We are in a campground now with sunshine beaming through the branches
of the many trees shading the multitude of RV's dotted all around.
There is actually green grass here as well, which is absolutely
appreciated by both doglets.
We left the last snowy campground in Flagstaff, Arizona last Saturday
morning really early, both keen to outrun the white stuff. The view
with the snow sprinkled around, is always a bit more special than
without the highlights between the trees and scrub. The mountains
were outlined with it at times and it was lovely to see all these
views screaming by as we tootled along over the Hulalapai Mountains,
through Kingman and into California..... Just over the state line of
California we had to stop and hand over our fruit and veges....
California does not allow one to take any produce in from other
states. The night before I used as many of the fruit as possible to
make a huge fruit salad and they did not ask for that at all. We
enjoyed that while sitting in the sunshine under a tree, this
afternoon :)
Also right at the California border, we drove over the Colorado River
and went back yet another hour - now 3 hours behind home.......
Sophie decided that today was the day that she would become a bad
traveller too, so she shook, ran around like a terrified rat and
yipped - being a total pain. She jumped up on my lap and tried to
burrow into my armpit. Big sigh. I have to admit that at that point
I was quite prepared to find boarding for both doglets! Eventually
Sophie went and stood right at the back of the rv, refusing to move
from there, so after about half an hour I took her bed back there, put
her in it and told her to lie down and stay. She did and all was
quiet again. The "travel infection" went the wrong way! Today on the
way to Chula Vista, they both huddled under the table and seemed to be
ok. Will have to watch for the hatching of any plans they might be
plotting!
The road through the desert to Twentynine Palms is dry, barren and
dotted with houses that mostly look abandoned. Most of them have huge
fences around them and look so incredibly run down. I wonder if thats
a natural happening because of the surrounding desert or if its
indicative of poverty. It seems as if the houses are patched with
anything available, which gives them interesting patchwork appearances
and the cars lie all around, creating colorful puddles almost
everywhere you look.
Anyway - we arrived in Twentynine Palms around 3pm. Joleen and Billy
met us at the Marine Corps Base main gate and it was just so good to
see them again! We parked the rv behind their house and had just a
short walk around to their front door. Their dog, Lolla, and our two
got on really well which was a great relief. Basically we had a
lovely, gentle, lazy and great few days just kicking back and learning
to relax. Billy's parents drove nearly 3 hours from Oceanside to
bring us one awesomely delishous meal on Sunday - really lovely people
and how amazing that they spent that much time coming to meet us and
all that cooking! We took the doglets for their international
clearance vet certificates (again) as Billy went back to work - Joleen
had taken a few days off which was great as she got to drive us around
and spend a good many hours sitting quietly and just catching up and
yakking away.
It's always sad saying goodbye to my kids and this time was no
different at all. Joleen stood there waving goodbye and it was so
difficult not to stop, jump out and hug her one more time...... We
did not have chance to say bye to Billy - he leaves way too early for
work, but we will see them again soon.
So - off we tootled, out of Twentynine Palms, past all the beautifully
painted buildings. They have painted the most beautiful pictures on
the walls of the buildings and the camera just jumped up at each one.
Sadly, many of the photos have telephone poles in front of them, but
boy - someone really did some fantastic painting. The road out of
there took us through Moreno Valley, Oceanside and directly south on
the interstate. Not many photos were taken at all. The doglets were
huddled under the table and my jeans soaked up the water pouring from
my hands. Boy was I glad to find the campground right where it was
supposed to be! Today arrived way too soon, though. We woke up
early, already mentally ready to deal with some heavy traffic on the
way to the campground I wanted to stop at which is just 3 miles inside
the US border. I wonder how much fluid/weight it is possible to lose
through ones hands and feet sweating? My feet sat in puddles of sweat
- and it might not be ladylike to admit to sweating - but I sweated
buckets through my hands and feet while scadding down the Interstate 5
at what felt like 300 miles per hour at times, through the center of
San Diego.
Doglets are thrilled with the patch of green grass, shade and puddle
of sunshine they found here and we are really enjoying being in shorts
and t-shirt again.
Tomorrow morning around 8am we will head across the border into
Mexico. We will be crossing at Tijuana and heading south of Ensenada
for the first night. Apparently its a good thing to get well south of
the border towns and the drive is stunning, by all accounts. My
cameras are all prepped, charged, loaded and well rested and ready for
a really busy day. Yup, my nerves are a bit rattled and I am a tad
nervous, but many people do this trip and we anticipate no problems at
all.
We just met another couple also heading to Baja for the first time and
we will probably head out together tomorrow. I don't think we will
stick together all the way down, but it will be nice to bump into them
along the way. We have just taken a walk around the park - it's so
lovely. Trees of odd kinds, bouganvilla hedges with beautiful red
blooms and many other flowering shrubs and the warmth! So good.
I don't anticipate having regular contact for the next few weeks, so
if you don't hear from us, don't worry. I will email when I can and
load pics when I have a good internet connection. Off to send this
email now from the clubhouse and have a good long soaking hot shower.
Then for an early night, as I wont have internet in the rv......
Next time, from Mexico :)
Love and light
Annie
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