Off Road Vehicle Paradise

One day I WILL own a side by side.  Back when I was working, when I could afford a side by side, I had no interest in owning one or a quad. But now, I am fortunate when I can get a ride from someone. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 10:00, a group goes out for a ride (weather permitting). The rides rarely get canceled.

So, why did I call this post Off Road Vehicle Paradise? There is no restriction for riding on the beach. And, then there are the hills, the high desert plateau, the dunes, and the canyons. Now for some of the pictures.

Two rigs boondocking on the beach.

Riding on the high plateau looking toward the Sea of Cortez and Baja across the sea.

Stopped for beer break.

The view from on top of the bluff

Stopped on top of the bluff.

The new lighthouse and the village of El Golfo de Santa Clara from on top of a bluff.

The old lighthouse, replaced this year.

I tried loading some videos, but I couldn't get them to work.  I'll try to figure it out in the future.

El Golfo RV Beach Resort

What is it that I really like about El Golfo besides the fact that it doesn't snow in the winter. Maybe it is the sunsets?

Or is it the fisherman that drive their trucks and trailers into the surf right up to the floorboards? Being a fisherman in an open boat is one tough life.

Or maybe it's all the activities we have: darts, holey board, bocce ball, shuffleboard, karaoke, and cards. It has become quite obvious that I was having too much fun to take pictures. Next season I will take the time to get pictures of our activities. This park is like summer camp with no adult supervision.

Next post I will highlight some of our off road trips on quads and side by sides.

Mexico

We finally arrived in Mexico. We are staying in the CRA (Colorado River Adventures) Beach Resort called El Golfo, in El Golfo de Santa Clara, a small fishing village on the Sea of Cortez.

Our trailer reflecting the setting sun. This is early in January and the evenings were quite cool.

The view from our site.

We are 90 miles South of Yuma in the Sonoran desert on the Sea of Cortez, aka the Gulf of California. Because it is a desert, we get very little rainfall. But occasionally it does rain here in paradise.

Occasionally, it storms and the sea gets angry. If you look closely at the picture of the view from our site, you will notice several yellow electrical pedestals near the sea wall. There are two reasons that no one is on them. First, only CRA members can stay on a beach site and only for two weeks. Long-term campers don't want to move after two weeks. Second, during a storm the waves come over the wall. Last year, the sites got washed away, but they are now rebuilt. Being on the wall might get you hustling in the middle of the night to move away from violent waves crashing over your rig.

Our little palm tree is taking a beating. It did keep our chair from blowing away.

The sea wall being pounded by the waves.

100 feet of sea wall was undermined and fortunately did not collapse during the storm.

It has all been repaired now and is ready for the next big storm. The wash out was about eight feet deep.

We have recently decided to stay in Mexico and not return to New England this summer. That doesn't mean that we won't be doing any traveling. We still don't own a home and will continue to live full time in our RV. Right now, the plan is to leave Mexico in early June and return in early September. I think Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana will keep us plenty busy.

Our next few posts will be about what makes this place such a nice place to stay. If any of you RVers out there would like to visit El Golfo, send me a private message on Facebook, or send me an email. You can find that information over on the right-hand side in the web version. 

You can stay as my guest for up to 7 days for $10 a night.

If you are concerned about traveling alone in Mexico, I will be willing to meet you in Yuma and guide you down.

Now that I have Mexican internet, I can finally update my blog while I am in Mexico. Our Verizon international plan only allowed us 0.5 gigs a day, not nearly enough.

Until next time, adios mis amigos.

Arizona

Day 20 finds us leaving Colorado Springs with four new tires on the trailer and the hopes of an uneventful trip to Arizona. We stopped at the Walmart in Trinidad, Colorado, for the night and replenished needed groceries.

Day 21 we stopped at another Walmart, this time in Edgewood, New Mexico.

Days 22 - 24 we stayed in a Coast to Coast RV park called Hidden Valley Resort in Tijeras, New Mexico. Calling HVR a resort requires a good imagination. However, we did have full hook ups, so we did have desired AC. Our site was extremely narrow and not level, and all of the C2C sites were like that.

I leveled the trailer. Compare it to the truck.

There is barely enough room to walk beside the trailer and enter door. 

Day 25: We traveled to Anthony, New Mexico, and stayed at the Sombra Antigua Winery. This is one of our favorite Harvest Hosts stops. It is near El Paso, Texas, where my grandson Sean Wallace is stationed. Sean recently married Jennifer Gutierrez, and, suddenly, we now have two great grandchildren, Bryant and Donavella. Sean brought his family out to visit with us at the winery. It was a Sunday and they had food and entertainment at the winery. 

Sombra Antigua Winery

Bryant, Sean, Donavella, and Jennifer

Day 26 was a disaster. We headed West and had a planned stop at another Harvest Host, Pillsbury Winery. Our GPS took us down an imaginary road that didn't exist except on paper. As we tried to get back on track it took us down a narrow road which had a sign posted "No county maintenance beyond this point." It was a two-way road wide enough for our truck and trailer and horrible muddy ruts. With no way to turn around, I put the truck in four-wheel drive, said a quick prayer and powered through. The winery was closed. Sam Pillsbury was headed to town as we arrived and he told me where I could park. Now, for the reason day 26 was a disaster: I picked up a piece of metal in one of my brand new tires, probably on that muddy road with no county maintenance. When I did my walk around before leaving in the morning, I noticed that the trailer had a flat tire. Being a pro at changing tires by now, I put the spare on and we were soon headed to Yuma. We stayed at the AMvets post overnight and arrived at Big O Tires first thing in the morning. I bought road hazard protection when I bought the new tires, so the problem was taken care of at no cost to me.

Ugly.

Quickly changed and back on the road again.

Day 27, October 2, 2019, we pulled into Yuma Lakes RV Resort. We visited with our friends John and Linda Wilde as well as having happy hour near the pool area with a lot of our El Golfo friends who stopped at Yuma Lakes before going to El Golfo.

Sunrise at Yuma Lakes RV Resort.

Moon rising at Yuma Lakes RV Resort.

We stayed in Yuma until October 15th and then went to the Bull Dog Canyon OHV Area in the Tonto National Forest for a little boondocking. We were extremely disappointed. The road had deteriorated to almost impassable for everything except a four-wheel truck camper. Our favorite site was closed. The further in I went the worse the road got. Finding a place to turn around was bad. The spot I chose wiped out my front two stabilizing scissor jacks and almost tore off my tank drain pipes. Then, to add insult to injury, we didn't see any wild horses near our campsite.

Damaged stabilizing jack.

We finally settled into a nice site.

Nice view from our campsite.

Jake is not impressed.

A view of our trailer from a wash where there was evidence that the wild horses had been close a few days before.

We had come to the Tonto Forest because Kay was going to have eye surgery to remove one cataract. We only stayed 6 days and finally decided to stay at Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, Arizona, closer to her appointments. The drive across Phoenix was horrendous. This turned out to be a good decision. A retired mechanic stopped me and said that I should get the rear end checked on my truck. I did and found out it needed to be rebuilt. GM parts manufacturers had been on strike and there were no GM parts to be had anywhere in the country. The GM dealer finally agreed to rebuild the rear end with aftermarket parts and, after a week, we were finally on the road again. This delay worked out, as Kay was able to have her second cataract surgery a week after her first one.

We left Sun City and went back to Yuma, this time staying on the BLM land near the VFW off of US 95. While we were there the heater quit. We took it to RV World in Yuma and they said they could look at it in three months. So, off to El Golfo we went, where we would have electricity to run a space heater.

Being in Mexico does create a problem for writing the blog because I run out of usable data to quickly. Currently, we are in Tucson, with WiFi at a motel. I am working on getting better internet in Mexico. My next blog post will be about Mexico.

Thanks for stopping by.  Leave a comment to say hi.

Pikes Peak or Bust

It's hard to believe that I have been retired for three years now and we are starting our fourth journey across the country. The trip is all planned out. Like Eisenhower said, "Planning is essential, but it all goes out the window when the battle is engaged." We didn't make it to our first overnight stop.

Day one, I couldn't pull the kitchen slide in. I called an RV mobile service guy and he disconnected the motor and we pushed it in. We were ready to leave the next morning. The service tech said I was good to travel. Wrong! One day on the road and I realized I had to get the motor replaced in order to continue the trip. The slide was creeping out enough so that the gasket was not tight and rainwater would ruin our rig. We made it to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where we found a Camping World, and got the motor replaced under warranty. The repair was done so quickly that we were able to stay on schedule.

Every year we have stopped at Bowman Orchards in New York, a Harvest Hosts stop. However, to stay on schedule, we skipped it and went straight to Donaldson's Farm in Hackettstown, NJ, another Harvest Hosts stop. This was close enough to Jersey City that we could see my daughter Sarah and Max, and have a play date for Jake and Falcon (their new pup) at a dog park. After that, we found a restaurant with tables on the sidewalk (where our dogs were allowed) so that we could stop for some supper.

Russ, Sarah. Kay and Falcon

Day 4 was an interesting stop at another Harvest Hosts. The road through the mountains of Virginia approaching the winery was extremely narrow and winding. Then the GPS said "you have arrived." There was no sign. I had two choices, continue on the even narrower road that had just changed to dirt or go down the narrow dirt driveway to my right. As we started down the driveway, I kept thinking, 'I hope we don't meet anybody coming out.' and 'I hope that there will be a spot big enough to turn around.' Mountain Cove Vineyards was a lovely, extremely quiet, and dark overnight stop. The wine was good, too.

The setting sun after the storm at Mountain Cove Vineyards.

Day 5 brought us to Heritage Farm Museum and Village, another Harvest Hosts stop. Once again, the access road was extremely narrow. If I had stayed to the right of the center line, I would have wiped out every mailbox on the right side of the street with our trailer. Fortunately, we did not meet another vehicle as wide as we were, either going in or coming out. I think I will scratch these last two Harvest Hosts stops off my list for future stops. 

Day 6 took us into Kentucky, and another Harvest Hosts stop, Boundary Oak Distillery. This one was an easy in and easy out. We parked on a nice level paved parking lot, not on a slopping grass field like the last two stops. I bought a couple of bottles of spirits to share with our friends in El Golfo, Mexico. I might have to stop here again next year.

Day 7 on the road and we stopped at another Harvest Hosts, Fox Creek Vineyards, in Olney, Illinois. We bought a bottle of their chilled raspberry wine. It helped make the oppressive heat bearable. I am thankful for the built-in generator on this rig because we have needed it to cool down the trailer when off the grid at all of these Harvest Hosts stops. Next year, I will definitely plan a more northerly route.

Fox Creek Vineyards

Days 8, 9, and 10 took us into Wildwood Estates, an RV resort in Steedman, Missouri. We stayed three days, with full hook ups. However, there was no WiFi or cellular service available in the campground. While we were here, we got to go to church with Kay's cousin Jeannie and her husband Mike. It was an interesting service with a half hour or more of contemporary Christian rock music led by a Christian rock group using guitars and three big screen TVs so we could sing along. The collection was done in a unique way, as well. After a prayer, we were invited to bring our offerings to the front of the stage and place them in one of the offering boxes.  

Christian Fellowship Church, Columbia, Missouri

Day 11 we traveled to Smihville, Missouri, and we stayed at Our Savior Church and Academy, another Harvest Hosts location. And you thought we only stopped at wineries! 😃😎😃 Here, we met with Karen and Mark Seneker, a friend and fellow blogger. Mark and Karen have become full-time RVers and will hit the road in October when Mark finally retires. Mark writes an interesting blog about the process of becoming a full-time RVer, including how he chose his truck and trailer: https://ourfutureinanrv.wordpress.com/.

Day 12 and we stopped at the border of Kansas in a rest stop on I-70 just before entering Colorado. What a beautiful place. Kansas rest areas have dump stations but no potable water. This rest stop had a huge picnic area loop away from the noisy trucks where RVs could park overnight. Kansas is definitely RV friendly.

Kay and Jake relaxing at the Kansas rest stop.

Our picnic area at the Kansas rest stop.

Jake checking out the picnic area at the Kansas rest stop.

Day 13 and suddenly my guardian angel was working overtime. We turned off of I-70 onto US-24 and headed for Colorado Springs. We got stopped at a construction site where they were allowing only one lane through at a time. The driver behind me jumped out of his pickup and ran up shouting that I had a problem with one of my tires. I got out, checked, and, sure enough, I had a big time problem. I pulled over, but the shoulder wasn't wide enough for me to safely change the tire. I limped along the shoulder until I got to a spot where I could pull off the road to change the tire.

Ready to blowout.

Jacking up the trailer with a 12-ton bottle jack.

Putting the spare on. Ready to torque the lug nuts.

Phew, spare is on and blowout averted.

The next seven days, we stayed in a campground in Monument, Colorado. We got to visit with my son  Bill and his wife Denise several times. We also got to visit with my cousins, Harvey and Marylou Richardson and Clyde Hagan and and his daughter Kim. It was a nice break from the go, go, go that we had while crossing the country. On the day we left Colorado Springs, we bought four new tires from Big O Tires. They did a great job of replacing the tires and getting us on the road right away.

Clyde, Russ, Kim, Marylou, Alexandria, and Harvey.

Denise and Bill

Back by popular demand, this year's picture of our route.

Last year's trip is blue. This year's trip is pink.

Thanks for stopping by. Leave us a message so that we know you visited. Kay loves it when you take the time to say hi.