Posts

Posted on

20251127 – Crossing into Mexico, Puerto Penasco

We woke to a nice morning just north of the Organ Pipe National Monument on some free BLM land. Last night when we arrived I noticed two sets of campers as we parked, about 100 yards off. This morning, I see there are dozens of people out here. Love BLM land. Kathy had looked up some insurance for Mexico and found a site that has 20+ years of history called Baja Bound. They have an online quote and purchase option so we looked it up. A 6-month liability policy was about $200 and full coverage for Mexico was $1200. We decided to go with the comprehensive in case something arises we might have an option to recover. We purchased it and set the active time to 11AM.

I took the pups for a long walk through the desert and got to stretch my legs a bit. It felt nice to be out camping again. Zuzu was happy for a walk, as always, and Maggie trots along with a big smile every day. I made a quick breakfast of Hashbrowns, bacon, and eggs and we lounged a bit waiting for the time to leave. We decided to try and get out TIP for the truck as it was only 17 miles down Mexico Highway 2 and had good reviews on iOverlander. Around 10:45 we left and headed toward Lukeville.

The border crossing had a line of traffic leaving the USA with not much coming back across. There was a fuel station just before crossing so we topped off the tank and then got in line. The line moved quickly and we were sent through with a wave. We parked on the other side and I found some help getting our visas stamped. That process was also very easy as we had the forms already filled out and permits paid online. We proceeded into Sonoyta and then on to the Banjercito (customs). I waited in line for about 30 miutes and then was asked by someone what I needed. He explained that it would be s 2-3 hour wait since their power and systems were down and everything was manual. He checked Howie real quick, looked through the paperwork, and said I needed two copies of my visa for the next Banjercito we stopped. He showed me multiple places in Baja and on the mainland and said there was not time limit since Baja and Baja Sur were Tourist Zones. Super nice guy. We headed back to Sonoyta and then turned south to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point).

It was only about an hour’s drive and we looked at iOverlander for some RV parks. One was pretty well rated called Playa Bonita, so we navigated the streets and checked in. It’s an RV lot, not really a campground, but it has power and water and showers and restrooms and a dump; we are good with that. I asked for a spot by the beach, but we had to get 5 nights, and we are only staying here 3, so we got one just across. It is an OK spot. I probably should look for a shade tarp down here since the sun is not like Alaska. It’s 75 and sunny and beautiful here.

We will be here for a few days, and I will use that time to catch up on the plog for things we did while back home (Orlando, New York, Repairs, etc). I may back-date the posts to keep them organized. We only took a couple of photos so far, but we will get better at it as we go.

Thanks for following.

Posted on

20251126 – On the Road Again

It’s been a month and a half since the last post. We’ve been really busy, first with Dr appointments and more recently getting the house ready for rental. The medical appointments all went well except for the fact that the colonoscopy and heart monitor did not happen. The butt doctors in the USA are not the best for getting things done. They require an office visit for a consultation before you can get scheduled for a procedure. I’ve tried to force a procedure schedule but so far it hasn’t helped. The scheme they use is that it takes 1-3 months to get a consultation, and then they will schedule a procedure. Problem is they tell you the scheduler will call in 1-3 weeks to get the procedure scheduled, which can take another several months. And when they don’t call, it is nearly impossible to get an appointment. I called and called and left messages and never received a call-back to get checked. Unfortunately the consultation appointment was paid and I have no recourse other than giving them a poor review in Google and on the United Healthcare app. It’s going to be great with the coming of robotics and AI as that will remove most of these roadblocks the butt doctors have in place.

The same seemed to be true with the cardiologist, although they did call back with an appointment at the end of December when we will be out of country. All of this was noted to them when I set up the appointments at the end of September/early October. I am still impressed with the Alaska Heart Institute, as they managed to get all the testing done and worked through our travel schedule. It took several trips back to Anchorage, but they had a proper management system.

So other than that, all of my bloodwork, tests, and health checks look great. Kathy also managed to get tons done and has a clean bill of health. We are stocked up on meds and ready for round 2. The house looks amazing and I’m sure renters will love it. Here’s a photo of the completed patio ceiling (the last part not completed).

I took a bit of time trying to figure out how to “have it all” with travel and keep the house unrented, but in the end I realized it’s not good fiscal policy to pay a mortgage on a place we will not reside in for a while (thanks Kathy for that deep dive). So beginning in November we packed up the house, cleaned it, finished some work on the patio, repainted, and hired a company to manage it. Crossing our fingers it rents quickly and we get great, responsible tenants. Some great friends offered a space in their old home to store our stuff so that helps with the travel budget (thanks Tim and Donna). We hope we can get them down to Mexico or Central America during our travels. My brother Rick and his wife Terry are also helping with storage of my FJ and our 5th wheel.

We left “home” again and moved back in to Howie on November 25 and traveled to Willcox to drop off the bike and tailgate at my brother’s house. We had a quick visit with Rick and Terry and my parents and then today headed south. I was planning to cross in Nogales so we can get a TIP for the truck, but that route was 120 miles longer than going through Lukeville. We will be traveling in Baja, Baja Sud, and some of Sonora and a TIP is not required there. Plus we can try the Banjercito in Tecate, Ensenada, or even La Paz when we get there. We managed to navigate the Mexico visa paperwork and have paid our visitor fees and have paperwork to be stamped at the border. So tonight we camped on BLM land just north of the Oregon Pipe National Monument and will head to the border in the morning.

Thanks for following our journey. Thanks to Garret for suggesting a sway bar for the truck as that improves the ride with Howie immensely. Thank you Tim and Donna for housing our stuff and Kathy’s car. Thanks Beau and Makensie for watching our place and pulling the mail. Thank you Rick and Terry for storing our big camper and FJ. We hope to see you soon somewhere on our travels.

Posted on

20251009 – Appointments and cleaning.

We’ve been home a few days and have been getting things cleaned out. The truck camper is emptied out and we’ve started to clean it thoroughly. Kathy went straight to work getting the shrubs in the yard trimmed. I noticed a bit of a leak in the patio ceiling so I got up there and applied some acrylic roofing material. I need to put a few more coats up there but we are getting rain this weekend so I’m hoping it will be enough until next week. We trimmed and cleaned the yard, got the waterfall and hot tub working, and began to get settled in. The house was actually pretty nice inside; we were expecting Arizona dust, which was not there.

I am still having clarity issues on what to do with the house. I want to rent it but storing all the furniture and the cars is costly. We may rent it furnished because that might be easier. Still working this out. We have been to three dr appointments already this week and got Maggie’s haircut. Next week we will have more appointments and hopefully will get the house cleaned out.

I ordered an air conditioner to replace the large unit in Howie. This newer DC unit should use less than 60A on high, or about 750W. The old one was pulling twice that.

thanks for reading of our progress.

Posted on

20251006 – Home

We made it home by noon. We stopped to weigh the truck to see what we had actually ended up with at the end of the trip. We shed about 300 pounds during the trip. We have quite a few items that we’re planning on not taking them with us further, so that should drop some more weight. The total mileage for the trip was 19,500 miles. Diesel cost was approximately $6,600. Groceries and restaurants was about $4,000. Camping and campgrounds were about $1400. We ended up about $4000 over our budget, which we were blaming on dog treats. Lol. Here’s a map of our tracks.

Screenshot

We were very surprised by the house, considering all the storms and dust storms around Coolidge. The house is in great shape. The yard was a bit overgrown because our landscaper dang near cut off his fingers a couple weeks back at another job. Kathy grabbed the shears and started working on the backyard. There’s a bit of cleanup to do, but I got the waterfall filled in the hot tub filled and we were able to relax in it last night.

We will be working at getting the house packed up and ready to rent, getting our trailer moved down to my brother’s house, and finding someplace to put the cars. The next phase will be Mexico and Central America and that will start sometime mid November in Baja Mexico. We are scheduled to finish up whenever we get done.

We had not really missed the house while we were gone, but once we got there, we realize how nice it actually is, and we settled in really quickly. I will post you every couple of days just to keep track of what we’re doing. Thanks for reading the blog (David, Garret, Tony and Debbie, Moms and Dads, and all of those following Kathy on Facebook). Thanks for all the support. I look forward to keeping up with you guys as we go further.

Posted on

20251004-05 – Last Stop, Willcox

We left El Paso and stopped for fuel in Las Cruces. I remembered there was a great restaurant there called La Posta and since we were close, we stopped. It has been there since 1936 and serves excellent Mexican food. The place is kind of unique in that in the waiting area there are several McCaws in cages and some piranhas in tanks to look at. We enjoyed some authentic Mexican food before getting back on the road.

We arrived in Willcox around 2pm and visited with my brother, David; sister-in-law, Leslie; and my parents. This weekend it was Rex Allen Days, a local festival, and we headed to the park to look at the vendors while mom and dad napped and then went to church. We all met at Isabelle’s for dinner and a great visit.

Sunday, our last day on this keg of the trip, I cooked a skillet breakfast for my parents and then we visited with my other brother, Rick; sister-in-law, Terry. Terry and Rick invited us to do a corn maze at Apple Annie’s. That was pretty fun one only took us 46 minutes to complete the complicated maze.

Mom made lasagna and salad for dinner and we all had a really nice visit. We said good bye to my parents as we planned to head out early to get to the house. It’s been 4 months and 4 days.

Posted on

20251003 – White Sands and El Paso

We were up early to get on the road. Today was going to be the longest travel day of the trip. We planned to visit White Sands National Park and then drive onto El Paso to visit Mike and Mari. The government shutdown however thwarted our national park visit. There were two park rangers blocking the locked gate. Oh well, that would have been #57 on the trip.

We arrived in El Paso and spent some time catching up. It’s interesting the different stories we get from the boys. Mike and Mari took us to their bar, Three Pints Pub, a really popular local hang out that they’ve been building for many years. The food was excellent, the people were fun, and we loved catching up in their recent trip to England, Ireland, and Scotland.

We enjoyed coffee the next morning in their lovely backyard and planned to meet them in Honduras in May where they will be coordinating with our sons. Gonna be a great family vacation. I know Riley and Peyton are looking forward to it.

Posted on

20251002 – Colorado Springs

We had purchased some tickets to a play in Colorado Springs were a friend of Kathy’s was acting in. I arranged with an old friend to meet for dinner before the show. We decided on an Indian place, and the food was actually very good. It was Kathy’s first experience with Indian food, and she might have some at a future time. We talked for a couple of hours and it was really nice catching up and seeing all he has accomplished. He asked us if we had a place to stay and I told him we hadn’t figured it out yet, so he invited us to park in his driveway. We agreed and then headed towards the show.

The show is called Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson and was an interesting adaptation of a mystery theater. Her friend Johanna, had an interesting role in that she played three or four different characters throughout the play. She’s a really good actress. We met her after the show and went down to a place called Cork and Cask, a quirky little establishment with very comfortable yet eclectic furniture.

We actually closed the place down that night talking about all the travels we’ve done, all the travel she’s done, and interestingly, she has been recovering from second and third-degree burns from a fall in Phoenix, where she burned herself on the pavement this summer.

We found my friend’s place and parked on the street, and settled in about 2 AM. We had a long drive the next day and we had to get up at six, fuel the truck and head to El Paso.

Posted on

20250930-1002 Cripple Creek and COS

We stayed several nights at my son’s new place in Cripple Creek, Colorado. He bought this place in July after several years of saving and scrimping and living in a camping trailer. Patience and persistence pays off.

His house is an old log cabin built in 1902. A newer two car garage/barn with a with a loft was added later. He’s been looking for quite a while to find a house that gives him a place to work on his vehicles, do his projects, and have some space for his dogs. We’re really proud of him. It’s a neat place on the outskirts of Cripple Creek. I asked him if he had anything that he wanted me to work on, and he knows I love projects, so he said that the garage door was having some issues closing, and that there were some electrical issues in his garage. I investigated the garage door and it appeared to have something to do with the sensors, and I tried aligning them without success. So Kathy, myself, and the dogs took about a 3 mile round-trip walk up to Ace Hardware to see if I could purchase some new sensors. They didn’t have any, but the Ace Hardware guy said that I could possibly mount them about a foot apart on a rafter and see if that would work.

On the walk back from Ace Hardware we stopped at a little sandwich shop and shared a club sandwich and some chips and sat outside in the warm sunlight. There was a Dollar General store down at the bottom of the hill and Kathy wanted to stop by and pick up some basic supplies. The dogs and I waited for her outside. We found a cute property complete with an old Ford truck.

When we got back to the property, I disconnected the sensors and mounted them up on the rafter, reconnected the wires, and wouldn’t you know – the garage door worked. So I re-mounted the sensors on a more solid surface at the bottom of the garage doors, adjusted the alignment, and rewired them. Now the garage door opens and closes as required.

The electrical took a little bit of investigation, but it appeared he had some loose connections in the common wire in a couple of his junction boxes. So I clipped the ends, reconnected them, and now his lights and extra outlets work in his garage. For me, it was a very fun day. He had asked me to take a look at his fireplace as well, and I had forgotten to do that on both of the days I was there. Sorry, Peyton.

We headed up to the casinos to get a pizza for dinner, and ended up taking it back to his house for to eat with beverages. Peyton makes handmade soap, and he had a special order to complete that night. Kathy and I were very interested in seeing how that process was done. The soap making process itself is amazingly easy. You combine some sort of oil or lard with lye and it eventually, after several days (in a cold process) will create soap. The challenge comes in when you’re trying to make it smell nice or do the “hot” process, which requires heating the oils and combining it with the sodium hydroxide. That can create a very bubbly reaction, which we got to see. We did purchase 6 bars from him since we’ve been using his soap on this trip and it always works well and smells nice. If you’re in the Colorado Springs, Woodland Park, or Cripple Creek area, here is a link to his Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/share/16Ggj9xuA3/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The next day, Kathy and I decided to go check out Cripple Creek so we headed up towards the casinos to browse the various antique shops, curio shops, and tourist shops. One of the buildings in particular was very interesting as it had been gutted and completely redone on the inside to contain a mining sluice/waterfall between the big meeting area upstairs and the second hand store downstairs. We did try a little bit of our luck in one of the casinos to double our money, but we ended up just donating our bets to the casino.

I had asked Peyton whether he had a lawnmower, and he said he’d been looking for one, but new ones at the stores were $300-500. So I got into Craigslist and I found a really nice Husqvarna lawnmower with a Honda engine and agreed to meet the guy in Colorado Springs. The drive down the mountain was filled with fall colors.

When the guy showed up, I tested the lawnmower, and it started up on the first pull. We took the handles apart and managed to stuff it in the back of the camper, and Kathy and I headed back up the hill. We stopped at the grocery store to get some steaks and vegetables for dinner, and texted Peyton that we were going to barbecue.

Peyton got off a bit early that night so he was there when we got back. He was happy for the new lawnmower, and quickly mowed his immediate backyard, which had grown about 12 inches high. He has a little fire pit thing in his backyard so we cleared that out and added coals and cooked some potatoes and steaks over the fire. It was a nice treat. We got to meet his new girlfriend, and she was a hit because she brought fresh hot banana bread; one of our favorites. She seems to be a wonderful young lady and we had a great time visiting and getting to know her that evening as we burned wood on the fire.

We we all set our goodbyes because he was gonna be leaving early in the morning. To be frank, we don’t get up that early anymore. I had told Peyton that I was gonna mow his property. It took me about three hours but I cleared the entire lot and really enjoyed the workout. Kathy was chuckling at me because apparently I got a little sunburned. I had not thought about putting sun protection on. We cleaned up, took showers, packed up Howie and headed over to Victor to check out that old city. It was a fantastic visit, and a well needed rest by staying for a couple of days in the same spot.

Here are some additional photo over the days.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/30250930-1002-cripple-creek

Posted on

20250929 – Florissant Fossil Beds and Cripple Creek, CO

We must have been tired because we both slept in this morning. We made a quick breakfast of skillet burritos and made our way back to the freeway. Drive up into the mountains was just stunning. The orange is in yellow of the Aspen trees were such a beautiful contrast to the dark green conifers. We pass through Glenwood Springs, through the canyon, and through Aspen, Colorado. We turned off at Frisco and headed south towards Breckenridge. This place sure has grown in the past 10 years. We filled up in Breckenridge, got some snacks, and then stopped at the Continental Divide at Hoosier pass.

We made it to the fluorescent fossil beds national monument around 3 PM. It’s funny because I lived up here for seven years and I had never visited this monument. There are petrified trees, ancient redwoods, that used to live here as well as a very productive deciduous forest. Apparently this area was more of a wetland during those times. Kathy was not feeling well due to the altitude, so she went back to rest while I hiked a bit on the trails. There was a little Homestead about a quarter of a mile back that was part of the park, so we went down there to tour that. The buildings are open during summer hours, but unfortunately we missed that, so we just peered through the window windows.

It was starting to rain, so we got back in the truck and finished out the 15 miles to Cripple Creek. My son recently purchased a home up here, a cute little log cabin, and he gave us a grand tour before we went to dinner. Very cute place. We’ll be here for the next few days before finishing out this leg of the journey.

Here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250929-florissant-fossil-beds

Posted on

20250928 – Colorado National Monument

I took the dogs on a morning hike at dinosaur national monument. They have a trail between the two campgrounds where dogs are allowed, so we partook in the adventure. It wasn’t really long, a couple miles, but it was nice to get some good views. We packed up and headed to the visitor center to pick up a book about Josie Bennett, and I made breakfast in the parking lot. On the way out, we stopped to watch the herd of Hulk again for about a half an hour. It was cool seeing them battling in rut.

The drive to Colorado National Monument took about about three hours and climbed up and over a really beautiful pass. We stopped in a little farming town just before Fruita for fuel and a snack. It’s nice to see the diesel prices at around $3.50 a gallon when we stopped to fill up. We made it to the national monument around 2PM and checked out the visitor center. We couldn’t take the dogs on any of the trails so we drove the Rim Road, which is about 20 miles long and exits in the southern part of Grand Junction.

On the Rim drive we stopped to view three bighorn sheep next to the road. Further down the road and just before the exit there was a herd of 10 next to a popular serpentine hiking trail. We parked the truck and hiked a little ways up the trail to get some good photos. We have done some traveling in this area and it is incredibly beautiful. The whole area from Grand Junction over through Moab in the Canyonlands is one of my favorite spots. I miss having the FJ when driving around areas like this.

We spent about a half an hour, watching the sheep and then hike back to the truck. We found our way into Grand Junction, stopped at an AutoZone for some fuel additive, and then headed up I 70 to find a place to camp. The pickings in this area, pretty slim, but we did find a small piece of BLM land next to Rifle, CO that worked out for the evening.

The next week we’ll finish out our first leg of the journey. We are heading to cripple Creek, Colorado, to visit my son, Peyton, as well as some friends in the area. We may be able to make it over to great Sand dunes, national Monument, and Bent’s Fort as well. Will be in this area until Friday morning, when we’re going to continue south and try to visit a couple more parks. We should be back home by Sunday or early Monday. We will be there for 30 to 45 days before starting the next leg of our journey: Baja Mexico.

Here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250928-colorado-national-monument