Guess there won't be a lot of sympathy

This was sunrise the other day...

This was sunset...(check out the little bits on the beach, they are baby turtles)

More Photos of the Way Down

I am a lucky man!

And I thought we were loaded down...

Happy in Guero Negro after a long day on the road

Using the timer when driving...

Couple of Photos from our way down

Hello I had a few minutes and wanted to post a couple of photos from our way down. Both are reflective of our drive down. Happy on both fronts. One was based on finding a wonderful place to camp and the other was based on having the right spare part for when the van broke down.

Hasta Luego Amigos!

Life is Good and Life is the Sh**'s

Life IS GOOD. That being said life in paradise has many sides. Today for instance the neighbours septic tank collapsed and required some attention. I spent part of the day dealing with that directly and then exploring how to find spare parts for a gerry rigged septic system en espanol. Life can be the shits sometimes but every cloud has some sort of lining as I felt very comfortable trying to find stuff using my limited spanish.

The other thing that we've had to deal with was the breaking into of our van. We lost a lot of spare parts one of which we were in need of. Luckily we found a VW guru in La Pas not too far away and within a day and a $100 we had a new window and many of the parts that went missing. A friend came down via a VW dealer in Canada and was able to bring us a new fuel pump and so we are ready to go again.

Tomorrow we head for Cabo Pulmo, a reef system in the Sea of Cortez. The adventure is back on track. We have up to this point been concentrating on getting our casa in order. We've installed a brick patio (to keep scorpions out of our living area) and a shade cloth structure to help keep our space bearable in terms of UV and heat.

It is good, mas o menos.

We're Home!

Hit our southern home 2 sleeps ago. We are presently at the Hotel California as they have an unsecured internet network and REALLY good margaritas. All is well, the trailers are all intact and the water is REALLY warm. All in all life is good.

Hitting the Road Again Tomorrow

Spent the day today dealing with VW tidy up issues. We are ready to hit the road tomorrow. We had a route plan that would take us around LA but now due to needing yet another AFC. They are just under $500 in Canada and we have found a place in Santa Ana (just beside Disneyland) that has two rebuilt units for $60US.

So we'll head into the thick of it all tomorrow, right down the I-5. I am big boy and I can handle the stress of driving with 1 million cars wanting to go WAY faster than a VW from Canada. Wish me luck...

The positive thing is that we're going to stop into the only Patagonia Outlet store in the US tomorrow. Who knows what treasures await....

Make that Day of the Sick

So we found a great little VW shop run by Erich in Santa Maria in Central Calif. and he sold me a used Air Flow Control (AFC) for the fuel injection system. The AFC was the only weak link left over from our rebuild. Long story about finding Erich, little bit internet, little bit magic. Regardless, we headed out towards the Patagucci outlet store a couple hours south of here and then make our way to the Mexican border, but fate (and our AFC) had something else up its sleeve.

Half an hour down the road our oil temperature started to rock way past acceptable standards. We're back at Lisa's finishing Marg's leftovers from last night. We've made contact with Pete (our Metchosin VW guru) and he has some suggestions we'll check out tomorrow. Otherwise we will be here until Monday when we can make contact with Erich and pick up another used AFC.

Cheers!

Day of the Dead

Our original goal was to be in Mexico today. Oh well.

We have been at our friend Lisa's for the last two sleeps. It has been grand and glorious. Lisa is our neighbour on the ranch in Mexico.

Anyway we are leaving for the border today and hope to be in Baja California Norte day after tomorrow.

Gave Skeya her Mexico haircut today. I still need one. It's a dog's life. Ours isn't too bad either.

Will post pics later.

Caio

Central California

Welcome to California?

Where it all begins,,,

130 year old Zin Vine

Maura commands!

All alone on a California ridge...

Go fast and you can make it through

The Golden Gate out of San Fran

Run, Run, Run

The dark bit is a whale...honest

Northern California Photos

1500 years old
Music everywhere...

Holy...

In a National Park early in the morning.

Pampas grass by the beach

Southern Oregon Pictures

The birds flying around this jetty were amazing. We stayed here until I noticed how the birds had decorated the car beside us.
Just me having fun is all...

This is known as a McCulloch Bridge. They're all over Oregon. Steve's relatives did quite well for themselves in Oregon I'd say...

The Oregon coast doesn't really have any islands to create safe anchorages. They make these jetties out in front of a river that protect the entrance a bit for boats to come in and out of. It is like a whole bunch of man-made mini Nitnat entrances to the ocean.

Action dog in the dunes, way happier than in the van.

Newport Oregon Aquarium

Now this place is worthy! It even comes with an underwater tunnel that you walk through as sharks swim casually by...Campground AND microbrewery very close by...

Insert Jaws Music here...

Tufted Puffin

Oregon Photos

This is us at the bridge across the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. It's well over a mile and maybe even 2 miles across. We're still on the Washington side.

This is me holding on for dear life as we cross the river. The wind was unreal! Thank god for ridiculously priced shocks adjusted up to damn near the max. Together we held on and didn't get blown off into the Columbia...

Once into Oregon a bit we started to find beaches. Lots of beaches. Lots and lots of beaches. They make Long Beach look like a baby junior cousin.

This beach was cool. It had these very cool mini dunes.



Here is Skeya on one of the mini dunes in a very happy moment. She loves playing on the beach. She fits in well with the rest of us...




Want a good work out? Climb one of these babys

An old logging truck. A couple of techological steps prior to the Volkswagen...

Yeah us..;

Warning for Metaphysical VW Geeks Only

At some point I will post some pictures and stories of getting the VW ready but will wait until I have some access to some pictures of the 'contruction phase'. Suffice it for now to give a brief synopsis. Here is a picture of us driving/parked on a beach in Oregon...

The van was purchased 10+ years ago. The engine lasted for about a year or two and then died after a trip to the Yukon where a number of weighty artifacts were brought back that taxed the capacity of the engine. At this point the original engine was retired and an engine from another engine van was placed inside ‘Elwood’. This engine has lasted many, many miles and many, many adventures but was getting tired. The mileage was dropping the exhaust system getting louder and louder. Maura, in her infinite wisdom and even greater love, suggested that we should consider rebuilding the engine and use Elwood for part of our adventure driving south. (To this point I was thinking we should take our Toyota down as it is 4WD and would provide access to many places that 2WD would not allow). The initial budget was quickly consumed as I started to add items that I saw as necessary for an extended southern driving trip and as non expected items showed themselves as needing attention. The non-inclusive repair list includes: new tires-8 ply, load range D, new tie rods, 1 new ball joint, new tach, oil pressure gage, oil temp warning gizmo, a GENE BERG SHIFTER, a new rear bearing, brake tune up, synthetic transmission oil change, various rust repairs and oh yeah a new engine-rebuilt from tip to tail, including a modified cam, new pistons and cylinders, new main bearings and electronic ignition - the full meal deal. My VW guru, Peter Roberts, out of Metchosin patiently worked with me directing me to do the entry level mechanical things on the van while he tended to the technical details. 2 Weeks later and a undisclosed amount of $$$ later the van is running like a top. There have been many mechanical stories that I found fascinating during the rebuild. Suffice it to say the quotient of idiosyncratic VW quirks from bouncing timing advances to irregular tachometer readings have been taken care of prior to our departure. The NEW van with parts from Holland, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Canada, California and Pennsylvania is in fine shape and at this point only needing a new-used Air Flow Control Meter. Everything else is for the most part new, from the fuel pressure regulator to the injectors. (I must admit I thought I made an over the top decision putting adjustable Koni –read $&^#@!! $$$- racing shocks in, but after a few experiences driving with a FULLY loaded van in strong Oregon ocean crosswinds I am truly appreciative as we do not get completely blown off the road)

The reincarnation of the van also came with a new name. A sticker graced the dashboard just below the stereo with the name ‘Elwood’ on it, with a set of Texan longhorns in behind the name. I liked it as the name Elwood seemed to fit as it tied into Jake and Elwood from Blues Brothers fame. The only problem was that the sticker was in the same place that 2 new gauges would fit nicely. During a break in the rebuilding process I found myself in the hot tub at home reading Alan Watts Tao: The Watercourse Way. It was a book that I had when I lived in Whitehorse but lost to lending along the way. I recently found another copy in a used book store. So there I was in the hot tub reading about the principle of Wu-Wei –action through inaction - (Zonker Harris epitomised Wu-Wei best when he said, wearing his snorkel in Walden Pond “Hey, Ho, Go With the Flow” to Mike Doonsebury responding to a question about doing something productive with his life)…back to the point of the story…we renamed the van ‘Wo’ as the two new gauges in the dash have cut out the E and the L of Elwood along with the last O and the D leaving WO. It seemed fitting even if it spelled differently…besides our license plate is 228 GTW…which of course if you think about it stands for the ‘Great Travelling Wo’.

So That Has Us Into America.

We were going to head through Seattle to Olympia and then head out to the coast OFF of the I-5 but realized we were heading right into Seattle rush hour traffic. To avoid the big city mess we headed out to Anacortes and Whidbey Island to catch the ferry to the Olympic Penninsula (we did say we wanted to avoid the I-5).. We spent the night by an old army base beside the ferry to Port Townsend. It was a windy, cold blustery night. We used our Fisherman’s Furnace (an old clay pot turned upside down over the gas stove…yes we had a window open) and put up our new insulated window coverings. We were up at 6 am for the first ferry, drove on with misty windows and did an adjustment of our packing system.









Upon arrival in Port Townsend we found a little ramshackle restaurant open that was right in the heart of the wooden boat area of the port. We spent a good part of the morning wandering around the docks (web port townsend docks.jpg and web port townsend ferry.jpg) and then went in for breakfast beside a warm wood stove. From here we had two options to head south. One was up to Port Angeles and down, the other was down the Hood Canal We got local advice about routes south and headed down the Hood Canal.























What a choice! The fall colours (or, now that we are in the states should I say colors) were awesome (web washington fall colours.jpg). We stopped by Mount Walker (of course) climbing up a 4 mile gravel road gaining 2805 feet to two lookouts. The decent back to the highway was somewhat eventful as we had to rely solely on the brakes and couldn’t use the engine to slow us down as our new engine was still in its 1000 mile break in period and we could gear down to slow down. I ended up having to stop a bunch of times to let the smoking brakes cool down while Maura and Skeya ran on ahead to get part of their daily quota of exercise.

We Made It Off The Island!

We left in on a Saturday. We HAD to catch the 3 pm ferry as our Vancouver friends had arranged a going away dinner for that night. Cocktails at 5. We couldn’t be late. My God what a flurry of activity to get ready. It started the week before when Maura finished work. We had to dung out our place as our new tenants Johanna and Naseem were moving in. We could leave the furniture and assorted other stuff, but had to get rid of our clothes and assorted other personal effects. As the deadline approached we were up until midnight and waking at ungodly hours to make sure we’d make that 3 pm ferry.

We did it. By the skin of our teeth. We ended up leaving a couple of things behind. Notably the car registration and the front bra for the VW. We made a call home and made arrangements to have our stuff brought to Vancouver on Sunday. We ended up staying in Vancouver an extra day. Oh darn, our friends had to put up with us for another day and ply us with great wine. I fell asleep on Sunday watching ‘Airplane’ with an empty glass of Burrowing Owl in my hand. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Headed out Monday in a rain storm but as we headed to the border the sun broke out. Made a quick stop in to see Uncle Archie and Auntie Olga in Cloverdale and then to an hour wait at the border. Maura had lots of papers ready to show. I was prepared for a VW Hippy van shakedown by US border guards. Proper Preparation Prevents all sorts of things. They waved us through without a question.

Northern California

We're in California! We are at a tourist info place that does not have WiFi but once we find a WiFi place will have some cool photos and some trip ramblings to post...

Love and Kisses, Rob, Maura and Skeya

Oregon!

We tried to beat it by Seattle but ran into traffic. We turned off the I-5 and headed to the coast. 2 days later we were still north of Seattle, but on the coast. We hit Port Townsend and then started for the Oregon coast. Way cool beaches and micro breweries. It is day 4 and we are still in Oregon. We'll have to make some time at some point as Jaime and George and Norma will be in Mexico at the Cabo airport on Nov. 19. Must run. Just wanted to let you know we are alive and slowing down quite nicely.

PS The van rocks (especially in an Oregon windstorm)

The Dark Side

I have gone to the Dark Side. Willingly. Until now. After years of frustration dealing with the menu system on our HD Sony Discman, noticing with some intrigue the ease of use with iPods Maura convinced that we/she needed an iPod. I spent the last couple of day converting the old file system into one that the iPod could read. Hook up the iPod start the conversion process and the frigging thing takes over my file system without any prompts to say what it is doing, and then starts duplicating files all over the place. In no time the file structure has balloned in size from what was originally 6 MB to well over 130 MB. Now try and fix that. Frigging Mac piece of gobble de gook. After A LOT of swearing I think I have it pared down to something manageable, but even now it is syncing in at 20+ GB. Have I said how much I hate Macs?

Thanks for letting me vent. We are in the middle of chaos as we try and move out to make room for the folks renting our place. What fun. We have today really to get it done. VW just about ready. More on that later!s

Hmmmm...What the freak is a blog anyway. First Post.

Where do I/we start? Here is a picture of us a couple of years ago beside the Yukon River on our way to the Dawson City Music Fest. We had just told our buddy Jim that we were getting married. Well I thought it was going to be a picture. The damn add picture button isn't working. Pop ups are allowed, I can add video if I had some but no damn pictures. This may be a message from God not to start blogging...

Nope guess not. I just got it working. Guess it's OK.

:o)

It all started 3 years ago, when I took a new job out at the Cowichan Valley Alternative School (CVAS). I did so with the proviso that I wanted to take a sabbatical after finishing my masters at UVic. The masters is complete, the bank account very lean, but the desire and the dreams remains. My true love Maura Heather is set for a sabbatical as well. I have two weeks left at CVAS and I wanted to get this thing up and running prior to me up and running. Here we go POST 1! Let the BLOG's begin!