Maxima culpa.
1/31
We are set to cross tomorrow. Camping in a Lake Morrena county park in San Diego County. Not so good but a place to crash and have a cold shower after $2 in quarters for hot water... someone is laughing somewhere. Clean is better than dirty so on we go. Lucy Rose is having a hard time with the truck time. Not sure if it reckons back to her 3 day truck trip from South Carolinas to Massachusetts to be rescued or what .... she shakes for the first hour like she does when we go in the truck to the dump on Saturdays... she wants to go but gets overwhelmed with the sights and smells. Hoping once we camp for 3 days at a time on beaches and have long beach walks she will calm more. She misses the home freedom. She wants to RUN.
Just sitting on the camper loft bed, Lucy snoring on her lower bunk, We are planning tomorrow about getting across the border. Thereafter there are NO plans... 4 weeks to travel south then north where we will to see Baja. We are allowed to stay 6 months but one month should be fine. On the "way home" in March we hope to hit Anza Borrego desert on our return in March (Spring desert flowers). Mull about AZ and NM then decide how to go home. BUT first the Baja adventure!
2/3
***On a bluff over the Pacific night 3... low data but have a 1 bar signal so will post text only (I have 45 photos to post but need wifi) so if'n ya'll read this come on back for the featured photos later! ******* The following was written a few days ago to add to the above:
Leaving Texas; Probably the 5 words most spoken over the last 3 weeks were “are we still in Texas? It is big.
Of the last 5 day/nightsto the border the most memorable thing that stand out is seeing the ‘Wall” . It seems to shout so many things at once, especially when viewed a mile away but 20 miles long at a time. Then there is driving through a town and the wall is running right down the middle. Something like the Berlin wall feel.
We got up a bit early around 5:30 and were on the road by 6:00. Tecate CA and Tecate, Mexico are worlds apart. Both are small and focused on being a passage point for many agricultural workers. This is tiny compared to Mexicali or Tijuana The crossing is a bizarre experience compared to crossing into Canada. Military on both sides heavily armed. One drives up to an iron fence and is greeted with a man with an assault rifle and full combat gear. We were expecting an inspection of the camper etc but were told to drive through and park and then come back to enter an office to present our visas/passports/vehicle insurance and any other paper requested for dog or vehicles like title, receipts of ownership, registration, license etc. Important to have multiple copies and digital as well in phone as well incase vehicle gets stolen. This is the most laidback place to cross the border.
As soon as we drove into Tecate, Mexico we were avoiding 18” potholes and very tight driving. We found a store that had an ATM and figured out how to get $150 US in Pesos (2,625) @ 17.5/$1 and rising as one drives south (18.5 2 miles down the road). I had nearly a full tank of diesel (Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel … yup LSD). In Mexico it is called UBA (Ultra Baja Asulfre). The first city we went to was at the end of the Wine route, vineyards the whole way there. Road was good but one needs a new set of rules to learn asap. We came to the city of Ensenada. Bustling would be the kindest word, the ocean looks incredible but is is a no apologies tourist town and in major construction. Passing through 5 miles took a couple hours. Brought back memories of the main route from Paraguay to Brazil: a quasi 2 lane highway with everything from motorcycles, horses, cars, double tractor trailer trucks, walkers, you name it. Along each side is an equally sized dirt roadway with it’s own pattern of traffic in an out of the wall of shops for miles selling what the universe has to offer.
Suddenly the city is gone and the most incredible rolling mountains of green ( I was not expecting green) …down right stunning. We had our tank of diesel topped off using a tractor trailer fuel station. The gentleman who did the fill was wonderfully polite and helpful. I was concerned about getting the UBA diesel, part of the first day jitters. He made my day. Grocery store for supplies and then headed for our first destination: off on coastal dirt road similar to Big Bend in 4WD and in some places 4WD low but we made it to a bluff above a cove that looks out over the Pacific ocean all the way to Hawaii and Asia. The roar of the ocean was deafening. We set up the camper flipping out that we were where we were in Mexico on our first night (day 31 of the trip). Lucy was thrilled to be out of the ‘peopley’ world and a place to find a good cow pie to role in… a dog’s vacation Valhalla.
I will say though we were miles from anyone alone on a bluff by the sea in complete darkness, ones imagination starts up…”is that the waves crashing on the rock? Or is it car tires? Car doors shutting?… did I lock the truck, the camper door? All nighttime worries without a thimble of reality. A beautiful place to wake to and so we decided to stay another night and get a few things in order in a relaxed way, fix a few bits, air down the tires, GPS set up (no cell), maps and ideas. But mostly just a day to relax, walks with Lucy, notice the things here, humming birds, plants and peering through binoculars out to sea. We made it to BAJA! Lucy needed a break. So now we start exploring day by day heading south mainly along the west coast. At a point before the tourist frenzy area of Cabo San Lucas 900 miles away… where, like malls, people we have little in common with enjoy excesses. (ohhhoo that sounds preachy!).Turning north after crossing to the Sea of Cortez, the Gulf of California, and go northward along the coast. Probably 2 weeks south and 2 weeks north or longer.
As we are on limited cell usage, This and all posts on the blog will have to wait until I get to a place (ok, a bar) that has wifi. Hasta mas tarde. Below are shots taken the early evening and night yesterday. Groundhog Day today! And though I hear the waves crash and it is 68º I am absolutely not taking pleasure in knowing the wind chill at this very moment at my home is -40. None whatsoever… really.
Loving the trip, reading while it is -22 and "feels like -38! Glad the border crossing went well. Enjoy Baja.
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