Musical beds

For the past few nights, Jesse has been either sleeping on the dinette or in Jamie’s bed (the sofabed). Sissy has been transitioning out of Jamie’s bed and onto the dinette, so that has been working well. Tonight, after a day of certain rebounding, both Jamie and I assumed Jesse would sleep in his own bed. We had hoped to sleep in my bed along with Ellen, Sissy on the dinette and the boys in their room. That would allow me to get up early in the morning and put in a few hours before the family woke. A perfect plan, we thought.

Pike has been lonely for his brother during the day which seems to make the night worse. Last night he was on the verge of sleeping with me and Ellen, but Ellen took over the bed and he decided to stay in his room. So, we started the night negotiations (not even realizing that we were negotiating; we thought it would be so simple; everyone to his/her bed) but found Jesse really didn’t want to return to his bed. He still wanted to sleep in the dining area; either in Jamie’s bed or on the dinette; he wanted to be with people. (his brother isn’t a people?) So, we negotiated Sissy sleeping in his bed. After several hours of high level mediation, we came out with a plan. Sissy would sleep in his bed; Jesse on the dinette. Now Pike put in his bed for company at night; he wanted to sleep with Ellen and I. After a bit, we figured that out. Jamie then noticed Sissy all alone, crying in the boys room; she was going to be all alone now that Pike was going to sleep with me. Back to the negotiating table. Jamie would sleep in Pike’s bed; Sissy in Jesse’s; Jesse in the dinette and Pike in my bed. ARGH! Now Jesse was ALONE in the dining room area (do these kids know we’re only living in 300 sqft and you can’t reach the toliet tissue roll without opening the bathroom door???). That certainly would not do. Ok, Pike decided he’d LOVE to spread out in the sofabed instead of sardining into my and Ellen’s bed. So, tonight, we have Jamie in Pike’s bed; Sissy in Jesse’s; Jesse on the dinette and Pike on the sofabed. Ellen and I, trouble-free, stay where we always do.

Of course, all this means that my plans to have a space to work early tomorrow are for naught. Maybe tomorrow night.

sick humans and machines

Jesse has been sick with tummy trouble for a few days. He’s been sick 4 nights and 3 days. Yesterday I was torn between Malaria (we’ve been around mozzies even though they aren’t in the Malaria areas), Typhoid, parasites or vanilla stomach flu. He hasn’t eaten for all 3 of the days and really doesn’t have the weight to support that type of diet. Quite the opposite, in fact.

We’ve been giving him Cytomax (a cycling electrolyte drink) and Ensure for nourishment but might have turned the corner today. I’d remembered reading that raw garlic was anti-parasitical so first thing today we started him on raw garlic and Pediasure. He has responded really well and is very much beginning to turn around. Raw garlic never ceases to surprise me with it’s magical prowess at curing our ills.

Not to be left out, the van has developed something wrong with the fuel system. We think. After dragging the trailer out of the deep sand (with the road I’d constructed with planks and bricks) we got an error on the console “Service Engine Soon” and it seemed to run really rough. We’ve changed the fuel filter and filled with new diesel and are still stumped. Tomorrow we will find a Ford dealership to figure out what code the van is throwing and what we can do. For now, between sick boy and sick machine, we’ll be here probably another week. Not a bad place to be stuck. Yoga on the beach; lovely sunsets and fresh fish. We’re hoping to get shrimp before the season closes.

yoga on the beach

I have had two absolutely lovely practices the past two days. Settle in folks, or click on past, it is a Yoga post today. I think I might have finally figured out my back problem; I’ve had so many theories but I’m really focusing on keeping my back flat as a board and not going deep in poses and I think that is helping. I’ve been able to practice two days in a row without complaint, so something is going right. I’m in FULL 1/2 lotus on one side and this morning, I wasn’t sure which was my “bad” side! Both legs are getting somewhat even in 1/2 lotus and I’m really pleased with that. I’ve found my groove; I have been trying to fit Yoga in first thing; before coffee, before eating, but that isn’t working. I need to work a bit first and get antsy, have coffee; put in a couple hours working and then I’m ready. Maybe that is what is making the difference with the back. I’m still only going to MariB but I’m very comfortable with that is as far as I want to go. I’m very challenged by each and every pose. I have a lovely practice area; just in front of the beach, under a coconut tree, with waves before me, wind to cool me, tree to shade me and sun to warm me. The kids occupy themselves with something and I am free, left to involve myself in practice.

Hutatbampito, Sonora

When I was deciding on what type of tow vehicle we’d get (4×4 vs 2wd, diesel vs gas, van vs truck) I never considered getting a 4WD vehicle. The extra weight, the extra gears; I just couldn’t justify it when we had travelled all over dirt and sandy roads in the Westy without a problem. I also doubted I’d EVER find a diesel 4WD 15 passenger van. I’m sure you can get one from the factory for the price of a small house. As a result, we have managed to get stuck at least five times and each time we get into a dicey road I wish hopelessly that we had 4WD. I’m thinking a 7000lb van + a 9000lb trailer somehow outweigh a Westy…

Yesterday, before we headed anywhere near the beach, I asked a fellow camper if the sand was soft; it LOOKED soft but he assured me that it was fine. Well, we must have found the only Not Fine spot. We dug in but good and before I buried the real axle and the electrical connector I decided to stop. We unhitched the trailer, I setup the tripod and spent 2 hours trying to move 2 palm trees. I swear, the fronds or trees or mountains will move in my direction when they see the tripod coming out of the basement. It is like a challenge to them; to try to move into the line of sight and make my signal wonky. I finally moved the tripod to the water level and got online. Well, not AT the water level…but we had a nice breakfast of radiated fish.

So bright and early this morning, before coffee, before work, before getting online, before Yoga, I started to build my Ruta Maya. I found large adobe bricks and planks of wood and made myself a road. When the boys saw how much fun I was having, they and Jamie got into the act and helped with the construction. We packed up the trailer, disconnected everything and drove full blast out. I had a nice turn to make and had constructed another road for the curve and as I took it the dirt and sand were flying. But we made it out. We’re now camped on hardpack; not as close to the waves as before, but we can hear them quite well at night. The beach view is not so bad that we can’t see what is going on; I spotted a cowboy (he was quite an old man) herding a bunch of cows down the beach. Ellen LOVES cows and ran after them like a little puppy. The gauchero stopped when he saw Ellen and insisted that she try his mount. She was in heaven.

Insulted by the recurring trips to sandtraps and mudtraps, the van has decided to throw a little tizzy. Either that or bad diesel. It is running really rough and a panel light indicates an engine problem. We’re thinking it is either bad gas or a clogged fuel filter, so we’ll probably be here a week to sort it out. We’re hoping that the clouds will soon clear and we’ll have a fully sunny day.

bittersweet

We alternate between sadness and excitement here in Alamos. We LOVE the rancho we’re staying at and the lady who runs it. She and her husband bought the place some 50 years ago. He was a mountain biker way before the bikes were built. They have some 2000+ acres here and it is getting too much for her so she is selling the ranch. Her husband died and it seems that either she didn’t have children or they aren’t close. She doesn’t know what she’ll do or where she’ll go after the ranch is sold. It is so sweet and sad and I want to stay here with her and buy her ranch and raise the kids here (goats, horses, chickens and cows, oh my!) but we have our own journey. She is such a sweet lonely old lady. I so wish we could do something concrete.

Jamie has been bewitched by Alamos. I like it; I like it a LOT, but, I don’t know. They say you should rent a good year before even thinking of purchasing but he was hot and heavy all over the Bienes Raices (Real Estate) offices today, trying to get inside a house. The town seems to be somewhat unique in the culture provided, the very small feel (it IS a small town) and the incredibly lovely setting. We found a West African restaurant - something I didn’t think existed anywhere outside DF (Mexico City). Hell, I don’t know if there is a West African restaurant IN DF. The guy who owns (and operates, along with his employee, the cook) the place is a retired Safari operator who, driven out by war and danger, came to Alamos and opened a restaurant. He thinks that when the situation recovers in Africa (was it Sierra Leone?), he’ll go back there and open a Mexican restaurant! I never got to ask, Why Alamos?

Today was a very typical Sunday in a small sleepy Mexican town. By late afternoon, everyone was out at one plaza or another, strolling, people watching, sitting in bars or cafes and letting the afternoon slowly pass. The market along the arroyo was full to bursting but I wasn’t able to shop due to cranky (hungry) kids and Jamie intent on seeing the inside of SOME house. We’re staying at least another day; Jamie has another road to ride, the kids have MUCH more playing to do and I’d love another stroll about town, poking my head here and there, discovering treasure after treasure. Lots of pics in Flickr; enjoy.

Internet access

Mom and Dad have a Datastorm automatic roof-mounted dish to get online. It runs about $6000 for the hardware and installation. I could be off by $1K, but that’s about it. Our internet access is via a dish with a tripod. Normally it is really easy to setup, but sometimes not. Course, with the roof-mount, when a tree is in the way you have to move the entire vehicle; I remember Dad doing this when we were in Teacapan last year. Sometimes setup can be frustrating…

I don’t really have a technique other than setup where I think the trees won’t bother the dish. I always, and I mean ALWAYS manage to setup the tripod in direct line of sight with either a tree, if one is anywhere within a 50mile radius, or a mountain. I think yesterday, my problem may have been a mountain. So I set the thing up, deal with the kids a bit, forget things and go back and forth finding them and remembering what I forgot (usually the card with the numbers; I take it outside and leave it by the tripod and think I don’t need it inside and then go to get OPI readings and realize the damn card is outside, so back I track outside to get the card, or I forget that I need to convert degrees and minutes to decimal and since we don’t have a GPS I use the ontheroadin guide or Church’s book as they have GPS readings for different campgrounds in Mexico) or one of the kids is having an EMERGENCY and needs WATER or ZEBRA or HORSE or FOOD RIGHT NOW. Where was I? So I get distracted a bit setting up the tripod.

So yesterday I setup, thinking tree wouldn’t be a problem but something was, so I drag the tripod (all attached, natch, to make it especially impossible to drag anywhere) to a new site, then scream for Jamie as the dish is about to dump, splat on the earth and he comes to help and we drag it somewhere else (but now, I think I put the mountain in the way) and setup and damn but I still can’t find the friggin bird (satellite), so I drag a chair out of the van and sit for a while and stew and think about the 2nd to last dark beer I have waiting under the dinette but decide one more time to move the tripod. (think I’ll try something new and END a sentence) So THIS time, I disassemble the thing and move it out from under or around or near any tree and set it low incase the mountain is the problem and WALA I find the bird.

Tucson, Arizona

So a funny thing happened on the way to Nogales. We picked up our mail from South Dakota at the tiny Red Rock (Arizona) post office, but the ProstaQ from Herbalove never made it. The postmaster in Red Rock was so excited to have a customer that he hung up with his phone call saying, “Hey, I’ve got to go. I’ve got a customer. (pause) YES! A real LIVE one!”. So, I’m thinking they don’t see much action in Red Rock. Red Rock is actually nothing but a Post Office and, according to the postmaster, a bar that is a drug hangout. You’d think a grouping of homes (4 homes), no store, no gas station, really nothing but the bar, the Post Office, a school and 4 homes wouldn’t have a huge drug problem, but apparently the border drug runners pick the Red Rock bar to do thier transacting. Never would have crossed my mind.

So, we got our mail, all except the ProstaQ for Jamie. He has found that it is making an ENORMOUS difference in his prostatis.  Herbalove has no idea where the package is, USPS has no idea (even though it had delivery confirmation) and we decide to find a campground to figure things out. I find a campground (with a pool) and the kids think we’ve moved into glory land. The caretakers are lovely and happy and wonderful people so we stay the night to deal with the ProstaQ issue. Next day Herbalove offers to FedEx us a package, but we’ve since found that the campground owner is an absolute SHREW and is charging us up the wazoo for anything she can think of. Unfortunately, Herbalove doesn’t get the package shipped Thursday, but the kids spend the ENTIRE day in the pool. From breakfast to dinner. We hit Costco in Tuscon that night; didn’t find the inverter I had been looking for, nor deep cycle Golf Cart batteries (which would buy us som 200+ amp hours of energy as opposed to our current max of 80) but we did buy almost all the pesto they had. As is my wont, I filled out a bitch card (they might call them customer satisfaction cards) bitching about the complete lack of organic peanut butter. For some reason, Costco in California and Arizona (so far) has stopped carrying good Marantha or other organic brands of peanut butter in favor of their own (Kirkland). Normally not an issue, but Costco, for some unknown reason, decided to add oil and sugar to their organic peanut butter. I suppose some people like sweet peanut butter… Each time I’ve talked to store personnel they indicate that others have made the same comment; they’re all scratching their heads. What the HELL was I talking about. I’m so far out on this tangent that I’m looking around and have no idea how I got here or where I am. Poor fools; you’re out here with me…

So, we left the campground of the damned and honestly, the ONLY reason we left is because the owner was such an unholy bitch, and headed to BLM land in southwest Tuscon. We are crossing all appendages that the pacakge of ProstaQ will be at the Tuscon main post office tomorrow morning. Steven at Herbalove apparently walked it down to the post office and sent it USPS express overnight, faster than FedEx, personally. If the gods are smiling on us and the package is waiting tomorrow, we’ll head to Nogales tomorrow and cross the border Sunday. If not, who knows. I’m getting really sick of the dust and dirt and blah colors of the southwest Arizona desert. My eyes are hungry for green.

Dirt piles R US

The kids begged to stay another day here at the Shell station. Do these kids really understand what beauty is? What nature is? We spent a week in the desert and they were vampires; staying in the trailer all day and coming out at dusk to play for an hour and today they spent the entire day outside playing in the dirt piles. The boys found stacked cardboard and called it their fort. The girls washed their (big) horses. Jamie and I attacked the mold that started attacking the windowsills in California and dried in the desert and now just looks like heavy dirt all over the windows. We cleaned all the windows and sills and screens and then I got the fever and cleaned the floor in the bedroom where Ellen spilled some very strange concoction that honestly, I don’t even care to KNOW the ingredients of (suffice to say they comprised a sort of glue) and then the joints of the walls and floors and before I knew it I was baking oatmeal/chocolate chip/raisin/walnut/whole wheat cookies. So don’t say you haven’t been warned. You know the signs of the dementia.

Our router has been on a very strange trip today; it seems to be connecting us and then dropping us and the only way I’ve been able to get online is to wire myself to the router or modem and really, what is the point of having a laptop if you can’t flaunt your freedom from wires by posting from the closet of a bathroom? It must have something to do with these 18wheelers but I can’t figure it out. I’ve tried different channels and I don’t know what it is.

Tomorrow we head towards Tuscon but I’m not sure how far we’ll get, other than Red Rock where we have mail awaiting. I’ll leave you all with another picture from the desert. It was beautiful there. And oh, so cheap. I’m up to mid-April 2005 on the movement of pictures to Flickr. I’m going to have to get a lifetime membership to Flickr because I will NOT be moving pictures ever again. In other news, I’m wanting to change the blog name from ‘travelogue” to something NOT boring. It’s The Journey? (I secretly covet MB’s blog name of “Trip to Wonderful” it is such a gorgeous visualization)

Gila Bend, Arizona

We are all very very CLEAN! We are using water to wash in, to shower, to bathe, to do dishes, we are loving unlimited water! After a week of boon-docking in the desert there is nothing like unlimited water to brighten your day. I didn’t even want to change clothes this morning; I felt full of grit and dirt. The wind has been blowing hard the past couple days and dirt and dust is everywhere and in everything. So unlimited hot water is simply glorious. We are planning on only spending the night here (we’re at a Shell station just outside of “town”) but you never know with us. The kids found two large piles or dirt and sand and think they’ve found heaven.

We loved camping in the desert; the lovely sunsets, the bird life due to the Colorado nearby, the incredibly starry nights, watching the moon again; it started new when we got there and is now 1/2 full and the lack of rain. Oh, we were SO SICK of rain by the time we left the Bay Area. We are quite dried out now and everyone is recovering from really chapped lips. We popped (if you can call 3-4 hours popping) over the border on Sunday to get our vehicle permit and tourist cards, then stopped for tacos and paletas afterward. The kids LOVED the paletas as I expected; two got guyaba, one got pina and one watermellon. It has just been getting warmer and warmer and by the time we left the kids were playing vampire; staying in the cool of the trailer until the late afternoon when they’d emerge; chase the sun down and play in the twilight. Tomorrow we head for Red Rock to pick up mail and eventually Nogales to cross the border.

That’s what I call NonStick!

So I finally convinced Jamie to get rid of the Teflon and plastic in the trailer. Course, it wasn’t ME, I’ve been talking myself blue on this subject, it was an email from my mom. I’m sure there is a reason that I’m simply not a credible source of information; am I just too wacky in general for him? So, yesterday we got rid of the Teflon pans (yes, one was brand new that he bought instead of the cast iron I asked him to buy) and purchased a new cast iron pan. I also got a Pyrex lasagne pan to replace our oven-proof plastic pans and two glass bowls to use in the microwave. Today, after explaining to the kids that plastic no longer belongs in the microwave, Pike asked if he was going to die. I told him, “of course; everyone dies sometime” but he was specifically worried he’d die as a kid from cancer. I sure hope he hasn’t been reading the cancer blogs like I was.

Yesterday we took a tour of Yuma and the surrounding area. We didn’t PLAN a tour; we normally visit the farmland area north of Yuma on the way into town but this time we were actually looking for a diesel mechanic. The ONLY one in the area, apparently. While this area swells to bursting with snowbirds driving diesel trucks in the winter, they apparently get no servicing done on them in Yuma as everyone we asked said they get servicing done before they head south. The only diesel mechanic we could find gave us such awful directions to his shop that I seriously wonder if he purposely intended to lead us astray. Still, we had a thorough tour of lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, and what we think might have been chard. Being a bleeding heart liberal, I took photos mainly of the farmworkers. It was 86 degrees yesterday; I can only imagine that the reason they are so bundled up is for protection.

It has slowly been getting warmer and warmer; I was not the least bit surprised to find the thermometer at 86 yesterday in Yuma. Jamie could stay here quite a bit longer, but I’ve got the itch for mango and guyaba and beaches on the Pacific and want to get rolling. We’ll probably head over the border tomorrow to pick up papers (vehicle permit and tourist cards) and head towards Nogales on Monday. We’ve got mail waiting for us along the way and will then make a run for Mazatlan. I think it will be easier for the kids to travel if they know that a week at the beach is waiting for them, so the current plan is to cross the border, take 3 days to get to Mazatlan, spend a week there (at Maravillas again) and then head south more slowly to Melaque and Ztown. Eventually I want to spend a good month at Oaxaca, but we might save it for May, as Oaxaca is in the highlands and May, from experience, is the hottest month in Mexico.

Pictures to come; server errors and I’ve become so dependent on the Flickr plugin that I don’t want to do it any other way.