Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Mexico

 

Meanwhile we are doing our annual taxes, planning for Mexico and the UK, servicing the RV and cars. All the things that signal the start of the next adventure.

See you on the road somewhere!

In no time at all it seemed, we were headed for Mexico. We stopped overnight in Yuma at the Escapees park and visited a couple of our favorite places, the Prison Hill Brewery and Da Boyz Pizza in Old Town.

Next morning we packed up again and drove to Calexico in California where we crossed the border. The crossing was straight forward, they checked the registrations for the RV and car against the VIN numbers on the vehicles and did a brief search, checking in a couple of closets and drawers, then we were on our way.

It was an easy drive on Mexico Route 5, no traffic and excellent road surface. Three hours and we were at Pete’s Camp which we had discovered in December when we came down for a few days. Check in was easy and they had us move in to space 3 out on the southern end of the park and facing the beach.

Not a bad campsite!

The spaces are large with plenty of room to park the car, a fire pit, large solar shade and a big concrete pad for the RV. Full hookups with 50 amp power. What else could you ask for? How about a superb view of the Sea of Cortez! We set up the chairs by the little sea wall, grabbed a book and chilled out.

Chillaxing

Some friends of ours from Sundance had mentioned they would love to come and explore down here. A message came thru telling us they would be here soon. More friends Tony and Dee showed up at the bar in the camp just by chance and we got to meet Tony’s Brother John and Debbie too. Our friend Wayne, who we met in December, dropped by.

John, Debbie, Tony, Dee, me and Barb

Life settled into its routine down here - meet up at the Brewery for lunch, Taco Factory on the Malecon for dinner or in the bar at Pete’s.

The bar at Pete's Camp

Daryll and Darlene our friends from Sundance arrived with Darlene’s son Jim and got absorbed into the lifestyle too, exploring the local attractions and establishments.

Darlene and Daryll

Daryll!!

Tony and Dee had a meet up at the park with a group called The Mexican Connection, an organization under the Escapees umbrella who bring caravans of Rvers across the border and down to the Baja doing charitable work along the way. We discovered some people who stay at the Escapees park in Temecula California and know our friends Marty and Peggy who stay there too.

A crowd of Mexican Connectioners

We all agreed to have lunch together the next day and as we got a table more friends of friends arrived. The group grew and grew until we had taken over every table and chair in the place! We had people in the booths beside us too. It was amazing. A great time was had by all.

Taking over the WHOLE brewery!

By magic another get together happened at Pete’s too. Not quite as big but lots of fun with a lot of the same crowd.

Daryll, Darlene and Jim came over for dinner at Pete’s, then we met up at The Taco Factory for lunch a couple of times. They decided these were the best places to eat and that the gigantic shrimp they both served were the best food. That was fortunate because we thought the same! We didn’t eat at home much that week.

Inside the Taco Factory

View from the bar window

View from the condo that Daryll, Darlene and Jim rented

Admiring the view.

They had found a condo thru Air B&B and we went to visit. A beautifully appointed place with a courtyard in front, off street parking, sumptuous furnishings and a balcony overlooking the little bay between “our” beach and the lighthouse of San Felipe. The week they spent with us just flew by.

The lighthouse at San Filipe

The Sailors Chapel

Between all the partying we managed some quiet time sitting in the sun watching the tide come and go, reading a book, catching a few fish, watching the sun rise over the sea. The usual dull routine!! This place is seriously good.

Sunrise over the Sea of Cortez

Wayne came down to see us and brought his daughters who were visiting. Tuned out they were both aspiring artists too so we hit it off straight away. They were all off to go whale watching another 250 miles south.

Sunrise thru the Coach windshield

Such a quiet place

Friends from our days in San Diego Rick and Mary, the ones who suggested we come try San Felipe, and who introduced us to Wayne, arrived for a weekend. We went with them to visit some of their friends almost across the street from us. Naturally we all went to another small bar/restaurant named House Alex and they served great seafood and beer too!

Me, Barn, Rick and Mary

We decided on a day off! I broke out my paints and a canvas to paint the view of the bay from our campsite. Its just so pretty I had to do it and it felt good after 2 years of no inspiration. 

First real painting in 2 years

We took in a couple of local flea markets and bumped into Tony and Dee again who invited us along for breakfast at Fat Boys on Sunday. We didn’t realize the clocks were changing on Saturday so we showed up an hour late!

More group pictures, this on the balcony of the bar in Pete's Camp

Rick and Mary had invited us down to their house near Puertocitos and what a beautiful place. On a rocky outcrop, looking down on the Sea of Cortez, just amazing. Ricks phone rang and we were off again to a unique bar/restaurant named “The Cow Patty”. For those of you that don’t know, a Cow Patty is what you step in in a cow pasture!

Talk about character! The place was full of junk and funny signs and colorful local characters. Rob and Annette who were Rick and Mary’s friends from San Filipe were there with Lucky and Charlotte and all of whom knew Wayne from Pete’s Camp! It gets complicated sometimes to figure out who is from where, but they all know each other because its a small community. The afternoon just flew by and we drove back “Home”.

We got invited down to a bar called "Parrot's Cracker" for a charity event called "racing for Boobs"! It's a women's Baja off road racing group and they were raising money for Breast Cancer Research with raffles and silent auction items and a display of their race cars. There was naturally beer and also some pretty good ribs on the grill.




The youngest racer is just 14 years old!

Meanwhile we’ve been swapping e-mails with the TV people. Sounds like that might actually happen. How exciting!

And we still have 2 more weeks down here…...