Deep in the heart of Texas...

We woke up really early this morning, since Cejas started howling at people in the hall at the hotel who were moving around. After trying to get the dogs settled down and back to sleep, we finally gave up and got up. It had poured down rain during the night and there were huge puddles where yesterday there was nothing. We walked the dogs and on the way back to the room, there was a little brown/reddish pit/terrier mix standing at the edge of the parking lot, ears perked up, head cocked to the side, just watching us. He didn't have a collar and when I kissed at him, he kind of startled and then ran off to the side, so he is probably a stray. Poor little guy. My heart just ached - he was probably looking at our dogs thinking how nice it would be to have a family of his own. Hopefully he will find one... I of course, had to go check on the frog - wasn't in the pool, so I figured he is ok. Didn't see any of the cats, but cats usually sleep and hide during the day. We got the car loaded up and were on the road at 8:00 on the dot! We pulled out of the parking lot and smack into a huge traffic jam - two cars had hit each other head on right in front of the hotel. So, we did a detour and managed to get on the interstate without getting lost or having an argument!

We drove through Southeast Arizona for about two hours... lots of rock formations that are beautiful, creepy, inspiring... they look like something that aliens left. We stopped at Council Rock rest area and the dogs had a break and so did we, and then we were on our way again. We were listening to the radio so we could hear any traffic alerts and when that station ran out, I hit the scan button and they were playing "Waltz Across Texas" - fitting for our adventure! The next song on was Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes - one of my all time favorites of his and also very appropriate for our trip. I've been listening to that song for over 27 years and it has become an old friend that gets me through some tough times. I'm still so sad to be leaving my cats... but they are in good hands with Kate and they will be fine and hopefully they can't count the hours since I've been gone.

It was raining when we left Tucson and it just got worse and worse as we went on. Henrietta was being a little mischief maker. But our travel guardian angel was watching out for us, and we didn't have any mishaps. We crossed into New Mexico and didn't even know that we were getting there so didn't get to take a picture of the welcome sign. Bob says we can get it on the way back, but he's kind of missing the point! :) We stopped for gas (in the rain still) and then I drove for about three or four hours, from the AZ/NM border to just before El Paso. I drove over the Continental Divide (missed that sign too!) and over the Texas border. We couldn't really see much of the scenery in New Mexico, just a lot of rain and clouds. Visibility was down to about half a mile or so. We drove past Las Cruces and then on into Texas. Bob took over again just before El Paso and we could see Ciudad Juarez, which is in Mexico, on the right. It is pitiful. It looks like a slum shanty town. It makes me sad to think that all of the people that are living there in deplorable conditions are doing it because that is "better." Anyway, we crossed over the Rio Grande at Las Cruces and then followed it through El Paso... and then we were on the 10 through miles and miles of Texas.

The most exciting part of our day was trying to figure out what the heck time it was. We couldn't figure out what time zone we were in... and the GPS was telling us that we would arrive at the hotel in Sonora at 7:30 - which we thought wasn't too bad, considering the bad weather that we went through that slowed us down, plus the potty/gas breaks and then a couple of breaks for the dogs. When we finally figured out where we were and what time it was, it turns out the GPS was still on PDT - not Central time... so our ETA was 9:30, not 7:30 - making it 13 hour day of driving! We realized this when we hit Van Horn, which we thought we had passed through about two hours earlier... we got to Ft. Stockton and I told Bob we should just spend the night there and then go to Brownsville/Weslaco tomorrow, and we could do the paperwork at the border on Saturday, then go back to the States, enjoy the three pools and the hot tubs at the hotel, and then cross over on Sunday... but he wanted to get to Sonora tonight, so looks like we will do the paperwork at the border tomorrow afternoon. I am always nervous about the dogs... at the hotels, and now I'm worried that they will turn us away at the border. I'm sure it will be fine... Redbeard has sent us a detailed list of what to do and Shirley and Dave have sent us info too. I still need to make reservations for hotels in Mexico, but we were going to try to figure out the route that we were taking and where we wanted to stop first... wish us luck!

The good part about driving the extra two hours tonight was that we got to watch the sunset behind us. It played off of the mountains and the rock formations and there were so many pretty colors... dazzling! And after the sun was down, we could see hundreds of stars in the sky... almost as many as we see in Akumal! I couldn't get a picture of those though... still trying to learn how to use the new camera.

Ok, off to get some sleep... we want to be up and out early - by 7:00! I'll never make it!

manana....

Traveling to Tucson

We woke up about 6:30 but didn't get moving until about 7:00. The plan is to be on the road by 9:00 at the latest so that we can get to Tucson before dark.

We had a wonderful night's sleep in the RV. The mattress is a regular mattress with an air mattress on top of it - like sleeping on a cloud. Luckily, all of the dogs slept through the night and no one (Bella!) was barking at any strange sound that they might have heard.

I took the dogs into the yard to let them do their business and Helen came out to say good morning. We took all of the dogs into the back yard and Solavina was being friendly with Macy, Roxie and Izzie. She even let Macy lick her face! Cejas and Bella romped around with the other dogs, but none of mine will go into a pool. Bella and Solavina swam in Akumal, but there they could wade in. I think being in a pool and not being able to judge the depth makes them nervous.

We had coffee on the patio overlooking the pool with the view of the city in the background. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, but not too hot. The heat wave has finally broken - hopefully. We packed up all of our stuff - you'd be surprised how much stuff you get out of a car for just a night: one overnight bag for me, one for Bob, two dogbeds, six dog bowls (two for water, four for food), dog food, dog blankets, purse... Helen gave our doggies some turtle bandanas to wear with their new turtle collars in Akumal, plus some to sell down there to help out with the costs for Tucker's surgery. He is probably going to have to have another one on the "good" hip. :( He is such a sweet, beautiful boy! And Izzie and Tucker are both beautiful dogs, with wonderful conformation... if only they had been bred responsibly! But - another story for another time!

After packing up the car, we were off - 9:00 on the dot! That NEVER happens! We went back towards Cheryl's and Donny's and got to see the city again in the daylight (I think it's prettier at night) and then headed up into the mountains. Next stop was Hoover Dam. Neither of us knew that we would be traveling over that, so that was a pretty exciting surprise for us! We stopped to take some pictures along with a group of Tibetian monks, and I called my dad to let him know that I was at the Hoover Dam. He had visited it when I was a kid, a loooonggg time ago, probably when it was first opened! ;)

We traveled through Arizona and saw a lot of prairie, mountains in the distance, and lots of sagauro cacti. It's a pretty landscape, if you like desert and mountains.

We went through Wickenburg and on the east side of the town, saw a bar called Buzzards, where "bikers welcome" and Fog Hat will be playing on October 13. We just might have to come back from Akumal for that one. A concert in the middle of nowhere!

At Sun City (retirement capital of the world) we sat in traffic for half an hour - for road work that of course, was not being done... just orange flags, cones and a lane closed and not a worker in sight. They must have people from California running their construction projects!

We made it around Phoenix without a) getting lost and b) getting stuck in traffic. Then it was on I-10 to Tucson.

We passed through some more pretty country and then, about half an hour north of Tucson, we entered into a dust storm. Strangest thing we had ever been in! It looked like it was rain from a distance, and while in it, it seemed like rain - dark, cloudy, strange lighting going on - but it was just dust. All of us were wheezing and coughing from the dust. Then, just as we were getting close to our exit (259) we saw a sign that I-10 was closed from exit 256 - 259 - take exit 254. Just as we got near that, it started to downpour rain! We got off the interstate and somehow managed to find our way to the hotel by following the interstate access road and then just turning where the exit empties off the freeway. We are at the La Quinta Inn Tucson Downtown. The rain let up as we were checking in. They allow pets, but we weren't sure that they would allow FOUR dogs, so we kind of told a white lie... or rather, didn't tell them how many dogs that we had - so they assumed just one. Bob checked in and the room that they gave to us had to be accessed through the lobby, and we didn't know how to figure out how to parage four dogs past the desk and pretend that it was just one, so I went back to the desk and asked if we could have one of the outside rooms with a sliding glass door that led outside, so that I could let the dog out - DONE! We got into the room and Bob went to get us some wine and some dinner from the hotel restaurant - cheeseburger for me and chicken friend steak sandwich for him - and I fed the dogs. I took a quick dip in the pool and was joined by a little frog the size of a quarter! I scooped him out of the pool and put him over in the bushes - I'm sure he would love to swim in the pool, but there is no way for him to get out. After I put him in the bushes, I saw a man out with what I thought were little Chihuahuas - turns out it was one of the kitchen guys from the restaurant - a young Mexican-American guy, about 24 years old - and he was handing out meat scraps to a group of feral cats. There were about six black ones and two tabbyand white ones. He told me that he had a litter of kittens in the kitchen that he was taking care of. Bless his heart! The kid probably barely makes enough to get by but he's worried about these homeless kitties... maybe there is hope for the world, after all. I'll have to check into local spay/neuter services and ses if someone can get out there to spay/neuter the cats and release them. Then again, you're not in San Francisco anymore, Dorothy. As much as a I love swimming in a pool, I've realized that it's just not as much fun without Eliza and Isabelle there.

The hightlight for us of staying in hotels is that we can watch cable TV. I turned on the weather channel to find out that Henrietta had made final land fall in Mexico, and is now moving north in to Arizona and then will move east into Texas. So, looks like we will have a hitchhikerwith us - little Henrietta is going to tag along on our adventure! Hopefully it won't be too bad...

Good news for Akumal and the Yucatan - Hurrican Felix made landfall in Nicaragua, so we will get just some peripheal showers from him. And he had lessened and wasn't a really bad storm, so that is good news for Nicaragua. I still remember when Roberto Clemente was killed delivering aid and supplies for victims of the earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua - 1972. I cried so hard. He was my favorite baseball player. Still is. Maybe if he had lived, Barry Bonds would still be chasing his record. Now, there was a classy baseball player. Barry Boy could take some lessons.... but I think that's not only another story for another time, but another whole blog in itself!

We've showered and Bob is watching tennis (US Open) on cable (I'm hoping he gets addicted so we can have it when we get back to SF!) and I'm getting a little tired. Solavina and Cejas are curled up and fast asleep on their dog beds, and Bella and Missy are on the bed waiting for us...

Tomorrow, we are off towards Sonora, TX - smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Two more days to the border!

In the beginning...

Bob & Sherwood’s Road Trip to Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico

September 2007

We are driving down to Akumal on the Yucatan Peninsula from San Francisco. Just the two of us. And our four dogs! In a Honda CRV! Well, we’ve always been a close family!

Bob retired at the end of March from Anchor Brewing Company, where he had been a brewer for 24 years of the world famous Anchor Steam beer. No more free beer! First adjustment to be made…

Sherwood just up and quit her job at the end of May at Cupertino Electric, where she was an executive assistant, marketing coordinator, events planner, proposal princess, HR nightmare, babysitter, hand holder, office mangler, Jill of all trades, and president of vice. No more steady paychecks. Second adjustment. How am I going to buy beer with no money?

We decided to take the summer to get ready for the trip. We had a whole list of things that we needed and/or wanted to get done, but unfortunately, neither of us ever thought to actually write the list down – so we’re hoping that nothing fell through the cracks. Oh, and deadlines might have been a good idea too, since I am the queen of procrastination… but hey, I work best under pressure!

First on the list – get a rooftop cargo carrier for the CRV. But before that, we need to have a roof rack installed. Sherwood insists on having a factory installed roof rack from the Honda dealership – so we get that done. The car comes home and there is a sticker on the roof rack – maximum capacity, 75 lbs., evenly distributed. I think to myself, 75 lbs, hey, that’s a lot of stuff! Wrong! That wouldn’t even hold two of the dogs… Next stop, Sears, where we saw a cargo carrier that was roomy and on sale. It’s called an X-Cargo and so I’m in love with it for the name – reminds me of a dumb joke, I’ll tell it later – and cuz I love snails. So, looking at the information for the carrier – roof rack must have a minimum capacity of 150 lbs. Can we put two roofracks on the car? So, after a little discussion that some people might have misconstrued as an argument in the parking lot, it’s back to the Honda dealership. The very helpful parts manager explains that we can get a Yakima Space Cadet there that will have the storage capacity that we need and meet the weight restrictions. The cargo holder only weighs 35 lbs. so we can pack 40 lbs! Sounds good! We buy it and he gives us a discount to get me and my questions out of the showroom. We bring it home and Bob easily installs it on the roof rack without any help (instructions) from me, and no swearing, throwing things, tossing the carrier onto the sidewalk. Where’s the fun in that? Easy installation does not a good story make.

We decided that we need to do a test run with the cargo carrier and all of the dogs in the car, so we headed up to the Mendocino Coast. Packed our bags for two days, put the dogs in the car and we were off. Nothing eventful happened, so not much to report. The cargo carrier didn’t fall off the car, the roof rack didn’t collapse, none of the dogs ran away and a good time was had by all.

Another item on the list of things to do was to get a GPS system with maps of Mexico. So, Sherwood researched this thoroughly, during her last few weeks at Cupertino Electric, and finally selected the Garmin C340 because it had what we needed – voice, text, maps of the US and an SD card slot – but not what we would never be able to figure out how to use – Bluetooth, traffic receiver. So, I ordered that and it was here in time for Bob’s retirement party in June. (Another story for another time.) When I was researching the GPS there was an SD card with maps of Mexico available. My parents said they would like to get that for Bob for his retirement present, so they send me the money for it! Sweet! I didn’t buy it when I saw it (lesson that should be learned but won’t be) so two months later, I finally get around to finding the complete Mexico maps with coverage of the Yucatan Peninsula included – some of them don’t include that, just Mexico City and Western Mexico, which won’t do us any good – and order that. It then takes another two weeks for me to get the information needed to get the download, order the software that I didn’t know that I needed and finally get the unlock code to download the map. Hopefully it will be able to help us, not just show us where we already know to go.

Now it’s time to pack. A friend of mine, Kate, is going to house and cat sit for us while we are gone. I clean out an entire closet so she will have a place to put her clothes. Most of the clothes in the closet I don’t even remember having… that’s how long they have been in there and not worn. I should be donating them, but they have memories so off they go into boxes into the “attic” beside the hall upstairs, where I’m sure they will sit until I get tired of tripping over them to get to the Christmas decorations. The clothes that I do remember having and actually wear go into boxes and are stored in the walk in closet. I remember to label them so I know what’s what and hopefully where to find it.

Now comes the hard part: packing only ten to fifteen pounds of clothes. I’m already thinking of ways of cheating, like packing as much as I can into the overnight bag that will be in the car with us for the trip. I’ll update this when I get around to actually doing it.

Another item on our list was to get FM3s, which are needed if you are going to take your car into Mexico for an extended amount of time. Bob and I get up early one morning (8:30 – that’s early for me!) and head down to the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco. I ask Bob the address and he says 5hundred something Folsom Street – in the Mission. I tell him, no 500-something is down by the Embarcadero, between First and Second Streets probably – I used to work at 657 Harrison, so it would just be a couple of blocks away. So we drive down Folsom, looking at numbers… Bob is reading numbers and wondering which building it is – I tell him maybe it’s the one with the gigantic Mexican flag flying from it? We find a parking space a couple of blocks away that’s FREE (unheard of in SF!) and walk up to the consulate, and get there about 10:30. We are the only non-hispanic people in the place. All of the signs are in Spanish. I’m trying to figure out where to go when one of the guards comes over and tells us in English to go up to the second floor and shows us the way. I guess the only time gringos are in there is to get the FM3s! We go up, sign in and take a seat to wait our turn. A young, handsome man well dressed in a shirt, tie and suit slacks, comes in and takes other people into an office. Eventually it is our turn. He looks over our paperwork and tells us that we will have to provide a marriage certificate – but we can bring it in when we pick up the FM3s. He tells us the cost for the filing and that we need to pay in cash – so we’re off to an ATM. Bob’s card won’t work at the first one, so it’s off to another one, where it doesn’t work, and then finally a third try… by this time, the consulate is about to close (they close at 1:00) so we figure we’ll just come back in the morning. We get there the next day and there is an obnoxious American woman telling us about buying a lot and a house and moving down to Mexico and it’s so cheap and yadda yadda yadda – just the type of person that we don’t want to live near! Luckily, she is going to Cabo San Lucas, to a development there that is geared towards Americans that want to live cheaply in Mexico. We get ads in the mail all the time for it. We can’t imagine going there to live with 4,999 other people like her. Argh! Our turn finally comes and Jose, our agent, tells us that he waited for us until 3:00 yesterday to come back – no, we don’t feel too stupid or bad! He’s very nice and takes our pictures for our FM3s. Mine makes Nick Nolte’s drunk driving mug shot look like an ad for Mister America. Of course, it’s Bob’s fault for not telling me that my hair was messed up from having pushed my glasses back onto my head…Bob of course, looks great. We pay the fee and are on our way. We return the next week to pick up our FM3s and I celebrate because I am finally ½ Mexican! When I was in second grade, my teacher had spent the summer in Mexico on a work exchange program, teaching English to the kids down there, and learning Spanish and living with a Mexican family. She came back and taught us little words – how to count to ten, mesa, arbol, pluma, etc. She would show us slides of her trip and tell us stories of Mexico. I was entranced. I fell in love with Mexico and the traditions and the colors and the people. I went home and told my mom that I knew what I was going to be when I grew up. “What is that?” she asked. “I’m going to be Mexican!,” I told her proudly! She explained to me that it didn’t work that way… so after we bought our condo in Mexico, I was very happy to call her and tell her “I told you so! I told you that I was going to be Mexican!” So it happened, even if I had to buy it, not get it the old fashioned way.

Ok, off to do the first pass at packing. I always pack way too much anyway, and we are just going for a week, so I can only imagine how much I’ll take for three months. I keep telling myself to just take the basics and favorites. I can always buy new clothes down there!