Spring 2013 - Can Cun & Cozumel

Sadly, no dog - but a great trip south of the border nonetheless.  A week in Can Cun (actually Puerto Morales) at the McDonald's all-inclusive El CID timeshare followed by three days at the Baldwin House bed & breakfast in Cozumel - was our first trip to Mexico.  All-inclusive meant all food and drink included for a daily fee much less than we would have spent otherwise.  Side trips to Puerto Morales, xxx and the very impressive Mayan pyramid at Xichenitsa filled the week.  Cozumel was even more laid back and included first time snorkeling and the first scuba dive in 40 years - Woo-Hoo.

Below, lunch in Cozumel, El CID and Puerto Morales.

 

SW Tour - Gods' Country

Monterey - 3 days at the county fairgrounds and a bus ride to the pier, then a fairground in Santa Rosa for 1 day after passing through Santa Cruz for b'fast on the pier watching dophins compete with Penguins for their b'fast. Even on Sunday, driving through SF was ugly. Then the Benbow RV Park deep in the redwoods.  The next morning a visit to small, lovely Trinidad for another pier breakfast, and then Brookings - 2 days on the Ocean front with sun.

Highway 101 on the Oregon coast has always been the best.  This trip we discovered Bandon just south of Coos Bay.  Lots of state park access to beaches and overlooks on a scenic byway, and lots of development accelerated by the Dunes golf course.  Now on the river at Coos Bay.

SW Tour - All the Way West

Done with the flat arid landscape? - not a chance.  One needs to distinguish between S CA east and west.  Heading west from Laughlin NV to the ocean we drove to Barstow, then Bakersfield.  It was just more desert.  Most of the highway was nice - smooth and 55 mph.  We arrived at Pismo Beach for a two day stay.  The ocean was welcome.  The Pismo pier was great with a fisherman catching smelt and feeding pelicans.  Kathy was happy.

We're now in Monterey at the Monterey Co. fairgrounds.  It is real laid back and comfortable after all of the commercial parks we have stayed at.  We plan a day on the waterfront, then some planning given a forecast of a "seasonal change in the weather".  All we are sure of is we want to blow through San Francisco on Sunday.  Beyond that?  dunno yet.

SW Tour - Westing

Flagstaff provided a nice no-kids RV park and cable for the VP debate.  We woke up to snow.  We discovered the part of Aridzona we missed going because we arrived in Gallup from the north.  Our objective was Laughlin NV so we could price spirits givin the sellers market in WA.  The high point of the trip across AZ was the continental divide.

After endless miles of high desert, we crossed a low pass into the Colorado River valley.  As we descended we faced a dense storm - we could see the whole thing - it looked like a column from heaven to earth that took up about one third of the middle of the valley we were headed into.  Rain pounded the windshield a couple of times, however our course to Laughlin skirted the worst of it.

Laughlin sits on the west (NV) side of the Colorado facing Bullhead on the east (AZ) side.  Bullhead came to pass from the construction of the dam upstream - begun before WW2 and not finished until the war was over.  Laughlin came to pass from the vision and determination of a man who build a small casino on the other side of the river that grew from a roadside bar and casino with two tables to a city with his Riverside Casino soon joined by several of the well known gambling palace names.  Laughlin included a huge hillside RV park of 500 sites in his development and we enjoyed one of them.  In a departure of our normal routine we ate in the Gourmet Room two nights in a row and enjoyed our dining experience immensely.  Two classic car displays added to the experience.



The most interesting sign was at a rest stop

    

Our first thought was someone had painted over the real amount.  But, there was no evidence.  It's almost an invitation.

Entering the valley where Laughlin lies, we descended a mountain pass facing a huge dark grey storm cloud from heaven to earth.  While we were whacked with the edge of it, it largely missed us.  Laughlin is on the Nevada bank of the Colorado.  The older, Bullhead AZ is on the opposite bank.

The story has it that Mr. Laughlin opened a two table casino across from the town of Bullhead - itself an outcome of building the dam upstream - and did very well expanding from humble beginnings to a Vegas-like strip. Laughlins Riverside Casino includes a tiered destination RV park where we stayed in comfort for two days.

SW Tour - Headed West

The brick red adobe beauty of Santa Fe and a one day trip to Taos are behind us - the grandure of 500 hot air balloons a vivid memory - and we can imagine the salt air.  That is several days away, of course.  We made the New Mexico border today.  We are staying in a completely adequate Gallup NM RV park, and planning to leave early to keep the sun behind us, expecting to make Flagstaff before the sun passes us.  As has happened a couple of times we revisited a restaurant in Gallup we were pleased with on our way east - Jerry's Mexican-American Restaurant - meals with green chili have elevated in our couisine during this trip.

 We've been a 60 mph impediment on 75 mph Highway 40 since Albuquerque, and will continue to do so to Flagstaff.  From there we understand there are more sections of Route 66 available.  If they are as rough as a section we took east of Flagstaff we may return to 40.

Retired, on the road, and loving it.

SW Tour - To Taos

Headed to Taos today - and still reeling at the overwhelming beauty of the hot air balloon mass ascension yesterday.  They say 550 balloons went up.  Wind prevented the event on Saturday and also prevented an event today, Monday.  We feel fortunate all went well yesterday.

...there was a car show after the balloons cleared.

SW Tour - All the Way There

We have made our destination. We got up at 3:30 this morning to make the trip from Sante Fe to Albuquerque for the before dawn mass ascension of hot air balloons.

You really have to see it to believe it.

Starbucks seems to be the most reliable strong enough wi fi signal.  There have been many hour of trying from other places or with the expensive Verizen feature of the iPad.  Live and learn.

...and here is a photo from the corner of Winslow Arizona.