Hola Amigos!
We are back home in Baja, and enjoying the cooler (than summer temps) weather here. We've had some cloudy skies due to Hurricane Willa, which is hitting Mazatlan south of us as I write this. Ryan and Charlotte held down the fort for us here as baby Olivia continued to thrive. They left this last Saturday for Los Angeles to get the babies Chinese traveling papers (a visa to enter China). We will miss them and chances to snuggle this beautiful girl!
Our trip was not the normal one, but was mostly uneventful, which is a good thing when you're traveling 2000 miles, with the 1000 road miles in Mexico always interesting!
We left Bend on Sunday, October 7, and stopped at Summer Lake Lodge for breakfast. We were pleased that they had a help yourself breakfast buffet for a decent price, so we were able to eat quickly and get back on the road. That's a favorite place of ours to stop...seems like we travel Hwy 31 a lot in our summer travels! I always like to stop a little further south down the road and get a couple pictures of the old schoolhouse. It's in a gorgeous setting, and the community keeps the building up nicely.
We made it to Minden, Nevada that afternoon, since we've found a hotel there right next to a block sized grassy park that the dogs love! We also visited with a Baja friend of ours while there (Carlee), and practiced eating Mexican food at a restaurant within 1/2 block of our hotel. While traveling on Sunday, I posted a few pictures on Facebook, and some friends from WAY back commented on my post that they had left that morning at 7:30 from La Pine on their way down Hwy 395! We were just a little bit behind Jim and Gwen (I worked with Jim at Dept of Veterans' Affairs in the 80's and 90's). We caught up with them at Topaz Lake the next morning, and had breakfast in the Casino with them there. Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures, but it was great to visit with them. They were on their way (earlier than usual) to attend Jim's class reunion in California, and we were on our way (later than usual) to go home.
Highway 395 is our route of choice, and this is a beautiful time of year to travel through there, with the colors changing, and a skiff of snow on the mountains.
We crossed the border around noon on Tuesday, with no issues at all. Of course, we weren't towing a Model A that didn't run! (We weren't towing anything...very simple way to travel!) I called our favorite hotel in San Quintin, and found out that there was no vacancy that night. Oh no! We were going to meet our friends Katie and Mel the next day in that town. So, we punted, and called the Baja Cactus Hotel in El Rosario and had another long day. We had to stop for road construction at Santo Tomas, but the wait wasn't too long, and there were vendors selling treats! I bought a frozen Yaka treat. (Google "Jackfruit") This road construction will be a major improvement over the narrow, windy road that goes up the mountain here, as they are doing some MAJOR cuts and fills!
We are back home in Baja, and enjoying the cooler (than summer temps) weather here. We've had some cloudy skies due to Hurricane Willa, which is hitting Mazatlan south of us as I write this. Ryan and Charlotte held down the fort for us here as baby Olivia continued to thrive. They left this last Saturday for Los Angeles to get the babies Chinese traveling papers (a visa to enter China). We will miss them and chances to snuggle this beautiful girl! Our trip was not the normal one, but was mostly uneventful, which is a good thing when you're traveling 2000 miles, with the 1000 road miles in Mexico always interesting!
We left Bend on Sunday, October 7, and stopped at Summer Lake Lodge for breakfast. We were pleased that they had a help yourself breakfast buffet for a decent price, so we were able to eat quickly and get back on the road. That's a favorite place of ours to stop...seems like we travel Hwy 31 a lot in our summer travels! I always like to stop a little further south down the road and get a couple pictures of the old schoolhouse. It's in a gorgeous setting, and the community keeps the building up nicely.
We made it to Minden, Nevada that afternoon, since we've found a hotel there right next to a block sized grassy park that the dogs love! We also visited with a Baja friend of ours while there (Carlee), and practiced eating Mexican food at a restaurant within 1/2 block of our hotel. While traveling on Sunday, I posted a few pictures on Facebook, and some friends from WAY back commented on my post that they had left that morning at 7:30 from La Pine on their way down Hwy 395! We were just a little bit behind Jim and Gwen (I worked with Jim at Dept of Veterans' Affairs in the 80's and 90's). We caught up with them at Topaz Lake the next morning, and had breakfast in the Casino with them there. Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures, but it was great to visit with them. They were on their way (earlier than usual) to attend Jim's class reunion in California, and we were on our way (later than usual) to go home.
Highway 395 is our route of choice, and this is a beautiful time of year to travel through there, with the colors changing, and a skiff of snow on the mountains.
We crossed the border around noon on Tuesday, with no issues at all. Of course, we weren't towing a Model A that didn't run! (We weren't towing anything...very simple way to travel!) I called our favorite hotel in San Quintin, and found out that there was no vacancy that night. Oh no! We were going to meet our friends Katie and Mel the next day in that town. So, we punted, and called the Baja Cactus Hotel in El Rosario and had another long day. We had to stop for road construction at Santo Tomas, but the wait wasn't too long, and there were vendors selling treats! I bought a frozen Yaka treat. (Google "Jackfruit") This road construction will be a major improvement over the narrow, windy road that goes up the mountain here, as they are doing some MAJOR cuts and fills! 
The next day was supposed to be short. We were only going about 76 miles and stop in Catavina to spend the night, and wait for Katie and Mel there. Well....we got to Catavina, along with a whole bunch of other people involved in a Road Rally, who were all spending the night at the only hotel there (in the middle of nowhere). So, since there was no cell service, we waited and waited for Katie and Mel to show up, because we needed to go on another 146 miles to Guerrero Negro and the next viable hotel! They showed up at 3 in the afternoon, we quickly told them our dilemma, and they decided to go with us instead of staying in their campers at a campground just down the road (they were traveling at a slower pace than us with friends also with a camper and hauling a cargo trailer). We were also trying to get ahead of Tropical Storm Sergio before it came across the middle of Baja. We made it to our hotel in GN, but no news from Katie and Mel on our cell. That meant they were somewhere north of us, at least 20 miles, maybe further. We hoped they were OK! (They spent the night with their friends in the Pemex gas station lot in Jesus Maria...it was getting dark and there were cows out wandering by the road). We finally heard from them the next morning just before we were leaving at about 7. Thank goodness they were OK!
That night we stayed in Loreto at the Oasis Hotel. It wasn't Saturday night, like we'd planned originally so we could enjoy the Clam Buffet again, but it was a very comfortable place to spend our last night on the road. We heard from Katie and Mel as they went through town just a little behind us. They and their friends wanted to get as far as a trailer park in Constitucion, so they didn't have to go through the mountains south of Loreto in the rain (possible rock fall and/or slides are always a possibility when it rains in Baja). We spent a quiet night in our hotel, and I heard some rain showers and wind, and there were a few palm leaves down the next morning.
We got on the road early the next morning, and we had wind and showers off and on all the way to Ciudad Insurgentes, on the west side of Baja. Later that day, Katie told us that where they camped the storm was extremely loud (thunder and lightening) and that they were camped in a lake! The rain was substantial!!
The rains this summer has made the desert here beautiful and green, and all the flowers are blooming like crazy. We saw a lot of this yellow flower carpeting the ground!
We made it home at a decent time, greeted Ryan, Charlotte and Olivia, then went out with Katie and Mel for tacos! (They spent that night camped at our house...we finally got together!!)
Now that we're home and unpacked, Ben is diving into his various car projects. The Jeep is here now, and it actually runs, but it still needs a lot of work, and a paint job. It is a good possibility we'll be able to use it sometime this year! The Model A, which Ben brought home on a Friday, and we left for Oregon on Saturday, needs lots of work, too. The body shop put the body on the frame, but didn't put in the protective welting, or use the correct nuts and bolts where they should have, so he's taking it apart and putting it back together! Tomorrow he's going to La Paz to pick up the final pieces that didn't quite get painted due to a dust storm right at their deadline in August.
I'm re-organizing the upstairs bedrooms since Ryan's family left, so we'll have two guest rooms available for your use when you come visit, one which has AC! We'll even let you use Ryan's weight set! 😉 I've started my morning walks with Zoey, and am enjoying the fresh air and cool mornings. Sam forgot himself and went the first day, just to make sure the beach was still there. He hasn't gone since! I saw a Heron sitting on a power pole this morning, and there are often people fishing on the beach. I hear the Sierra are in!
I didn't create a September photo album, so I'm doing a combined September / October album. It will have our Oregon vacation and our trip back, plus some granddaughter pics! 2018-Sept-Oct is the link to the album.
Hope to hear from you all!
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey
