Signing off for a bit!

We thoroughly enjoyed our Baja travels, but we are feeling comfy back in Vegas, seeing Karen, Berto and Cali. We will be heading to the Rhine River for a cruise in June with all our kids and their partners, so we’re pretty jazzed. But, before we sign off, we did have time to find what we think is likely the most loaded RV we have ever seen – a class A motorhome pulling a huge flat trailer – on the flat trailer is a huge diesel pickup truck – in the bed of the huge diesel pickup truck was a huge full dress Harley – sheesh!

Talk to you soon.

More Cochella Valley stuff

We found Cabot’s Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs. Cabot Yerza was an interesting fellow. He was owned a multistory grocery store on 5^th and Nicollet in Minneapolis. He figured out how to make big money providing stuff to the prospectors on the Gold Rush in Nome Alaska. He was a tank commander under Eisenhower in WW2. In the late 1800’s he homesteaded land, built what became an immense pueblo, and dug a well that resulted in the discovery of the mineral waters under Desert Hot Springs California.

We toured his pueblo thoroughly enjoying all the intricate details, as well as many of the period artifacts inside. Outside we scored another of the Peter Wolf Toth Whispering Giants. Allegedly Toth carved this Giant while here touring Cabot’s pueblo museum on his honeymoon. Pretty cool if that is really true.

Yerza was known as one of the earliest homesteaders in the area, and was successful in getting title to more than one claim by improving the land and occupying it for 3 years straight. He was extremely connected with the Cahuilla, the indigenous natives to this land, and his home was essentially a tribute to them, even though it looked more Pueblo or Hopi in design. But he was especially known for discovering the first hot spring while drilling his well on the San Andreas Fault. Desert Hot Springs resulted, and all the rich LA folk swarmed here to soak in the healing mineral waters. We decided to pretend we were Dean Martin.

To continue on our exploration of Cabot Yerza, we headed into Cathedral City to Desert Memorial Cemetery where he had been allegedly had been buried in March of 1965. Our mission was accomplished when we spotted his grave stone.

However, our experience didn’t end just there. Just down the row from Cabot Yerza was the grave stone of Magda Gabor, sister to both Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor. There was nothing drawing your attention to these sites – they were very understated. However, we were stunned when we stumbled over the gravesite of Frank Sinatra and his 4^th wife, Barbara.

Since we had found a few really famous entertainers, we decided to walk around a bit. And low and behold, we stumbled another stone we didn’t expect to see. We found the grave of the mom of Sonny Bono of Sonny and Cher fame. But we also found the gravesite of Sonny Bono. What an interesting discovery for us!

As long as we had some time, we looked around the Coachella Valley to see what real estate prices might be like. What we found was that we could probably get a home in the size range we were interested in located in a resort community – meaning clubhouse, fitness center, activities, restaurant and bar – for around $350,000, which seemed really reasonable to us. What didn’t seem so reasonable was the gated motorhome community where you buy a pad for your RV with hookups, and have an 800 square foot casita with a nice deck – felt really compelling, but they were going for $350,000 as well!

The city of Palm Springs holds a street festival every Thursday evening. They close off about 6 blocks of Palm Canyon Drive, the main shopping and entertainment street in downtown Palm Springs, and let street vendors set up kiosks to sell crafts, food, produce, clothing and whatever. On the advice of the Woman’s cousin Craig, we made sure to hit the Palm Springs Street Fair before we moved on. 

We decided to take a day and drive through Joshua Tree National Park. While we have been there a couple times before, you should never be this close to one of the better National Parks with a Senior Pass burning a hole in your pocket and not pay a visit. Besides, several of our co-explorers down in the Baja said the place was exploding with blooms of all kinds, and they were right!

Wrapping up our visit we explored the weekend farmers market in Palm Desert, where you can buy anything from fresh vegetables to cars and furniture. While a couple weeks too early, we headed over to the Empire Polo Grounds. While today there were only folk out their exercising their polo ponies and practicing their expertise with their polo mallets. However, there were already signs of the impending quarter of a million young’uns who will soon descend on the Polo Grounds for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Dang, just missed it!

We stayed at Emerald Desert RV Resort while we were here. At their entrance they have a bubbling water feature – not exactly a fountain, just a small pool with 3 bubbling features. Well, to celebrate Saint Patties Day, you can see what happened to the water feature.

Talk to you soon.

More National Monuments off the bucket list!

President Obama was a busy boy when in office, however much like Slick, all the really good stuff of National Monument stature had already been taken. We visited the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, about 280,000 square miles given National Monument status by President Obama October 24, 2000.

Including two Federal Wilderness Areas, the Santa Rosa and the San Jacinto, the Monument preserves this nationally significant biological, recreational, cultural and geological values found here. The Monument is managed primarily by the BLM and the US Forest Service, with significant input from the Cahuilla People (indigenous) and the state of California. We actually drove through much of this Monument on our way from Mexico to Palm Desert. The scenery is stunning!

Our second Monument checked off took a bit more work. Again, an Obama designation on February 11, 2016, this 154,000-acre Monument extends from the Sonoran Desert to the San Gorgonio Wilderness at well over 10,000 feet. Before we could get to the “Snow” portion of the Monument, we had to contend with the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Set in the city of Redlands and its surrounding neighbors, it’s allegedly the longest continuous running stage race in America. We had several stops due to road closures that exceeded a half hour while the swarm of contestants pedaled by.

We headed for Forest Falls, well within the Monument. While the scenery was gorgeous on the way, and the small mountain town of Forest Falls was quaint, we weren’t able to actually make it to the falls. We got to where we needed to hike up the falls, but the snow was too deep for shorts and flip flops, so we had to just settle for having been there.

The Woman was ecstatic about exploring both of these National Monuments. Given their locations in the mountains of Southern California, it was no surprise that the Pacific Crest Trail venture through both of them. We found the section of the PCT that ran near Idyllwild in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument and managed to click of about 4-5 miles of it. The Woman was in her happy place on the PCT and thoroughly enjoyed it.

As we headed for the “Sand” portion of the Monument, we saw more of the devastation of the recent heavy rains the area had incurred. We were headed to the Whitewater Preserve which was well within the borders of the National Monument. However, we didn’t get in very far when we saw all kinds of road closure signs. We ventured in as far as we could make it before being stopped by active construction equipment. We actually had to navigate broken asphalt, serous wash debris, and areas where the road was totally washed out and there was running water.

We again found an area where the PCT traveled through the Sand to Snow National Monument before it crosses I-10. We managed to click off another 2-3 miles of the Trail – the Woman is not really sure how many miles of the PCT we may have ventured, but It has to be at least 100.

Because the Monument was not designated until 2016, and because only the BLM and Forest Service get involved in managing Monuments until congress grants greater funding, there has not been enough time given the dysfunctional federal government to actually create any infrastructure at all here – not even signage of any kind. We knew we were within the Monument’s boundaries because of the signage of the previously existing federal land that was pulled together in this monument. We did, however, find some evidence of being able to check it off the bucket list.

Talk to you soon.

Yeah tenis!

When we figured out we would be in Palm Desert in mid-March, the Woman launched a bold plan. A couple of years ago we were here during the same time frame with BFFs Teresa Bell and Ron Ezra, and we scored some tickets to some early rounds of the BNP Paribas event. This time she decided that we would get tickets to the finals!

All we could do was hope that we would get to see one of the old timers that still make it to the final rounds in most tournaments. Surprisingly, Djokovic was ousted early but as the tournament progressed, both Federer and Nadal were having decisive wins. To see them both in the final would have been a dream, but it was not to be. In his quarter final victory, Nadal incurred a leg injury, and when it came time for the semi-final round with Federer, he had to withdraw.

The day of the finals was beautiful, and the tickets the Woman got put us on the net – we were so much in center that we couldn’t even see the net, just the white stripe on top! Both the women’s and men’s finals went to three sets, but sadly it wasn’t going to be our day to see Roger get his 101^st career win – 100 was in Dubai. But we did get to see two folks get their first major tournament win – Canadian Bianca Andreescu eked out a late break to defeat Angelique Kerber, and Roger, who was tied one set all and 5 games all in the third set with Dominic Theim, unbelievably got broke, and Theim served for his first career win.

Oh, and this time was much like the last. We spent 3 hours in the Eisenhower Emergency Room the day before our tennis date after the Woman had a wine accident – won’t say any more than that – you’ll have to talk to her if you want details. Anyway, 9 stitches later we were discharged.

Because of these “wine accidents”, the Woman has been officially banished from the use of glass for drinking wine. In fact, we have removed all the real glass from Colectiva, and now the Woman has to drink her wine from metal, insulated stemless wine glasses. Problem solved!

Talk to you soon.

Back in Palm Desert

After making it safely across the US border, we headed for Palm Desert, making a quick stop along the way in El Cajon to have a nice but brief dinner with Nick.

Returning to the scene of the crime, we headed back to Emerald Desert RV Resort. A couple years ago, the pickle ball courts here were the scene of the Woman’s tragic fall while moving back to field a shot, resulting in a severely broken wrist, emergency surgery, and a metal plate with titanium screws to hold her wrist together. Thankfully, there has been no significant mobility issues in the aftermath, at least not yet.

Nick had alerted us to many California highways in the area being washed out in the heavy rains. We kept our fingers crossed making out way to Palm Desert, but never had a closure impede our progress. We did find several highway closures right outside the mountain town of Idyllwild. We visited Idyllwild in order to check out the road closures, and also to find a couple of caches, and grab a nice lunch.

Talk to you soon.

Baja 2019 Tour summary

At our farewell dinner the final night of the tour, our Wagon Masters read a Farewell summary of our tour. Had I blogged during the trip, I couldn’t have said it better, so I decided not to try. Here it is.

Baja Farewell

We’re happy to have had you travel with us on this journey through the Baja. Everyone did an exceptional job of maneuvering their vehicles over the various terrain (AKA – roads and potholes) that the Baja challenged us with.

Tom and Darlene almost didn’t make the trip!! When they pulled into Potrero Campground there was a loud noise from one of the belts in the coach’s engine compartment. Turned out the serpentine belt was installed incorrectly. Duane and Erich were able to reroute the belt to its proper placement and Tom and Darlene were happy campers!! We were pleased that Ole and Lena were along for the ride too! Yah – you betcha!!

We all got through the border at Tecate – after successfully getting everyone’s FMM stamped and legal. Well, everyone but Walt! It seems like the Mexican authorities are trying to keep him out but he finally got his paperwork cleared! Thank Goodness!!

Our first break was a couple of miles out of Tecate to regroup. It was the usual Baja type pulloff – a drop off of six+ inches. After our break, we went to Ensenada. We arrived successfully in Ensenada without losing any of our group!!! The staff was very impressed with our Newbie capabilities!!! (We learned that we hadn't brought the right equipment - highway 1 in the Baja meant you needed an extreme RV!)

We have a “Welcome to Mexico” dinner at Las Terrazas Restaurant that begins with this dry stuff the waiters place in a bowl in front of us – we order soup and we get this instead. Ahh – but wait – now they come and pour a steaming red broth over the dried substance and vamoose – a luscious tortilla soup appears!! Will miracles never cease!! 

The next day we had a city tour and a visit to the old Casino, downtown shopping area, Hussong’s Cantina (the oldest cantina on the California's opened in 1891) and La Bufadora (we visited here with Nick and Karen 10 years ago) with our guide Larissa. Lots of shopping and food!!

At travel briefing the following morning we are greeted with the information that now, today, we will be introduced to the true Baja roads!! Oh goody, just what we want to hear. Sure enough as we are heading over our first mountain - lo and behold highway construction!! Oh, what a mess that was!! After a wait of what seemed forever but only about 10 minutes, we were led through the one direction traffic detour!! We then traverse narrow, hilly, curvy, pot holy roads in addition to some fairly nice roads on our trek to Catavina. As we are nearing our destination word travels through the caravan that there has been a mishap. John Varner’s Jeep has flipped a couple of times and is totaled out!! The tires on his motorhome went over the edge of the pavement and it flipped his Jeep. (We were directly behind them and saw it launch into midair - scary!) He and Therese handled the whole situation like a pair of troopers. We were all very pleased to hear they decided to continue with the tour. The Jeep was hauled off to a wrecking yard for a suitable end of journey!

 Located in the high desert terrain of the Baja we are welcomed by the usual cold windy weather of Catavina. Once all of the RV’s are all somewhat situated, we have our first meal prepared by staff.  John, Therese, Mike, Vicki and our tail gunners arrive before dinner. Halleluiah!! Chili and cornbread to warm us up then a yummy dessert. We planned to have a campfire but after a very long hard day of driving, mishaps and the cold weather we decided to save our firewood for a future fire on the beach. Ed Hill volunteered to haul the firewood for us.  It was early to bed for the majority of the group. 

Next morning off we go again. We get to Mario’s RV Park midafternoon. Marjorie & Dorothy present each rig with a scallop shell memento at our Happy Hour in Mario’s Restaurant. Some of the group had dinner there. Great food!! 

Our sixth day of the tour finds us arriving at our first beach – Buenaventura Hotel and RV parking. We had a Spaghetti dinner at Buenaventura Restaurant. Next day Mike took his Kayak out for a ride in the calm waters of Concepcion Bay. 

On we go to Puerto Escondido – full hookups – Mexico style. A nice surprise for all of us was plenty of power after being at Mario’s. Next morning we carpool on a jaunt up into the hills to visit San Javier Mission and a visit to a 300 year old olive tree that is located behind the mission. The mission is amazing as is the olive tree. 

There’s a visit to Loreto for sightseeing and visiting Our Lady of Loreto Mission (the oldest mission on the Baja) and exploring the town. 

Off we go to La Paz. Ed Hill and Mike Long met a local policeman – supposedly for speeding! Ed managed to get off without paying anything by showing him that his wallet was empty. Mike wasn’t so lucky though - $1000. Pesos (down from $5,000. ) and he was on the road again. Speaking of which, Thank you Robin for Willie’s “On The Road Again” on the radios!!  

All parked at Marantha RV Park and Eduardo stopped by to tell our group about the Whale Shark tours his company offered during our Happy Hour get together. Next day, a city tour led by Isaac (a very passionate young man who enjoyed his job) included a visit to Ibarra Pottery, the Cathedral and Cultural Center, Regional Museum and followed by lunch at El Serape. They had a nice buffet and entertainment for us!! 

The following day a number of our group took Eduardo’s tour and went swimming with the Whale Sharks. It was excellent weather and the whale sharks didn’t disappoint them. (They had us jump from the boat right in front of the Whale Sharks, so they always bumped into us and brushed us as they went by - very rough skin!) Nancy and Vicki mentioned later that the whale shark they were swimming along with got a little too close so they started back paddling to get away from him!! 

Another nice dinner on the waterfront on our last night in La Paz. A local street musician caught the attention of Brenda & Sheila so he made out pretty good tip wise.

Next stop Los Barriles - a small village that has Canadians and Americans swarming here in the winter – a very laid-back Mexico style of living.  A very tough little town to maneuver the RV’s through!! Ed & Pat’s antenna got ripped off by a low hanging cable but otherwise everyone made it to the park.

A majority of our group had an amazing ATV experience into the countryside with Jimmy from Can Doo ATV’s. We went to San Bartolo through the hills, stockyards, farms and what they refer to as plantations before heading back after lunch through what could best be described as part jungle. We were led through bushes; down slanted trails just barely wide enough for the vehicles; over boulders and through streams we went – it was great!! Mike & Vicki had a flat tire and had to wait for a repair. Somehow, amazingly, they managed to meet up with the group in San Bartolo!! Even more amazing was receiving a cell phone call from them when we were in the middle of nowhere!!! 

Cabo here we come – we stopped at the Tropic of Cancer for a group picture minus 4 members of our group who stayed behind at Playa Norte. Activities in Cabo included a visit to the Glass Factory where Paul, Sheila and Glenn tried their skill at glass blowing.  

Downtown everyone went to enjoy their choice of lunch and shopping. John Varner completed a dare by getting hung upside down at the Giggling Marlin!!!

A Sunset dinner cruise aboard the Sunrider past Lovers Beach and Land’s End Arch and into the Pacific to see whales. What a fabulous show the whales put on for us! Sunrider glides back into the calm waters of the bay for dancing on the deck and watching the sunset before calling it a night. A trip back to Los Barriles and a goodnight’s sleep ended a great day for us!

No planned activities for our last day in Los Barriles except for a fabulous dinner at Tio Pablos!! It was difficult deciding which entre was best – all three were great! From Fajita’s to Ribs to Lobster Tail!!! Everyone went home bursting at the seams!!

Our next stop was Playa Tecolote – true beachfront camping!! The next day we have a Beach Party with a hamburger cookout by the Fantasy Staff and Margaritas “Burden Style”. Everyone had a great day relaxing. Walt & June and a few others hiked up the hill and over toward Bandera Beach. Sheila slipped and fell while hiking but nothing too bad. 

A one night stopover in Puerto Escondido then on to Santispac Beach. This is truly a place you could just stay and vegetate for weeks or months. Staff prepared BBQ pork sandwiches for us followed by a campfire. 

Some of our group went on a tour to the cave paintings with their guide Salvador. Mike & Vickie’s kayaks were used by a few of our group. Carol & I thought about it but that’s as far as we got with the idea!! “Almost Free” (one of the local beach vendors) was lots of fun to bargain with!! He sold lots of tee shirts and other items to our group! 

The two restaurants and bakery at the beach got lots of use. We had pineapple empanadas and cinnamon rolls that were delicious!! 

Mike & Marjorie, with help from George & Dorothy, set up their Karaoke equipment at Armando’s and a lot of singing and singing attempts were made! Lots of fun!! 

We did a trip into Mulege for a festive dinner at Los Equipales on our last night at Santispac.  Francisco, the owner, always treats our group well and everyone had a good time. Lots of talking, laughing and dancing.

Next day a few of our group made a stop at Santa Rosalia on route to San Ignacio to see the metal church designed by Eifel and some sightseeing. We made a trip into San Ignacio for ice cream and saw Sheila, Mike and Paul in town as well as Mike & Marjorie. The mission in San Ignacio is one of my favorites. 

The local school children’s dance club performed for our group after dinner at Rice N Beans. For the finale - the dancers got a number of us up to dance with them!! It was enjoyable entertainment. 

Guerrero Negro was our next stop. Two Whale Watching tours to see the gray whales was a once in a lifetime experience. The babies and mamas interact with us as though they want to check us out too. 

The ATM machines were a real challenge for John Jason – we lost count of how many times we tried to get pesos from an ATM for him - without success!!! John Varner was able to get $10,000 pesos but John Jason - NADA

Another nice dinner at Malarrimo’s ended our stay there.

In Bahia de Las Angles a visit to the museum and beach time was enjoyed. 16 of our group took the boat tour that was offered by Joel’s Eco Tours. The group on the second day’s tour got to ride in the boat as it was hauled through the street to the boat launch!! We got as much of a kick from that as we did the nice tour of the islands.

Some of our adventurous folks, Mike & Marjorie, George, Mike Long, John Jason & Sheila went for a bouncy, dusty 22-mile drive to the San Borja Mission. They were very pleased with the sites and stories they heard from the owner of the ranch there. It was funny and entertaining when - after trying to communicate in Spanish for an hour - to learn that the guy spoke perfect English!!!

The school supplies you donated were taken to the local elementary school. The kids and teachers were very happy to receive the donations. – A buffet dinner at Villa Vitta and the “Last Supper” prepared by staff. We celebrated Mardi Gras with “King Cake” and beads! Ed Hill was the King for the evening and Vicki Long the Queen!! A joyous conga line to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In” was a blast!!

A stopover in Vicente Guerrero and a wonderful dinner at Posada Don Diego’s and we return to Ensenada. 

Tonight a “Gotta Go” meal to get rid of all of the things we can’t take back to the states. Our Wine Country Tour is tomorrow and was lots of fun and lunch was very tasty last year. There’s a nice collection of wines and gifts available too. Our Farewell dinner is Sunday night! 

(When we reached the border in Tecate, the Wagon Masters had contacted US customs, and they cleared a lane for us - instead of 3 hours, it was only an hour to get checked through!) It’s been an amazing experience! Thank you all. Adios Baja!!

Talk to you soon!