On our way

We made it to Mexico last Wednesday.
We left home a week earlier, and since this is the first trip to Baja that I haven't chronicled along the way I thought I should go backwards and catch us up.  If I don't write stuff down I forget it.  My memory is indeed that bad.  I shudder to think what it might be like in a couple more decades. 

Very important details like my husband making ridiculous poses for my phone camera while we welcome daylight on our first day of the journey south,

or what long days in the car look like,
or what the road conditions were like most of the way down, might be lost forever.

We had winter roads like this all the way through Saskatchewan, Alberta, Montana, Idaho, and Utah.  By Los Vegas we finally said goodbye to winter!  It wasn't much fun and because sleeping in our trailer was out of the question we spent a few nights in hotels.

Part way through Utah we thought we lost our transmission and ended up at a garage.  Fortunately we didn't need to be towed.  We were worried that our trip was over and that our two long days in the car would be rewarded with a big credit card bill, and two more days driving home.  Fortunately it ended up being something more minor and we were back on the road in only a few hours.  While our van was being diagnosed we drug our travel weary, depressed selves to a nearby mall to find some lunch.  We had planned on finding a Chick Fil A that day since we had never been to one, and had been looking forward to it (it's the little things sometimes that keep you going).  Our plans all changed when we thought we'd be heading home.  It was an ironic encouragement to walk into the food court and be surprised to see a Chick Fil A.  Such a little thing, but a reminder that God knows those little things and cares.  We ordered our meal, cutting corners where we could, and mumbled something about it being our first  time eating there because we were taking a bit of time to look at the menu board.  Somehow it came out that we were from Canada and were in town because our car was broke down.  We must have been a pathetic sight because the manager came and gave us our money back and said they wanted to buy our meal.  We didn't expect that in a million years. It was only thirty dollars but it was such an encouragement at a time when we were really feeling really discouraged.  This restaurants reputation of being super friendly, having great service, and going the extra mile to care about their customers is certainly true.
 
After our meal we got the good news that our car repair would only cost a few hundred dollars (rather than thousands) and we could continue the journey south.

Our first stretch of snow free road was in Nevada.

I snapped this picture because it was the first bit of blue sky we saw...day three.  We replaced snow with a fierce gusty wind.

 

We usually do a shorter day by day three but because we broke down in Utah we lost quite a few hours.  By the time we got to LA California we were majorly burnt out.  It didn't help that we arrived to So. Cal. traffic in the dark, during rush hour, and  in drizzling rain.  It was kind of intense...and my poor hubby had been driving in "intense" mode the whole way down.  We usually enjoy the big American divided highways but this time there was no cruising along...it was white knuckle most of the way.

 

The kids were ecstatic to finally be out of the van, and to see green grass, palm trees, and play outside.  We spent a couple nights at an RV park in Anaheim.

 

We needed a day just to recover, and then we hit California Adventures the day after that.

                                                      (this Cars ride was super fun)


We had an amazing day.  So much fun.  Elijah was a little hard to read the whole day.  I think he was enjoying himself...in a totally awestruck, slightly confused, nearly overwhelmed sort of way.


The next day (a Sunday) we decided to go find Mars Hill Huntington Beach.  It was super refreshing to gather with the Jesus' people even 2000 miles away.  It felt like home away from home.

The music was awesome.

During our time in LA we also had lunch and a nice visit with a friend we went to college with that we haven't seen in about 18 years.   Thankyou for the home cooked meal Gretchen! It meant a lot to these fast food weary travelers.

   (Cece doing land parachuting.  "see ya later suckers!")

We spent a couple more days at an RV park in Oceanside CA.  We usually rush our way down to Baja but because we had our trailer with us this time we wanted to enjoy vacationing in CA. a little longer.

 

We found some cheap ways to entertain ourselves.  Not that it takes much for these prairie kids.

 

Next Stop Baja!

Homeward bound

This is just a quick summary of our 5 day journey from Baja home to Canada.  We left the our  little beach house in San Felipe (after spending 2 days in paradise) early on Jan. 2. 

I had my last breakfast on the patio and the kids loaded all their sea treasures into plastic bags.

We drove north toward the U.S border along the east coast of the Baja Penninsula.

We eventually found our way through Mexicali and into the U.S.  Free bit of advice: It's usually a good idea to get in the right line...

From Calexico we drove straight up through the east side of California, the Mohave desert.  We had driven across it before but never up through it length wise.  

There was a whole lot of nothing...nothing but fascinating desert scenery anyhow.

It was like it's own little world out there.  I felt like we were in the Pixar Cars movie and were headed down route 66 to places time had forgotten. 

We pointed out cotton fields to our kids.  Now they know where their clothes come from. 

Our car started making bad noises toward the end of the first day.   We had noticed some glichy things happening but figured we'd get them checked once we got home.   It became apparent that we would need to stop before Las Vegas and find a garage.   We tried to make it to Boulder City but after driving in the middle of the wilderness, in the dark, with our car sounding like it was about to fall apart under us, we stopped in Needles California.   Luckily, we found a decent motel in the little town and the next day we limped our way a few miles to Bullhead City Arizona.  

This garage was great.  Very helpful, good service and quite sympathetic to our plight of being homeless vagabonds without a car or cell phone.  We killed about 6 hours, with four children, in a few stores nearby but then found out that the part didn't arrive and it wouldn't be ready until the next morning.

As it turns out two of our wheels were close to coming right off!  Out came the credit card.

We used their phone to call a taxi and find a hotel.  Loaded our crew and luggage into a taxi and gave him the address of a hotel that had a "suite" (we are too many people for one room)

A couple hours of waiting, fighting, and entertaining kids in a hotel lobby later we had a room...actually two rooms. 

Where we stayed the rest of the day, and the night, and half of the next day.

What does a person do with 4 kids in a really cruddy hotel room, in the middle of nowhere, with no car and not so much as a fast food restaurant within walking distance?

TV

(This kind of stress could lead to heavy drinking.)

Pizza delivery for supper, untoasted Poptarts from the gas station across the street for breakfast.  Good stuff.

We are not picky people when it comes to hotels or vacations spots....but this place had me irritated and it was stupid expensive.  Like no hotel we'd ever been to.  For more on our experience check out my trip advisory rating.  I've never left a rating before and certainly have never been ticked off enough to leave a bad one.  I wish we would have had the choice and ability to check the rating before we checked in.  Apparently we aren't the only ones that hated this place.   We maybe should have guessed something was amiss when we were the only ones staying there. 200 rooms and 2 cars in the parking lot.

FINALLY,

we were on the road again.   We made it to Las Vegas and were relieved to be back on the highway....that is until I rolled down a window and it wouldn't go back up.  Wouldn't budge at all.  We tried again and again. 

That's when my sweet husband just about lost his mind.   Fortunately he didn't direct his frustration at me...the car door, however, should consider itself lucky it didn't get ripped off and left in the desert.  He couldn't get to it, so it seemed  we'd be looking for another garage and handing them our credit card again.  

I said a silent desperate prayer.  

The window went up.  Like nothing had even happened. 

Sigh of relief and a thankyou.  

No one touched the windows the rest of the trip.

Back on the open road, with  

kids entertaining themselves happily in the back.  

Two more nights of hotels,  1 episode of vomit (the day I forgot to give kids Dramamine for breakfast) , and a bunch of movies later, we were home.

Home sweet home...

or in our case "home, freeze my butt off ,home".

The windchill today was -46 degrees Celcius out here in the sticks.  

I miss my flip flops already.

It did feel heavenly to sleep in my own bed after 6 weeks of motels, and "junk for Jesus" donated missionary beds.  

Now to process this amazing journey...

Adventuras

After a few tears and goodbyes, we packed up our little house in the San Quintin valley.  Instead of heading for the American border we drove 5 hours through the mountains.  Our destination San Felipe.  A little fishing and tourist town on the Sea of Cortez.  A meca for Hobie Cat lovers like my husband.  Although his Hobie was stuck back home on the frozen prairie. 

We loved heading down some new roads and seeing new territory.

Once we arrived we found some good grub and searched for a place to stay.  We ended up staying at a privately owned beach house that is available for wandering visitors like us.  

It was perfect

and we got a killer deal on the price too.  I suspect the fact that tourism here is hurting (due to the crappy American  economy ) had something to due with their willingness to barter.  We arrived after dark so we didn't get to appreciate the view until morning.

This is what we woke up to.  The weather on the Eastern side of Baja was quite a bit warmer and the water in the sea here is so calm and gorgeous.  The kids didn't stay on the patio for long!

I think I found a new happy place.

8 am New Years Eve. 

Not a bad place to bring in a new year.