We crossed from Mexico intoTexas, just as the news broke of closing the border, and everything else, because of COVID-19, and just as the virus panic buying was starting. Walmart had one jar of peanut butter left, meat counters were bare and toilet paper was nowhere to be found (something all of us have seen by now).
We have been sheltering in place for about a month now. The first weeks spent camping in open, but deserted campgrounds and the last few weeks holed up in a hotel as the restrictions have become more stringent.
Our days are spent going for walks, reading, doing puzzles, playing cards, and watching sitcom marathons. We are going on 4 weeks holed up in Texas, waiting for things to peak along our route home, and for it to warm up in Vermont! We are grateful for a roof, food and our health…but after living outside, we are starting to go a bit bat shit crazy, or crazierš
Deserted, hot and stormy camping?I have lost count of how many puzzles we have done.Puppy has developed some really bad eating habits!
Well, we had every intention of keeping up with the blog, but best intentions, best laid plans, etc., etc…. The truth is what we had to say just didn’t seem important or noteworthy or… with all that was going on in the world.
Suddenly, our story wasn’t so different than anyone else’s. Pandemic, shelter in place, no toilet paper to be found, sick people, fear, humor found in odd places to brighten the day, a chat with friends to feel less alone, junk food, too much coffee, and where did my waistline go…definitely blaming that one on Covid-19.
Then I was reminded by a friend that our blog could distract someone for a moment, perhaps even make them smile as other’s Instagram posts have done for us…so, back to blogging: our few last days in Mexico before we ran for the border, traveling and sheltering in place at the same time, and eventually the trip north toward home and the end of our trip.
A picture to brighten your day, Laguna Bacalar, one of my favorite places.
Since we are preparing to head into Mexico we took the day to clean, consolidate, and clear out our gear after a year and a half on the road. We are going to ship another box of unused items home. Spare pants, long johns, heavy wool jackets, and the fry bakes are heading to Vermont. We need to make some room for masks, snorkels, and a new teeny, tiny, speedo for Darrin!
We are preparing for Mexico and want to clean out and ship some items home. As we pass through Prescott, Arizona (running from the snow, again) we decide to grab some boxes so we can pack the items while at our next camp. Well, that’s when the problems start. The post office doesn’t have any flat rate boxes of the right size, the UPS store has boxes, but they wanted $19.95! For a box! At this point we are starting to get a little stressedā¦how hard can it be to find a box?
Finally, we head to Fedex, which happens to be a tiny counter in the local grocery store, and they don’t have boxes either. But, the lady at the counter directed us to Lisa in the booze portion of the store, and we finally find a few scrap boxes! So, after a couple of hours of stress, and driving around we finally have boxes!
Now, to the point of the story.
We walk out with our boxes, and see a couple of overland rigs parked near the Wee Rover. On the side of one of the Jeeps is āThe Road Chose Meā and the guy coming towards us is someone that we have been following online for a number of years as he travelled to South America and Africa! Dan Grec! We have a nice chat for a while with him and two other travelers, Jen and Jared.
So, what are the chances of meeting a fellow Overlander, that we have followed for a number of years, in a tiny store in rural Arizona? Our day went from, āHow can it be sooo hard to find a stupid box?ā to āIt’s a good thing we couldnāt find the box, or we would have missed meeting them!ā
Funny how things work out, if we just get out of the way!
Update: We get to a FedEx in the next town, after carefully packing our items to ship home, only to find out you can’t ship items in an alcohol box (somethjng about special licenses). The nice people at the FedEx repacked our boxes inside a larger box and they are now on their way home to snowy Vermont.
The cold has finally forced us to cry uncle! We looked back at our log and it has been almost 8 weeks with the nights in the teens and twenties. We are far enough south in Arizona that the days are getting nice enough, but the nights are still cold and long, and the snow keeps chasing us! I think the Universe is trying to tell us something?
So after consulting with the Wee Rover, we have decided to cross from Yuma, Arizona into Baja for a few months of beaches and snorkeling!
We have sent in our paperwork for our visas (FMMs), and bought Mexican car insurance and World Nomads travel health insurance. We are starting to go over our maps, guides and iOverlander.
Exciting, scary, and we are really looking forward to it.
While traveling last fall, we joked that it might be fun to spend Christmas in Baja. Fast forward a year plus later and not only are we enjoying Christmas celebrations in Baja, but we made friends with Santa! I am definitely on the nice list…not so sure about Darrin and Santaš
The 4 corners region of CO, AZ, UT, and NM is the heart of the Navajo Nation, and it is where we have been travelling the last few weeks. It is a land of rugged beauty, amazing rock formations, kind people and depressing views of a proud people who are in many ways still recovering from past injustices. We were the minority in this region, welcomed visitors to another culture and way of life.
Today, our route took us to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de shay) just inside the Arizona border with New Mexico. The canyon was spectacularly beautiful with remains of cliff dwellings, and green fields of farming on the canyon floor, including a John Deere tractor plowing a miniature field way below us.
We stopped at a couple of overlooks to view the canyon and cliff dwellings. Both overlooks were empty except for a single vehicle at each. At the first we met Douglas Yazzie; painter, grandfather, boxing champ, and historian. We spent almost an hour listening to stories, and the history of the canyon. Douglas was an amazing impromptu tour guide and his paintings were beautiful so we couldnāt resist breaking our rules about āacquiring stuff’ and bought two.
At the next overlook we met Lathan, and he was just the opposite of Douglas. A quiet gifted young man who came to the overlook to sell his wares in an effort to help his mother make ends meet. He was so sincere about trying to give us our money back because he couldnāt make change, that we told him to keep the extra. In exchange, he made us take a dreamcatcher to bring the Wee Rover and us good luck in our travels.
Beautiful country, really nice people and some nice mementos of an area we enjoyed traveling through. We will definitely make our way back here some day.
Douglas Yazzie can be found online if you are interested in purchasing beautiful watercolors.A very talented young man trying to make a living. We enjoyed talking with him and supporting his artwork. We will display these pieces in our home when we return.The curved alcoves are home to cliff dwelling ruins.A closer look at the ruins in one of the alcoves.Modern day farming next to cliff ruins.I know…more red rocks…but aren’t they beautiful!A perfect ending to a wonderful day.
Every fall, when the leaves peak, we take our motorcycles and do our āGap Rideā. We ride north, cross Brandon Gap, north and cross Middlebury Gap, north then Lincoln Gap, and finish with Appalachian Gap. A spectacular, if long day, of criss-crossing the spine of the Green Mountains.
Well, it’s fall here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the range that divides Nevada and California, and we are working our way to Yosemite. Let’s do a west coast version of the āGap Rideā. Up and over, and back again we went taking every pass from Route 49 down to Yosemite (except Route 80…way too many fast cars for us). We even had lunch at Lake Tahoe.
While up north last summer we kept seeing truck campers with tops that popped up like the old Starcraft campers. We saw them everywhere and they seemed like a great alternative to the heavy rigid ‘rolly polly’ ones you seeing weighing down the back of trucks.
So, we looked at the map (this is becoming a really bad habit) and their manufacturing plant was just outside Sacramento…that’s not too far! Let’s go check them out.
Flat bed version which gives a larger living footprint.Popped open, the bed can expand to king size with storage underneath.Inside kitchen area. The fridge is a wee bit small compared to our ARB fridge, but an inside cooking area sounds luxurious. Sitting area with table, we don’t have this in the Wee Rover, it would be nice in the next version. More storage under the seats…what would I do with all of this storage room?
Something to consider for the future. It would be a 4 wheel drive truck which lets us go to the remote places we like, but a separate driving and living space seems a waste? Too far in the future to think about too much…back to the Wee Rover! I can hear Puppy saying ‘Let’s go!!!!!’.
Fort Columbia…ready to guard the mouth of the Columbia River since 1904!
A grand entry.A modern tunnel constructed underneath.Amazingly well restored buildings. We were too early in the season to tour them.Perfect position on the Columbia River.Ammo storage under the guns.Ammo up…and received to load the gun.Hmmmmm…wonder how that happened.
