Living the dream

Finally.. We are.
On the beach, on the Sea of Cortez side for the moment.. Chilling out, getting a base tan and camping right on the beach at Puerto Escondido (the Baja version) amongst a bunch of BC (british columbia, Canada) and north west americans. All seem very friendly and unlike the folk we spend one night with in the Bay of Conception these people don’t have generators running all evening, and chainsaws to cut wood. These people seem a little more back to nature, focused on fishing, and eating that fish and with impressive solar set-ups. Our neighbours have been here 15 years on the trot, and are very sweet indeed. And now they believe Paul is an A*M*A*Z*I*N*G fisherman as he caught a Mahi Mahi (Dorado) off our inflatable kayak today. They typically migrate south by now, and Mrs Neighbour says no-one has pulled one up for months. Ha! Pure luck I am sure but it was a fun kayak trip. Paul did all the hard paddling work, as I am still recovering from a fractured ??? rib, and only allowed to chill for next few weeks. OK. So this is why I am not too worried about being on the non-surf side of Baja for now. We were gonna move south to Punta Conejo=surf spot today, but it was just too nice here this morning at sunset. Maybe tomorrow. The relaxing has begun. Hopefully meet up with Leah at Conejo and have a load of fun.
The van is fantastic so far, small and a little bit compact inside but also very easy to navigate into smaller spaces and onto rougher roads.
Omar seems to think that sea water is fine to drink.. So I am sure he will get sick good soon.. We are working on it.. Other than that he loves being a free dog and running around in the cacti, playing with the neighbourhood dogs and rolling in dead things. He loves the van above anything though and just wants to be in there curled up on the driver’s seat.
Saw Parrot fish and Clown fish from the kayak today, didn’t even have to stick my head in, nice. And snorkelled among a gazillion little bait fish.. Kinda scary how many surrounded us.

LOST in the US…..

LOST in the US…..
But at least we are now surfing with dolphins..

So we limped it to San Diego, found ourselves broken down in front of a posh garage, who were obviously way too posh to help us with our nearly 30 year old camper. Though they did send us to Bob (‘s Carbs, mister carburator fixer upper) who sent us to Gary (‘s RV fixer upper) who then told us we needed a new engine. Awtsj. After the initial shock stage (lasting 2 days only) we got a ‘second opinion’ at the RV Specialist who after a bunch more research told us that yes, unfortunately we do need a new engine.. Poor old rv, poor old us. Another day of shock, after the hope, and we found ourselves not being able to part with our 30 your old new love that has taken all the effort to make her look so nice, the bamboo floor, the solar panel, the extra leisure battery, the fitted cushion covers with matching curtains. We are giving her a new life. Now we just hope someone will want to buy her after our big (adapted to fit the more than halved budget) adventure. Surely??
Anyway it was time to adapt. Sure enough it is Thanksgiving today. Meaning we had to wait 10 days instead of 5 for our new engine to arrive from Ford. Luckily our RV Specialist Darryl put the hood back on our valves (I think) and we were ready to roll (though at a snail’s speed) again, so away from the Airforce’s backyard that is home to the rv specialist we went. Back to San Elijo, a great cliff top State Park (campsite) so we can surf the river mouth and beaches of Cardiff-By-The-Sea again. Ironic, I know. After some true welsh like weather it was lovely and sunny with 2 foot lovely sets of long board perfection rolling in. Still not as warm as we were hoping to be in by now, as we still need our suits, and I even wore my boots today but pretty nice. As it is Thanksgiving today all of San Diego was in the ocean, though it was all pretty happy and friendly. And then everyone went silent, a pod of dolphins cruised through the line-up, closer past me than I have ever been to a dolphin in the wild…. A perfect start to Thanksgiving.
We also managed to score a campsite again, a big feat as the whole park was booked up for Thanksgiving, so no more scary and noisy roadside camping for us. Yay. Another true adventure, or time-killer really was the Del Mar Dog Beach. An institution. Beaches here are mostly off-limits for dogs, and if you are allowed on them it is leashed only. At Del Mar dogs get to be dogs and run in packs. It is weird but great. So nice to see Omar smiling so much!
Our other time-killer when it goes dark is the 3 box set of series 1-3 of LOST I got us as evening entertainment. We are not quite managing to limit us to one episode a night, and watch a disc a night as it is so gripping… maybe that’s why I am scared when camping roadside!
We may be out of here in 6 days… fingers crossed. I do love San Diego and could live here, if I had a real job. Or a job as it ain’t cheap… and it is time to explore Baja again. Leah’s waiting….
　

a colorado summer

So, we are nearly ready to go.. It has been never ending, and I imagine that getting the ‘rv’ ready is like upgrading your home.. Well… it is our home I guess.. From shower heads to leaking city water inlets, from bamboo flooring to solar panels, from roof coffins to breakdown issues. Poor Paul gets to finish it all up (if it doesn’t snow too much!) whilst I am in the UK and Netherlands visiting family and friends and making a little bit of money again after not working for over a month. I didn’t think I could do it.. Not working that is. But it is surprisingly easy to fill a day with the washing up (a mission if you have to avoid certain evil little dogs called ruby trying to nip your ankles!) the food shop, and the dog walk.. I think I was overdue some not-doing-very-much-time really.

Anyways, the rv is nearly ready to go, Paul is working a few more weeks on timing lines for the Winter Park ski area and when I fly back into denver in November we are OFF south. We cannot wait!! It will be so much easier to live on the beach than in cold climes of Winter Park, as the snow is starting to fall! We have been super lucky with lovely friends that let us plug the rv into their electricity, and steal their internet and hot water… thanks! We can repay the favour by letting you camp in the rv with us when you come out surfing in central america!!

Oh Omar the dawg is doing good too. He loves living in a mobile home, and spends his time mostly sitting in the drivers seat, or laying on the futon bed, that he now claims as his own.. He gets us out mountain biking a fair bit, has been introduced to rafts, canoes and lately horses. Highlight being omar running up to Nash the horse during a nice roll, to bite him in the ass.. Too funny, though he was lucky not to get kicked in the chops!

Riding has been amazing.. Luckily Laurie and my schedule didn’t work out too well this summer as I think I would have been a broken lady! Her idea of a short ride is a five hour hack through a national park, as far away from civilisation as possible. Amazing, but pretty damn painful on my old hips and knees! Been riding her beautiful fox trotters, who indeed fox trot along which is a random mix of walking (front legs) and trotting (back legs). Very comfortable when performed well. A little shaky when not! Laurie explored some great areas with me: Rocky Mountain National Park (steep rocky steps, the clue is in the name.. and sheer drops, pretty sketchy), troublesome forest (hunting camps and lots of trees being felled, and a lady with a gun on a horse, just in case ‘she needs to shoot a horse with a broken leg’.. hmmmm). It is different here. There is still remote wilderness, and places to go where you will not see a soul. Hunting means meat and is still done in the wildest of wilds. Mountain lions scratch pine trees and bears scratch aspens. Or was it the other way around?? When a tree starts falling, make your horse run the other way. Fast. When a bear comes, back away slowly. When a moose runs your way? Not sure. Climb a tree I guess. It was a little daunting when I discovered bear tracks in the first snow of the season, during my daily Omar hike at Jim’s Creek forest. Ehhhh not used to bears. Around me. When I walk alone. Dogs are great deterrents though, so I’ve heard. Anyway you get the picture. Wildlife abundant here, and pretty scenery. I will miss it. And the sunshine, that warms even the icebox of the nation (Fraser, our hometown) on a daily basis.

the dawg

the dawg

Wild dreams..

So... I am now a blogger. I decided it would be easier for some family, friends to keep track via one website instead of ol' faithful facebook. We'll see..

It's been a busy few weeks, we bought Keessie the Campervan on Friday the 13th.. a great day for the biggest purchase in my life I guess. And he has been doing us proud on a 6 day mad road trippin adventure to southern California within the first week we owned him. As expected we broke down. Several times.. or rather, we got to know the service station well everytime we fuelled up. An hour of waiting before Keessie fancied firing up again, each stop we made. We were just starting to consider 'hot' fuelling, with the engine running when Keessie finally decided to give up driving too, after some serious hot rod backfiring, shooting big flames out of his exhaust. Scary. But strangely exciting. We ended up roadside on I 70 in Utah, the hot desert not too far from 'Adventure Capital' Moab. So things could be worse. After some fun times talking to our roadside assistance people (God I looooove the British RAC now.. they rock!) we finally managed to organise a tow to Green River, 10 miles away. Leon showed, the tallest man known to earth, chewing chaw and looking like a potential serial killer, matching his name! He was our hero though, and though we were promised over the phone that noone would even look at our van till the next day he had a think and decided it was probably our fuel filter. The fuelfiltershop was closed by then, however his buddy just bought 2 for his own similar RV (=campervan) and would swing by to drop it off. I love small town mechanics... so, 2 minutes later Leon pulled out our fuel filter, realising that the former owners of Keessie had put her on inside out upside down, and fitted our new second hand fuel filter. Both fuel filter and labour free ofcourse. We were back on the road. No Moab adventures for us this trip...

California was super awesome by the way. We surfed a lot, best summer swell all season, sunny and hot, great van camping on side of (rail)roads, and the State Park right above the beach, and yummy fish tacos, fun beach cruiser rides and  moonlit beach walks to be had. Oh and my beautiful boi proposed under the near full moon... I blame the bottle of red we enjoyed in Keessie, though he says he has planned it for months... aaaah. My finger now sports a beautiful gold- and white gold handmade paul-designed ring with waves on, no diamonds, perfect. Commitment-phobia ends here. Bring it on!

Now back in the Winter Park of Colorado winding down the rafting season planning next steps. Today is guide Mouse's 1600 Upper Colorado river trip. I better start writing that press release telling the world how Mouse pretty much rafted around the world, done 25000 miles, taking around 13000 people down the river. Cool.

For us there is a lot of research ahead- can we even take Keessie as far as Costa Rica or Panama, even if cash flow would allow us? And how do you replace a leaking sewer outlet haha. I imagine owning an RV is like owning a house, I am learning a lot about, flooring, plumbing, propane and curtain design. And about sinking money into your house! But I am loving it. Just getting a little scared now, there is so much info on the interweb, good and bad, about robberies and hijackings, about sewer leaks and dry camping, about living in an RV and life on the road. About solar panels and LED lights. Oh and I am having spanish lessons. Fantastico!

new bamboo floor: