Day 15, November 29, 2019
Pinal County Part, Arizona, U.S.A
Cloudy, cool and raining but wind has died down
Heading south west to Yuma, Arizona to meet up with Ken Olmstead and Danette. Dan worked with Ken at Heavy Metal, Kearl Lake site.
Great people, and outstanding hospitality. Met neighbors Don and Lynn Warren, and Don’s brother John (Gloria) Warren from Wabigoon (Dan knows John and worked with Gloria at the tree nursery), Edward & Judy Auger from Saskatchewan. Happy hour tonight was at Ed and Judy’s where we also met Irene and Trent. Ken and Danette packed up their trailer and spent the night at a hotel as they were leaving first thing in the morning for LA. Ken flying back to work for 10 days and Danette was going to Mexico.
Day 16, November 30, 2019
Yuma, Arizona, U.S.A
Up at 7ish, clear and cool but sunny. It was warm enough for shorts this afternoon for the first time since we left home. We have been experiencing below normal temperatures everywhere we have gone.
Visit with Dan and Lynne this morning. Ed showed up as well and then the stories really started to fly. We learned some good information for traveling in Mexico. Both couples have numerous years of experience traveling in Mexico.
Remainder of the morning we checked out some of the retail in the area – the .99 cent store, RV superstore, Harbour freight and the Saturday flea market.
In the afternoon, we drove north to Mittry Lake Wilderness area – able to add some new birds to our list.
Spoke with Colin and Marie Fraser tonight. They are slowly making their way down to Arizona, Phoenix area, but they are currently doing a scenic detour in Salt Lake City. Construction on Interstate 15 has caused some havoc and they are having trouble getting back on it to continue heading south. The area they are going to is several hours behind us so we will not be able to connect with them this time, but maybe in the spring when we are coming back through the states.
Lynne has kindly allowed me to use her internet so will send an update to family and friends tonight.
Day 17 December 1, 2019
Yuma, Arizona, U.S.A
We had a morning visit with Don/Lynne and John/Gloria before heading west on Interstate 10 towards Phoenix and then onto Interstate 8 towards Escondido. Noticed lots of sand dunes and dune buggies. We hear it is a very big event every Thanksgiving weekend. Drinking, partying and riding the dunes.
We did a small side trip up hwy 111 from Centro to Sonny Bono, Salton Sea NWR to do some birding. Met a Canadian couple from Sudbury. Large stock yards along the way, extremely smelly.
We traveled hwy 78 west to Escondido through Julian where here was lots of traffic and people walking about. We thought it might have been for a Santa Clause parade.
After a scenic detour or two we found Norm and Audrey’s house: 8975 Lawrence Welk Dr. #62, Escondido, CA 92026
Day 18, December 2, 2019
Escondido, California, U.S.A
Up at 7ish, and went for a walk around the gated community Norm and Audrey live in. Beautiful well-kept gardens and fruit trees. Saw lots of birds, especially acorn woodpeckers.
Morning visit and then spent the afternoon at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, famous for “The swallows of Capistrano”, walking and reading about the history of the mission. Saw a green heron in one of the fountain ponds.
Supper with Norm/Audrey, Tim/Denise and Mike/Nellie at the “Bad to the Bone BBQ”, very good BBQ ribs. Tea and desert at Tim and Denise’s – where we got to meet Sprout, cute dog.
Overnight again at Norm/Audrey’s
Day 19, December 3, 2019
Escondido, California, U.S.A.
Morning with Norm and Audrey.
Applied for Mexico tourist visa cards on line – $558 pesos, $37.91 CAD each, printed visa and payment card.
Norm showed us the house his 2 workers (Noe and Adrian) are working on for Linda and Charlie up on a high hill, “Rim of the Valley”, near Valley Centre.
We also got to meet Virginia, Norm’s partner and her parents, John and Sally- both love to travel and go birding. I really enjoyed talking with them and seeing their property, lovely gardens with many fruit trees such as pressims. The slightly firmer fruit tasted the best.
Supper at taco place, fish tacos were very good.
Day 20 December 4, 2019
Escondido, California, U.S.A
Left Norm’s at 5:25, Interstate 15 to Interstate 8 to Hwy 94 then Hwy 188 to Tecate border crossing. Raining all morning.
Border crossing at Tecate
- Arrive at 7:15 a.m.
- Van was inspected
- Applied for visa on line – visa stamped here for 180 days
- Needed copies of stamped visa for vehicle permit, also needed copies of passport and vehicle registration.
- Spoke to several people before I was able to find a place to make copies of the stamped visa $1.30 CAD
- Booth for obtaining vehicle permit not open until 08:00 so I had to wait outside under a small roof in the rain
- Once the agent arrived he told me he also needed to see the originals so I had to run back to the van in the rain to get the registration. The agent at Banjerico was very pleasant and helpful and spoke fairly good English, which I appreciated greatly.
- Deposit for vehicle permit $200 USD – refunded when leaving the country, $55.08 USD for a vehicle permit for 180 days
Not knowing more of the Spanish language has certainly made these tasks more challenging and stressful.
Picked up some groceries at Calimax in Tecate as we were not able to cross the border with meat, fruits or vegetables. We also accessed the ATM inside the grocery store for some local currency. Charges were $4.32CAD, when asked about currency conversion I declined it so the stack mastercard would provide the exchange rate.
We wanted to go to Parque Nacional Constitucion de 1857 so headed in that direction using Hwy 2. As we drove the rain continued and some of the roads even began to flood. The road into the park is gravel according to maps.me so we didn’t want to risk it. So we continued east on Hwy #2.
Some sections of this highway had tolls: 25 pesos, 38 pesos and 84 pesos. One section on highway 2 had large hills (small mountains) made from boulders of varies sizes. Took the bypass around Mexicali and headed south on Highway 5 towards San Felipe. A section on Hwy 5 south had large hills with mainly gravel in them, small rock outcrops and no vegetation. Also noted areas between hills, large, open and very flat, little vegetation and seemed muddy.
Turned west on Hwy 3 towards campground we picked using the ioverlander app, “Dani’s Roadhouse, 140.5”. On arrival the place looked abandoned. Checked the app. for further information, there was a phone number, maybe should have called ahead. I called the number now and reached Dani but she said the place has been sold and she is not aware of what the new owners are doing with the property. We continued west until we reached Lazaro Ca`rdnes. We fueled up and parked beside the restaurant for the night as ioverlanded said it was an option.
Day 21, December 5, 2019
Lazaro Cardenas, Baja California, Norte, Mexico
Up early, drive west on #3 towards Ensenada. Notice large fields of agriculture and vineyards as we get closer to Ensenada. We then head south on #1 highway. Small communities scattered along the road, most buildings seem old and run down, numerous ones look abandoned. There is lots of garbage along the roads and even in some of the deep gulleys beside the road. Not as much garbage in the more rural areas. Very sad really.
All the people we have encountered have been pleasant and friendly.
Hwy #1 begins heading inland from El Rosario, road very narrow and lots of twists and turns in the areas of elevation changes, quite scary at times. This section of highway rather desolate. Found a small restaurant (ioverlander) in the middle of no where. Juan, the owner allowed us to park in the lot at no charge. Just north of Catavina Boulder Field.
