Author: Victoria

Hello, I'm Victoria. I was born and raised in Savannah, Ga. I am a traveling nurse that specializes in critical care. My husband Tim and I purchased a fifth wheel RV and live on it full time. In between jobs, we will adventure within and outside of the U.S. I hope you enjoy reading about our travels and hope our posts help people out with theirs.

San Ignacio, an oasis in the desert

After driving a couple of hours in the desert, San Ignacio was a pleasing sight. It is literally an oasis in the desert, surrounded by thousands of date palm trees. Date palms as is the dates that you can eat. They were all over the ground. The little black ducks that lived in the river at Los Petates RV campground enjoyed them as well. The campground has no hook ups and costs 120-150 pesos a night, or $6-8 dollars, depending on the size of your RV.  Speaking of RV size, in the Church’s book it says “big rigs ok” but realistically there are only a couple of spaces that would be ok for big rigs…and requires good maneuvering skills to get in and out.  We were able to get cell service here. They have hot showers but they aren’t reliable.

One thing you have to do if you come here is go to the mission. It is a gorgeous old Catholic church build in the 1700’s. I believe it was the first mission built by the Spaniards in Baja California. It is free and open to the public. The sound still resonates in the large arches of the church. I could hear the priests of the past giving animated sermons in their efforts to convert the Indians.

In Moon’s Baja book, we read about a hike that takes you to a great observation point of the town. The trailhead can be tricky to find. It starts behind Casa Leree, just off the main plaza. You walk up a dirt road and veer to the right. After pacing around for about 5 min trying to find the trailhead a lady in an orange robe pointed us in the right direction. If you follow the trail lined by painted white rocks it will take you to other nice overlooks of the palm filled valley of San Ignacio.

As far as food goes, there isn’t much of a market so I recommend bringing enough food to cook. You can get cheap eats at a couple of food stands along the main plaza. We ate at the Rice and Beans RV park one night to use their internet and do some business. The owner is friendly and speaks very good English. The RV campground here has all the amenities but it’s simply not as charming as Los Petates.

We stayed two nights in this quaint town most definitely worth visiting. Our next stop is the lovely Bahia Conception on the Sea of Cortez.

Whale watching at Ojo de Liebre National Park

On the next leg of our trip we headed back to the Pacific coast, crossing the 28th parallel – the border that separates Baja California north and south. Because we wanted to do some whale watching, we decided to stay south of Guerrero Negro along Scammon’s Lagoon at Ojo de Liebre National Park. To get here we had to drive about 15 miles through a salt flats working area. Camping costs 100 pesos a night or about $5. There are no hookups but there are hot showers. No cell service either. However, we could see the puffs of the whales’ breaths in the distance from our campsite. The park is only open during the season the gray whales migrate to the lagoon, from December to March, where they give birth and nurture their calves in the protected waters.

They do not allow kayaks in the lagoon so if you want to get a close look at the whales you have to pay to go out in a panga. The cost was 810 pesos or about $42 bucks a person. It is well worth the cost since we got to get so close to the whales. Some whales are shy and will dive when the boat gets close but others are curious and will come up to the boat and even allow you to pet them. Initially it was a little intimidating when the giant mother swam under our small boat. They are large but docile, and even playful, especially the calf. I think the mother purposely snorted water at us a couple times. It was a great time.

When we went into the town of Guerrero Negro to do some business we had the pleasure of trying some of the local food stands. We had some fish tacos of course and we also tried a new taco we haven’t had yet. It is called a Birria Dorado. Birria is a moist, shredded beef stewed in a savory beef stock. The birria is then stuffed into a taco and grilled to a crispy perfection (which means dorado, I think). Man it was delicious. I wish I took a picture but it was so good I completely forgot.

Our next stop is San Ignacio, an oasis in the desert, before bouncing back over to the Sea of Cortez.

Our first time to the Sea of Cortez near Bahia de los Angeles

Between San Quintin and Bahia de los Angeles we stopped halfway in Catavina for the night so we didn’t have to drive six hours in one day. This section of the drive has been the most scenic. It starts off along the Pacific ocean lined with large sand dunes. Then it progresses into the mountains and desert. We saw so many different cacti, some of which I’m sure inspired some of Dr. Seuss’s illustrations. Catavina is just a truck stop basically but there is a campground called Santa Ynez that is tucked away from the highway. It costs $120 pesos a night or about $6 dollars. Remember you should always pay in pesos because another couple that was there said they paid in dollars and it was $10.

After Catavina, highway 1 starts to smooth out. Up to this point it has been very hectic trying to avoid potholes. Most sections of the highway have been narrow with no shoulder, so if another car is coming and there is a pot hole you just have to hit it and pray you didn’t burst your tire.

Bahia de los Angeles, a little bay of the Sea of Cortez is very picturesque. The land coming into it is desert, then there’s the beach, the bay and the mountainous barrier islands in the background. We chose to stay at Daggetts campground which is right on the beach. No hookups at all but there are hot showers, the hottest shower I’ve had in a long time in fact. It costs 100 pesos per person per night which for us is about $10 a night.

While we were here the north winds were very strong all day everyday, it wasn’t until the day we left did the winds die down. I recommend checking the weather before coming to try and ensure it isn’t windy. Due to the winds we were unable to go in the kayaking or fishing which was a bummer. But one day while we were walking down the beach, we met a local man named Glenn who told us where to collect clams here. Glenn then gave us some of his homemade smoked fish and told us he would meet us the following day for clammin’. We continued our walk down the beach to a lighthouse which Tim climbed and then into town for some tacos. We loved the tacos from
Taquería de la Carretera. When she decides to open, the tacos and her homemade salsas are so delicious we ate there twice. No only are they fresh, but they are cheap at only a dollar a piece. There is a convenience store attached to the taqueria where if you buy something you can get the wifi code.

Bahia de los Angeles is a hidden gem and the locals are so friendly and willing to help you find fun stuff to do. In fact while we were clamming, another couple approached us and offered to take us fishing! Since we had already been there three nights, we declined. We are trying to make our way to La Paz in time for Carnaval. Next stop we are going back to the Pacific coast, south of Guerrero Negro along the lagoon for some whale watching!

South of San Quintin on the Pacific coast

Cielito Lindo is a nice little spot to stay. It’s about ten miles south of San Quintin and a five min walk to the beach. It costs 160 pesos/night or about 8 dollars. No electric hookups, but water and sewer. There’s a restaurant on site known for their margaritas and rock crab claws. Happy hour is from 4-5 and makes for a great time to meet and greet other guests. When we arrived at Cielito Lindo, we thought we were the only people here…but everyone comes out of the woodworks at happy hour. Among others, we met Skip, a man from Boston that lives here full time and pays only $65/month in rent.

Around a full moon the tide water at the beach near Cielito Lindo tide water can come up really high, making walking on the beach impossible. We rode our bikes down the beach to the other campground El Pabellon. This campground is 140 pesos a night (7/dollars) but there are no hookups at all. There are large sand dunes that block the view of the beach. The neighboring campground is Fidel’s El Pabellon which has no obstructed view of the beach. These campgrounds are located in a better area of the beach in my opinion, but we decided to stay at Cielito Lindo because we didn’t feel like moving. Maybe on the way back we will stay at one of the others.

There isn’t much to do here other than go to the beach or on the weekends go to the flea market. Skip rode with us and showed us around the flea market.  You can find all kind of great things for dirt cheap like bikes and wetsuits. I bought a slightly used shortie for ten bucks. I recommend staying at Cielito Lindo because of the restaurant and happy hour when you can meet some really cool people like Skip and Juanita, the former owner of Cielito Lindo. We saw her on Globe Trekker’s Baja California. That was almost 20 years ago and here she is still coming back every winter. That says a lot about this place I think. Here I am sipping a strong margarita, listening to the Mexican mariachi version of “Cuban Pete” and meeting others that equally share the passion to travel.

Before our next trek, we filled up on water at an aqua purificado dispenser in San Quintin. They usually only fill up five gallon jugs but since Tim has a “water thief” for connecting hoses to spickets, we pulled our rig up and were able to load up our whole tank! I hope we can continue to fill our tank like this because if we can’t then we will have to fill our tanks with unpurified water and treat it yourself with bleach. We would also have to buy separate water for drinking. Next stop is Bahia de los Angeles. We will stop halfway for one night in Catavina to break up the drive.

Our first stop in BC, Ensenada.

After a very stressful day of being implicated in an accident (see previous post), we finally arrived at our urban campground in Ensenada. We chose Campo Playa RV park because of the convience of walking to stores and resturants. When we pulled in, I thought the placed was abandoned. There were dead palm fronds all over the place, the road (in some parts) is in terrible condition, trash bins are full to the rim, the office building was locked with boxes piled to the ceiling. We thought, oh well it is too late to find another place we will stay and dry camp. After walking around, we found out that it is indeed operational. Since no one was at the “office” we pulled in and hooked up to the 20 amp site. Apparently there is some sort of manager there and we paid her the following day. There are hot showers, but it takes like 5 mins to heat up and the water pressure is terrible. I would not recommend staying here. For $25/night I expect better. Oh and by the way, there is no “Playa” as the name indicates.

The main drag, Ave. Lopez Mateos, is where all the tourist shops are and a lot of bars. From our campground, Campo Playa, it is about a five min drive. There are many Mariscos stands around, which is fresh seafood you can get right on the street. We chose a mariscos that was surrounded by locals called El. Guapo. We try to abide by the saying, “Eat with the herd.” A dozen Pacific coast oysters costs only $5 and tuna ceviche tostadas for less than a dollar. My God, I was in heaven. They shuck the oysters fresh right in front of you, with a freakin’ butter knife! When the bivalve opens you can see the saltwater juice brusting out. It doesn’t get any fresher. I can’t wait to try more of these places.

Ensenada is a busy, bustling port city. There’s a lot of people and a lot of noise. Don’t get me wrong the people are super friendly, but it seems like there is some sort of construction going on at every corner. I’m ready to move further south for some peace and quiet, I hope. Our next stop will be on the beach south of San Quintin.

 

Dealing with the Policia in Mexico and crossing the border.

Crossing the boarder at Tecate went more smoothly than I imagined. We arrived with our RV in tow on a Tuesday morning around 10:30 am. We needed to find a large place to park our RV because you can’t cross the border without a traveler’s visa, which is on the Mexican side. We parked in the large parking lot on a hill that is to the left as you are approaching the border. A sign indicated to pay $10 to park an RV. Since no one was at the office we placed the money in an envelope and proceeded to obtain our traveler’s visas on foot. I suggest exchanging some dollars at one of the convience stores on the US border side prior to doing this since it is cheaper to pay in pesos. By the time we were back at the truck around 11:30 semi trucks were starting to arrive and it was starting to get busy. We were happy to discover that the nice lady at the parking lot returned the money to us, stating that she didn’t charge for short term parking to obtain a visa. We filled up the truck with more diesel and headed for the boarder. The officer inspected the RV in just 1 min (looked in the refrigerator and one cabinet) and we were sent off. She never asked to see our passports, traveler’s visas, or any documentation about our dog Marilyn.

We turned right to get onto highway 2, as Google maps indicated was the fastest route, even though there were signs that said to go left for Ensenada. You can get to Ensenada by taking highway 3, which is more scenic and takes you through wine country, but from the topo maps it looks mountainous which we try to avoid to preserve fuel. It wasn’t very long before there was a military checkpoint and of course we were flagged down to pull over. The Mexican army men looked mean and intimidating holding their M16s. However as one of them approached my side I rolled down the window, smiled and said “Hola” to which he returned the gesture. Again he only searched the RV for about a min (looked in the bathroom and the bathroom closet) before they sent us on our way.

We were cruising happily along, listening to our favorite radio on Pandora, Road Trippin Radio, when something happened…To make a long story short, when Tim saw there was a semi truck pulled over on the right shoulder of the highway Tim signaled he was getting over from the right lane to the left lane, as you are supposed to do to give them room. There was plenty of room to get over even though there was a van far behind us.  It wasn’t too long when we were suddenly pulled over.  Apparently the woman in the van crashed and she was blaming us , saying we didn’t signal and cut her off…so the police made us return to the scene. The police were really upset initially because they only heard her side of the story.  When we returned to the scene and saw the van, it was obvious from the force of impact she was most definitely speeding and most likely texting on her phone or some other distraction. She probably looked up from her distraction, realized she was approaching us too fast, freaked out, turned the wheel and crashed. Tim explained to them in Spanish what happened and after about an hour of deliberation they let us go. It was surprising to me that they never asked for any insurance. Most people don’t carry insurance here, which is why the lady was trying to pull one on us because her van was obviously totaled. Thank goodness she wasn’t hurt or any of her kids either! I felt bad when I saw there were kids in the van but, hopefully she learned her lesson to pay more attention when driving!

So we weren’t in Mexico for two hours when this happened, what a great start to our trip! However, the main reason I wanted to share our story is to debunk the theory that ALL police and army are corrupt. Honestly, I think it went better than if it would of happened in the US since no one was ticketed. No paper work no problems mon. 🙂 After the gut wrenching sensation subsided, we hit play on Pandora’s Road Trippin Radio, and continued on to Ensenada.

Living and working in Tucson, AZ

Hello everyone! It’s that time again. Tim and I are going to go on another road trip adventure, this time to Baja California! Before all that, I would like to tell you about my last assignment in Tucson, Az.

I worked at Tucson Medical Center, but everyone around here calls it TMC for short. I worked night shift in the ICU. They call it the Neuro ICU, however I personally consider it to be more of a medical ICU. There is also a CVICU (Cardiovascular). The night shift staff has a great team work mentality and are very traveler friendly. I can go into more details if anyone has questions please post them in the comment section.

We parked our home at Far Horizons RV resort. As the name implies, it is an age restricted park (55+), but they allow travel nurses to stay. I can’t tell you how friendly and welcoming the people are at this park. Tim and I are obviously not 55 but we never felt out of place. We made friends with many of our neighbors and even learned how to play a new game, Pickleball! The park is spotless, with at least 5 staff constantly pruning or raking. There is a very nice clubhouse with a pool and hottub. As a traveling nurse, this is a prime spot to stay because of it’s location near different hospitals, including TMC.

Tucson is a great place to visit although it can get very hot in the summer, with daily tempatures exceeding 95 degrees F. Tim and I were here from October to December. This was a great time to be here because the park wasn’t very crowded and the tempatures were perfect 70 degrees F during the day 50 degrees F at night. The snowbirds start to flock here in December and fill up the RV parks till March. There are lots of hiking opportunities. Sabino Canyon National Forest is just around the corner but can get really crowded on the weekends. There are a variey of other forests/parks that are less than an hour drive including Saguaro National Park and Mount Lemon. Since the University of Arizona is here in Tucson, the downtown scene has a fun party vibe going on at night especially during the football season home games.

All in all, my experience in Tucson was pretty awesome. I will remember the friends I made here and the friendliness of the general public. I could see myself returning here for another assignment in the future.

https://www.tmcaz.com/ – Tucson Medical Center

http://www.tucsonvillage.com/ – Far Horizons RV park website

Zion National Park, Utah

So we conclude the last leg of this itinerary at Zion National Park. We went to the visitor center in Kanab to inquire about boondocking options and were pointed in the right direction. There is no name for the road, however if you are heading north from Kanab, it is right before Carmel Junction right after coming down the steep grade. GPS coordinates are 37.208999, -112.687259. AT&T works great here but not so much for Verizon. We are parked right next to a narrow section of the Virgin River, which is nice for being able to wash off after hiking in the red, Utah dirt. For groceries, I recommend going to Honey’s Marketplace. The prices were more reasonable than the other major store and they have fresh, smoked, finger lickin’ ribs. For those of you who know me know how much I love BBQ.

We attempted the lottery for a permit to go to the “Wave”, aka Coyote Butte north. This is a very famous 2 mile hike through a protected stretch of sandstone that looks like a wave. Only 20 permits are given a day. Ten of which you can get through the daily, walk in lottery in Kanab. We weren’t lucky enough to win the lottery, but we did get to do some pretty cool things during our visit here.

In Zion, we entered through the east entrance. As far as scenic drives go, it is up there with the best of them. However it takes about an hour to get to the park from our boondocking site due to the tunnels. The first tunnel is big enough to fit large vehicles but the second tunnel is only wide enough to fit one large vehicle at a time. This makes for a longer drive to get to the park since you may have to wait for traffic to clear through the tunnel. You don’t have to pay the $15 toll unless you have an RV or large bus.

Like all the other National Parks we’ve been to, Zion is crowded. Like the Grand Canyon, you have to take a shuttle to get to most of the hikes. Parking is a problem. Unless you get there super early or are lucky, you will most likely have to leave the park through the west entrance and find a place to park in Springfield. Then you will have to walk back, through the west entrance, to get to the visitor center to get to the shuttles.

We hiked the Emerald pools loop one day and the Narrows another. The Emerald pools loop was nice, my favorite part was the Upper pool. We saw a large tarantula perching itself in the shade atop a large boulder. We also saw some great panoramic views. The original name for Zion, Mukuntuweap National Monument, means “straight up land” in the local Indian dialect. Lets just say you may have a kink in your neck from constantly looking up at the towering mesas. The Narrows trail is a famous slot canyon in the park. Like other slot canyons, it can be dangerous is there is a chance for a flash flood. After all, this is how the slot canyons were formed, water slowly slicing its way through the sandstone rock. After a few thousand years, voila you have a slot canyon. We tromped through the virgin river for about 2.5 miles until we, well, basically got bored and kinda cold so we just turned around. It isn’t all that great. I personally prefer keeping my feet dry when hiking. One thing they do not mention is that you should have hiking poles. Sine you are walking through the river, in some areas you can’t see your foot placement. If you have a walking pole or stick it is easier and you will be less likely to fall.

The city of Kanab has some really great trails too. We hiked the K-Hill Trail and parts of the Cottonwood and Bunting trails. The K-Hill trail was the best. It is easy and only 3 miles in and out. The other two were not marked well so we couldn’t complete them. We also hiked Lick Wash, a slot canyon about 20-30 min outside of Glendale. We wanted to experience a slot canyon without being around hundreds of people like in the Narrows. It was totally worth the drive. Just a hint to get there through the town of Glendale you turn onto “300” road.

We had a great trip, it was the best road trip yet. This east coast girl got a taste of the west, and, well- it was awesome. I will never forget the stars at night in the western sky, the unique rock formations of the Painted Desert, or the ease of boondocking with the right set-up. I am going to have Tim create our itinerary for y’all to see where we went, step by step, on the map. Thanks for reading.

Arches and Canyonlands, Utah

On your way south to Moab on highway 191 you can find LOTS of boondocking spots on Willow Springs Road (left turn if heading south). At the beginning the sites are more rocky but if you go down only ¼ a mile the sites are more level. This road is popular for ATV’s and campers in general so don’t expect to be all desolate in the desert here. Also, the gentle hum of cars on the highway can be heard, but the scenery offsets that I believe. In some sites you can have a 360 degree view of the surrounding canyons and sandstone rock formations that change colors throughout the day. Among the usual warm colors of the rocks you can also see tints of green and blue in the layers. It is absoultely beautiful. We are able to get Verizon and AT&T voice/data service here. There is so much to do but on the first day we had to do our bimonthly laundry trip, pick up mail, and work on this lovely blog of course. The visitor center in Moab has decent free wifi.

We visited Arches National Park on our first day of exploring. After passing the visitor center, it feels as if you are entering the ruins of an ancient civilization. Vertical walls of red sandstone jut up like pieces of demolished buildings. Like all the other popular national parks (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon) there are lots of people, all sizes, ages and ethnicity. Even on the longer, more strenuous hikes we couldn’t escape the crowds. The first hike we did takes you to the base of the Delicate Arch, you have probably seen a picture of this arch as it is an iconic symbol of Utah, and National Parks in general. It was a hot and steep 3 mile hike. I was surprised to see so many people, young and old, that roughed the trail instead of settling on one of the easier and shorter viewpoint hikes. To get to the base of arch you have to walk around a caving sandstone hole. It is at a slant so I imagine it can be dangerous after a good rain. I will never forget the moment of standing under that arch. We also hiked to Devil’s Garden where there are a lot of other arches. Another famous one is the Landscape arch. It is a long, slender stretch of an arch at 306 feet. People are no longer allowed to stand under this arch as it is slowly starting to erode, go see it while you can!

It took about 45 min to drive from our camping spot to get to Canyonlands National Park. We hiked Murphy’s Trail. A portion of the trail was very strenuous as it descends 1400 feet within one mile. There is a drop off on one side of the trail as you descend the vertical cliff. The entire trail in and out is 10.8 miles. After descending the cliff, you walk through semi-desert terrain which eventually gives you a great view of white rimmed canyons.

On Saturday we took Marilyn on a short hike since she was cooped up in the RV the past two days. It’s called the Negro Bill Trail and it takes you along a stream to a large natural bridge. When we reached the natural bridge, we got to watch some rock climbers repelling down the wall. Tim and I took advantage of the water and went swimming in a deep part of the stream. I laid on one of the large boulders and let the cool water wash down my hair and body.

Our last day here we went kayaking in our inflatable kayak on a calm section of the Colorado River. We put in at mile marker ten on the way to Potash dock off road 278 and took out at Potash dock. This equaled a 11.5 mile trip. We attempted to arrange for a shuttle but it was damn near impossible. One company I talked to (Porcupine) wanted $100 for a 15 mile shuttle (sans gear by the way – he said they don’t shuttle gear…wtf??) So we said eff it, just going to ride the bikes back to the truck like usual. After kayaking we attempted to ride the bikes but then Tim’s pedal fell off. We didn’t have tools so I asked a group of people from South Dakota if they could give us a ride back to our truck and they kindly obliged. What a great world we live in.

Before we left, we showered and dump and loaded at Slickrock Campground ($5 per shower and $5 to dump and load). The showers ran out of hot water pretty quick…so I would go somewhere else next time. Also, the dump station is at a lean, those of you who understand this process will get that this is not a good thing.

Our week trip here was AWESOME! There is so much to do here – hiking, kayaking, white water rafting, mountain climbing, mountain biking, canyoneering, and ATV trails. I can’t wait to see more of this Painted Desert. Next stop, home of the hoo-de-hoooooossss, Bryce Canyon. 🙂

Dinosaur National Monument

With the help of freecampsites.net, we found a spot to boondock off Harper’s Corner Road (GPS coord.40.282358, -108.983808) near Dinosaur, CO. The dirt road is very rough but we managed to get our 35 ft fifth wheel back there. If you come here, you will want to pull off at the first left turn or camp in the flat area next to it as the road gets worse the further down you go. Amongst the sage brush, there is an amazing view of sandstone formations and vast high land desert. We have AT&T and Verizon data/voice service here too which is always a plus. For a free, HOT, shower, drive to the park with dinosaur statues across the street from the Colorado visitor center in Dinosaur.

On day one we hiked to Ruble’s point, a 9.5 mile hike to an awesome view of Split Mountain Canyon. It is really easy until the last mile where the ground is more rocky and steep. Within the first mile of the hike we saw prairie dogs and horny toads.

On the second day we drove to the Quarry visitor center to see some real dinosaur fossils. It is really cool how they built a warehouse type building to protect the sandstone wall that still has dinosaur bones in them, to show people what the excavation process looks like. You can touch most of the bones, they are real! The first skeleton was found in 1909 and they have found numerous types of dinosaurs in the area. We hiked two trails that linked together, the sound of silence and desert voices. Even though these trails were only a mile from the visitor center, there were no people on the trail except us. It is one of my favorite trails I’ve done, probably because of the extreme change in scenery (been in the mountains for a long time now). I learned that the semi-arid desert in which we were hiking is quieter than a recording studio, less than 20 decibels, hence the name “the sound of silence”. It was really neat to be in an area so quiet that you could hear the wind coming before you felt it. We saw a prairie dog, a fox, horny toads (some were little babies) and many, many rabbits.

Due to inclement weather we decided to leave the next day, even though we had already obtained our free permit to kayak the Green River through the park (only two given out per day). We dumped and loaded the RV for free at the CO visitor center in Frutia (awesome, thanks sanidumps.com for the tip!) Within the past month we have only stayed at a campground one night. The solar panels gives us electricity and we need to fill our water tanks once a week. We go ahead and dump our grey and black water tanks when we fill the fresh water tanks even though we could probably go longer without dumping. To dump and load (as I have coined the process) from our experience out west costs any where between $0 to 10. So at the most we spend $40 a month on utilities while boondocking. Nice huh? Next stop is one I have been looking forward to since we started this trip, Arches National Park.