Salvation Mountain

There is a lot of history behind Salvation Mountain and its creator Leonard Knight. Leonard went into a long term care facility in Dec 2011. There is a volunteer group trying to maintain the mountain. We were here last year and you can already see some changes. It will be interesting to see if he mountain still exists in a few years. To me it seemed the mountain was already showing some neglect.

We were in Yuma for two weeks. Had a mobile RV repair come by the site and fix things that broke

while in Mexico.  The RV park we stayed at was one of the smaller ones.

 Not what we like to stay in.  Not much space between the units and there are

 many many such RV parks in Yuma.  If the RV'ers didn't come in the winter

 I think Yuma would blow away.

 

Went to the one of the flea markets and picked up a rug and a few other things for the Motor Home. One day we went to Algodones to get glasses. Picked them up the next day and also got a couple of stained glass for the window at home. Algodones was busy, we forgot there was a US holiday. When retired you don't think of those things. Anyway, it was the busiest we had seen any Mexican town, lots of people on the streets.

 

Heading to Bashford's Hot Mineral Springs we passed the Imperial Sand Dunes. Looked like there was a rally going on.

 

So now in Bashford's for a month. We were here last year for a week and we are talking to a lot of the same people that were here last year.

San Felipe and back in USA

The water fluctuation allows for a great sand bed to use as a take off and landing for ultralights

 

 Notice this one has the engine strapped to his back.






 

We went to town to do some window browsing and this window had some pretty party dresses. There were so many stores that were boarded up and very few people in town.

Leaving town you see these colorful mountains on one side and the salt flats on the other. We drove into a wind devil (couldn't see any dirt) and the motor home was swaying back and forth. Tom had a time keeping us on the road. 

When we stopped for lunch and a potty break we realized that the make shift cardboard cover for the bathroom vent had gone flying off at some point

Came across this man getting around in what I can only describe as a modified wheel chair. But, notice it is completely powered by his turning a crank with his arms. He must have some powerful arm muscles.

 

Tom was relying on the GPS again. Road signs can be vague so when I said he needed to turn he followed the instructions on the GPS. Wrong again. We went around the block to get back to where we needed to be. There were kids just getting out of classes for lunch and parents picking them up. We made quite the spectacle. Then in San Luis where we were to cross back into the US the GPS kept telling us to turn Right, wrong. Then it kept telling us off route. We missed the signs where to turn for the boarder crossing. We followed some signs reading “cargo routa” figuring that would get us to where we should be. By so doing we where about 1 – 2 blocks from the street we should have been on, so no signs for the boarder crossing. Luckily we figured out were only a few blocks off from the street for the boarder crossing. Now we just waited one hour in line to get to the boarder. The crossing had all sorts of lines with steel poles. There was no way we could avoid having one of the mirrors hit a pole. Tom went very slowly so only hit the mirror enough to turn it into the motor home. Throughout all of MX we didn't hit a mirror and now trying to get into the US we do. So we declare how much liquor we have on board, dog food, cat food, one avocado, eggs only hard boiled and various lunch meats. We had emptied our freezer, no raw chicken or any other meat that we perhaps couldn't take across. Because we had an avocado, and supposedly too much liquor (Tom's beer tripped us up) we had to go to the inspection area.  Twenty minutes later they came to check the refrigerator. They were so concerned with the avocado because it had a seed in it. They said we could keep the avocado if we took the seed out!  So I cut it and gave them the seed . They were so concerned with the avocado they didn't ask to see the vaccination certificates for the pets. They didn't even check to see if we had too much liquor on board or the type of dog / cat food we had.

Now we are in Yuma and trying to get everything fixed. Well hopefully that will go better than trying to get the laundry done. The washer and dryers use a card and the machine to get a card and add money kept telling me unable to complete transaction. Even people with a card couldn't add money to the card as they got an error code too. Hopefully a better day tomorrow. Oh, for a lavandria where you drop off the laundry and come back in the afternoon all washed, dried and folded.

So, now we have to decide where we are headed next.

San Felipe

Coming into town we hit another military check point. This time they opened cabinets in the bedroom, the medicine cabinet, the refrigerator, looked in the toilet and the kitchen sink and then wanted to see inside the car. It was the most any of the check points had done. Of coarse I'm usually trying to hold the dogs in their leashes. Mistek normally hides behind the bed and doesn't come out, but the last two stops he decided to come out, so try to get him into a harness, (which he hates), before we stop and of coarse Ceetu is also in his harness, (which he doesn't mind at all). Trying to maintain the animals while they are doing their check is a fun adventure. We stayed at “Pete's Camp”. There are old palapas on the beach without power or water. The beach is really sandy, but the tides goes out ¼ of a mile, at least. 

So not the best for kayaking, it would be a long haul. Our friends will be moving to another campground closer to town, but there again there are no facilities. We checked on the beaches south of town. A lot of the campgrounds no longer exist, who knows why.

 

A LOT of the housing developments have gone by the wayside. Looks like there was some sort of storm and the sand took over. Some of the roads have so much sand you need a dune buggy to get in and some of the yards are nothing but dunes.

We rode with our friends to Puertecitos, where the road quits. What a sad little town.

Onward to San Felipe

Between Guerrero Negro and Rancho Inez we encountered severe winds. It took us 5 hours to go 133 miles. Tom had to stop the rig when an oncoming semi approached, so that we didn't get blown into the side of the rig or over the edge of the road.

This picture is looking at the passenger side mirror, notice the tires on the white line? Even when stopped we were swaying back and forth. It was a long nerve racking day. 

 

We lost the vent cover along the way and the wind was howling into the bathroon lifting the scatter rug up and down. When we got to Rancho Inez I used a cereal box to put over the vent and taped and taped with duct tape so it wouldn't come off. While doing that little job I noticed the cap for the sewer vent was also missing. So will add these items to our growing list of fix its. 

 

In towns there are different types of produce vendors. Some with oranges or even tomatoes in the back of trucks and others have a stand with a little of everything.

 

Have no idea what these cactus are, but I thought they were interesting. The main branch is stocky like a tree and cream colored with the needles coming directly out of the main branch with what I guess are flowers on top. 

 

                                                                    

Once again we encountered gas being sold out of 55 gallon drums or milk jugs, for those that didn't pay attention to their gas gauges before crossing a long stretch without a Pemex.

  

                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

A typical propane fill up station.

 Some of the terrain we encountered on the drive.

 

          

 

  

A fun picture I forgot to post for Los Barrilles.

 

Drove from Ensenada to San Felipe with friends we met up with in Ensenda. We will check out the beaches and decide which one we want to spend some time at.

Guerrero Negro – Whale Watching

Drove out thru the working salt flats to see the whales. If we didn't see some road signs periodically we could easily have gotten lost. The road had sand drifts and washboard

 

At the end of the road was a great campground. The first few palapas had electric hook-ups. It was a gorgeous day with hardly any wind.

 

We went out on a panga to see the whales. It was amazing. They swam under the boat with their babies. The whales were all around us.

 

                                                                                                     

Baby with head on mom's back

 

Heading North

We are in the process of heading North to, hopefully, see some gray whales. We stopped a couple of days in Los Barrilles and then a day at Ciudad Constitucion. We went to the beach community San Carlos to see if there were any whale sightings. We had a truck stop us wanting to take us out to see whales, but we were skeptical and said we would come back. Good thing, the whales were not there yet. They were scam, just trying to get some money. Things are tough.

We adopted a kitten from the RV site while in Ciudad Constitucion. He is so cuddly, doesn't mind the dogs and rides in the Motor Home without any problem.

Sunset at Santispac

We then went back to Santispac. This time the beach was full. But we were able to set up next to a couple that we have become friends with and periodically see on the route. Kayaking with them was fun.

So now we are in San Lucas and the weather has started to become cooler again. Ugh. We will head for Guerrero Negro. Our friends e-mailed us and said the whales have arrived.

More Cabo

It has been a while since we posted. The internet has not been the best, so will try to catch up. Scott went back home on the 13^th.    The week seemed to fly by. 

 

 

We took him back to the beach “Playa Santa Maria” and did some more snorkeling. This time we encountered some very small jelly fish. We didn't realize what they were until we started to get stung. The sting hurt. Tom purchased a water proof camera which I tried out. Not the best camera, but the underwater pictures are OK, you just have to guess at what you are shooting, very difficult to see the LCD display.

Since it is one of the better beaches to snorkel the local tourist boats come in to let people spend time snorkeling, as part of their tour. The boats are very varied.

Took Scott to Cabo San Jose for a day trip.

 

A local vendor trying to sell his snacks.

 

Then a short drive on the east cape. They were in the process of building a new marina, golf course and housing development. This area is a little more rugged.

 A little more on the roads. Prior to entering Cabo San Lucas there is a main road to travel at a good speed, then if you need to stop at a store there are the side roads that run parallel to the main so you don't hold up traffic.

There are also “retornos” on the side roads, so you could go the other way without crossing the main road. One of which just ran under the highway.

Cabo San Lucas

We finally have warm weather without the wind!

Cabo's downtown has a huge mall, with many empty spaces, with an outside malacon to walk around the harbor.  The downtown is the typical tourist area with knickknacks and clothing.  The town has grown by double maybe triple since we were here in 2004, it amazes us.  There is now a Costco, Wal-Mart, Sams Club, and Home Depot that were not here in 2004.  But, there are still many buildings / condos empty. 

   

 Every day there are one or more cruise ships anchored in the bay, they are as big as the resorts!

The summers get hot, so some parking lots have shade covers, like this one for Wal-Mart.

 

 

The RV park we are staying at is on the edge of town with the highway just outside the entrance. Not a place we would pick to stay, put it is 20 minutes to Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach where Scott is staying in luxury and there is only one other RV park that is close to town. It is a typical facility where the permanent RV's surround the outside and are enclosed in palapas. 

 

Went snorkeling, what fun, so many colorful fish.  This beach is between Cabo San Lucas and Cabo San Jose.  Not the one downtown.