On the way to Sun

June 2, 2010 proved to be a very wet travel day. My plan was to leave yesterday, but it just didn't happen. The majority of the day's travel was in rain. It wasn't until I was about 40 miles north of Susanville, CA that I found the sun! An uneventful travel day, thankfully. Tomorrow I travel as far as Las Vegas and Friday will be the Grand Canyon...I think.

Still Manzinillo...

Manzanillo is a port on the way to becoming a
bigger port. Lots of ships come in and out of the
bay and some stay for a couple of days. Wonder
what it must be like to be on a ship day in and
day out. I go stir-crazy in a condo in a matter
of hours.

There is a lot of sealife to be seen and watched out
for. Turns, pelicans, seagulls and some little white birds that attack the pelicans and are attacked by the turns. Then there are the dead fish that wash up in the surf. If you are not careful you can get stabbed by one of these little guys:

Cutest little faces! When I first saw a pile of these they looked like furry fish. Closer examination they are puffer fish. Though some cultures consider them a delicacy, the Mexicans don't and the birds don't seem to be interested in them either.

The architecture is pretty amazing and diverse. From your typical beach restaurants to clean modern lines.




And then there is the footprints in the
sand that seem to appear out of nowhere.

Walking on this beach takes a lot of effort. Recently the shoreline has changed and become very sloped. Usually where you would have hard sand to walk on it is just soft. To get the hard sand you have to walk very close to the incoming waves and often get very wet from a large powerful wave. The water going out is as forceful as the water coming in and often cause an explosion of water on meeting.





So, my purpose in coming to Manzanillo was to see if it was a good fit for moving here.
While there are plenty of nice places to rent at very affordable prices, it is large with a population of over 130,000. A bit too big for this small town girl. Although I keep vascillating between maybe coming for 6 months and then heading back to Oregon for 6 months. I am left feeling life this picture ---------------------->
grrr!

Service & Snorkeling!

yesterday, Friday, we went out in service in the morning. Some calls, some coffee (some things are the same wherever you go) and then some territory. This fishing expedition didn't turn up any English speaking people.

Many of the need greaters have only been here a short time. Its usually a young couple that moves in and is then joined by retiring parents.

Manzanillo is a rather large town, or rather set of towns. One area blends into another area. There are no signs that seem to mark the borders. The locals know the names of the different communities, the untrained observer just refers to the whole area as Manzanillo.

They have Costco, Wal-mart, KFC, DQ, Burgerking and of course Starbucks. Somethings are really expensive and other things are cheap. You can get a new 2 bedroom condo/apt for $150-250 off the beach and pay very little for electricity. Move beachside and it is a different story. The electricty rates are reminiscent of rates back home.

The people here say that driving is crazy. After the D.R. and Bolivia, I'm not seeing it.

Off to the beach in the afternoon. The popular spot is a beach that has a row of restaurants with tables and umbrellas that go right down to the beach. It is so close to the water that when the tide comes in you are at risk of loosing anything that is on the sand under your table. We had lunch and then Brandon went to test the waters. He proclaimed is was a bit on the cool side. This was not going to stop me from getting my snorkeling in, especially when there was a sunken ship to explore!

So off I went and trailing after was Josh. Josh reminds me a lot of Safstrom's dog duke. Pearl or Earl would tell that dog to go look after us as we went to the creek and that dog stayed by our side the whole time! I was thinking that Josh was a fellow snorkeler and would be snorkeling too. No, he just kinda hung out on his board and moved where I moved. His wife and Brandon and Skye and another couple stayed close to shore and to the umbrellas.

The colors aren't as vibrant as the Caribbean or Hawaii but still some interesting fish, pelicans and I think terns. After the ship we went to find the reefs. It seemed that the shore where the reefs were from the ship was not all that far. When you got to swimming it, it turned out to be really far. The water was a bit murky so the pics aren't all that great. The coolest thing was a snake or eel that was white with spots.

Got to the airport and was detained because of not having Brandon and Skye's address! I was envisioning having to live in the airport and was sure it was not going to be as great a time as Tom Hanks had in his airport movie.

Finally I was released and had Brandon and Josh to meet me and carry my bags! What great brothers! Took me in a roundout tour, some of the places look a lot like Greece.

Then we went off to meeting and guess what?! It was freezing! Really well working a/c. Friendly congo and just like the states "When are you moving here?"

Well, although it is two hours ahead of us, Brandon gave me a squirt with tequilla and I am ready for beddy bye! TTFN!

April 20 & 21, 2010

The begining of my trip to Manzanillo, Mexico had to start with the same ritual of previous trips. A pedicure! The toes have to be ready for photo opps. Ain't they pretty?




Off to a motel. Listened to Wyatt's (my nephew) first talk. Did an awesome job! Turned in early and up at 4am (really 12 am, 2:45 am, 3:30 am and gave up at 3:50). Onto the shuttle and off to the airport. Uneventful trip to L.A. Got an upgrade from L.A. to Manzanillo. Feeling a little out of place in first class, but I'm sure this "Glacierita" (a blue margarita because of flying on Alaska and going to Mexico) will help me get comfortable. (Oops, once sip & already I'm feeling tingly : -) )

If you are thinking 'Oh, how brave!' Yup, as long as you remember that bravery requires fear but doing it anyway, than you have it right! So, the now common phrase "What am I doing?!"

What a suprise to find out that Alamo Dental now has a lab that can do ceramic crowns in one day instead of three! That left me with two days to explore Arizona!

So after consulting numerous sources and trying to find a decent guide I headed North in search of the bridge over nowhere. It is a suspension bridge that was suppose to go over the Gila River but the powers that be decided not to divert the river. Since the early 1900's it has just been. It has been damaged twice and replaced twice. One must wonder...why?

I somehow missed the bridge on my way north but found a sign to the Castle Dome Mine, just 10 miles off the highway. It was a very long 10 miles as the nice paved road turned to rough gravel

pretty quickly. When I stopped to take a picture and I kept hearing this pounding sound, it

sounded like it was coming from my trunk. I was beginning to think that maybe someone had snuck into my trunk when I saw a sign declaring danger, do not go beyond this point because of unexploded ammo. An army base runs parallel to this road and explosions are a pretty regular occurrence????

After about a 1/2 hour I came to a stop sign. This was not a well travelled road, there had not

been even one other car the whole drive, but here was a stop sign. Must be there so you don't miss the Ghost Town of Castle Dome Mine which would be impossible since it was the only buildings on the whole road! The buildings and artifacts are pretty well preserved and arranged. It was pretty cool as you can see from the pictures.

Miners were short peeps with really big hands?

Not the view out the window but down the commode!

Ok, they may not be the most up-to-date dentist but they are cheap.

I did get a little parched and had a bit of a toothache after my visit to the dentist and ended up in a saloon, next thing I knew I had been thrown into jail!

Thankfully someone snuck me in a gun and I made my escape!

Across the road to the site of some of the old mines, some working buildings and a

cemetary.

There was one building that was used as protection from the Indians. A peak inside caused an

instant

screaming gasp followed by a nervous look

around and giggle to see if anyone witnessed by

outburst!

"And some did not survive"

-March of the Penguins

Found out where the "no-where" bridge was and

headed back toward Yuma. Thinking that it

was a good day for a swim and seeing a sign for

Martinez Lake...I took a right. Looking forward to refreshing swim I reached the Lake...or rather the marsh. If only I had brought a fishing pole.

Back out to the highway and continuing the

search for the bridge. Finally the tall bars of the suspension bridge were in sight. Now all I needed to do was find the road to it. It probably isn't all that odd that there is no sign to mark

this "oops" of bureuocracy.

Down a dirt drive to a building that said it had dates and milkshakes and snacks, but didn't,

and around a overgrown bush there was a sign that said "Road Closed" and beyond it lay the bridge.

That was my first free day of my Yuma stay!

The second day of my Yuma stay I decided that the London Bridge in Lake Havasu and the

burros of Oatman were worth the 200+ mile journey. So off I went at 7:30am. Past the "no-where" bridge, past the no-swimming lake, past the Dome Castle Mine and beyond. The highway signs said that the next town I would reach would be Stone Cabin. ---------> London Bridge----

>

This sounded like a wonderful old town with old western roots. It consisted of one store/restaurant. That's it. There wasn 't even a sign announcing "You are now entering Stone Cabin" or "Thank you for visiting Stone Cabin". Not sure what it did to make it on to a green highway sign. (you can find a picture of this on the web by typing in "Stone Cabin, AZ").

The next town was Quartzite. This is known to many RVers as the place to go as you can pull out into the desert anywhere and set up camp and there were hundreds who had. It seemed a bit odd to me, no grass, just some scrub brush here and there. To each his own, onward!

The signs directed me to turn on to the famous Route 66. Oh what things would I find? I couldn't

remember what made Route 66 famous but it must something really cool! Well...I still don't know what made Route 66 famous. The road is pretty rough these days looking like some impressionistic artists odd mosaic with its cracks filled in with black tar until you got to the town of North Shore who for some reason decided not to fill in their cracks. Thought I had a flat tire and got out to take a look just to make sure.

My journey made me think of how much things change and how much they stay the same. People in the old west came this way in covered wagons or horses, and they still come this way in covered wagons or horses (i.e. RVs, cars or motorcycles). Back then they searched for a better life, adventure, opportunity or a home. Today is no different. Just as some did not survive the journey, today there are markers of modern day travelers who did not survi

ve either.

Some who came this way had guides. Today we

have GPS. Some guides back then were good,

some not so much. Some developed trail fever. Today there is no exception. "Brunhilda" (s

ome may know my Magellan GPS) seems to have developed trail fever or senility as there was more than one occassion she tried to get me to go down an "unnamed" road such as this:

Good thing I am not so blond when it comes to her instructions!

Finally after 221 miles I made it to the town of Oatman and muttered under my breath that

these burros sure better be in town today! And...they were.

Take a look at these cutties!

The town of Oatman draws quite a crowd. Just about every store sells carrots or burro feed for the brave. Brave because once the burros have eaten out of your hand they are pretty clingy and do a thorough search to make sure you don't still have something for them to eat.

They have some horse rides that you can go on that takes you up into the hills of Oatman. Quite tempting but a 4 1/2 hour trip back to Yuma made me pass. Another trip, perhaps when there is a close motel to go back to and soak the weary bum after the ride?

The drive back to Yuma was long and fortunately uneventful. The next morning I got a shocking awakening when at 5:30 I decided to turn the heat on. Apparrently it had not been used for awhile and within seconds the burning smell of dust set the fire alarm off! Flung open the door and started waving my netbook at the smoke alarm and grabbed the phone to call the office fearing that my room would soon be filled with fireman and emergency personnel. Fortuanelty it was not a hardwired smoke detector and fortunately, or unfortunately, no one came to my rescue.

Another trip in the books!