Excited and Nervous?

We are minutes away from boarding our plane, flying First Class to Bangkok, Thailand. Nervous isn't the right word, what is it to be anticipatory not sure of what grand adventures lie ahead wondering in what ways I will be forever changed as a result of this trip. I think the word would have to sum up the phrase "Well Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore". With love to all who follow... Rob

Smithers: From the Beaches of Mexico to the Winter Wonderland of Love...

We blasted up to Smithers to ski and hang out with our good friends (from an alternate school in the 70's up in the Yukon). It is a new phase of life when your best buddies become grandparents...I must be getting old, or at least they are...

:o)

Norma and Paige

The Big Race with George and Norm leading the pack...

I want to be as happy and healthy when I reach this phase of life...

The cousins (aka 2 out of 3 grand kids)

Grace (coming up 80!!!) arriving on snowmobile! What a smile she had!

It it slides, George rides!

Ride 'em cowboy!

I just can't quit you man!

The Big Five Ohhh Party gathering!

Mom! It is all about patience and LOVE!

Blasting Through the States and Our Welcome Home

So we hit the States, it turns colder than a witch's broomstick. We wanted to head inland but there was a weather system with tons of snow hitting everywhere except Death Valley. So we head back towards the coast: into wine country. It was good, we got some good wines, ate some good food and moved on ASAP. Here is a pic of some vines around Sonoma, one of THE areas for wine in the US. Vineyards as far as the eye can see.

We saw this brew pub in Eureka, California on the way down. We stopped in for a pint and a pee on our way north and bought a pint of Downtown Brown for Maura's cousin Downtown Jane Brown. We raise a glass in her general direction.

After many days of driving just missing weather system after weather system the weather system catches up to us in Vancouver. This is what we wake up to. Thank God we didn't need to sleep in the van THIS night.

Our trip across the the north shore on the Lion's Gate Bridge on our way to the ferry. We're almost home.

Driving North through Mexico

Our second night spent hanging on the inside (east coast of the Sea of Cortez) Our van is just behind us, a WHOLE bunch of other Canadians, our direct neighbours from Victoria, are lined all along the seashore beside us.

The next day we took a side trip out to a mission church that was started in the late 1600's. The church was built in the early 1700's. The road in was intense but do-able. This was a pull out on the edge of a cliff.

Here's the village with the church in the background. It took us a couple of hours to get here. It felt like we were travelling roads as they used to be in the Baja.

Inside the church. They had the rosearia beads from the missionary that started the church back in the late 1600's.

From the church road we headed north to go whale watching. We thought the church road was old-style intense. This was one took the cake.

Watching a whale go under the boat. She is about a meter away. Thought she might come up and give me a kiss.

Instead she blew me a kiss. More like whale snot really...

The road out..


The next day we found our favourite campsite on Bahia de Los Angelse. (Bay of Lost Angels)


Skeya loved it too, lots of birds to chase...

Hello!

The next morning


I can smell the coffee brewing! I'll take mine black you know that I'll be back...


If you look closely to the left of the hump you'll see the van. Maura just commented it seems like this blog is more about the van than our adventure...yeah so?

Nice van, er I mean cool cactus eh? Sort of like Dr. Suess

I think the blog so far is more about cacti we met along the way...

Our last sunset in Mexico! (for while)

This was our last road side stop to eat. It was in Ensanada not too far from the border. Our secret was to look for places that were full of locals eating. We were looking for fish but instead found the most amazing chopped beef. Another OMG moment.

Will post pictures later if there are any of note from our trip through the states. Suffice it to say it was fricking cold and uneventful. Our next series of posts may well be from South East Asia...

Leaving San Simon - Day One

All things must pass. The van is packed, the structrure put away. We are ready to go.

Maura locking up.

With great sadness...

Within a day we start to get over having to leave San Simon. Our first campsite just south of Loredo.

They are beauties, Mexican cuties. How I got them I haven't a clue...

Especially this one!


Our campsite in the morning sunrise.

The road out to the next part of our adventure. OMG!!!

My First Scorpion Bite

Cleaning up on our last day...Maura has been after me our whole trip to be more cautious in the desert mainly around the wearing of shoes. "There's scorpions that will get you, you don't know what will happen if you get bit." Well I finally found out...while wearing shoes.

Cleaning up an old tarp that I had used to do some dieseling of the wood deck, I was lifting the diesel soaked sand on the tarp into a wheel barrow to be used for, you guessed it, scorpion protection, when a rather large scorpion fell off the tarp and landed between my sandal and my rather large arch of my foot. I felt a burning on my foot and looked down to see the tail of the scorpion (about an inch and a half) wiggling around trapped between my foot and my sandal. I don't know if you have ever tried to get webbed sandals off in a hurry. They are designed to stick to your feet in all sort of adverse situations. Neither I nor the scorpion were happy with the design at that particular moment.

Maura came running as the language I was to describe the sandal design was graphic, similar to when I hit my thumb with my hammer.

I stayed calm, went into the shade by the water spout, washed off my feet. I asked for some anti-infamatories. Maura brought ice, one of her anti-histamines and a shot of tequila.

I asked her to take some photos to record the effect of a scorpion bite. Can you tell which one is faked?

Rob and Oscar at Cerritos: The Movie

If you look at the 3rd or 4th frame you MIGHT be able to see Rob in the whitewash...

PS I hate to say this but this movie was created on a Mac, cause it was way faster than trying to figure out how to do it on Maura's PC...

:o)

R