Road Trip II

Since we are leaving the Yuma area tomorrow, we decided a mini-road trip was in order. Very mini - a whole 1/2 hour, and we were in Los Algodones, Baja, Mexico! You get to Los Algodones by heading west into California on I-8, and getting off at the 2nd exit. From there, it's less than 2 miles south. It's a quaint little town that does it's business just like Yuma - from November through March, they court the snowbirds. The primary businesses are 1) pharmacies; 2) dentists; 3) optomotrists; 4) liquor stores; and 5) trinkets...throw in a few restaurants, pack them all into about 4 city blocks, and you have Los Algodones. Having been in many border towns, we found this one to actually fun to walk around in. No pressure, and lot's of clever lines to hook the touristas (not the same old "step inside, take a look").

Unfortunately, it's a sad commentary on our medical/insurance system. Prescription drugs at a fraction of the cost in the USA. Eyeglasses for $40. The same with dental work. We know people who are full-timing that come here just for these services, since they don't have insurance.

We did end up buying some stuff: a t-shirt, a new stained glass window for the rig, and some Mexican pastries. I think I'm starting to feel retired: the t-shirt says it all!

Tomorrow, we're outta here! Time to start making our way east, to the land of Texas, where we will have some warranty work done on the fifth wheel, and where we will become citizens. Then we'll continue northeast to Indiana to the Carriage factory for some additional items on the "fix-list", before heading back to Colorado.

Road Trip

Last summer we met a full-timing couple (Tom and Roe) at our Coast-to-Coast RV park in Monument, CO. We became friends, and have stayed in contact. They are wintering in Chula Vista, CA, a mere 153 miles west of our current location. Tom had rotator cuff surgery a week ago, so we decided to drive in for a visit (hey, all the chores were done!). Donna, Abbey, and I headed west this morning, our trusty GPS programmed in with the address in CV.

Immediately, I started getting odd directions from the GPS. It kept telling me to get off the Interstate. Since I-8 is the only major route to San Diego, that was the way I was going, no matter what the GPS said. Every time we passed an off-ramp, it told me to get off and get on to a surface street. I ignored it until we got to the I-805 freeway and were getting close to CV. Then I started following it's directions. Big mistake - we ended up in National City (not Chula Vista) going through some nice residential areas, which got seedier and seedier the further south we went. Yes, we were in the barrios of San Diego. I finally got lucky and found I-5, which is where we needed to be. When we got to the RV park, I vowed to find out what was going on. Turns out, one of the settings had been changed (how? when? by whom?) to indicate that our vehicle was a bicycle. So the GPS had been trying to get us off the Interstate and on to roads that were accomodating to bikes. We had wondered why our predicted time of arrival in CV was 8:00pm!!

After meeting up with our friends, we left Abbey with Mizmo, their Shih-Tzu, and headed off to lunch in San Diego. We had a fabulous bayside lunch at Anthony's. Fresh fish! Donna even had fish, which she normally doesn't do. After lunch, we strolled down the walkway, passing the masted ship Star of India. After weeding our way through all the tourists waiting to go whale watching, we passed the aircraft carrier Midway. Remember the famous WW-II picture taken in NYC on V-J Day, of the sailor kissing the nurse? A 50' statue has been created depicting this picture, and is located in proximity to the Midway. Unfortunately, we left the camera back at the RV park (I do have a picture of it on my cell phone though). We ended up at Sea Port Village before heading back. Donna had a quilt store she wanted to visit, so we detoured there for her quilt fix before getting back to the RV park.

The RV park in Chula Vista is a 5 star in our book - we may end up staying there at some point in the future. It's right on the waterfront (www.chulavistarv.com).

Reluctantly, we headed out for the 2 hour journey back to the desert. Thanks to Tom and Roe and Mizmo for a memorable day! By the way, Tom is recovering nicely from his surgery.

Tonight daylight savings kicks in, except for AZ. Arizona doesn't do the time change thing. During our travels next week, we will be time deprived, as we'll go through 2 time zones to get to Texas.