Hola from Ensenada!

We are sitting in an internet cafe in Ensenada, sipping lattes. Despite my misgivings, we did enter Mexico on Wednesday afternoon. Crossing the border porved much less harrowing than the southern California freeway system. The directions in our guidebooks were excellent, and we were able to find the correct road to Rosarito, our first night destination , without any problem, and to the campground we had picked out. It was a mobile home park with mostly permanent residents, but they had about 40 sites for overnighters. We were able to pick out a site a couple hundred yards from the ocean, with a great view. Our first encounter with the locals took place as we were walking along the beach in the moonlight. We were commenting to each other about a boat pulled up on the beach, when a guy walked up to us and started talking. His English was no better than our Spanish, but eventgually we were able to determine than he had been out diving for langusta (lobster), and he wanted to sell us one. We were intgrigued, and tried to negotiate for picking one up in the morning, but he became more and more agitated, trying to get us to understand. "Tengo," he kept repeating. "Acqui." Of course, we had no idea what he was talking about. Eventually he flagged down a passerby who spoke some English. Turned out the guy had some lobster stashed somewhere, hidden from the "federales" and wanted to get rid of them now. He wouldn't be there in the morning. The thought of having a probably illegal, fresh (presumably live) lobster in our fridge, much less having to figure out what to do with it, was somewhat horrifying to both of us, so we declined. When we got back to the RV, I looked up "tengo" and "acqui" in my handy-dandy phrasebook, and thus added "I have" and "here" to my Spanish vocabulary.

Yesterday, we left Rosarito and drove along the scenic toll highway to Ensenada. The views of the Pacific were gorgeous, and we stopped once or twice to admire the waves rollling in and let Ellie chase sandpipers on the beach. We ended up staying in an RV park in downtown Ensenada. Not at all scenic or quiet, but the recommended choice for getting things done. We got our tourist permists, hit the bank to exchange money, found the post office to mail back the Netfliks DVD we forgot to mail in CA, found the supermarket. My Spanish is coming along. I can now ask "Where is the. . ." and "Do you have. . ."and barely beginning to get the hang of converting pesos to dollars value.

It's impressive how helpful and friendly almost everyone is here. We were looking bewildered in "el banco" and a local guy came up to us, offered, in great English, to help, and took us to a bank employee, where he translated and figured out what we needed to do.

Today we are heading about 10 miles south to La Bufadora, a blowhole on tghe ocean. There are some campgrounds there right on the ocean, and we plan to stay a few days bedfore moving on.

On our Way!

Packing up and getting ready was a real challenge. An artic front moved into Utah and the temperatures, normally cold, became frigid. Everything we put in the Royal Palms quickly froze, including toothpaste, dish soap, etc. We ended up running an electric heater as well as the furnace set on low for the 24 hours before we left so we could get everything loaded up. When we left Salt Lake yesterday (Monday) morning, it was 5 degrees. The roads were clear, but the icy temps continued. When we stopped in Springville, about an hour south of Salt Lake, for gas and propane, and it was even colder there. I took Ellie for a walk while Steve attended to the RV, and my lungs ached from breathing the frigid air. Our first night destination was Mesquite, NV, about an hour north of Las Vegas. We stayed in the RV Park at the Oasis Casino so we could have hook ups because that same arctic front had hit them as well--it was well below freezing during the night.
Neither of us are gamblers; I used to like to donate a few dollars to the slot machines, but now that they're all electronic, even that's no fun anymore--they are no longer "one arm bandits"--no handle to pull, you just push a button. What fun is that?

Today we drove as far as Riverside, CA. We are "camped" in the parking lot of the Fleetwood factory, free, and with hookups! Steve had arranged for us to stay here, and we are taking a tour of the factory tomorrow morning. It should be interesting to see how they build these things. Then it's on to San Diego. We initially had planned to get into Mexico tomorrow, but we are re-thinking that. There will be a lot to deal with--immigration, tourist visas, exchanging money, getting on the toll road from Tijuana to Ensenada, and finding a campground once we get to Ensedada--and we will probably be happier if we do it all when we're fresh rather than late afternoon when we're tired and cranky from California freeways.

The Royal Palms

This is our home away from home--a 2004 23.5 foot Fleetwood Tioga. We bought it new, and, prior to this spring, had only used it for long weekends. We celebrated Sandy's retirement in the spring with a 6 week trip wandering around Arizona. Then, in July, we took it to Moscow, ID via Montana for the Life on Wheels Conference, and then another AZ trip--to Lake Powell, Parker, and Quartzite--in October. Our next trip will be to the Baja Peninsula. We'll be leaving around Jan. 15th and plan to be gone about 2 months. Between now and then, we are trying to figure out Mexican insurance and tourist visas. Sandy will be practicing Spanish phrases from the phrasebook Steve got her for Christmas, and Steve will be waking up the Royal Palms from its winter nap.