Winter Camping in Mexico

We’ve been offline for a few months, mostly staying stationery at home in Prescott to celebrate the holidays and enjoy the luxuries of “home.”  But you can only stay put for so long before the itch returns to hit the road.  Plus, the weather in Prescott has turned cold and icy, so it was time to head south! 

We are spending the next few months at the Playa Bonita RV Park, on the beach in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. We’ve owned our condo here for 20 years, and it was time for some renovations. We’re staying in the fifth wheel while the condo is under construction and it’s been a fun new way to experience our little Mexican town. 

Playa Bonita is one of about four RV parks here in Peñasco, and it’s been here forever. Many of our fellow campers are here for months, Americans and Canadians escaping the winters up north. It’s a super fun environment, and we’re really enjoying the group bike rides, weekly “shot” bingo, and happy hour at the beach at sunset. The water man delivers a bottle to our door for $1, propane man will refill our tanks without moving, and we had our rig washed and waxed for a fraction of the cost in the US. Even the dogs are enjoying the Mexican lifestyle, with $15 haircuts at the local dog spa. 

One day Steve discovered a leak somewhere in the bowels of the trailer. He worked hard to find out where the leak originated and then we were able to hire a guy to come fix it. Problem solved!

One weekend we fully participated in Roger Clyne’s January Jam, a three day music event that features one of our favorite bands. Good food, good drink, and great music right outside our door made for a fun few days. 

Most days we head about a mile down the beach to the condo to check on the progress and to workout in the gym. It’s been good to be here to supervise the construction as it seems there is always something to decide or adjust. We’ve had to pick out countertops at the local shop, which allowed us to watch the craftsman at work. 

Overall the remodel is coming along very well, appears to be on schedule, and is looking pretty good!  Our crew has been very professional and appreciative of the daily goodies and Friday afternoon beers. Here are some pictures of the work being done and you can be sure we’ll post “after” pictures!

Of course there’s been lots of time for the beach, soaking in the sun, and enjoying the slow lifestyle that is Puerto Peñasco! We are grateful that Mitch made the trip down to visit for a few days and brought us some needed supplies from Costco.  More visitors are expected in the next month and we’re looking forward to seeing our friends!

We probably won’t have much more to report for awhile as there’s not much variation day to day – sun, fun, relax, repeat.  But rest assured, we are enjoying every minute!

Dry Camping, Mexico, and Another Surgery

We’ve been home for about a month and are already longing to be back out on the road. The freedom we feel traveling is like nothing else, and we’ll be back on the road soon (with new blog posts, of course). In the meantime we have been busy and thought we’d share a few updates.

Once we arrived home to Prescott after 81 days on the road we set out to clean and fix up the trailer. We washed, we polished, and we added a few decorations. Thanks to my dear friend, Dr. Michelle May, for hand-painting two pictures inspired by our photos of North Cascades National Park. They are now framed and proudly hang over our bed in the rig.

We also did a dry camping experiment. In our almost three months on the road this summer we never went more than a day or two without electric, water, and/or sewer hookups. We wanted to see how we’d fare without utilities, so we headed to a dispersed camping area south of Flagstaff and survived four days without the luxuries! It was a beautiful spot, nice weather, and a good place to just hang out. We probably could have gone another day or so, but we figured four days was good enough!

We also made a trip down to our condo in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. With our dear friends Sam, Nancy, Tom, Rick, and Mary, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner out at our favorite restaurant, Regina’s. After being closed for six months for the pandemic, the restaurant was as warm and welcoming as ever.

We also enjoyed a nice dinner on the patio of Pane y Vino with sweeping views of the Sea of Cortez.

It was great to catch up with friends while taking care of some business for our rental. Beach time and sunset happy hours on the patio were also on the agenda, as usual.

On the way home we ran into a protest being conducted about 1/8th of a mile north of the Mexican border. A group aligned with the local tribe has been protesting the construction of the border wall and its encroachment on sacred lands and water sources. Luckily it was only a short delay and we were on our way.

Next up is another surgery on my left foot. Tomorrow I’ll go in for another procedure to hopefully alleviate the still nagging pain in the ball of my foot. My previous Lapiplasty surgery didn’t seem to do the trick. This time the doctor will be focusing on the nerves between my third and fourth toes, which are separating after numerous, ineffective coritisone shots.

They say this surgery will be easier than the last one. After four+ years of dealing with pain I’m hoping this is the end of this journey. I’ll post an update as soon as possible.

Where We’ve Been Lately

We were recently reminded that we hadn’t posted anything to our travel blog in awhile.  It’s not that we haven’t been busy (and traveling); it’s just that we’ve been busy!  In an attempt to catch up and document a few of the highlights of the past few months, this post will be a mishmash of fun stuff.

The Holidays

After our time in Greece, we hung around Prescott for the holidays. It was nice to spend time with family, do the traditional holiday things, and play in the New Years Eve snow.

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Dad and Will at Thanksgiving

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Will loves Dad and grandpa Rod

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Lauren joined us for a weekend of holiday fun!

 

 

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Judy’s Christmas Present

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Nica loves Grandpa Larry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The heaviest snow so far this year didn’t stop us from hosting a neighborhood NYE party.  Steve dug a path from each neighbor’s door to our door so there were no excuses!

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Steve shoveling on New Year’s Eve

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Our patio on NYE

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Brenda White and I share the same resolution!

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Rick and Steve do too!

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Sheri and Peggy celebrating

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Sheri and I are the NYE queens!

Our hike back into the forest on virgin white snow on New Year’s Day was also unforgettable.

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Steve the hiker

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Gorgeous fresh powder

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Our beautiful neighborhood

Hiking the Prescott Circle Trail

When the weather has cooperated, we’ve been hitting our local trails, either by foot or on bike. One challenge we’ve set for this year is to hike/run the 55-mile Prescott Circle Trail.  So far we’ve covered several segments, and we look forward to exploring more as the year progresses.  We’ve even had some friends join us along the way. Below is a photo of our neighbor Peggy joining us for a segment. Steve plans to do a one-day run of the entire loop later this spring, so our hikes have been his reconnaissance.

January Jam

In January we made the pilgrimage to Rocky Point, Mexico to celebrate January Jam with Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers and some of our best friends.  Our neighbor Sheri joined us for her first RCPM experience, so we tried to show her the very best of our home away from home. We ate, drank, sang, shopped, walked the beach, did yoga, visited new places (check out the photos from the hole-in-the-wall bakery we found), and had an overall great time.

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Michelle, Sheri and I at KM13 – Give a little, Get a little

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Sunset on the patio with Sheri, Nancy, and Nica

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Jill, Nancy, Sandy, me, Steve, and Mike at Sonoran Grill for burgers

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Concert #1 with Michelle, Owen, and Sheri

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Roger Clyne in action, concert #2 at Banditos

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Michelle, Owen, Steve and I at concert #3, Wrecked at the Reef

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Cool, hidden away bakery in Peñasco

We Lost Our Baby

Shortly after returning home from Mexico, our little dog Nica got really sick.  Within 36 hours she went from normal to gone. The vet says she got some kind of bug of unknown origin, got dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea, and just couldn’t recover.  At less than six pounds, she didn’t have much to fight with.  IMG_3239They don’t think it was anything from our travels south, but we really don’t know what took her from us. Nica gave us seven awesome years of fun.  Her energy, personality, and sometimes annoying habits (anyone missing a sock?) are sadly missed.  Sister Mia is helping us through the loss, and she’s loving the extra attention.IMG_3236

The Year of Marathons

Steve has set a goal of running a marathon a month in 2019.  So, the year ahead will be filled with blog posts related to running events. His first marathon of the year was successfully completed in Charleston, South Carolina on January 12.

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Steve crossing the finish line

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Touring Charleston

I also ran the Shrimp and Grits 5K, which was held simultaneous to the marathon. Since we traveled so far, we enjoyed a few extra days in the city, which allowed us to learn about a part of the country we’d never visited.

New Orleans was the site of the February race and on the 10th, Steve completed his second marathon of the year, and I completed the 10K.

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Crossing the February Finish Line

But the races were just a small part of this trip, which also included time on Bourbon Street, a Mardi Gras parade, and a visit to the National World War II museum, which is not to be missed.

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Mardi Gras Fun

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Okay, Bourbon Street was a little fun!

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Krewe of Chewbacca Mardi Gras Parade

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Pacific Theater at the WWII Museum

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Dad was in Leyte Gulf during WWII

We’ve got quite a few more adventures planned in the coming months.  We’ll also be in Prescott in between, spending time with Dad and enjoying our beautiful hometown. Stay tuned for more fun!