Arizona in bloom

We drove from Springerville to Show Low and then west into the Coconino National Forest on the Mogollon Rim. There are forest access roads all over the place that you can drive on and pull off into the forest. Jim remembered a place that he and David and his son Joe used to go and hunt squirrels and we actually found it again. It was incredible…a clearing in a forest of huge Douglas Fir, Ponderosa pine and live oaks.

As we had decided not to take the motorhome to Mexico and to leave it at David’s, I had a lot of sorting and packing to do. It was very nice to spend a couple of days in the trees in the cool, doing just that. 

The drive down the Rim was amazing to say the least. The road just follows the edge of the escarpment all the way down over 2000 feet to Payson. (US Forest service webpage on the Mogollon Rim)

Believe it or not, it’s raining a lot in Arizona, too and the desert is green and a lot of the cactus is blooming. Check out the pictures of this organ pipe (?) cactus at David’s. (Arizona In Bloom)

Next stop …San Carlos

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New Mexico meanderings

When we left Dallas we backtracked to Amarillo and then drove I-40 west to just east of Albuquerque instead of heading south & west to El Paso. It was too hot! We dropped down to US 60 at Moriarty and were able to stay in the mountains in New Mexico and on into Arizona.

It was a beautiful drive, down to Socorro and west up to the San Agustin Plain. It has been raining here a lot, too and everything is so green. There, out in the middle of nowhere,  we came across the VLA telescope (VLA Telescope webpage) VLA stands for Very Large Array and is 27 radio antennas. Remember the movie Contact? That’s what it looks like. Amazing! Then a little farther down the road we drove through Pie Town and yes they are famous for pie, but the café was closed, maybe permanently. (Pie Town webpage) The whole town was pretty much deserted, but the outdoor museum of old oil rigs and drilling equipment was very cool.

We spent the night at the best rest stop ever….8 miles east of the Arizona state line…it’s like a picnic area in the trees but with pull throughs! Check out the sunset! (New Mexico Meandering)

The Texas Two Step

After a short visit in Golden to re-group, hug and say good-bye, we headed south for Texas. We had been promising to visit Jim’s sister Judy ever since the wedding. She and Gil live in Cedar Hill, south of Dallas.

We went over Raton Pass, cut across the corner of New Mexico and stayed the night in Amarillo. There is a great RV park, just off I-40, Overnight RV Park. It is very easy to get in and out of, has lots of grass and trees and is a good price. Plus it is right across from the Waffle House and has shuttle service to the “Big Texan Steakhouse, home of the free 72 oz steak”.  (Big Texan Steakhouse webpage) You have to see this place to believe it. It’s been there for 50 years and a whole western theme town has been built up around it.

The drive was actually not bad. The thought of driving through west Texas in the summer was not something we were looking forward to, but it was really green and we enjoyed the americana in all those small towns we drove through and had lots of fun looking at the billboards along the way. I don’t have many pictures of them as we were past them by the time I could get the camera out. For example, one billboard said “What’s your leg worth?” Nothing else! As we were in the bible belt we saw some pretty graphic anti-abortion ones, also. Café and restaurant signs made your mouth smile and water at the same time.

Judy and Gil have a beautiful house! They have turned their backyard into a summer paradise, with a pool and hot tub and beautiful covered decks with lots of swings, plants and flowerbeds. She and her daughter Kim have decorated it all with hanging stain glass panels, water features and other antiques along with statues of fairies, frogs and other “secret garden” treasures that are tucked away amongst the flowers. 

We had such a great time visiting with everybody and getting to know the Texas side of the family, especially Judy and Gil. They just bought a second home in Red River, New Mexico, so maybe it will be easier to see them more often.

We only had enough time to see Jim's family. I have many dear friends that live all over Texas and I hope the next time we are close by we'll get to stop in and visit. 

And boy did we eat! Guy Clark wrote a great song about it. Part of the words go “Oooh, oooh, Mama, love that Texas cookin’, keeps your belly and backbone from bumpin’”. Does it ever! 

The most memorable was Babe’s Chicken. They have 5 things on the menu: Fried chicken, chicken fried steak, chicken fingers, hickory smoked chicken and pot roast. It is served family style with bottomless bowls of green beans cooked with bacon and onions, home made creamed corn, mashed potatoes and gravy and biscuits with honey or molasses.  They have homemade banana pudding and cobbler for dessert. Can you say oink? Texas pictures

The waitstaff do a great version of the Hokey Pokey and invite you to join in. What if the Hokey Pokey is really what it's all about?  

Rockygrass

Rockygrass was our last show for the season. Normally we would do festivals until the middle of September, ending with Blues and Brews in Telluride. However, this year we did not get accepted to Folks Festival in Lyons, which is the 3^rd week of August. So without any big shows between Rockygrass and Brews, we decided it wasn’t worth the time away from San Carlos. When we made the decision to come back to Mexico the 1^st week of August, Andy & Bev offered us the apartment in their house on the Caricol, to caretake for them until Jan, so it all worked out for the best. Besides, we were pooped after 4 shows in 5 weeks and I don’t think we could have lasted the rest of the season!

Lyons was beautiful as usual,  the weather was fantastic and the line-up was awesome. Especially Sam Bush, he had everyone "Howlin at the Moon" (it was a full moon, too) Avey flew up from Phoenix to come and play with us and we all had a good time. We got to touch base with some festival friends that I had not seen in a couple of years and Jim got to meet everyone. You can get lots of info and more pictures at the website (Rockygrass festival webpage)

Not only was this the last show of the season but it will probably be our last show as well. We felt that when we travel over the next few summers that we do not want to have to be tied to a schedule or region. You have to apply to many of these shows months ahead of time and as a result we don’t have a lot of  flexibility in our travel plans.

We put up a sign on Saturday that this was our last show and that everything was on sale. We sold everything! (except for a few of our Jackite bird kites) We even sold our EZ-Up and displays to other vendors. Packing up Monday morning was a piece of cake! (Rockygrass 2010 pictures)

Off to the wilds of Wyoming and Montana

We took I-25 north to Casper and then on up to Buffalo, which is close to the Montana border. It was an easy days drive and not nearly as flat as I remember Wyoming. It had been raining a lot all summer and was very green so I think that made a difference. Beautiful rolling hills and grasslands, rocky outcroppings … when you think back 150 years when they traveled this region by horseback and wagon train …. It must have seemed to them that they would never get there!

Buffalo is a beautiful small town in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. They were hosting the Big Horn Mountain Festival, a very good, small bluegrass festival. (Big Horn Mountain Festival webpage) We were able to park at the fairgrounds, under these huge cottonwoods, plug into electricity and take showers for $15 night and walk right over to our booth and the music. The music was wonderful, the scenery amazing and we met some great people, especially our new friends Nadine & Jimmy. They had the booth next to us and on Sunday, helped us pack up and invited us up to their cabin for dinner.

We took the long way up through Crazy Woman Creek Canyon and were blown away by rock formations and shear beauty of it. Once we came up out of the canyon we drove higher up though meadows of lupine with views to forever out east onto the plains. We built a campfire and grilled steaks and had a wonderful time. We were hoping to see their resident moose and her calf but it was not to be. We did see wild turkeys and deer. We will definitely be coming back through this area to fish and relax, so maybe next time. Thanks, Jimmy and Nadine for a very special memory. (Buffalo, WY and festival pictures)

We left Monday afternoon and headed west to Cody. We thought about detouring south to the hot springs at Thermopolis and staying there Monday night, but decided to go on to Cody. We really lucked out. Cody is of course very crowded as it is a jumping off destination for Yellowstone National Park. All of the RV parks were just packed! Main St. through downtown was jammed. We decided to go on through town and find a campground west of town when lo and behold, we saw a Walmart. And overnight parking was allowed! Come to find out, it is town ordinances that mostly determine whether you can park at a Walmart. Many places where we have traveled don’t allow overnight parking so this was the 1^st time we’ve been able to take advantage of this ideal boondocking situation. It is so nice having a level place to park, trash containers and shopping right there.

Tuesday morning we decided to visit the Buffalo Bill Museum. I know it sounds kinda hokie but in reality it was far, far from it. The building house 5 museums on different wings under 1 roof. Jimmy had recommended visiting just to see the firearms exhibit and it was well worth the stop. (Buffalo Bill museum)

The firearms museum houses over 1500 guns on display, from the earliest guns in history from Europe to guns used in every war. The best part was in between with all the old rifles and revolvers from colonial America, the Civil War and the West. It was really fun seeing the guns used by James Arness in “Gunsmoke” and the Cartwrights on the “Ponderosa” plus many others. If you did not see enough you could go down 1 floor and see another 1200. They also had replicas of stagestop cabins and other western pioneer buildings along with trophy mounted wild animals.

The other museum we went into was a life and times exhibit devoted to Buffalo Bill Cody and the history and exhibits from his “Wild West Show”. He was a  fascinating man with a very colorful story.

You need at least 2 days to get to everything in this museum. We didn’t see the “Art of the West”, a natural history museum of Yellowstone or the “Peoples of the Plains” Indian exhibit. Maybe next time…..(Big Horn Mountains and Cody, WY)

We were not able to get reservations for a camping spot in the Park, so decided to take our chances on a national forest campground. We lucked out again and found a really nice one on the banks of the Shoshone River just 3 miles from the east entrance to the Park. We had to drive in and out both days but it was a great spot. If you are going to visit the park during the summer, make reservations months ahead of time! We unhooked the jeep and took a nice drive into the park Tuesday afternoon. (Yellowstone NP webpage)

Just a few miles inside the entrance we came around a curve and there was a buffalo eating grass right next to the road! Of course I want Jim to stop right there so I can take a picture. By then we were past it and he had to turn around so I could get more than his but. By the end of the afternoon we were very jaded with all the traffic slowdowns because of buffalo crossing the roads or “photo ops” in the meadows along the route. “Oh, it must be another stupid buffalo.” However, one time it was an elk!

The roads in Yellowstone are laid out in a loose figure 8 so if you can camp in the park you don’t have to back track too much to see everything. What we had to do was a north east loop the 1^st day and then hook the jeep back up and drive the motorhome on a longer south to west to north loop to see Old Faithful and exit the park on the north at Mammoth Hot Springs. This plan was going along swimmingly until the highway got closed due to a severe accident. We wound up having to back track part of the way we traveled on Tuesday and go over a very curvy, narrow high road by Mt. Washington. Everything would have been fine except for another “photo op” that had 40-50 cars pulled off on a non existent shoulder, running across the road with their cameras, trying to go down this steep slope after something…never could see it…must have been a bear to cause that much excitement. There was one ranger trying to get traffic moving but as we moved on past more people kept pulling off, including another motorhome. As he blocked almost the whole of our lane and traffic coming up the hill wasn’t stopping, we were soon going to be a mess. I could see several motorhomes coming up the hill so decided to get out and stop traffic! They actually stopped, although it was a bit tense until we wove our way through. One lady actually laid on her horn, thinking Jim was going to hit her and she was too terrified to back up a foot to give us more room.

We finally made it down off the mountain and were able to enjoy the rest of the drive to Mammoth Hot Springs. As all the parking lots along the road were very small and jam packed we did not stop for several other waterfalls but did mange to see 1 more. Everything was full in MHS also, so by the time we made 2 loops and finally found a spot the walk was hot and long. We only went to the 1^st formation, Palette Springs.

For spectacular scenery and diversity of geology, there is nothing like Yellowstone (so far, anyway). I would really recommend visiting any time other than the summer, though! Or winter, unless you like a lot of snow and ice. But it was a trip of a lifetime and Jim can die happy as he has seen Old Faithful erupt!

(Yellowstone NP pictures)

As we were driving north to Livingston, MT and our next show, Summerfest on the Yellowstone, I was looking at the map to see if there were any campgrounds to stay in. Did not have much luck but did see a spot on the highway called Chico Hot Springs. I have a couple of great books on hot springs and the one for Wyoming a Montana goes into great detail. It turns out that Chico Hot Springs is still in existence and is as well known for its gourmet dining as its soaking! It turns out that many famous people have ranches in Paradise Valley as it is called and eat there all the time. As Thursday was Jim’s birthday we decide to come back after getting settled in Livingston and soak for the afternoon. We treated ourselves to a “Moose Drool Ale” but passed on dinner. They have lots of great pictures, antiques  and Jimmy Buffet wrote a song about the area and his ex in “Livingston Saturday Night”. (Chico Hot Springs webpage) (Livingston, Montana pictures)

Downtown Livingston is a fun, funky place with all the old neon signs and storefronts still in place with high priced bistros inside. We saw a special edition of the local paper with menus for most the restaurants, boy did they look good. We could have stayed a week and put on 10 pounds and spent a ton of money.

We had a good show and enjoyed the music; the scenery was beautiful and we had a lot of fun. But when it was all said and done I was ready to start back to gear up for Rocky Grass..  

We left Sunday night after the show and spent the night in a really nice rest stop west of Billings. We were able to get all the way back to Golden the next day. Ran into rain and saw huge thunderstorms out on the plains in eastern Colorado resulting in some amazing rainbows. Jim had a hankering for fried chicken so we stopped at Johnson’s Corners Restaurant, just south of Loveland. My son-in-law Billy told us about their cinnamon rolls and great food so we decided to stop. Oh my, my was the food good! (www.johnsonscorner.com)

Little did I know that this was just a “taste” of what was to come. 

Summertime in the Rockies

We arrived in Golden and were greeted with lots of hugs and kisses and enthusiasm over presents, sure signs we were missed. It was great to see everyone and were soon involved in softball games (Kalyn) and dance recitals (Allie) and T-ball (Ethan and Jeremy) and organizing Gypsy Wind.

As we are now towing the jeep, Gypsy Wind had to move out of the 10 ft trailer we have used for the last 3 years and downsize into the motorhome…we certainly weren’t going to leave the jeep behind! We finally got everything organized between rain and hail storms and everything fit into the back of the jeep and the motorhome cubbies. Jim was pretty amazed I managed to do it. Whether the arrangement would be workable at a festival was yet to be seen.

We headed up the mountains for Kremmling Days and the gale force winds died down just in time to set up our booth. We had a good show, especially as Halden Wolford and the High Beams played Friday night. They are a Colorado band that plays a nice mix of rockabilly, Bob Wills swing and country. Good dancing music. Billy & Lisha & the kids came up too and we all camped out at Wolford Reservoir. Real nice campsites, with electric hookups for $20 a night. Can you believe Jim has never had a s’more? We ate lots of s’mores, roasted courtesy of Allie and Kalyn.

We had record runoffs this year with hot weather and lots of rain. All the rivers were running at almost flood stage and all the reservoirs were full….so there were lots of mosquitoes and the fishing sucked! Jim and Billy gave it a good shot, both at Wolford and on the Blue River, but got skunked. We had planned on fishing for the week in between Kremmling and Winter Park but opted to visit friends in Frisco and Granby instead.

After a great show of blues in Winter Park, both at the festival and the after party at Smokin’ Moes (check out the website for the Grand County Blues Society for details, Blues from the Top) we returned to Golden to unpack and get ready for a family camping trip for the 4^th of July.

We left for Tarryall Reservoir (outside of Jefferson, off Hwy 285) on Wednesday afternoon. It is a great place, in the middle of a historic ranching district. (Park County Historical tour)
It is a Colorado State wildlife area, so it is free to camp there. No water or trash but really nice sites, many with little beaches on the edge of the lake. But it fills up fast, so we were lucky to get 2 prime sites for the weekend. The girls were thrilled with their beach and were seldom out of the water for long. Saturday was the day for fishing! Jim and Billy both had great luck on flies and we had fish for dinner. We also had BBQ ribs and corn on the cob…..all cooked over a campfire. It’s been a long time since I have cooked on a wood fire. I don’t know how the pioneers did it without heavy duty aluminum foil! Cast iron pans help but foil is the best. Here’s the recipes:

Tarryall Trout

For each trout:

Remove the head and lay on a double layer of foil.

Stuff the cavity with bacon (I use precooked bacon bits) and sprinkle both sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Seal up the foil pouch and put on a grate over coals and cook for about 10-15 mins on each side. Serve in the pouch.

Becky’s BBQ Ribs

1 or more slabs of pork ribs, cut into 10 inch sections

Double layers of foil, big enough to completely wrap each sla

Sprinkle liquid smoke on each slab, on the foil. 

Seal each pouch and bake in a 200’ oven for5-6 hours

Remove from the pouches and finish ribs on a grate placed over coals, careful not to burn. 10 mins on each side, then slather with sauce. Be careful when removing from the grate, they have a tendency to fall off the bone.

Jimmy’s Crack Corn on the Cob

Soak corn on the cob in their husks in water for about 1 hour. Place on a grate over the coals until husks are cooked looking. (Brown to black). Remove husks and silks and put corn into a gallon zip-lock bag. Add some butter and salt and pepper, zip up and shake to melt the butter. Or you can substitute Cajun spice/salt, garlic salt or dried dill weed and salt.

And here is a link to the pictures: Summertime in the Rockies


Next we are headed to Wyoming and Montana

Time to head back

As the end of May approached we headed north. We scheduled 5 shows for Gypsy Wind. Initially we had wanted to do shows all the way through to mid-September but some fell through for August so we decided to cut our season short and plan to return to San Carlos the 1^st week of August. Our shows start in Kremmling, a small festival in our old neighborhood. Then we are going to Blues from the Top in Winter Park. We are going to Wyoming and Montana after that, ending up in Lyons, CO for Rocky Grass.

As we weren’t in any hurry to get to Golden, except to see our kids and grandkids, we decided to go to California “on the way home”. We have good friends that live in Hemet, Marvin and Carlene. They came to our wedding and they have been asking us to visit. Jim’s daughter Karen lives in Merced, along with our other 3 grandkids, none of whom I’d met yet. His oldest, Isaiah, was graduating from middle school and we really wanted to be there.

Well one thing led to another and we brainstormed on who else we could visit along the way. Jim has friends everywhere! In addition to visiting Mike and the kids in Phoenix and his sister Norma, we decided to detour to the wild west in Wickenburg. Friends of Jim’s, Steve and Jeanette Schwartzbach, are transplants from Chicago. He taught them to scuba dive, of course! They own an off road adventure touring company and have a great house on a beautifully landscaped property. Well, they taught me how to ride a quad and we saw some incredible country! It was a little narley at times, but a hoot. I haven’t had so much fun since I learned to dive. Then Jim taught me to shoot …I’d never shot a gun before either. I didn’t do too bad ….only flinched a little and even hit the target! (The wild west is alive in Wickenburg)

We had an uneventful drive to California and got to Marvin and Carlene’s just in time to go to their friends for a Memorial Day BBQ. We have great timing. We spent a couple of days relaxing with them and talking of sailing and “rat rods”. Marvin has restored a 1929 REO Speedwagon, named Mader Sr, after the movie Cars. When you have a rat rod, you leave the body rusty and put in the biggest engine you can fit into it! You add bullet holes and skulls and all kinds of ornaments to trick them out. It is very, very cool. 

We drove north through the Mojave and the San Juaquin valley…..what a study in contrasts! I like how they put signs up on the fields so you know what they are growing. I wish everyone would. It sure would make for a more interesting trip if you knew what you were looking at!

I t was great getting to meet Karen and her kids. Isaiah is a teenager and a very talented quarterback. He just made starting quarterback of the freshman team. Holden is 8 and in the gifted and talented school. He is so smart and into biology … he wants to be a doctor. Bella is 6 and very tiny. She’s going into 1^st grade but reads at 3^rd or 4^th grade level and is very much into butterflies. (Hotel California)

We wanted to go back east through Yosemite but the main road over the top was still closed due to snow and ice. I was really bummed as I had never been there. So we went through Las Vegas….not a fair trade off at all! But the upside was that we were able to visit Zion and Bryce National Parks. (Zion National Park webpage) (Bryce Canyon National Park webpage)

Zion was a little disappointing as you have to ride shuttle buses through the park and I don’t think you get to see as much. But there isn’t a lot of space so it is the best solution…..absolutely no parking space anywhere! The best scenery was on the drive out of the park…we had to go through a tunnel that was built in the 1930’s. A motorhome has to buy a special permit to go through it as they have to stop traffic so you can drive down the center of it because it is too narrow and low! The rock formations on the other side were different as night and day from the main park….(Zion National Park)

Bryce was incredible, though. We unhooked the jeep and spent a lovely day driving the rim, oohing and aahing over the Hoodoo’s and spires!  (Bryce National Park)

We were real temped to just stay in Utah but it was hot. So unless we wanted to spend big bucks at RV parks, it was too hot to sleep… boondocking it. Big truck stops are always good places to spend the night…you can park far enough away from the trucks so the noise isn’t too bad and ice cream is just a short walk away!

Some special places

We went to Guaymas a lot. It is the large city 10 miles from San Carlos. We have good friends that live there….they may be the only Gringos in town! As a result we were shown lots of great places to eat and shop. Imagine, fresh picked crab for less than $5 a pound. Shrimp and scallops, too. We found this great little hole in the wall, well it was actually a carport, that made the best tostados. They had a layer of crab, a layer of shrimp and a layer of scallops with a secret sauce that was to die for, topped with avocado slices for $3! Incredible! I learned to make Ceviche and Salsa Bandera, went shopping in the local markets, bought asparagus, strawberries and cantaloupe from street vendors for $1. We never got sick and always felt completely safe. We found a great doctor, dentist and even got prescription sunglasses. Medical care down here is excellent and so much less expensive than in the States. We even have a Mexican Blockbuster card…but you have to make sure the movies will play on your DVD player or are in English!

Ceviche:

2# of firm, white fish. (We used a white sea bass) cut into 1/2-3/4  inch pieces

1 cup of lime juice

1 red onion, chopped

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

½ cup of chopped cilantro

2 t salt.

You can add more garlic or cilantro

Put into a gallon zip lock bag and mix well. Squeeze out most of the air before sealing. Put in refrigerator for several hours or overnight, turning a few times to keep fish covered in the lime juice.

Spoon out into a bowl with a slotted spoon to drain the juice and serve on tostado shells with chopped tomatoes and avocados

Salsa Bandera:

1 Red –            tomatoes, chopped and seeded if necessary

2 White –         onions, chopped

Garlic, minced

3 Green –        Cilantro, chopped

Green chilies or jalapenos, diced

Lime juice to taste

 & salt, to taste

I use more green and white than red but the proportions are up to you.

Crab Tostados:

Tostado shells

Mayonaise

Fresh picked crab meat

Chopped onions and tomatoes

Sliced avocados

Lime quarters

Bottled red hotsauce

Spread mayo on the tostado shells, layer with crab, top with next 2, squeeze lime over and add some zip……enjoy

Guacamole:

2-3 avocados, peeled and mashed with a fork…I like it chunky

Salsa Bandera to taste

Mix just enough to blend.

Cover & let chill to blend the flavors…taste test

You can add some extra:

Chopped onion and minced garlic & lime juice to taste

One of the highlights of our time down here was a trip we took with friends to Alamos. It is about 3 hours south and east of San Carlos. On the way there we detoured to a tiny village called Aduana. Soon after we turned off the highway, the road became dirt and we crossed a wash and finally came to the village, which consisted of a church and plaza and a few houses. One of the houses was and old hacienda that had been made into a restaurant. It was written up in the 2007 Fodor’s Guide as one of the best dining experiences in Mexico. The owner & chef is from Philadelphia, who trained in Spain and other places. Gourmet dining in the wilds of Mexico. Amazing food and wine, very reasonably priced. We heard later that the owner made his money as a drug dealer and is now an ex-pat in Mexico. Who knows. Who cares. What an adventure! 

Alamos was founded in the 1500s as a silver mining area by the Spaniards. (Alamos, Mexico webpage) As is the case with all the colonial towns in Mexico, it has a central plaza with a cathedral and haciendas throughout the town. In Alamos, many of the original haciendas have been converted to hotels. Our’s was delightful! The rooms were around a central courtyard, filled with plants and statues and a fountain. Other haciendas are private homes and are open for a walking tour. These homes are essentially they same as they were 400-500 years ago, except they have added bathrooms and modernized the kitchens. They also have an excellent museum, depicting the history of the town and some of its founding families.

We ate dinner Saturday night at the Hacienda de Los Santos, which is a resort in Alamos. To get to the restaurant you walk all the way across very impressive grounds to the dining room. It is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. And the food was incredible.

Thank goodness we walked all over town or we would have gained 10 pounds! (Alamos, Sonora, Mexico)

Diving the Sea of Cortez

Diving in the Sea of Cortez in the spring is an adventure….the water has not warmed up yet (it was 60’ when we got there and 68’ when we left) and this year it took its sweet time warming up. The seasonal change hung around for awhile also, resulting in green water and low visibility. But that did not keep us out of the water! I was able to log over 40 dives while we were there. Most of the time we dove in 9 mil wetsuits, with gloves, hoods and thick boots. As the wetsuit is almost 3/8 inch thick and the zipper is at the top across your shoulders, it is like putting on very thick support pantyhose. Mike Huhn, the owner of Ocean Sports, whom Jim works for, suggested wearing pantyhose under my wetsuit to make it easier to go on & it worked like a charm!

Jim had several groups of students and a couple of very interesting ones. He was dive master for “Ocean Camp”. A busload of high school students came from Hermosillo. They were on the boat and Jim was in the water with a video camera attached to a monitor on board. An oceanographer identified & described what the students were seeing as Jim videoed under the water! It was a great experience for everyone.

Right before we left a group of marine biology professors and students from the University in Morelio came to San Carlos for a week. One of the requirements for their classes is that they be certified divers. So the 1^st part of the week 12 students completed their open water certification. After that each dive was underwater class time, collecting samples, identifying different species and observing behaviors. I think I learned as much as they did…..it was very interesting and lots of fun. They got to practice their English and we got to practice Spanish.

Our last weekend there, we had several groups from Tucson, Phoenix and Hermosillo. I think there were 35 on the boat.  We decided to make it a going away party for us and fixed the boat a special treat. We got fresh crab from Guaymas and all the fixings for crab tostados and I made mass quantities of guacamole….what a feast! And we had some of our best dives so far!

What a great time. We saw some great creatures and saw things we’d never seen before. The sea lions were awesome as usual, but we had several dives with lots of dolphins along for the ride, too. The highlight of “1^st time I ever saw that” was a free swimming, at depth, Man of War jellyfish. He was pulsing along on the bottom, with his electric blue tentacles trailing behind. He was over 10 feet long. And of course we did not have the camera as the visibility sucked.  He was very, very cool.   

We made a lot of new friends this year and hope to dive with many of them again and again. Can’t wait to get back in August to dive warm water and see a whole new group of creatures. (Sealife in the Sea of Cortez)

San Carlos at last

A short history…..Jim retired to San Carlos about 6 years ago. He bought a sailboat, Abigail, and lived aboard in the Marina for several years.....on C dock. He began to ask around for a mooring in the bay, as it was quieter and less expensive. He was offered a mooring if he would caretake a house on the Caricol, a peninsula that forms a side of the bay. Eventually the house sold and he went with it, living in an apartment on the ground floor. I met Jim in 2008 when my brother and I went to San Carlos on vacation. I had been to San Carlos before with my Mom, as she had a time share there. It is one of my favorite places. Steve and I wanted to learn to scuba dive. Jim was our instructor. In July of last year, Jim invited me down to go diving……and the rest you know!

We drove to San Carlos the 1^st of March. It is about an 8 hour drive south of Phoenix. We did not know what to expect at the border as Jim had never crossed with a motorhome, towing a jeep. We had no problems and it was an uneventful trip until we had a blowout on a rear tire. As there is no AAA in Mexico, we limped along until we came to a llantera (tire store, pronounced yantara) which was just a lean-to on the side of the road and a huge pile of used tires. The mechanic kept his tools in the trunk of his car. Unfortunately, he did not have a tire iron that would work, much less a jack. We kept going, at 15 miles per hour, praying that the other tire would hold. We finally came across a “Green Angel” eating dinner at a roadside café. The “Green Angels” are mechanics in green pickups that patrol the highways of Mexico to help motorists. Their services are free, but as he had a huge jack and a breaker bar and fixed us up in no time, we gave him a generous tip.

As a result, our trip was a lot longer than planned. We had a magnificent sunset to keep us company on the final leg into town. We finally arrived in San Carlos after dark and had to negotiate the detours through town due to damage to the roads from hurricane Jimena last fall. (As some of you know, Jimena stalled over the Sonoran coast, dumping over 40” of rain in 36 hours. The main road in San Carlos was washed out in 2 places where the bridges collapsed. There was also a lot of damage in the boat yard where Jim’s boat is stored when flash floods surged through the yard, to heights of over 8 feet. Many boats were swept out across the highway to the beach. It was a devastating storm, resulting in over 40,000 families losing their homes, mostly in the poorest sections of Guaymas. We had been assured that Jim’s boat, Abigail, was undamaged, but we were anxious to see for ourselves.)
(Youtube video and photos of Jimena, there are more on youtube if you are interested) 

We parked in an RV park called El Mirador, which overlooks Marina Real and the west coast of San Carlos. We soon decided to look for another place, however as the facilities were not in that great of shape, it was very windy with no shade and very expensive.

The day after we arrived we went to the marina to see who of Jim’s old friends were in residence and to introduce me around. We found out by chance that a small private RV park happened to have a recent vacancy. We were able to move in there and were so pleased with it. Jose and Socorro have a beautiful house out in the “Ranchitos” which is an area on the north side of town, in the desert, next to the mountains. They have 4 full RV hookups with concrete pads. There is a compound all around the property with bougainvillea & oleander hedges, orange & ficus trees and roses. We had free use of the washing machine, although I had to use a clothesline for the first time in 25 years! It was very affordable and comfy and only 2 houses down from our church. Lots of places to ride our bikes, close to town but out in the country.

We went to inspect Abigail as soon as we could, and she survived with only minimal damage. As we had gotten to San Carlos in March and would be leaving the end of May we decided to postpone any work on the boat until the fall. (San Carlos scenes) That left us with plenty of free time to go diving……

Winter in Arizona

We left Colorado right after Christmas and drove I-25 south through New Mexico on to Phoenix. Most of the way we had clear roads but got into a huge snow storm in Flagstaff. An 8 hour drive turned into a 12 hour ordeal. There was no where to pull off and wait out the storm as Arizona has closed all their rest stops. This storm was just the beginning of a lot of rain and snow for Arizona during January. We arrived in Phoenix just before New Years and were able to see all of Jim’s kids for New Years. We parked at Mike Clark’s; he was Jim’s best man. He still lives on the same street that Jim lived on for many years, so it was old home week.

New Years day we christened AJ (our jeep, named for Allie) by driving up to Crown King in the Bradshaw Mountains. (History and pictures of Crown King) You would never imagine that there is a Ponderosa pine forest up there with trees too big to get your arms around.  Crown King is an old mining community that is still in existence. The oldest brothel in Arizona sits on the “main street” and after having a New Years beer we set off on the Senator Highway, a stagecoach road that ran between the valley and Prescott. I think it was a better road a 100 years ago. (Youtube video of a 4X4 trip along the Senator Highway) (Brief history of the Senator Highway) Many miles into it, 4 wheel part of the way but mostly just rough, Jim finally exceeded my narley factor (I’ve 4-wheeled in the Telluride & Silverton mountains) when we got into very deep snow and had a 50/50 chance of going off into the ravine or sliding into the mountain. He is a very good off road driver and got us out of there, but it was touch and go. Thank god for air lockers! We had to detour to a different route and came out in Mayer and I got to see his house that he lived in after moving from Phoenix. We weren’t able to have Sushi in Prescott but did see an amazing sunset on the way back to Phoenix. Unfortunately while I was taking pictures I accidentally erased everything on the card, so I lost everything from Christmas and New Years!

We were trying to decide when to go to Mexico and ran into delays because of the jeep. It was not recommended that we tow the jeep into Mexico without plates and we would not receive them until mid February from Colorado. We also had to back to Denver for an important doctor appointment in mid February. ( Believe it or not we went back for the appointment and were in Grand Junction when they called us and cancelled! Doctors!) (Arizona and Utah in the snow)

So we moved up to David Mishler’s house. He is Jim’s ex-nephew in law. He has 7 acres up against the mountains in Cave Creek, north of Phoenix. What a beautiful spot! We had water & electricity, quail & doves, horses & coyotes and every kind of cactus. 
(Arizona, Jan and Feb 2010). It was just what we needed. Someplace quiet and laid back, to relax & unwind after the craziness of the last few months. 

We kept pretty busy though, meeting Jim’s friends and family, traveling in the area, jeeping and visiting places that Jim loves. I shared Colorado with him and now he has introduced me to Arizona. 

A golden Christmas

We were able to spend all of December with my kids and Jim’s new family. My granddaughter Allie had her 3^rd birthday right after we got back from Fiji. It took us a while to get “unlagged” but we jumped right into finishing preparations on the motorhome. The biggest dilemma was how to tow Jim’s truck with us. We solved that problem by trading it in and buying a Jeep Rubicon! It is a sweet ride. And it is perfect for everywhere we will be going and will add 4 wheeling to our choices for adventure!

Jim was a little overwhelmed by all the “Christmas” but I think he enjoyed it, too. It gave everyone an opportunity to really get to know each other and become a family. Allie has become especially attached to “Jim!” I loved being able to spend so much time with my kids and enjoy holiday preparations and celebrations. For so many years it’s been only Christmas Eve and Christmas day….rush, rush, rush. My oldest granddaughter Kalyn and I made dozens and dozens of cookies. She is quite the cook- - especially for 8.  Ethan is 5 and has so much energy, he wears me out! X-men are his heroes this year, but Spiderman holds a close second. But Christmas is for kids and we certainly had fun.

Our wet honeymoon

We got back to Denver just in time to pack for Fiji and cook Thanksgiving dinner. We had to leave before the pumpkin pie to catch our flight. I’m telling you, flying on the holiday is the way to go! Of course you have to give up time with the family but there was NO ONE IN LINE at security! And of course we did not know that when we booked our flight so our layover in LA was insane. Once we could finally check in, we still had hours to go before our flight left for Fiji. Do not ever go through security into the International Terminal without eating a meal because there is only 1 bar in the whole place & it serves hotdogs & microwave pizza. You could not even watch the football game because there were only about 4 tables in the whole place. If you don’t bring your own snacks you use up all your mad money on munchies. Of course you have no choice on the water, but as long as it is not peanut butter or a brick of cheese, you’re OK to bring it through security.

It was an overnight flight, which wasn’t too bad. Take something to help you sleep because the plane is 10 – 14 seats across with no room to stretch out, especially if it is full. Then they wake you up at 4am for breakfast (or was it 3?) By the time you get off the plane you are a little punch drunk. Then you have to deal with baggage claim and customs….be prepared to wait and wait and wait. As a group of 30 people, we had a lot of luggage! Some was lost and it all had to be loaded on the bus.  We finally left the airport and drove to Pacific Harbor (about 1 ½ hrs) and then took a boat to the island (45 min). They drive on the left side of the road, which takes some getting used to. The countryside is very mountainous with rain forest vegetation at the higher elevations.  The resort, Beqa Island (Benga) is surrounded by a coral reef lagoon, so the boats had to anchor off shore and we ferried in on smaller boats and waded ashore. The native staff was right there in the water with us, welcoming us with flowers, greeting us with “Bula”.

The resort was gorgeous, as you can imagine. (Beqa Lagoon Resort Gallery) All the rooms are individual huts called Bures (beret), spread out around the grounds. Some were along the koi ponds, some were under the trees and some, like ours, were along the beach. You walked behind the bure to get to the front door. Out from the door was a plunge pool, chaise lounges and a grass lawn going down to the beach, which had a hammock strung between 2 palm trees! The inside of the room was just as beautiful with a living room, bedroom and bath. The ceilings are covered with woven reed mats, the bathroom was tile and the bed was a huge carved 4 poster bed. Quite the place.

All the meals are included and were served in a large open sided common room, decorated with lots of woven mats, wood carvings, Tapia wall hangings and huge flower bouquets. All the wood support posts were covered with intricately braided palm fronds and flowers. The food was excellent, although a bit rich. Almost everyone got sick for about 48 hours mid week. Luckily Jim and I didn’t. A lot of the time it is unusual spices and sauces that can upset your digestive tract more than a “bug”.

But as great as the resort was, it could not hold a candle to the sights under water! We went out every morning on the boats for a 2 tank dive and went to a different location on the reef each day. Fiji has soft corals as well as hard corals. It is like an abundant flower garden where ever you go. And the fish are incredible. So many species and colors and so little time. It was a kaleidoscope of color and movement. We saw sharks on every dive and several turtles, lots of macro creatures…it takes your breath away. We also went on a night dive and saw lots of nocturnal life, including a clam that had a red electric charge across his mouth, like a miniature lightning bolt. The special shark dive brought in a Tiger shark, very impressive and scary. (Fiji and Beqa Lagoon)

The flight back was not as insane as the flight there, but we left Fiji at 11pm Saturday night and got back to Denver at 10pm Saturday night, very weird. A word to the wise, when you check in early, your bags are in the bottom of the baggage compartment and THE LAST to come off! It seemed to take twice as long to get our bags and clear immigration and customs than it did going out. We called the kids to bring our coats to the airport as it was snowing and we were in shorts and flip flops! Quite a climate shock.

Jim and I both agree that the next time we go to that part of the world to dive, we want to do a “live aboard” where you stay on a big boat and move around to dive sights. That way you get to have many more dives each day, and the diving is why you go!