Travel Log 12: May 9, 2009 - Conclusions From Our First Travel Season

In starting up our travel logs again for our fall 2009 adventures, I was reminded by my Aunt Helen that I had neglected to complete my last travel log from our trip home through the U.S. this spring. So we shall tie up the loose ends and complete our account for the trip home!

 

We left the Guadalajara, Mexico area on March 20, 2009. In my last log to you, we had presented a general itinerary for our trip out of Mexico, and we followed it for the most part.  Our first stop on the way home was Teacapan, on the coast just south of Mazatlan. We enjoyed ourselves here very much and decided to spend a week. It is remote and, as a result, one needs to be well-provisioned for an extended stay. There is a town about 30 minutes away with small markets for vegetables, etc, but we were running low on staples. Without the benefit of realizing how remote it would be, a week was the longest we could last. 

 

This area is truly, one of the most spectacular beaches we have ever seen. As far as the eye can see in any direction; sand, surf, and not another soul. The RV Park had emptied a fair bit with people leaving to get back home by Easter. We were there with about a dozen other rigs. We had not visited Teacapan on our way south and are so glad we stopped now. Other RVers in our travels continually raved about Teacapan so we thought we should see what the fuss was about. We have marked it as a definite place to re-visit and will hopefully spend more than a week next time. 

 

From Teacapan we continued north on Mex 15, north of Mazatlan to La Cruz. In this area, we re-visited Celestina Gasca where we stayed at New Year’s on our way south. We stayed in Celestina Gasca for a week. 

 

Next, was Guaymas/San Carlos and my favourite RV place, Hotel Playa de Cortez. We stayed here for a week as our first stop in Mexico going south. Now we stayed only a couple of days.

 

We noticed that as we travelled north and re-visited many of the same places that we stayed on the way down, our trip took on a much more relaxed feel. The anxiety of not knowing the road conditions, or what was waiting for us at our day’s end was gone. 

  

We decided to make a detour and visit a couple of coast towns which we missed on the way down. We took Mex 15 through Ciudad Obregon, Hermosillo, then west to the coast on Sonora 100 to Bahai Kino. We stayed for one night, then back to Mex 15, north to Santa Ana, then west on Mex 2 through Caborca and landing in Puerto Penasco.

 

The two coastal towns of Bahai Kino and Puerto Penasco are very popular with Americans for a weekend getaway. We drove around exploring the area, especially in Puerto Penasco. There was a definite feel of American ownership and involvement. We stayed in a nice RV resort and enjoyed it, but we were feeling quite “mexico’d-out” and being close to the U.S. border made us want to get going home.

 

We knew that we had made it a long way south in Mexico, and that fact was even more evident as we made our trek home. Whew…it was a long way back to the U.S.!

 

We crossed into the U.S. on April 6, 2009 at the Lukeville/Sonoyta crossing. It is a very small crossing. When we pulled up to the guard post we were the only rig there. We did not get searched. The guard only asked if there were any Mexicans in the RV and what did we have in the fridge. I had been careful to clear out the fridge and freezer in the days preceding our crossing. We went into the office to clear our paperwork. This involved returning our vehicle permit which was issued to us when we entered Mexico. This permit must be returned, or else we would not be permitted to return with our vehicle ever again in the future. Sometimes people forget to return their permit, then sell their RV and the new owner unwittingly tries to go to Mexico and is not allowed because that vehicle never had the permit handed in.

 

The day we crossed the border we landed in Blythe, CA. We found a great little place right on the Colorado river, Hidden Beaches RV Resort. It was the most peaceful place. We sat in our chairs on the riverbank and let Mexico drift away from us. That day we had been on the shore of the Sea of Cortez in the morning and now we sat on the shore of the Colorado River!  Hidden Beaches RV is definitely on our list for a re-visit.

 

We left the next morning bound for Palm Springs/Palm Desert. Being back in the U.S. was absolute bliss from the trying and less than adequate conditions of Mexico. As we drove along the wide freeway, our GPS which did not work in Mex was once again online, we had Starbucks in our cup holders, and the signs were in English. God Bless the USA! 

 

We stayed for a week in Palm Desert at Emerald Desert RV Resort. It felt like the height of glamour and we could hardly tear ourselves away when it was time to leave. The pools were fabulous and the weather was wonderful. Everything was spotlessly clean. While we were here, we went to San Diego for an overnight to see our friends Jim and Cheryl Hernandez. We went sightseeing one day to the Hotel de Coronado, which is another of my favorite places from our travels so far. The hotel property and grounds take one back to the glamorous days of old. Vintage décor lends to the romance of the place – I just love it!

 

Our route home through the U.S. was dictated by issues to do with our rig needing warranty repair. For this purpose, we mapped our course to warranty suppliers and manufacturers which would take us through Annaheim, Fresno, Klamath Falls, Vancouver, WA, Tacoma, Burlington and crossing April 28 into Canada at Abbotsford.

 

While we were in Tacoma, we visited my Aunt Helen, and cousins Sharon and Bruce. Our first family hug in six months! While in Tacoma, we were also excited to visit the Chihuly glass museum. We have followed his work for years, and know that Tacoma is where his exhibit is based. We went to the glass museum, paid our fee and walked through the exhibits only to find that there were very few of his pieces displayed amongst those of other artists. I asked the reception desk where his main exhibit was and I was told that his exhibit had left TWO days earlier for another venue. We both stood with gaping mouths at our bad luck. Note-to-self – next time Google where the exhibit is!

 

Crossing home into Canada was easy-as-pie. We had no problems at all, and again, we were not searched. I guess we have honest faces! Thus ends our first year of adventure – outside of Canada, anyway! 

 

As we returned to Penticton, it was slowly dawning on us that our travel adventure was over and, wait-a-second…we still live in a trailer! Call us a little slow!  We hadn’t quite put that together for ourselves until this point. We met very few people who full-time in their RV as we are. Most were going home to their lovely houses to spend their summers in the garden. Not us. I guess this will be the next phase of our adventure! 

 

Our conclusions after our first year of RV travel? We have decided that there is a definite difference between “travelling” and “vacation”. Travelling is work in its own way. We covered many miles and always needed to see what was around the next corner. We seemed to suffer from an acute fear of “missing something”.   When we spoke with other RVers who had been at it for several years, they all said to us “we did that our first year, too.” 

 

At times we felt so incredibly road-weary and frustrated. Then we would find ourselves on a beautiful stretch of beach in perfect weather and feel that it was all worthwhile. We were able to find the humour in some of our small misfortunes.  An unexpected blessing is the fact that we met a lot of great people and started some wonderful friendships. 

 

As far as the actual process of RVing, we have enjoyed it about as much as we thought we would. There are things we don't love and things we do. Don’t love the constant set up and breaking camp when moving; don’t love the constant managing of resources like water tanks  and sewer tanks;  don’t love the constant maintenance of things breaking. We now understand why RVers tend to get to their favourite destination, set up and stay for the winter.  It's much less wearying than our program of running around Mexico like crazy people.  That brings us to what we are loving about this experience. Love that It provides us the very best opportunity explore our part of the world, enjoying each area as briefly or as deeply as we wish; love that we have all manner of freedom to stay or go as suits us; love the freeing feeling of living “light”, having only what we need (except for shoes…could always use more shoes!). 

 

With this in mind, we shall see what the next season holds!