... Talk about a quiet place!

Us and one neighbour. They are planning a big Halloween party. Other than us, I don't know where all the people are coming from!

Evidence ... and they did not send Adrienne to jail!

The only remaining evidence after we destroyed a Mexican telephone pole and left over 200 ft. of telephone line all over the road.

After the episode where we crossed three border crossings in about an hour we headed on our way and eventually made it to San Felipe. 

It was not a good day for Adrienne. We parked  about 100 yards from the club de Pesca. I got out and walked over and found the campsite right on the oceanfront. I walked back and signalled Adrienne to drive the vehicle in. She proceeded to drive forward. When I turned around to see how she was doing suddenly she was stopped and Frankie was wrapped up in telephone wire. She had connected our air conditioner with the telephone line and proceeded to pull down 200 feet of line and a telephone pole!

A Passerby Mexican and myself unwrapped Rita and pulled the line off the road. We then proceeded to club de Pesca and setup and set up camp. 

Within 10 minutes a cop car was on our back door.  He told us that we would be responsible for the damage to the powerline and requested that Adrienne and I along with Frankie follow him to thepolice station.

On route to the cop shop, I stopped at the scene of the crime. It must have been a slow day. There were 3 cop vehicles and 6 Mexican Police at the scene of the crime. None of the police could speak English. However again we got a bit lucky. One of the policeman saw my Fireman's cap. He tried to talk to me as best as he could about what I did.
Within three or four minutes a guardian angel appeared. He was a fireman from the San Felipe  fire department.

The fireman was relatively young and spoke fluent Spanish and English. On my behalf he negotiated what I considered was a very good deal. 

The cop at first wanted to give us a ticket and then report the issue to the national phone company. It would've been a real pain and very expensive. 

The young fireman cut a deal with the police on scene and indicated that I should pay $300 cash to the policeman when he shows up at our campsite.  There would be no paperwork in this transaction. The policeman indicated that he was write his report in such a way that no one saw what happened. 

Fortunately I had 15 $20 bills salted away in the camper. We were sent on our way as the telephone repair truck arrived. An hour later of course we had a visit from  police department.

Other than a smile the policeman's only comment was "no let people see money". 

... Life goes on in Mexico. 

Good morning

The view, looking out our bedroom window at San Felipe. It doesn't get much better!

On to San Felipe

After a wee bit of discussion about the thing of driving in Mexico, we decided to head south to one of our favorite spots, San Felipe. By 9:30 we were purchasing car insurance and heading south across the American Mexican border.

With always careful cars ahead of us in line crossing the border into Mexico was very painless. However that was soon to change.

Two miles south of the border Ade remembered that she had left her purse in the insurance company office in Calexico just north of the border. Obviously we had to turn around.

The lineup heading north had hundreds of cars in it. After about one half hour in line, we approached the American border crossing. We were quite concerned because we had just purchased a lot of liquor and Produce in the United States. Technically you are not allowed to bring liquor or produce from Mexico into the USA.

However as luck would have it and after considerable amounts of pleading on our part, the border agent let us through with the reminder that this was very uncommon it would not happen again.

We drove the short distance to the insurance agent office. Thankfully Adrienn's purse was still there. Now we had to head south again.

Again it was a short wait heading south and believe it or not we were in the line with the same border agent that checked us out the first time!

God only knows if she figured we were drug traffickers or not but and short order, she handed us over to a superior who then got the dog out of his cage and started sniffing around outside of our camper. We opened door and the dog went inside sniffing. However, After a few somewhat intense moments they flagged us through. We were finally on our way to San Felipe.

El Centro

The next night was spent at Huntington Beach. We got our usual spot at the library and crashed for the night.

We spent the morning at the RV dealership getting a few little wrinkles ironed out of Frankie. Then we headed south and spent the night at El Centro on the border of Mexico.

Las Vegas seemed light-years behind us when we considered the farming area and semiarid desert conditions in El Centro


Sent from my iPhone

Adrienne at the table

Walter's wiggles at sunset

This is about half way up the trail to Angel's Landing. Quite steep but an interesting spot on the hike, with outstanding views at certain bends.

So many things to see...

The last week or so has been wonderful. Day after day sunshine bathes the majestic white, grey, and orange cliff-like mountains that surround us. The architect of this beautiful environment, the Virgin river, is clear and running quickly as she continues to sculpt the ever changing  landscape. This is truly a beautiful time of year. Each day increases the autumn yellows and reds on the endless string of cottonwoods that line the river banks and fill in the small valleys. 

We enjoyed a meal at Oscars  Mexican restaurant again last night. Then it was to the pub for Sunday night football. What a game as the Colts edged the Broncos in the final seconds. 

However we lost track of time and when we got to the bus stop it was 10:05. The last bus for the campsite left at 9:00. It looked like a very cool 2 mile walk to Frankie and the campsite. 

Under the stars and almost full moon, the walk seemed to be rather nice at first; but we were not dressed for the cold of a desert night. There was no traffic down the Main Street for minutes at a time. 

When The first car did come by, I jumped into the street and tried hitching a ride with no success. Minutes later and feeling more cold, I tried again and as Luck would have it we were picked up!  I was surprised to get picked up late at night on a deserted downtown street! But this is Zion and Springdale. 

 It took the driver a few minutes to organize his car so we could squeeze in around the pillows and large oil painting, but we forced my door closed and headed on. 

To our surprise he was a young  Veterinarian from Vegas. He was nice enough to drive us out of his way and right to our campsite!  I will buy a lotto ticket today!

Since we are waiting on delivery of our new solar panel, today is another "enjoy the sun and location, and do a hike day". 

Frankie's home at Zion

Wonderful day and glorious spot at Zion

The scooter and bikes are keeping busy

Dry river channel carved in sandstone

River sculpture

Observation point hike

View from the top

Orvis at Ouray

Our next destination was the Orvis Hotsprings at Ouray in Colorado.

This place is what I might imagine in Europe.  Situated in the mountains at 7,000 ft elevation, it is surrounded by snow capped mountains that tower to 12, and 13,000 ft!  Originally a silver/gold mining town, the place has a lot of history and dates back almost 150 years!

Check out these pictures, and you too will want to spend so time here.  https://www.google.ca/search?q=ouray+colorado&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS300US300&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=adBdUs-CC6bAiwKq4IGIBg&ved=0CE0QsAQ&biw=1260&bih=614

We did a 9 mile hike around the town on our second day, and it was wonderful.  Snow had fallen on the mountains the previous few days and the vistas were like postcards.

The Hot Springs just out of town is called Ovris.  It is "Clothing Optional" which might scare away many (including Adrienne at first).  However, when you arrive and change into you bathing suit, you realize that at least 1/2 of the people do have suits on, and the other 1/2 are "au naturalle"!  Once you realize the beauty of the location and the natural feeling within the 8 different pool environments, no one feels out of place.

On our first day, it actually snowed for a few hours.  The flakes we enormous, and the feeling of the ice flakes on your skin while you are soaking was wonderful.  Obviously, cameras are off limits here, but you can check this place out at:  http://www.orvishotsprings.com/

After 3 days of laid back enjoyment, we were once again on our way south to somewhere?

Finally we are off and heading south

 

Check out this place it is amazing!! http://www.bbhc.org/ 

 

 

Day 4

We are now at Cody Wyoming

After numerous delays and a quick supper at Wendy's restaurant in Kelowna we left and spent the first night and the cool roadside stop just near Christina Lake

The next morning we made it through the border with our produce intact (not confiscated) except for a lemon in the fridge. We also made it through with 15 bottles of homemade wine! Life promises to be good.

A few hours later we stopped at Coeur d'Alene Idaho and went for a cool 12 mile waterfront ride along the waterfront with our bikes.

An hour or so's driving put us along the side of the road on the way to Montana. One shortstop we made was at Wallace Idaho. It is reportedly the center of the world's richest silver deposit and a very old town in that area.

Check out a few pictures:  https://www.google.ca/search?q=wallace+idaho&hl=en&qscrl=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Jc5dUsTjBeS9igK1sYHIBQ&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1260&bih=614


The state of Idaho has created a unique 70 km mile paved strip along a former rail bed that takes you all the way from Wallace to Coeur de Lane. It is said to be a wonderful ride on a bike as a grade never exceeds 2% and for the most part is downhill. You pass through mountain passes, across railway trestles and through tunnels on your way down the route.

We just made it across the Idaho border into Montana and found a beautiful little siding off the highway with a trail right near a creek or small river.

The next day saw us drive to Deer Lodge. Here was located the former Montana State penitentiary. This ancient rock-wall fortress is now a museum with many interesting stories about the characters that made this place home. Check it out: http://www.pcmaf.org/prison.htm

In addition to that right adjacent to it was the most incredible Museum of antique cars that I have ever seen with over 140 cars most of which predated 1940. We spent over two hours just walking through and admiring the pristine classics that ranged in age from 1900 through to about 1970. ...take a look  http://www.pcmaf.org/wordpress/auto-museum-vehicle-list/                

That night the Rockville casino parking lot became our short-term residence.

A short 2 Hour Dr. today brought us to Cody. The home of Buffalo Bills heritage Museum.

Check out this place it is amazing!! http://www.bbhc.org/

 

This place is truly amazing. It is actually five museums under one roof. The scale of the building was immense with about 40,000 sq ft of exhibits!

The first museum was the world's largest collection of handguns and rifles. They range from Flintlock guns that predated the American Indian wars, to rifles made for the second world war.

The collection included guns from many famous people including Presidents such as Johnson Kennedy Roosevelt and others that I've forgotten. Many of the guns were more pieces of art then actual rifles or handguns. On these guns were paintings, etchings and many plaques and ornate drawings. It was a museum that depicted very clearly how America's history was so closely tied to the rifle and handgun.

The second museum focused on American Art through the last 200 years. It too was remarkable, with many hundreds of paintings chronicling the struggles within America that enabled the nation to unify over a 200 year period. Also there were many, many pictures the unique geography and parks of the western United States.

The third focused on the history of the Plains Indians over the last 500 or more years and the trouble they had when the white man came into the territories a d of how they struggling to
reemerge as a unique culture and society within the greater nation.

The fourth museum focused on Buffalo Bill, the man. It went through his history from the time he was born on to his days as a teenage scout for the American army, where he occasionally fought on the side of the troops. After the Indian wars he became a famous buffalo hunter supplying meat to many sources including the army. It is said that he personally killed over 1000 Buffalo.

The next phase of his life was focused on entrepreneurial activities ranging from Building Cody city to creating the hugly successful Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.

For over 20 years he was on the road in 4 continents, bring his version of the Wild West to the world. He even visited Vancouver, and of all places Fernie one one across Canada tour!!

He entertained most of Europes aristocracy prior to WW1. at this time he was one of the worlds most recognizable people and the first American celebrity superstar, making millions of dollars over this period.

The Fifth museum focused on Yellowstone National Park. It had pictures, movies, and dioramas and statues and sculptures of all physical aspects of the park from animals to mountains to hot springs to steam geysers etc.

Yellowstone is the crater of a super volcano that has changed the geography for thousands of square miles--even affecting global climate when it last erupted, tens of thousands of years ago.

Its violent behaviour over recorded history leads scientists to believe that it will inevitably erupt again, but no one knows when. When it does, it will be cataclysmic to our planet, causing millions of deaths to most living organisms within many hundreds of miles of its epicentre and causing global climate change for many years.

The Buffloe Bill Cody museum captured our interest so a point where we spent a few hours the next day catching all the last minutes things that we missed the day before.

The afternoon was spent in wonderful sunshine wandering around the streets of the town.

For lunch it was downtown to the historical Irma Hotel. It was constructed at the beginnin of the 20th century by Buffaloe Bill himself. Having spent so many years in Europe, the hotel has a blend of European class and Wild West flare. It included a rosewood bar that was a present from Queen Victoria, a metal pressed and embossed ceiling, as well as a classic western fireplace.

Wine cellar secure

Just checking the fortress. Ted, Harv and i just salted away our future wine stash on Saturday

Frankie is ready to run and her siblings are in the barn

Harvey and Wendy with Ade at the opening of the new Pier Kelowna