Winter 2023/2024

On October 23rd, our first night in the U.S., we discovered a new place to camp in Arlington, South Dakota. Nordland Park, which was only $10.00 and included electricity.


On October 24th we camped in one of our favourite free places, Buckley Park in Stromsburg, Nebraska.


On October 25th we were off to No Man’s Land Regional Park in Guymon, Oklahoma, another free stop.

On October 26th we camped at 3 Rivers Petroglyphs in Tularosa, New Mexico which was an excellent place.

We stayed at the Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson on October 27th, met friends in Yuma on October 28th and went to a favourite park, Rio Bend in El Centro, California for 1 week on October 29th.


On November 5th we met our Baja Amigos group in Potrero County Park in California and the real fun began. We crossed the border into Mexico on November 7th and did some wine tasting. On November 8th we camped next to the beach in Lazaro Cardenas and had a great dinner.

November 9th we spent the night in Catavina and went to see some cave paintings. On November 10th we were in Guerrero Negro and had the best fish tacos in Baja at Tony’s food truck. Some of the group went on a salt tour. On November 11th we went to San Ignacio and began to see some of the Baja buggies that were taking part in the Baja 1000.


On November 12th we were on our way to one of our favourite Baja beaches for 4 nights, Playa Santispac where we ran into some good friends, Oscar and Barb.

November 16th to 19th we were in Loreto, another of our favourite places. Our caravan had an escort down the wrong side of the Malecon due to the other side being closed for the Baja 1000. We got a few strange looks.


We were in La Paz November 20 & 21. On November 21 the group went on an excursion to Todos Santos.


We went to Playa Tecolote from November 22-25th where we had the best time we’ve ever had there. The water was perfect for swimming and it wasn’t windy. We also went to Playa Balandra for a couple of hours and we celebrated a birthday with a great fish dinner.

Playa Balandra.


We went to Los Barriles from November 26-29. On our way we always stop in El Triunfo to look around and have a delicious brunch. While in Los Barriles the group went on an excursion to San Jose del Cabo. The only picture I took in Los Barriles was of cows on the beach.


After Los Barriles we headed North, back to La Paz from November 30th to December 2nd. We enjoyed shopping in La Paz and went out for an authentic Mexican dinner.


On December 3rd we said goodbye to our amigos, who were heading North. Dave and I headed back to Los Barriles where we would stay until March 3rd. On the way we just had to stop in El Triunfo.


We spent the winter with friends who had come down to Mexico with us. We celebrated my birthday, played games, enjoyed the beach, Grant fished, we celebrated Christmas and New Year’s and, for 17 days I suffered with dengue fever. I certainly hope I never get that again.

In January we went to “the round bar”, enjoyed morning beach walks, played pool, went to Cabo, had a snake visitor in our site, had some amazing meals, saw some incredible sunsets.

In February, two friends that were on our tour flew down for a visit. We did some dancing, Dave played some music, we celebrated Dave’s birthday by seeing the band BC/DC, they went off-roading and we had a lot of laughs.


Grant caught some more fish, Susan, Grant, Dave and I went to the Santa Rita Hot Springs, then out for a last evening of dinner and entertainment before Grant & Susan left to head North.

We enjoyed seeing the cows on the beach and walking to the market with them.

Dave bought a windsurfer which he’s pretty excited about, I went to see The Adams Family, we enjoyed some calm beach days, saw a great musician that we’d met here in 2014, took another trip to Cabo, ate some more great food, enjoyed more amazing sunsets and before we knew it, it was time to leave Los Barriles.


We left Los Barriles on March 4th and spent our first night at a nice, quiet Boondockers Welcome in La Paz. The next day we drove to Loreto for 2 nights.

On March 8th we went to Playa Santispac for 3 nights. We were really happy that Cleo made it back there. It’s her favourite place and we know she won’t be back.

On March 11th we left Santispac and went to San Ignacio for 2 nights. We had two reasons for stopping there, the margaritas and Sweet Sixx, who were performing on March 12th.

On March 13th we drove to Guerrero Negro for two nights. Our purpose there, besides going to Tony’s Tacos, was to see the gray whales. We had seen them in 2015, so we were long overdue to see them again.


On March 15th we went to Gonzaga Bay for 1 night and on the way there we passed a HUGE caravan going the other way. We were very happy that we weren’t a part of it. At Gonzaga we met a couple who would like to come on a mainland Mexico tour with us. We walked down the beach and had a drink at a restaurant.

On March 16th we went to San Felipe and stayed at Pete’s Camp which was very nice.


On March 17th we stayed at Chateau San Felipe winery, a Harvest Host. We had a really nice stay. It was quiet, the owners were great and we had an excellent meal.

How many margaritas do you have to drink to find the best one in Baja? All of them.

And the winner is…….Rice & Beans in San Ignacio!


On March the 18th we crossed the border into California. We plan to be home by April 15th.

The Shortest Summer

We had a family get together and a bit of beach time before we left for Alaska.

We had clear skies and smoky skies on our way to Dawson Creek, BC, where we met our group that we were travelling with.

Liard Hot Springs was a definite highlight.


We had to stop and see the signpost village at Watson Lake. We even found our friend’s signs.

We saw a lot of wildlife in BC, including large herds of Bison on the side of the road.

We stopped and did a short hike one day to see Ranchería Falls.

Miles Canyon in Whitehorse, Yukon is absolutely gorgeous. I wish we’d had more time to spend there.

We went to Haines, Alaska which we really enjoyed. Dave went on the Fjord Express to Juneau one day, and on another day we went to the Kroschel Wildlife Center which was a lot of fun.

We went to the Sourdough campground in Tok and had fun at their pancake toss.

We went to Delta Junction to the monument that marks the end of the Alaska highway. We weren’t done with Alaska yet. There are many more highways to travel.

Next stop was the North Pole.

In Fairbanks we went on the Riverboat Discovery.

We went to see a gold dredge and panned for gold. Between the two of us we got $39.00 worth.

We went to Denali.

We had very scenic drives to Anchorage & Homer.

We liked Homer a lot, even though it was quite rainy.

From Homer we went to Seward. We met friends who had been on our last Baja Mexico tour and had a visit with them. They were booked to come on our mainland Mexico tour this fall but unfortunately it got cancelled.

Dave and the group went on the Kenai Fjords Wildlife and Glacier Cruise

We went to Palmer, then to Glennallen which was definitely Cleo’s favourite campground.

Next, we had a scary drive through fog to Valdez. Valdez is a charming fishing village with some great restaurants and shops.

From Valdez we drove through the fog again, back to Tok for a night and then on to Chicken.

Next stop, Dawson City. We drove a gravel road, then took the ferry over to Dawson City. While there we did a walking tour, went to Diamond Tooth Gertie’s and had the Sourtoe Cocktail, among other things.

From Dawson City, we went to Carmacks, then back to Whitehorse where I took the White Pass train to Skagway. Skagway was not my favourite place, way too touristy but the train ride was amazing.

Next, we returned to Teslin Lake and Watson Lake, then on to Dease Lake in BC. It’s a beautiful, clear lake and several people and dogs went for a dip.

From there we went to Hyder, Alaska where Dave and I celebrated our 50th Anniversary. Some of our group were lucky enough to see bears fishing for salmon. We had the best fish and chips, but expensive! A movie night was enjoyed in the campground.

From there we went to Witset, BC where we had a campfire and weiner roast. The following day we went to Prince George for our farewell dinner where the tour concluded. We said goodbye to all of our new friends and headed for home the following day.

Cleo, and the two of us were happy to get home while the weather was still nice, to enjoy some beach and family time.

We volunteered at our annual Wanasing Beach BBQ.

We enjoyed more Beach and family time as well as visits with good friends.

We had a few more forest walks and before we knew it, it was time to leave on our next adventure.

Cleo made sure we were not going to leave her behind. We crossed the border into the US on October 23rd, Mexico bound.

It’s been almost a year

My last blog was August/22. Time to catch up. We had a beautiful fall.


We went to Okotoks for my sister’s 50th anniversary and I had some quality sister time.

We thoroughly enjoyed our snowy winter and did a lot of cross country skiing.

The wildlife enjoyed the winter too.

The northern lights put on some amazing shows.

Just when we thought winter was over, it came back.

We had a great time with friends going to see L’il Ed & The Blues Imperials.

The ice finally disappeared and all 3 of us are happy to have the beach back.

We are really going to miss the beach this summer. We will soon be off on a new adventure. We are going to Alaska. Watch for a new blog in the fall.

Where has the time gone?

It’s been almost 5 months since I blogged. We were just about to leave Texas at the beginning of April. We had a great trip. We revisited a favourite route on the way home, The Natchez Trace Parkway. For those of you that aren’t familiar with it , it is a 444 mile scenic drive through 3 states, Mississippi, Alabama, & Tennessee. We love the drive, the free campgrounds and the hiking trails.

Rocky Springs Campground, Mississippi


Jeff Busby Campground, Mississippi

Lewis Meriwether Campground, Tennessee

On our way home we made a bit of a detour through Brainerd, Minnesota and picked up theatre seating to replace our uncomfortable jackknife sofa. We managed to fit it in on top of the dinette for the trip home.

We woke up on April 12th in Grand Forks, North Dakota to a beautiful sunrise and headed for the border.

We shortened our trip home by a couple of days because we heard that there was a storm on its way to Manitoba. We still had some snow in our yard when we got home.

We just made it home before the storm hit. We were excited to see it because we love snow.

Cleo has started to slip on our floors so we tried baby socks with the little grippers on the bottom and now we’ve progressed to laying carpet runners throughout the house.

Our spring consisted of rain, rain & more rain. Our yard had lakes in it and we have no beach because our lake is so high. We installed our theatre seat and love it, we’ve been out for some live music with friends, our daughter graduated from University with a Masters in Human Rights, we attended our granddaughter’s dance recital and our grandson’s soccer game.

Our dike and some stairs to the beach were damaged by the high water but we have still enjoyed a lot of beach time.

One of the highlights of our summer was going to the Fargo Bluesfest. They always have good entertainment and this year was no exception. We especially enjoyed Gabe Stillman, Toronzo Cannon and Walter Trout.

We had a great visit with out of town family and have done a bit of camping. On our 49th anniversary we rode our bikes 40 km round trip to Grand Beach for a picnic.


It’s been a great summer and we’re really looking forward to the fall.

Adios Mexico

Our time in Lo de Marcos came to an end on March 16th. Our last couple of weeks were very busy with last dinners, last beach time and lots of harmonica playing for Dave.

I will really miss all of the fresh fish.

Cleo was pretty proud of herself for catching a fish just before we were going to be leaving the beach.

We left Lo de Marcos and drove inland to Delia’s in Etzatlan. We really enjoyed the park. It has lots of shade, very welcoming owners, friendly dogs & chickens, and the neighbour’s horses come over for a visit.

While staying at Delia’s we explored Etzatlan & Magdalena.

We had lots of fun at Guamuchil Waterpark.

We took a day trip to our favourite tequila factory in Amatitan and spent some time in the town of Tequila.

We left Etzatlan and went to Guanajuato where we stayed for two nights. We love that city and had a great time exploring however, it was a holiday weekend so it was extremely busy.

We went to see the Alley of the Kiss. There was a tour guide giving a tour so we were unable to go into the alley.

AMONG THE MANY WINDING, CLAUSTROPHOBIC alleys and thoroughfares in the Mexican city of Guanajuato, one alley stands out among all the rest both for its incredible tightness and for the tragic romance that is said to have taken place there.

Tucked away behind the Plaza de Los Angeles, the skinny gap between buildings that has come to be known as El Callejon del Beso, or the Alley of the Kiss, is not greatly different from a number of other tight alleyways throughout the packed city. It is a sloping passage that only has room for one or two people standing shoulder to shoulder between the towering orange buildings on either side. Overhead, window ledges and small plant boxes dangle, making for a rather lovely urban gorge. But the real draw is the story. 

According to local legend a wealthy family lived in one of the buildings that helped create the alley, and their daughter, whose bedroom window looked out onto the alley, fell in love with a young man from the wrong side of the tracks. The young man rented out the room in the building across from hers with a window that was directly across from her own as well. Then they would secretly meet and kiss across the tiny alley. Unfortunately, the girl’s father found out, and in a fit of rage, stabbed his daughter to death. Most accounts of the story end it there, but some go a bit further, saying the young man then threw himself to his death in the alley below. Either way, their tragic love forever changed the identity of the alley.

Today there is a gift shop in what is said to be the girl’s old room and people can come and hang love locks from the balcony bars. But most simply stroll through the narrow alley, many of them stopping for a kiss.  

After a couple of days in Guanajuato we went to San Miguel de Allende, another beautiful Mexican city. A friend recommended that we go to La Azotea for their fabulous jicama shrimp tacos. They were fabulous!

We left San Miguel and went to Matehuala for one night. I looked out the window and saw a man walking a goat and a sheep across the parking lot.

One of the funniest sights we saw on our last couple of days driving through Mexico were police car ”cut outs”. What looked like a police car parked on the side of the highway turned out to be a life size plywood image of a police car. As we drove by we could see that they were about an inch wide. I was never fast enough to get a picture but they fooled us every time.

We had an easy border crossing into Laredo, Texas on March 25th after a long day of congested traffic with lots of semis. We spent our first night in Texas at a travel centre, again with lots of semis.

We are staying in San Marcos, Texas for a week. We are staying in a park that reminds us very much of a park that we used to stay at in Manitoba. It’s on a river and lots of people are tubing, especially on the weekend. The only difference between this river and the river in Manitoba is that this one has water snakes!!

We will be leaving here on Saturday and slowly making our way home with a bit of a detour on the way.

Lo de Marcos

We have been in Lo de Marcos for 7 weeks now. If we sleep in, we wake up to a chorus of parrots at 7:30 a.m. Not a bad way to wake up.

We have pretty lazy mornings. Dave and Cleo go for their walk, I go to a Pilates class twice a week and go for a walk most other mornings. Afternoons are spent sitting in the shade at the beach where the breeze is always blowing.

We had some of our faded decals removed from the trailer and new ones painted on, as well as a bit of touch up on the truck. The locals do an excellent job.

The park that we’re staying in locks the gate in the evening. All of the residents are given a key but it doesn’t mean that we always remember to take it with us.

One of the things that we love about Lo de Marcos is the music. On any given night you can find music somewhere, whether it’s professional musicians or people who just love to make music, like Dave.

Dave isn’t the only one having fun. Cleo is a very, happy, beach dog.

Some of my favourite things are the margaritas, the food, the breeze at the beach, looking up at the palm trees overhead during exercise class and the margaritas.

We enjoy the sights and sounds on our walks, but not always the smells.

We went to Punta de Mita for one night to visit good friends and it was wonderful. We needed a vacation from our vacation. They rented a very cute place with an indoor/outdoor pool. We are going to spend another night with them next week.

Today is February 23rd. We are planning to leave here on March 16th. I may or may not do another blog before we leave. It has taken me a long time to do this one due to the wifi signal.

One of the men on our Baja tour, Paul, is an excellent photographer. He sent us this photo of Cleo and I just had to add it to the blog.

Time to Relax

We crossed the border into California on December 16th. We spent a week catching up on laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping and doing minor repairs. We also took time to enjoy the pool and hot tub.
We were able to get our booster shots at a pharmacy and while we were killing time in the store I got a smokin’ deal on some wine. It was a win, win!

It’s hard to buy snack food in Mexico when every item you look at warns you that it has excess calories, excess saturated fat and excess sodium.

On December 23rd we went to Apache Junction, Arizona to visit good friends. It was our lucky day that we were driving in the opposite direction.

We went to Fry’s to do some grocery shopping and they have a bar in the middle of the store! How cool is that? I could likely get Dave to do more grocery shopping.

We had a great visit with Grant & Susan and a wonderful Christmas dinner.

On December 27th we were treated to a beautiful sunset at the Walmart in Nogales and the next morning woke up to a very frosty windshield.

December 28th we were back in Mexico, but this time on the mainland side. We spent our first night in San Carlos.

The following night we stayed at the Smart Gas in Los Mochis and made some new friends. December 30th we were in Mazatlan and had a visit with friends. Cleo had an exhausting afternoon on the beach.

On December 31st we went to Stone Island for 2 nights. We thought we were going to visit two friends but we actually met nine friends there. They are all people we have met in other parts of Mexico in our travels over the years. We had some beach time when we arrived and then a New Year’s Eve bonfire.

On New Year’s Day we took part in the ”Polar Bear Swim”. We did feel like we were cheating a bit since we didn’t have to cut a hole in the ice.

We had lunch with friends from Ontario, then took a panga to Mazatlan for dinner with friends from BC.

The next day we were on our way to Lo de Marcos and boy, were we ever going in the right direction. The traffic heading north after the Christmas holidays was crazy! After that drive we deserved a margarita at our favourite restaurant in Lo de Marcos, La Jungla.

We have been busy since we arrived doing laundry, cleaning, fixing, getting settled on our patio, meeting old friends and new, and packing away all of our warm clothes. We won’t be needing them for quite awhile. We are very ready to settle in one place. We’ve been travelling since October 23rd and the longest we’ve been in one place is one week. Last night we went out for Japanese food. In Mexico.

Our calendar is filling up with exercise classes, music nights, dinners with friends, etc. This winter is going to fly by.
Keep warm and safe everyone.

Final Days of the Tour

Day 28, our final day in La Paz we enjoyed relaxing and the pool.

Day 29 we returned to Loreto.

We went to Orlando’s for an excellent dinner.

Day 31 of the tour we were beach camping again, this time at Playa Requeson. We had a campfire thanks to George, and s’mores thanks to Liz.

The sunrise the next morning was spectacular.

The next day there was a lot of paddling, some frisbee and the 3rd birthday celebration in a week.

The next morning we had the most amazing sunrise.

Day 33 we went to Mulege and the Hotel Serenidad.

Day 34 we had an overnight stop in Guerrero Negro, and Day 35 we were off to two nights beach camping at Bahia de Los Angeles. Once again we had a great bonfire, thanks to George.

Early the next morning Liz, Bill, Euclid & Kirk went fishing. We anxiously awaited their return, wondering if we were going to have a fish feast. They did not disappoint us.

Day 37 we took the recently completed highway 5 which was wonderful, to Gonzaga Bay. We had a couple of very windy days but the view couldn’t be beat.

Day 39 we drove to San Felipe. The entire group went out for an excellent dinner at Matilde’s Restaurant, a short walk from the RV park.

Day 40 we crossed the border at Mexicali and said our goodbyes. We made some new friends and a lot of new memories.

Heading North Already

Time is flying by. We had a great time touring the malecon in La Paz, swimming in the pool and having a ladder golf tournament.

Day 18 we went to Tecolote Beach. We had a couple of great beach days, followed by a bit of rain which was good weather for hiking.

Everyone enjoyed a visit to Balandra Beach.

Day 22 we left Tecolote and stopped in El Triunfo on our way to Los Barriles.

When we arrived in Los Barriles we had a margarita party which was a lot of fun.

We had some amazing sunrises and sunsets.

An off road adventure and a potluck dinner on our final day in Los Barriles.

Day 26 we headed north to La Paz. We went out for dinner to Los Magueyes.

The following day we went on an excursion to Todos Santos where everyone shopped and enjoyed lunch. It’s a beautiful town.

Our driver took us to see the beach where they release the turtles.

Day 28 is a relaxing day in La Paz. I believe there is some pool time on the agenda.

Mexico, Here We Come!

We met our group in Potrero just south of San Diego on November 6th. It’s a great park. We had a bonfire and got acquainted.

On our departure day we all gathered for last minute instructions.

We arrived in Valle de Guadalupe in plenty of time for happy hour.

The following day we went to two wineries, LA Cetto & Dona Lupe for some wine tasting. Many of us purchased wine, olives, olive oil, jams, etc. It was a fun afternoon.

Day 3 we were off to Punta Banda with a stop at Costco and Soriana in Ensenada on the way. After getting set up in the campground we went to catch a bus to La Bufadora. We waited for awhile, then made the decision to do a ride share and drive ourselves. It was cool and windy there and unfortunately not many vendors were open. The blowhole did put on a good show for us though.

Day 4 we drove to Lazaro Cardenas and camped at the Hotel Mision Santa Maria. It is located on a beautiful beach with lots of sand dunes. Cleo went running through the dunes so fast she did a complete somersault. It was pretty funny.

We all sat outside for awhile and enjoyed the view, then went to the restaurant for an excellent dinner.

Day 5 took us to Catavina with its amazing boulder fields. Everyone went to see the cave paintings which are over 6000 years old. Most of the group went for an authentic Mexican dinner of tacos, enchiladas, rice and beans. Our RV’s rocked and rolled all night in extreme wind.

Day 6 we drove to Guerrero Negro and Malarrimo RV Park. After getting settled we all went to Tony’s Tacos for the best fish tacos in the Baja. Some people were still too full to go out for dinner. Unfortunately we were in Guerrero Negro too early to see the whales.

Day 7 we drove to San Ignacio and The Rice and Beans Oasis RV Park. After a visit in to San Ignacio several of the group braved the icy water of the little swimming pool. It was certainly refreshing! We all went to the restaurant and had Baja’s best margaritas and a good dinner. We were fortunate to be in Baja at the time of the Baja 1000. There were a lot of racers staying at Rice and Beans, many of them working on their Baja buggies well into the night.

Day 8 we arrived at Playa Santispac and had 4 days of sunshine, swimming, paddling, snorkelling and lots of relaxing. It was wonderful!


Day 12 we reluctantly left the beach and drove to Loreto. Loreto is a beautiful city with lots of great restaurants, shopping and scenery. We had lots of time to get caught up on laundry and other chores. Some of the activities enjoyed were a tour to the San Javier Mision, spending time at the beach and one couple did a very challenging hike. We always enjoy our stay at Rivera del Mar RV Park and eat out at the great restaurants way too often.


Day 16 on our drive to La Paz our kayak flew off our roof. That was exciting! Luckily, it didn’t hit anyone or anything and it couldn’t have happened in a better place. We were on a very flat straight stretch of highway after just having driven through mountains with twists and turns. To speed things up we put it inside our trailer until our next stop.

After arriving at Campestre Maranatha yesterday several of us went for a dip in the very refreshing pool. We also had a short game of ladder golf. After the group returns from their tour of La Paz today, there might be a ladder golf tournament.

A New Adventure

It has been so long since I’ve done a blog, this is going to be a challenge.

In the summer, we sold our diesel truck and bought a gas truck. The result was that we had to sell our big, beloved fifth wheel trailer and buy something smaller. Luckily, we were able to find the same brand so although we downsized a lot, we got the same quality we are used to.


Our adventure started on October 22nd when we dropped off our truck and trailer in a hotel parking lot and handed in our keys at the hotel reception. This was after having e-transferred a substantial amount of money to a complete stranger who promised to deliver our belongings into the U.S.

We then spent a very enjoyable day and evening with our kids and grandkids.

The next day we boarded a nine seater plane along with Cleo, and made the 40 minute flight across the border. After deplaning and going into a small building to go through customs we got back onto the plane which they used to shuttle us down the tarmac to the actual terminal. Cleo was not a fan of the flight but we were happy to have her right beside us. Our truck and trailer were waiting for us right outside the door and we finally met the very nice people who were transporting the vehicles.

After stocking up with groceries in Grand Forks we drove to the Dakota Sioux Casino in Watertown, South Dakota to spend the night. We spent a night in their RV section in 2015 and paid $5.00 which we thought was pretty good. We got parked and I went in to register and pay. It was $25.00 plus tax!! That was a shock. The following day we drove to one of our favourite free campsites, Buckley Park in Stromsburg, Nebraska. We like it so much we stayed for two nights.

The Happy Hunter

After a couple of great days, it was time to move on. As we were travelling to our destination in Kansas and fighting the wind all the way, I checked the weather forecast. We were headed for the centre of a severe weather system.

We decided to drive much farther than planned and ended up parked in a Senior’s Centre parking lot in Texas for the night. It was on a truck route, near a train track and the trailer rocked and rolled all night in the wind.

The next day we fought the wind all day again and spent the night in a nice park near Albuquerque, New Mexico. We went out for a nice dinner.

Somewhere between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona we drove past chiles, lots of chiles!

We drove to the Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson where we’ve stayed before. We found out that they no longer allow overnight parking since they are not open 24 hours. Since they close at 4:00 a.m., you have to leave then or pay for a hotel room. We set our alarm for 3:30 and got a very early start the next day. We watched the sun rise in our side view mirrors.


We stopped for lunch at a rest stop across from sand dunes.

We were very excited to arrive at a park we really like in El Centro, California for a week. Swimming is on the agenda every day.

The sunsets get better every day.

These lazy days are coming to an end. Today we move to the park where we will be meeting our caravan group and on Sunday we will be in Mexico. Bye for now.

Two Months in Paradise

We have been in Lo de Marcos for two months already.  We arrived just prior to Christmas.  Shortly after settling in we had a fun evening with friends.  We made a dent in our tequila.

We enjoyed the few days leading up to Christmas.

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Christmas Day was beautiful.

I’ve joined a hiking group and I’ve seen a lot of the countryside and jungle that I wouldn’t have.  Dave came on one hike which turned out to be unexpectedly long and hilly.  I don’t think he’ll go again.

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January 1st started like this:

And ended like this:

On January 11th we went on an adventure with friends to see petroglyphs.

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Four years ago, when we were here, my sister and her husband rented a house up on a hill near our RV park.  One day when we were walking past the driveway, Cleo led us over to the gate, and refused to move.  She remembered, and really wanted to visit them.

Dave has been having a great time playing his Cajon and harmonica.

We have had tons of fun with friends, some who came just to see us!

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There is more great music in Lo de Marcos than we have time to see.

I think everyone should go to the beach in a tiara and tutu.

In BC, they have goats on the roof, in Mexico, it’s dogs.

This goat thinks he’s a dog and makes a habit of going upstairs to the restaurant.

Beautiful Lo de Marcos.

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We plan to be home around April 15th.  Cleo doesn’t want to be home too early because she will miss her beach time.

Adios Amigos

On Day 34 of our tour we arrived at Boca Beach Campground in La Manzanilla.  What a fabulous place! We packed a lot of fun into our first day there.  We enjoyed beach time.

Oscar flew his drone.

We walked down the beach to a Thai restaurant for an excellent dinner.

We were happy campers.

The perfect end to a perfect day.

The next day Dave and I had to run an errand for a friend in Barra De Navidad which was about a half hour away.  We enjoyed lunch and a bit of shopping while we were there.

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Then, it was back to the campground for some beach time and another amazing sunset.

The next day was my birthday and I couldn’t think of any better way to spend it.

That evening we all went back to the Thai restaurant to celebrate three birthdays.  Dennis & Paul both had birthdays 1 and 2 days after mine.  I wish I had a picture of the amazing cake the chef made us!

The next day we drove to La Penita RV Park where everyone enjoyed relaxing. The following day some walked into La Penita while Dave and I went to visit friends in Lo de Marcos.

That evening at the campground most of us enjoyed hamburgers and French fries by the pool, as well as music.

The next day we took a drive to Playa Chacala.  It was a great beach day.

The next morning we said goodbye to La Penita and left for Mazatlan.

We enjoyed the beach in Mazatlan and a great dinner at Roy’s.

Cleo’s beach look.

We spent a night near Los Mochis, then went to Hotel Playa De Cortés in Guaymas where we had a very nice farewell dinner.

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From Guaymas we drove to Santa Ana for our final night together.  We enjoyed a fun happy hour.

The next morning we left for the US border at Lukeville, AZ.  We are going to miss all of our new friends.  We had a lot of laughs together.

Dave and I have made the journey back south to Lo de Marcos with a couple of overnights along the way.

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We left Manitoba on October 19th and arrived in Lo de Marcos on December 19th.  After two months of travelling we are more than ready to settle down for the rest of the winter.

Our Christmas decorating is done.  Thanks for the tree Dad!

 

 

The Tour Continues

We are on day 36 of our tour already.  So much has happened since my last blog.

We spent 4 days at Roca Azul RV Resort.

We enjoyed a pot luck dinner one evening which we had to move indoors due to the weather.

Dave and I made a quick trip to Amatitán to our favourite tequila factory.

Our group toured the town of Tequila one day, and the following day we had a tour of Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque.

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The next day we all went to Chapala for some shopping and lunch.

 

Our next stop on our tour was Guanajuato.  Our truck stopped running just as we got to the campground entrance.  That was the beginning of a very stressful time for us, as it took over a week to get our truck running again.  It was a problem with the fuel pump/fuel filter/injectors which took some time to diagnose. Our engine was dismantled many times on site and eventually towed to a shop.

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Our group had a Guanajuato city tour and the following day we went to Guanajuato for an evening visit and dinner.  It’s a beautiful, vibrant city and being driven through the maze of underground tunnels is quite an experience.

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It was a very sad day for us when our group had to leave without us for San Miguel De Allende and Tepotzotlan.  While in San Miguel they also visited Dolores Hidalgo.  From Tepotzotlan they took a bus to Mexico City.  They also went to see The Teotihuacan Pyramids.  We are so thankful for our tailgunners, Oscar and Barb who were able to lead the group in our absence.

While we were waiting for our truck to be repaired, Dave and I went into Guanajuato one evening for dinner, as he had not been there yet.  It is now one of our favourite cities in Mexico.

It was a very happy day for us when we rejoined the group in Patzcuaro.

We went on a guided tour of Tzintzuntzan and Morelia.

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Sometimes you just need beer & pizza.

The following day we took a van to downtown Patzcuaro, did some sightseeing, shopping and had lunch. Some took a cab back to the RV park, some walked.  It’s a very nice place for walking.

The next day we went to Capula and Quiroga.

The following day we went to Santa Clara Del Cobre, known for its copper.

The next day we departed for Villa Corona for some rest, relaxation and fun!

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On day 34 we drove to La Manzanilla for a wonderful beach stay.  To be continued in the next blog.

 

 

 

 

Viva México!

We crossed the border into Mexico on November 2nd with our Baja Amigos caravan.  It was smooth sailing all the way to San Carlos where we spent our first two nights.

We had time to enjoy the beach and the pool, as well as having a great dinner together.

From there we went to El Fuerte, where Dave and I stayed behind to look after pets, while the rest of group went to tour the Copper Canyon for a couple of days.  Although it was very hot, we took in some of the sights of El Fuerte.

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We enjoyed the river walk, the museum and a show by El Zorro.

Our group returned from the Copper Canyon and the next day we drove to Mazatlan.

We have so many beautiful sunset photos.

We took a bus to historic Mazatlan, enjoyed lunch and returned in a Red Truck.

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When we got back to the RV park, we enjoyed some beach time, then some of us went out for dinner.

Some shopping was done this morning and now it’s beach time.  We leave tomorrow for Jocotepec.

On The Road Again

On October 11th, we had a snowstorm and big winds that left us without power for 14 hours.

On October 16th, after a visit with Dar’s dad, we had dinner and a visit with some of our very favourite people.

With a bit of sadness, we closed up our cottage on October 18th.  We moved our trailer to the city and had a visit with our kids and grandkids.

On October 19th we crossed the border into the U.S. with ease.  We drove through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  We managed to find free camping all the way to Arizona, which included a night with friends in Kansas. We drove through 5 hours of a blizzard in Texas and New Mexico, which was quite a surprise in October.

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We are on the move again tomorrow.  Our next post will be from Mexico!!

Adios!

 

 

 

Life is Good

 

It’s hard to believe almost a year has gone by since my last blog. Time goes by so quickly.

We stayed home last winter for the first time in five years and we loved it. We had our own winter wonderland. We live in cottage country so there aren’t too many people around in the winter. It was peaceful and beautiful. We have so many great trails to choose from for walking or skiing.

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Once spring arrived we were hard at work on home renovations.

We were thrilled to receive the news that our son, daughter-in-law and grandkids were moving back to Winnipeg from Vancouver Island.  What a great summer we had!

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In July, Dave and I flew to Vancouver Island to see our son play his last gig with his band, Vinyl Feedback.  Our friends and my sister joined us for a night on Lasqueti Island.

After we drove this hunk of junk back to Manitoba, we went to the Fargo Bluesfest.

We’ve seen lots of wildlife but rarely had a camera handy.

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Watching The Great Outdoors in the great outdoors.

 

Dining al fresco.

We are very busy preparing to leave for Mexico.  Although we loved our last winter at home, we couldn’t be more excited!  Cleo is not too sure what we’re packing up for, but I’m sure she’ll be excited once we get there.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

A Manitoba Summer

When we returned to Manitoba in the spring, we bought a cottage at Wanasing Beach.

We had the best summer! The weather was perfect, there were no bugs and we were at our favourite place, a beach. We’ve had visits from deer, bears and a tiny white ermine. Our cottage is across the road from the Trans Canada Trail, which we LOVE!

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We went to Vancouver Island in May to see our son’s band play on Lasqueti Island.  Our daughter got married in June, my dad turned 90 in July and we went to Fargo Bluesfest in August.

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We made a very late decision not to go to Mexico this winter.  Since then, we have been very busy converting our summer cottage to a year round residence.  There is snow on the ground and we’re not done yet, but we’re getting there.

We plan to stay warm.

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I used to hate our shower.  It’s small, the water pressure isn’t great and the temperature fluctuates.  We have just spent 8 days without running water.  I had a shower today.  I love our shower now. ❤️

A few pictures to show you why we love the Trans Canada Trail.

Cleo also loves her new home.

How lucky are we?

Be sure to check out our previous blog: smithsonthebeach.com.

Lazy Days

It’s been two months since my last blog.  I would have done one sooner but my old blog smithsonthebeach.com is out of order.

We had an uneventful (which is always good) drive into Mexico.  It wasn’t a very long day before we arrived at our destination of Bahia Kino.

As with most small Mexican towns we’ve been to, it takes awhile to get comfortable in your surroundings.  It takes time to discover what all of the small grocery stores have to offer and time for the locals to get used to seeing you around.  We have even been invited to a Mexican wedding.  Unfortunately it takes place after we are gone.  I’m sure it would have been a wonderful experience.

A couple of days after we arrived there was a very large group of scouts, both boys and girls, camping for the weekend.  On the Saturday, they built rafts out of pieces of wood and inner tubes.  On Sunday morning they had a challenge to paddle them to the island and back.  It was fun to watch.

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We picked up Halloween treats while we were in the USA, just in case.  It was a good thing.

We’ve seen so many amazing sunsets, it’s hard to pick one.

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We’ve both enjoyed our kayak and Dave keeps getting better on the paddle board.

Our friends Jody and Brent, stopped in for a couple of weeks on their way south.  We had lots of fun, laughs, and of course, margaritas.

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Cleo spends her days running up and down the beach and fishing.  She does catch fish too, more than we’ve seen.  We’ve seen her catch a few but other people have seen her catch many.  When she catches them she lines them up on the beach side by side.  It keeps her busy and at the end of the day she’s exhausted.

Our days consist of long beach walks, seashell collecting, attempting to use the poor wifi, reading, walking to town for groceries, meeting new people and just enjoying our surroundings.

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We have a veggie vendor that comes to the campground weekly and we have a baker on-site.

We have a resident roadrunner in the campground who makes an occasional appearance.  Cleo has become a true Mexican dog, sleeping on the road.

We will be leaving here December 27th and making our way slowly to a park in California where we will meet our first caravan group on January 9th.  We will be pretty busy until mid March so I’m not sure if I will have time to blog.  I will be doing a small blog on the Baja Amigos website while we are on tour.  http://www.bajaamigos.net/

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Beauty of Living in an RV

On the weekend of November 4th, the neighbouring town of Mercedes had a balloon festival.  We were lucky to be outside early in the morning to see the balloons fly over our park.

Such pretty colours.

On Saturday, November 5th, we went to the market in Harlingen.

It’s always fun to see all of the vendors and the live entertainment.

It would be hard to outrun this police car.

On Sunday, November 6th, we went to South Padre Island.

All three of us had a great time at the beach.

All too soon, our day at the beach came to an end.

We passed a colourful market in Port Isabel on our way home.

This was a cool looking souvenir shop.

Pastel seaside homes.

This is a fun place in Los Fresnos to take kids.  They have laser tag and other activities.

On November 8th we went to Mexico to do a bit of shopping.  We had noticed the last time we were there that some of their alcohol prices, namely Kahlua and Tequila, were much less than they are here.
When we parked our truck at the border, we noticed this sign.

In my last blog I mentioned that when we were entering Mexico we had to go into a building where we thought we might have to show our passports.  In this picture, we have just stepped inside from the left.  We took a couple of steps and went out the next door on the left.  Only in Mexico.

We went to a great restaurant called Angels on the fourth floor of a building.

We chose it because they had $1.00 margaritas and they were actually good!

This is the view from the restaurant looking towards the bridge to Texas.

One morning we went to a great restaurant in Weslaco for breakfast called Jose’s Cafecito.  In Canada, we have no smoking signs on the doors.  Things are a little different in Texas.

Cleo and her buddy Rufus, are hoping to get a treat from Rufus’s mom, Denise.

On Monday mornings, this produce cart has started coming to the park. They have a great selection of fruit and veggies for good prices.  I was very happy to see them as I haven’t been thrilled with what I’ve been buying in the stores.

The “super” moon on November 15th.  It didn’t look any different to me.

The beauty of living in an RV is, if things aren’t going as planned in one place, just move somewhere else.  That is exactly what we’re going to do.  This coming Saturday, November 26th, we are moving to Llano Grande Resort, in the neighbouring town of Mercedes.  They are offering one month free in their RV park to first-time guests, and since we’re no dummies, we are going to take advantage of that. It’s a beautiful park with many amenities, and the best part is their dog park.  Cleo will be in doggy heaven.
This is the dog park in the evening.

We will stay there until December 26th and then we will go to Yuma to meet my sister and her husband for New Year’s.  After that, we are planning to spend a couple of months on a beach in the Baja.  This is a big change in our plans, but we couldn’t be happier about it.
We went to Bass Pro Shops in Harlingen one day and were in awe at the size of it.  You could fit a few Cabela’s in there. 

They have more stuffed animals (literally) then you’d ever want to see.

The merry-go-round looked like fun.

They have a 24,000 gallon aquarium. 

It’s a fisherman’s paradise but we thought it was pretty cool too.  We bought a really nice coffee percolator.

This is our bathroom window after Dave removed the window to take it in to a shop to have a piece of glass made.  Mactac inside and out.

My really inexpensive prescription sunglasses I ordered online.  When you have a US address you can get anything!

These tangerine oranges were picked in our park and they taste great.

On Sunday we went golfing with friends at the Llano Grande golf course.

Last night we tried out a selection of microbrews from a local bar.

I see that Winnipeg has just received their first snowfall.  I’m envious of the snow but not the driving conditions.  Be safe everyone.

Settling In

We have been trying to get used to the weather, which is hot, humid, and thankfully, windy.  Everyone tells us that it’s much hotter than normal.  Lucky us.  Our screen tent couldn’t stand up to the wind.  I’m sure that’s partly because we couldn’t get pegs into the rock hard ground and used screws.

Cleo likes to roll around on the grass which isn’t a good thing because of the sand spurs in the grass.  They stick to her fur and then we have to pull them off and they really hurt!  

We received the transmission control module that we had ordered for our truck.  Dave installed it and took the truck to the GM dealer to have it programmed.  For less than half the price that GM wanted to fix it, we are back on the road!  We went for a week without a truck.  Some fellow campers took me to the grocery store with them one day and we had other offers of rides but we managed without. 
As most of you know, Dave and I are not big fans of country music.  We wondered if we would find any blues, but I did.  We went to Harlingen one night to see a blues band.  They were pretty good.  

Dave and I spent some time talking to the harmonica player and his wife. They told us about other places to see live blues.  They also told us about a dog park in Weslaco.  Since we were in a soda shop, Dave had to try one.

The next day we took Cleo to the dog park.  On the way, we passed a lot of fruit trees.

There were no dogs at the dog park, but at least Cleo got to run around off leash.

We were very excited to have our first day trip to Mexico.  It is a short (10 minute) drive from our campground to the border.  For $2.00 we parked our truck and headed for Mexico.

We paid our 25 cents each and walked across the bridge, over the Rio Grande River, into Mexico. 

A horse in Mexico.

We thought that someone might want to look at our passports when we were barricaded from the sidewalk and forced to enter a building.  We took three steps inside the building, then exited another door and were back outside on the sidewalk.  It all seemed so official.  Too funny.

The sidewalks in Mexico have vendors on both sides with barely enough room to walk down the middle.  In amongst the many vendors are people asking if you need a farmacia or handing out business cards for dentistas.  

We enjoyed walking through the crowds for a few blocks, then began discussing where to have lunch. On the recommendation of a couple in the street, we went to Arturo’s.  It was excellent, however, the margaritas left a lot to be desired.  Since it was buy one, get one free, I did force the second one down.

What is with olives in margaritas?  They do that in Texas too.  Yuck!

After our delicious lunch, we paid our 4 pesos (30 cents) each to cross the bridge back to the US.  The next time we go we will buy kahlua and tequila which are so much cheaper over there.

Before we left Manitoba I went to visit a friend and her two small children.  I bought a doll for her little girl which Cleo just loved.  Because of the guilt we feel about Cleo not being able to run up and down the beach every day, we bought her a doll.

She loves it.

On a Sunday, we drove to Boca Chica beach, which is just over an hour away.  You drive to the end of the road and onto the beach.

Cleo could not have been happier.

The water was as warm as a bathtub.

We sat in our chairs and had a picnic while Cleo played and played.

When it was time to leave we had to drag Cleo off the beach.  It kind of breaks my heart to see this face.  I know just how she feels.

From the beach, we went to a patio in Brownsville to hear some blues.  The band was excellent and so were the appetizers.

The three of us were having a great time until a very large duck showed up.  Cleo just couldn’t behave and no one could blame her.

The sky was pretty on our drive home.

On Wednesday, October 26th we went back to Ol D’s Soda Shop for a blues jam.  Lots of fun.

There are so many beautiful flowers.

Last Friday we went to Edinburg, a half hour away, with another couple.  We went for the Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of The Dead) festival.  I probably discussed a bit about this tradition in last years blog but for those of you that don’t know I will give you a bit of information.  

Day of the Dead (known as Día de los Muertos in Spanish) is celebrated in Mexico between October 31st and November 2nd. On this holiday, Mexicans remember and honor their deceased loved ones. It’s not a gloomy or morbid occasion, rather it is a festive and colorful holiday celebrating the lives of those who have passed on. Mexicans visit cemeteries, decorate the graves and spend time there, in the presence of their deceased friends and family members.  The belief behind Day of the Dead practices is that spirits return to the world of the living for one day of the year to be with their families.

The spirits are greeted with offerings of special foods and things that they enjoyed when they were alive.  In some communities, it is customary to spend the whole night in the cemetery, and people make a party of it, having a picnic supper, playing music, talking and drinking through the night.

I think it’s a wonderful tradition to celebrate the lives of loved ones no longer with us, remembering, and sharing stories and food.  

Dave and our friend, Richard.

All ages get into the spirit of the festival.

One day we will have to try out one of the drive through grocery stores.  Some days there are huge lineups.  We’re not sure if it’s because people are lazy or if it’s because of the scantily clad female we saw working in there one day.  We don’t know if she was dressed that way because of Halloween or if that’s an everyday occurrence.  

We saw this bike in a shop.  It looks like half of our old quadcycle and they were asking $895.00 for it!  

We got a huge downpour today.  That’s the second one since we’ve been here.  It’s all over in less than ten minutes.  

Back to the sizzling heat.

It’s been a month since we left Manitoba and we are missing our family and friends.  We hope you are missing us too.  :o)



Our Winter Home

We were sad to say goodbye to our campsite in Austin, Texas.  It was a really great spot and I’m sure we’ll go back there.  Cleo misses the squirrels.

We didn’t leave too early since I had miscalculated and thought we had a much shorter drive than we did.

Palm trees!

You know you are in Texas when…………..there is country music being played everywhere.  You hear it at the gas stations.

You even hear it in the bathrooms at the rest stops. 

We arrived in Weslaco, Texas to very warm temperatures.
By the time we settled in to our site and had dinner the day was over.  We spent Monday and Tuesday grocery shopping, doing laundry, cleaning the rv, and of course, swimming in the pool.  

A very sad Thanksgiving dinner. 

I’m sure we will get a great dinner on American Thanksgiving Day.

We are enjoying our outdoor cooking appliances. 

Such a pretty sunset.

The weather has been hot and sunny everyday.  We’re told it’s hotter than normal.  It’s also humid, however nothing like it was when we got to Mexico last year.  We are looking forward to cooler temperatures.  

Almost a full moon.

The green building behind the mailboxes is the pool hall.  

We have been looking at the list of activities that will start once there are more people in the park.  There is aquasize, yoga, Zumba, cards, crafts, pickleball, horseshoes, golf, shuffleboard, bingo, potluck dinners, dances, entertainment, movie nights and more things than I can remember.  

We went to a bar one night for karaoke.  The managers of our park sang a couple of songs.

We bought Cleo some booties.  The pavement is very hot and there are really pokey burrs in the grass.

The night we went to karaoke our truck was acting up and doing some strange things.  The next day, Friday, Dave took it to the GM dealer.  They determined that we need a new transmission control module and of course, they want a lot of money to replace it.  We made a lot of phone calls and did some research online.  Dave was able to remove the old part and we ordered a new one which will arrive tomorrow.  Once it arrives we will have to take it to GM to be programmed.  We have been without our truck for a week so have not been able to do any of the exploring that we were looking forward to.  Since we have been stranded here we have been doing lots of swimming.  

Dave burned the back of his neck so had to wear my scarf to go for walks.

The full moon was very bright.

More heat.

More swimming.

Our view at the moment.  We practically have the park to ourselves.

Dave took some pictures of the vegetation around the park.

There are so many fruit trees.  Oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes, mangos and even avocados.

Home sweet home.

Cleo enjoying the screen tent.  She is probably dreaming about all of the little bunnies in the park.

I did warn you that my blog wouldn’t be too exciting this winter.  Cheers!!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Our last weekend at Great Woods was lots of fun.  A big group went out for Chinese food. 

We were treated to a beautiful sunset.  

We raked, prepared our site for winter and packed up for our big road trip.  

Monday morning, October 3rd we hit the road.  It didn’t take us long to cross the border into North Dakota.  What did take us a long time was purchasing a cell data and phone plan in Grand Forks.  We started at AT & T, then Verizon, then back to AT & T.  We got a plan to do for short term.  Hopefully we’ll find something better when we get to Weslaco. 

We were fighting a very strong south wind all day which didn’t help our fuel economy any, but we had no complaints from our truck. This truck and trailer combo really doesn’t seem to be bothered by the wind.  
We ended the day in a little town called Hankinson, North Dakota that has a park with a few campsites.  You put your payment into a slot.  We had the place to ourselves. 

At the base of the tree in our site were these “nuts”.  Maybe someone knows what they are but we didn’t.  

We walked a few blocks to the grocery store since we had cleaned out our fridge before crossing the border.  We walked past this law office which has a unique name.

It’s a very pretty town with huge, well kept homes and impressive churches.

We had a huge thunderstorm that night.  Our trailer was rocking and rolling.  The next morning was pretty overcast and once again, we were driving straight into a strong wind.  

I’m not sure what the building is but usually, the biggest, grandest buildings are banks. It almost looks like a golf course but I don’t think that would be a clubhouse.

They have such great rest stops in the U.S.  

Love the lack of traffic.

I will start with the UGLY.

We pulled into a Walmart in South Dakota to do a bit of shopping.  As we were pulling out to leave on a very tight corner, Dave noticed that the trailer was getting very close to a post in the parking lot.  We backed up a bit, then carefully made the turn, watching the post and the side of the trailer.  Suddenly, we heard a noise.  At the top of the post there was a sign which we hadn’t seen.  It took out the bottom of our bathroom window.  ☹️

We pulled into an RV service lot and they were nice enough to tape it up for us at no cost.  They told us not to feel bad, they’ve seen it done before and much worse.  That certainly put a damper on our day.  

The weather was warm and wet.

We were happy to put South Dakota behind us and enter Nebraska.

We bypassed Omaha.

We spent the night at Cabela’s in La Vista, Nebraska.  We had an even bigger thunderstorm overnight.

We had a great day of driving.  Into the south wind!

We had sunshine…..

clouds…….with pink roads

……construction

…..then back to sunshine.

Very little traffic.

The road took us through the middle of small towns. 

Construction…….

……..more construction.

Borders of states are often rivers.  We were briefly in Iowa at some point, not sure if it was this day.

Back into clouds and construction.

It’s always interesting to drive through small towns.

I missed part of this sign but in case you always wondered where the Prairie Chicken Capitol of the World was, it’s in Cassody, Kansas. 

The ever changing sky.

We arrived at our destination in El Dorado State Park in Kansas.

I went for a long walk to explore the park.

We loved our campsite.

Cleo had a ball.

A great place to read a book.

Just beautiful.

After the gorgeous sunset it’s hard to believe but we had another thunderstorm overnight.

The next morning when we got up the wind was ferocious.  When we opened the door of our trailer we had to hold on with all our might to keep it from slamming open.  Every trip in and out of the trailer was a challenge while we were preparing to leave.  The BAD. On one of our trips out of the trailer, when we opened the door, the force of the wind blew the kitchen window out of its track.  We couldn’t get the little wheels back in the track to wind it closed so……duct tape to the rescue.

I believe this was the morning we went briefly through Iowa.  Love the pink roads.

It was a beautiful day for driving.

We are approaching Kansas City.

Gorgeous scenery in Kansas.

There is plenty of wind for these wind turbines.

We are arriving in Texas.

We had a great sunset at the Walmart in Denton, Texas.

Right across from where we were parked was a Petco.  Cleo desperately needed a haircut due to the heat, and without power Dave was unable to do it.  Dave made an awesome deal with a girl at Petco to shave the main part of Cleo’s body and Dave would finish the rest.

She came back with her new do, feeling much cooler.

Our first night with no thunderstorm, just rain.

Friday morning, we had a rainy drive.

We passed the Texas Motor Speedway.

You know you’re in Texas when the semis start to outnumber the vehicles.

We drove through SO much construction.

Fort Worth in the distance.

A maze of freeways.  Thank goodness for GPS.  Most of the time.

More construction.

Blues skies and great roads.

Gorgeous scenery on the way to our campground in Austin.

We have arrived at Emma Long Metropolitan Park.  We were extremely lucky to get a campsite in Austin.  Everything I tried was booked.  I kept checking for cancellations and found one.  We found out after we arrived that the ACL (Austin City Limits) music festival is on.  It’s also a long weekend here.

More fun for Cleo.

We barely fit in our site.

We had no storm or rain overnight.

This morning, Saturday, Dave repaired our kitchen window.

We watched a wake boarder.

We drove into Austin for a bit of shopping.

We went to Rudy’s BBQ.

The scenery is beautiful.

Back to our campsite.

Half moon tonight.

A great end to a great day.

The GOOD. All of the trip except for the Bad and the Ugly.  We will be leaving tomorrow, Sunday, October 9th and going to Weslaco.  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Summer fun

We spent a few days at our daughter and son-in-law’s when we arrived in Winnipeg.  Cleo made herself right at home.  

We went to Parksville, BC for our son’s “big” birthday and had some great family time.  

If you’ve never tried putting gloves on a two year old, let me tell you it’s a challenge!

Birthday celebrations.

Just what every forty year old wants.

Another birthday party.  Our son Jason drumming with Vinyl Feedback.  Dave had fun playing the last set for Jay.

Getting our last snuggles.

May 13th in Manitoba it was a little frosty in the morning.

The weather quickly improved.

We got our new gazebo set up just in time.

We went to two weddings.

We went to the Thunder Bay Blues Festival.  It’s always a great time and the drive is very scenic.

One of my favourites, Colin James.

Burton Cummings put on a great performance.

Cousins.

We did lots and lots of tubing this summer.

We even tubed in the pouring rain.

Manitoba sunsets,

sunrises, 

and storm clouds.

We went to two of our many fabulous beaches on Lake Winnipeg.  Winnipeg Beach

and Hecla Island.

We had many, many fantastic times with family and friends but I don’t think they’d appreciate me posting most of the pictures.  😊

We had Halloween in August.

Cleo met Shelley & Darren’s new puppy Nina.  She is not impressed. 
Campground fun.

Fall has arrived.

Cleo likes the leaves.

I just raked around her.

It’s been a fantastic summer.  We are leaving on Monday for Texas.  Can’t wait to see what new adventures we will have!  

Arrived Home Safe and Sound

Our last few days on the road were fairly uneventful.  We left St. Louis, Missouri on April 13th.  

It was a great drive with very little traffic.

Our destination was the Hunnewell Lake Conservation Area in Missouri.
  I found it online and they had free camping. 

We were thrilled with it.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  

We went for a walk to see the lake.

I stepped on this snake!!  I haven’t moved that quickly for awhile.  At least I was brave enough to go back and take a picture.  Dave talked to a guy that works at the fish hatchery on site and asked him about the snake.  He said they are water snakes which grow to the size of an anaconda in the summer.  He said they aren’t poisonous but they are very aggressive.  Yuck!  

Cleo enjoyed the view.

They have boats and oars on the shore which you can use for free.  

A lot of people used them to go fishing for a couple of hours.

It was such a great place, we decided to stay for two nights.  We drove to the nearby town of Marion City which is just slightly bigger than the tiny town of Hunnewell.  We were looking for a small 7 or 10 pound propane tank for our barbecue to replace ours which no longer worked.  At one store a young guy referred us to another store that he thought might have one.  As we were about to leave that store, again with no luck, the young guy came driving up in his truck to see if we’d found one.  When we said no, he offered to give us his.  We thanked him but refused.  Missouri was a very friendly place! 

It was so peaceful there, the only sound we heard was the ice clinking in our glasses. 

This bird laid her eggs on the grass and put on quite a show pretending to be lame to distract us from where her eggs were.  

We reluctantly left there the morning of April 15th.

We saw some humour in this sign.

Entering Iowa.

Luckily, all the traffic was going the other way.

We ended the day in Marshalltown, Iowa.  We had intended to stay for two nights but we weren’t crazy about it there, so decided to move on the next day.

We drove to a casino in Prior Lake, Minnesota where we intended to stay the night.  They had a very expensive RV park which was full and an RV parking area which cost $15.00 where there wasn’t even room to open your slides.  We decided we’d rather camp at Walmart for free so we moved on.  

Right next to Walmart we found a great patio for a beer.

The next morning, April 17th, we left Minnesota in shorts and flip flops.  Every time we stopped the truck for anything we put more clothes on.

It kept getting wetter and colder as we drove.  We intended to stop somewhere between Fargo and Grand Forks but decided to just keep on going.

We got to Walmart in Winnipeg on Sunday night and froze while we were setting up our trailer.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset.  It’s great to be home!  We are leaving for Vancouver Island tomorrow, Sunday April 24th for 10 days, then we will be back for the summer.  I may do a couple of blogs throughout the summer, but don’t count on it.

On the Move

We have been moving around a lot and have had poor wifi, if any.  I am way behind on my blog.  On April 1st, we left Laredo, Texas.  Cleo and I had a nice walk in the morning and luckily we did not see any rattlesnakes.

We stopped at the travel centre on the way out of town for some maps. 

 While I was inside getting maps, I told Dave that he should take Cleo for a walk on a path that I thought was the dog walk.  When we met back at the truck he excitedly told me he had seen a snake.  I asked him if he’d taken a picture.  He was not impressed.  

Our last couple of days in Laredo, the temperatures were in the 30’s so when we arrived in San Antonio to 17 degrees and a cold north wind, we just about froze.  Our campground was not great but we had a nice sunset.

The next day we went to downtown San Antonio.

Dave wanted to see The Alamo and I wanted to see the river walk.  You can be the judge as to which one looked more interesting.

There was a Turkish festival taking place.

The river walk is a great tourist attraction with over 15 miles of trails running along both sides of the river.  There are endless cafes and shops to choose from.  River taxis ferry people up and down the river.  Winnipeg could learn a lot from them.  If they could just keep our walkways from flooding they could also line the banks with restaurants and shops.  There are many walkways crossing the river.

If your dog likes to chase ducks you’ll have a much more enjoyable walk if you leave her at home.

Not sure what the building is with the animal heads.

It was a very attractive, clean city.

Our second day at the campground was much warmer than the first.  

It was poodle day in the dog park.

April 3rd we woke up to a nice sunrise.

We left San Antonio and bypassed Houston.

We arrived in Louisiana.

Our stop for the night was Walmart in Sulphur, Louisiana. 

April 4th we drove through a bit of Louisiana.

Cleo found some of it interesting.

We stopped at a really nice welcome stop for maps and a walk.

Fishermen launch their boats between the two highways.

We were so tempted to go to New Orleans.

Arriving in Mississippi.

Some animals for the grandkids.

We passed this and I have no idea what it was all about.

We are at the start of the Natchez Trace Parkway which is 444 miles long and goes through three states.  There are many historical sites as well as hiking trails and campgrounds.  

“The natural travel corridor that became the Natchez Trace dates back many centuries.  As the U.S. expanded westward in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, growing numbers of travelers tramped the rough trail into a clearly marked path.  Where the ground was relatively soft, walkers, riders, and wagons wore down the sunken sections you see today.”

It is a beautiful drive.

There are no trucks allowed and the speed limit is 50 mph/80 kph.  

We got set up at our free campsite which we were thrilled with and went for a hike.

We were walking on the original Trace.

It was a great hike.  We loved it.

We went back to our fabulous campsite and had a fire.

The next day we continued with our amazing drive.

We stopped at another gorgeous free campsite.

We were off on another hike.

It was another great day.

April 6th we got ready to leave.  I don’t think Cleo was too happy with our decision.

We were back on the parkway for awhile.

We took a side trip off the Natchez Trace to go to Memphis.

I’ll bet you guessed where we were going.

Yes, I was happy just being at the RV park.

That evening we walked over to the Heartbreak Hotel to take a shuttle to Beale Street.

The hotel lobby.

We saw a nice sunset from the shuttle bus.

We started the evening at B.B. King’s blues bar.

We walked Beale Street which is very cool, live music everywhere.

We went to another bar, watched another band and took the shuttle back to the RV park.

Guess what we did the next day?

We took so many pictures at Graceland, but I will try to post a minimum of them.

The living room.

Elvis parent’s bedroom.

Poodle wallpaper in the ensuite.

Dining room which apparently Lisa still uses when she visits.

Kitchen.

The jungle room.  It was surprising how small all of the rooms were.

Carpeted ceiling.

The TV room.

The pool room.  Wow! 

Another view of the jungle room.

The back of the house.

The gold records went forever.

Racquetball viewing room.

Meditation garden.

We moved on to the automobile museum.

There were a lot of cars.  I’ll just share a few.

This was used by the guards at Graceland.

Elvis and his parents.

The next morning, April 8th, we headed back to the Natchez Trace and continued where we’d left off.  

We started in Mississippi.

We crossed the corner of Alabama.

Shortly after this bridge we entered Tennessee.

Who’s driving?

Lots of pretty white blooms.

We arrived at another great free campsite.  

It was a little cool out.

Sunset out our back window.  It went down to 2 overnight.  Brrrrr….

The next morning we put on some layers and went for a hike.

We did lots of climbing.

It wasn’t long before we had one layer off.

Dave is looking for more wood to add to our fire since we’re running out.

The next morning, April 10th, we completed the Natchez Trace Parkway in the rain.

You can just see a small waterfall.

Mile 404.

We are done and it was fabulous!  I highly recommend it!

We’re on our way into Nashville.

Almost at our campground.

Willie Nelson was there to welcome us.

After getting set up, we went downtown.

We saw some pretty good music.

We thought these Pedal Taverns were pretty cool.  Downtown Nashville was really hopping for a Sunday night.  Those country music people really like to party.

Dave was pretty excited to have a crab feast.

The downtown area that we were in was really nice.

Yesterday morning we left our campsite in Nashville and started our drive to St. Louis, Missouri.

On the way, we passed through Kentucky & Illinois.  

Apparently they’ve had a lot of rain in Missouri and we sure saw a lot of water.

The skies cleared up nicely for us.  

Not our favourite type of campsite, but we’re sure close to downtown.

Today, April 12th, we walked downtown.

It was very impressive with lots of old restored buildings.

The entrance of the National Blues Museum.

This is one of two places you are allowed to take a picture.

I snuck (is that a word?) a couple more.

It was interesting, but it could be better.  We’re glad we went though.

This was the ceiling in the centre of the courthouse where we went to buy tickets to go up in the Arch.

We didn’t end up with tickets because the next tour was not for a long time and we didn’t want to wait.

We settled for a picture instead.

This bar has an electric train running around up near the ceiling.  

We are leaving here tomorrow and we’re not exactly sure where we’re going.  I have a free campsite picked out but you can’t always believe everything you read on the Internet, so we’ll see how that goes.  Camping in big cities like Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis is very expensive.  We will stay away from the big cities now unless we do casinos or Walmarts.  We have no other plans so will make our way slowly home.  We don’t want to get there too soon. 

Exploring Texas

We arrived at Lake Casa Blanca state park in Laredo, Texas on March 17th and stayed there until March 23rd.  On Friday, the 18th, we phoned Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to make a dentist appointment for Dave.  We found out just before leaving Lo de Marcos that he needed a crown but it would take two weeks to get it made.  We didn’t want to wait.  He got an appointment in Nuevo, Laredo for Tuesday, the 22nd.  We didn’t mind staying in Laredo for awhile since we had a lot of errands to do.

We took in the trailer tire which had a slow leak, to get it repaired.

It had a screw nail in it.

We got caught up on laundry.

Dave fixed the kitchen sink again, but this time he did a super heavy duty job.  A word of advice:  don’t travel with your heavy inserts in the sinks.  When you’re bouncing down the road your caulking will come unglued.

While I had no sink, I did dishes the old-fashioned way.

Dave installed baby locks on all of the cupboard doors that fly open when were travelling.

Oh, the pretty purple dog poo bags tied on the handles are a reminder to us to not yank the doors open until we get used to the idea of the baby locks.
I super cleaned the trailer, but didn’t take any pictures of it.  No more sand.  Boo-Hoo.
We really enjoyed the park.

It was a nice place to go for walks.

Well, except for this.  After seeing this sign, I was definitely watching.  

Once again, we met up with Charlie & Cathy, who we met in Lo de Marcos, and they joined us for a fire………

………and a shot of tequila.

We had lots of trails to walk.

This looked like an old church.

An amphitheatre.

One night we went for dinner to Rudy’s BBQ which was pretty awesome.

Dave walked across the border into Mexico for his dentist appointment.  He ended up changing dentists.  The first one he went to, the dentist went into a closet and started a generator to turn on the lights and his computer.  Dave just didn’t get a good feeling from him. 

We noticed that our trailer tire was low again so Dave took it off and went back to the tire place.  Turns out there was a second screw nail in the same tire.  Pretty sure we picked those up our last night in Mexico.  

We took Cleo to a dog park one day and made her do some tricks.  She wasn’t thrilled.

May the force be with you.

March 24:  We left Laredo and drove to Weslaco, Texas along the Rio Grande River which is the border between Texas and Mexico.  We were amazed how many border patrol vehicles we saw.  

This is the entrance to Texas A & M University.  I like their world globe.

There was a semi tipped over on its side in this underpass.

All along the roads people were selling piñata’s for Easter.  Being in Laredo is very much like being in Mexico.  Most of the people that live and work here are Mexican.  Most signs, including in the grocery store, are in Spanish.  Mexicans really love their piñata’s.  

The cemeteries are very colourful with flowers and decorations.

More Easter decorations being sold.

We were quite surprised to see that schools had fences and guards at the gates.

More Easter goodies for sale.

The Easter bunny!

We missed our turn into the RV park so Dave did a u-turn in a very small parking lot which happened to belong to a driving school.  They could have taken a lesson from him.

That was a pretty easy day.

While driving around Weslaco the next day we came across this elephant.

I think it was advertising a circus.

We really enjoyed the pool at the RV park.

It was a very friendly park.  I’m guessing that’s because it was occupied by 80% friendly Manitobans!

After staying there for a couple of days we went to Aransas Pass which is just past Corpus Christi.

I have to say that what we saw of Corpus Christi from the road was pretty ugly.  It’s all about oil production.

We went over a long bridge which took us to Aransas Pass.

The RV park we stayed in was very different.  Very clean & well kept but definitely not a place we would want to spend much time in.

Dave was very excited when we checked in, to find out that there was a music night that evening.

I stayed for two songs, then he was on his own.

He escaped when he had a chance.  

It’s a good thing we had asked if we could bring a beer, because it’s not allowed.  Coffee & dainties were served.  I think that’s the only reason Dave stayed as long as he did.  He likes dessert. 😋

The next morning it was very foggy when we got up, but it slowly cleared up.  We decided to go see Port Aransas.

To get there we had to take a ferry, which is free!

They have five ferries which constantly go back and forth.  It’s a very short ride.

On our way to the beach.

You can drive down the beach.

You have to buy a parking permit.

We went for a long walk.  What a great place!

This was Easter Sunday so it was pretty busy.

I could have cried when I found out we could have camped there.  That’s my kind of camping!  So much better than the creepy place we were in.

We should have brought a longer rope.

These garbage cans made Dave feel little.

Sand in my toes and I’m happy again.  We got a little wet sitting with our feet in the water.

Time to go back to catch the ferry.

There are several people in the water fishing.

We went to our trailer and changed out of our wet clothes, then went out for a margarita.

We had a nice view.

Back to the cult………I mean RV park.  

On Monday, March 28th, we left Aransas Pass to go to Austin.

Corpus Christi, again.

We weren’t sure what to think of this sky, but all the clouds blew away.

Dave picked me a flower.

The pictures I took, don’t do it justice, but the flowers on the sides of the road were gorgeous.

It was a great drive.

You can just make out downtown on the left.

We stayed just outside Austin at McKinney Falls State Park.

It’s a beautiful park.

This is the upper falls.

When we were checking in to the park Dave spoke to the park ranger and asked him about snakes.  He said there are rattlesnakes and water moccasins, but he’s only seen two water moccasins since he’s been here, one in and one out of the water.  Enjoy your swim.  And we freak out about leeches!  

Now we’re going to see the lower falls.

That evening we drove into Austin to see some live music.  We went to Sixth Street which is where all the action is.  There is live music in every bar, mostly country, but also some good rock ‘n roll and blues.  

We picked up a slice of pizza to take to the bar with us.  We went to Friends, which has live music seven nights a week and no cover charge.  

The band was excellent.  They were a blues band which had Ginger in the name.  Two of the band members had just met and I have a feeling they just made up the name because I can’t locate it anywhere.  They were not the band that was supposed to play but we were sure happy with them.  They played a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan and did it well.

This light fixture has mini donut decorations on its branches.  We are standing in a very long line at Voodoo Donuts.  

We figured they must be good if the line was that long, and they were.

The next morning I took Cleo for a walk around the campground.

We enjoyed a fire with our morning coffee.

We drove into Austin in a misty rain.

It started to clear up when we got to our destination, the Lady Bird Lake hike ‘n bike trail.

Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Can you tell we like him?

We had to deal with some major traffic getting back to the campground.

Yesterday morning, March 30th, we were very sad to leave that great campground.

We made our way back to Lake Casa Blanca State Park in Laredo.

We stopped at the tourist info centre for maps on our way into Laredo.  I saw a path leading off the parking lot and told Dave that was probably the dog walk area and that he should take Cleo for a walk.   When I returned to the truck Dave was not impressed because he had seen a snake.  I asked him if he’d taken a picture.  Haha.  

This female Cardinal keeps pecking on our windows.  I guess she can see herself.

We had a pretty spectacular sunset last night.

The reason we came back to Laredo is because Dave had a dentist appointment in Mexico today to have his permanent crown installed.  He is back already and very happy with it.  I’m happy with the price.  $420 Canadian.  

I’m starting to get a bit annoyed with this bird.  

We are leaving tomorrow and going to San Antonio.  

Leaving Mexico

March 13:  We were still on Stone Island recovering from our fish bowls of regret.  We had a lazy beach day.

Since we didn’t have the energy to chase Cleo up and down the beach for two hours, she was tied to Dave.

View of the RV park from the beach.

Happy hour with Jody & Brent.

Zela is relaxing while we wait for the sunset.

A Volkswagen Beetle driving down the beach.

The end of another wonderful day.

March 14:  Beautiful flowers in the RV park.

Dave & I went for a walk to the botanical gardens. 

The entrance.

We started in the cactus garden.

It was a perfect day for soaking up the sun.

It’s a very nice park.

There are a couple of buildings on the property and we were standing and looking at them when a Mexican gardener came along and said something in Spanish which we were pretty sure was “Go in and have a look”.  So we did.  There is a nice outdoor seating area & a hot tub.

They have a main floor kitchen, then a nice bedroom & bathroom upstairs.

A great view from the balcony.

About this time a security guard came & told us to get out.  We were not allowed to be in there.  Oops.  From what he told us we think there is an office in town where you can make arrangements to rent them. 

That was enjoyable.

In the afternoon we went to the beach and Dave invented a way to keep Cleo from running away.

It worked great!

We were able to relax.

March 15:  We left Stone Island and headed for Durango.

The Durango highway was all new to us.  We had entered Mexico in Arizona and driven along the coast.  This time we were going inland to see different scenery and save some kilometres.

This sign with the fox on it was the third sign we saw.  I didn’t have my camera ready for the first two which were an armadillo and a pig.  We didn’t see any of them. 

What a great highway…………….

……………..except for the construction.

Lots of tunnels…………

…………….and construction.

Why pay a person to hold a flag, when a dummy can do it?

Great scenery and………

………more construction.

This was a long tunnel.

Don’t look down.

Wow!  What a view!

Pretty impressive bridge.

It seems to go forever.

Mountains everywhere.

We stopped for a short break and found that our cupboards had opened again.  Oh joy.  We like to learn things the hard way.

Pick a lane buddy.

The red lines are for the run off lane.  I’m not sure why they put them on the left side because they eventually cross over the right lane.

It was a much longer day than it should have been due to all the construction.

When we finally got to Durango we discovered that the hotel we were going to park at wouldn’t let us stay in our trailer.  They insist that you take a room.  Luckily, I had a back-up plan.  The second hotel I wanted to try wasn’t too far away however, our GPS took us in circles to get there so we were probably in Durango for an hour before we got parked for the night.  

We parked behind the City Express Hotel.  They didn’t charge us anything and had security patrolling all night.  We had wifi which worked from our trailer and they said we should go in for breakfast in the morning.  Breakfast is included with a room.  We wanted to pay for breakfast and they said no.  The manager said to tell all our friends to go there.  We highly recommend it!

It was probably the quietest place we have ever slept.  

March 16:  After breakfast in the hotel….

…….we were on our way to Saltillo.

We saw a very busy market as we were leaving Durango.

A really nice looking hospital.

You can see all the water tanks on top of the buildings.

Heading for the hills.

These emergency phone boxes are all along the highways.

The right lane was getting pretty rough.

No tunnels or construction today.

Lots of toll booths.

We arrived in Saltillo.

We stayed at La Fuentes hotel which has RV parking for a fee.  We’re pretty sure this is where we picked up two screw nails in one of our trailer tires.

Happy hour with Kathy & Charlie.

March 17:  We were up bright and early and on our way to the border.

We were getting close to the very large city of Monterrey and I’m pretty sure that’s smog.  I don’t think they have any emission control.

It looks a lot like fog.

Just after bypassing Monterrey we stopped for fuel at Pemex #6540.  We have heard rumours that you should be on guard when getting fuel in Mexico because the attendant may try to rip you off.  After spending the last two winters in Mexico and getting fuel many, many times we had never had any problems.  This time we did.  The attendant tried to tell me that I gave him a 50 peso note instead of a 500.  I knew that I was correct and he didn’t pursue it.  He knew I was correct too.  While we were stopped there we noticed that one of our tires on the trailer looked low.  It took a really long time to fill it, first with the service station air, then with our portable pump.  After about a 45 minute stop, we were back on the road.

This is not the first time we’ve seen a truck that burned.

There sure seems to be a lot of semis on the road.

Whew!  That’s better.

I spoke too soon.

We got into this traffic jam of semis which just kept building & building.  More semis kept coming and they made a lane on the shoulder of each side of the highway so that eventually we had semis 4 across as far as you could see in front and behind us.  We barely moved for over an hour.  More semis started using one of the lanes for the oncoming traffic so that they could get ahead and cut in farther up the road.  It was insane!  We were 11 kilometres from the border crossing that the trucks use.

We heard a rumour that it might have been a truckers protest but we’re not sure.  

We were just barely able to see a sign where we thought we were supposed to turn off to get to our border crossing.  We had to get over 3 lanes to make our turn and we had no idea if we were actually going the right way.

We were so happy to get out of that mess but still really stressed that we may have made a mistake and might have to go back to the end of the line, wherever that was.  Our GPS did not want us to turn. I really wish I’d thought to take a picture of all the semis once we were on the overpass.  After we’d seen a couple of landmarks that were indicated in our instructions, we were doing the happy dance!  

We are arriving at the border of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico and Laredo, Texas.

Well there was good news & bad news.  Good news, they didn’t look inside our trailer or ask us about anything that we had.  Bad news, we had to take our trailer through an X-ray machine which had a          

1 1/2 hour long line-up.  We finally got out of there and headed for Lake Casablanca State Park. 

We got settled into our campsite and had soup & a grilled cheese for supper since we didn’t have anything else.  Boy were we ticked off that we’d given away some food and even thrown some out so that we wouldn’t have any hassles at the border.  What a long day!