Time to Go

We first downsized to this smaller house in town, now we have chosen to downsize in recreation vehicles. It isn't easy! We had to pack and repack to find places for everything we wanted to take to our home in Mexico. Surprisingly, this little 9.6' truck camper can hold a huge inventory.

Packed or not, we are leaving tomorrow morning and with luck the snow and rain will wait until we have passed through the mountains of Montana.

Leaving our friends and family for so long is more difficult than I thought it would be. Hopefully the winter will not be as harsh as last year and everyone will remain healthy and happy.

Where did everyone go ?

Maggie is noticing a change. She lazed around all day and didn't eat at all until about 3 o'clock this afternoon. Mom and Colleen are missing. I think I notice too.

I drove them to the bus depot in Guaymas last night to catch the 11:20 Tufesa Executive bus to Tucson. Of course it was late. It didn't leave until 12:25, but that's not too bad. Could have been worse. But then again - possibly it was worse. I haven't heard the full story yet but apparently the wait at Nogales border crossing was about 4 hours. Could have been worse. But then again - the flight out of Tucson was delayed. But only 35 minutes. The flight out of Denver delayed - but only by about 38 minutes. Arrival in Saskatoon will be a little late - only about 39 minutes late if all goes well. At least the temperature in Saskatoon won't be in the -30's. Only about -28C.

Then again - it's feeling a little nippy here too at 16C.

I got down to work again here today. I scraped and swept the dried leaves and flowers off the roof so they don't plug the downspouts if we happen to get a stray rain shower. Then I routed a coax cable from the Star Choice receiver into the bedroom. And I removed the top of the clothes drier to try and find out why it is making strange sounds. Nothing obvious so I will explore more seriously tomorrow.
Brian and Sharon from Warman (Sask) stopped over around 4:00 for a visit. They are in Totonaka RV Park again this year and wanted to see why we weren't there this year. They say Totonaka is not as full as last year - possibly because Joseph has raised the monthly rates from $475usd to $520. They think they are noticing more tents and small units like VW Westfalias this year. They think perhaps the bigger units are continuing south where cheaper rates can be found.

Other costs have increased this year. The local bus to Guaymas is up from 9 pesos to 12 pesos. The golf deal (green fees, cart, burger and a draft beer) is up from $39 to $45.
But the fresh jumbo shrimp from the local supplier Abel is still a great bargain at 150 pesos for 1 kg. ($6.45Cdn per pound).

Power Shopping

The youngest child did it again. Eleanor and I thought we had everything under control until we received Adelle's e mail reminding EH to keep the bills from her purchases. Purchases? We were supposed to buy something?

We decided maybe we were missing out on something important and so caught the bus to Guaymas for some last minute power shopping. After an enjoyable day in the market and at the Marina we finally had some receipts for the border guards!

We went out for a very nice last meal at the Fiesta Hotel across the street and retired early [again]. The temperature has been hovering around the 24 degree mark during the day, but it has been going down to 8 degrees at night.

Fred is going to take us to the bus at 10:45 tonight, so until then we are going to watch some playoff games and occasionally switch to watch the Canada/Russian game.

Keeping Busy

Unlike the Baileys and Frisons, we did not make it to midnight on New Year's Eve. The three of us [four if we count Maggie] were asleep by 10:00. We wore ourselves out by strolling on the beach and visiting with old friends.

The webcam was an adventure for us and especially for Maggie. I always knew she was an exhibitionist, but she took it to extremes yesterday. Fred's family was set to tune in at 11:00 and right on cue Maggie squatted and forced Fred to use his doggie bag. We had to shield her behind the Canadian flag we were waving for the camera.

The days leading up to New Year's Eve were filled with all kinds of adventures, ranging from visiting Guaymas, having lunch at Charly's Rock, touring the historic Cortez Hotel and finally saying "enough". A couple of us had to take a break to revive our bodies.

Two more sleeps and Eleanor and I return to the cold weather. We are taking the overnight bus from Guaymas to Tucson where we have a day room reserved so we can rest before catching the 3:00 flight to Denver. It will be a long 24 hours, but we are ready for the test.

Beach Time

We found out last year that if we wanted to see the best of the kiteboarders on Algadones Beach we had to go on a windy day. Yesterday was just that day. There were boarders close to shore and some far out in the Sea, near the old Club Med.

We sat at the restaurant eating crab tostadas and people watching. As usual, the wind made for a chilly day so all three of us became walking advertisements for the Soggy Peso.

Lenore will enjoy the fact that we ran into Alec working on the beach. He is still going to school in Guaymas and supplements his income by working as a waiter at the Soggy Peso.

Success at Last!

We had a great Christmas Day, opening a few gifts and cards and then just relaxing for the remainder of the day. We debated about going out for a nice meal, but in the end decided to stay home and cook up some fresh fish.

Mexicans don't celebrate Boxing Day so everything was as usual today. We finally broke down and bought ourselves a new flat screen TV in Guaymas. So now we had a nice, new TV and still no Star Choice!

We contacted a Mexican worker who specializes in setting up Gringo satellite dishes and he accomplished the "impossible". We are now able to watch the Canadian news and sports. Go Team Canada!

Christmas Eve in San Carlos

The weather continues to be just perfect - around 24C during the day and cool enough at night to get a good sleep. Fred's mom is finding the early mornings and evenings too cold. She can't find the sweatshirt she bought for the trip and is blaming her youngest child.

Fred has spent the last few days trying to set up his Star Choice system with no luck. We rode our bikes through Totonaka looking for Star Choice users and got a few good tips, but nothing worked. The only thing we really accomplished was to meet a few friends from last year.

We went to Blackies for an excellent Christmas Eve supper. The food and service were perfect for the occasion. We had planned to stop on the way home to watch a boat parade that takes place every Christmas Eve at dusk. It had already started by the time we finished, but we were still able to catch a view of the twelve brightly decorated boats from the beach across from Tecalai.