So we travelled half way down on the peninsula. We weren’t as impressed with Baja as we thought we would (sorry Baja lovers) For fairness, we appreciated the fact that it was out of season time so things seemed more deserted (plus more left rubbish around) and less lively. Although, recommended by a friend, we visited and stayed at one of the beach camps at Bahia Concepcion.

In the large bay there are there are over ten beach campsites. The only one that was away from the road was called Playa Escondida. (Not as if the road is busy but the trucks are travelling night and day and they are noisy) John had a good sense to pick out this little beach even that we kept missing it , driving up and down on the road several times counting the beaches… Then finally we noticed a rough little road and a weather-beaten small sign for Playa Escondida. About 3-4 kms the bumpy road lead us to the stunning little beach unexpected behind a hill, hence the name which means “hidden beach”.

Playa Escondida
Bahia Concepcion
May 2013

We arrived at dusk knowing that the whole beach is ours! Turquoise, crystal clear water heaving with water creatures, a few small islands in the distance and a couple of pelicans. I loved it here straight away.
After parking up, we made ourselves comfortable on the roof, it was dark by then (around 10PM) we were enjoying a couple of cool beers, counting the shooting stars and chatting away we heard footsteps behind us! I was hoping it was just my ears but unfortunately John confirmed that he heard it too. Oh crap! It is almost impossible to get to this beach without a 4×4 vehicle -which we didn’t hear arriving, and as far as we were concerned no one else was on this beach. We turned around and shone our torch, and again, and again… “Do you mind!!” a strong voice broke the silence from the distance. “Shoot! Johnny, there’s an English guy up there!” I whispered frightenedly to John. We looked at each other blinking… But somehow it was peace of mind knowing that there’s (a rather polite) man up there and not an axe murderer or something. We called it a day, went to bed and had a peaceful night sleep.

The next day, in the daylight we were looking around and only noticed a car covered with a blanket from the bleaching sun, hidden under a palm leaf palapa that we didn’t notice yesterday. No sign of anyone though. We spent a nice relaxing day, and again that evening we were enjoying the wildlife waking up in the cooling water, watching stars and finishing off our last few bottles of light beers.

The following morning we just got up, sitting at the table with the wide open hatch enjoying our coffee, watching the calm water when the guy(!) walks up with a beaming smile on his face and holding a huge jug of coffee. “Sorry for the other night. Coffee?” says it in perfect american accent. Sergio the 38 year old ex marine, from San Diego (raised by an Englishman) who lives in his car, Betsy for 10 years and lived on this beach for 6 months. We invited him up to have the coffee here in the shade and breeze with us, and from that moment we were inseparable for 4 days.
He told us how he got here, made some buddies (permanent hippy residents of the area) but likes being on his own here. He hunts and fishes for his dinner, swims across to the island to swim with dolphins, he’s got a couple of seagulls who he talks to (or swears at when they steal his fishing baits) and every now and then fires up Betsy and drives into the nearby little town. He was a thoroughly fascinating guy in-tune and respect for nature and who appeared to be the perfect wildlife survival and not doing so brilliantly in the US society.

It was absolutely great to meet Sergio and would’ve loved to stay for a few more days but the extreme heat drove us away and we were still trying to make our mind up about taking the ferry to the mainland or drive back up north and around….

Finally the decision was to drive back up. The ferry seemed far too expensive and it turned out, yes, there’s a “special” fare for tourists. So we decided to spend that money on diesel and drive around, at least that way we meet more people and have more adventure.

We headed back up north on the exact same route we came down on (at least for the first day) It was long stretch of drive but we made it for our first stop in the mind-blowingly stunning Catavina desert. Amazing desert plants and huge ones!! We parked up at the end of an unused airfield runway and had a peaceful, lovely night.

Catavina Desert
May 2013

Catavina Desert

Catavina Desert Campsite

The following morning after a short walk in the desert (too hot!!) we headed to the Pacific side as we knew that the temperature is a lot cooler over there.

On our way we met a couple of surfers, Jake and Adam, a pair of brothers who were chasing the waves along the Pacific coast. We decided to stick with them for a couple of days at a couple of different spots and enjoyed watching them on the waves. Shared dinner with them and they shared their rather delicious wine with us. (Adam lives on a Napa Valley vineyard so had a few bottles of the home-made) We also met a bunch of guys from Tasmania -who couldn’t take their eyes off the waves when talking to us (apparently that’s normal) It was a fun couple of days with proper cool wind (we were craving for) and good company. I never heard John saying “dude” so much before.

The morning we were leaving Baja, got up early (though we’re never very brilliant actually leaving early) We made our way out of this coast (deep sand!) then up north on a rough-rough route that took alone 3.5 hours (only 36 km) the temperature’s gradually rising up to 49C!! All together the whole route was 450 km. It was a challenging, very hot and a very loooong day drive that John handled fantastically and without a peep. We eventually arrived at a small RV place, in Santa Clara, with a sweet-as-pie Mexican lady who made us dinner, provided a couple of bottles of ice cold beer and cool-water shower.

To be continued from here…

We are in sunny Baja, generally heading south but not sure if we want to go all the way down to the southern tip of it. About half way, there’s a port town (Santa Rosalia) so might just jump onto a ferry and sail over to the mainland (shipping is also cheaper from here than from La Paz) But we have time to figure that out. There are a few things we want to see around here so definitely sticking around for a few more days.

On our 3rd day in Mexico, driving south from San Felipe (nothing much happened in San Felipe) towards Mex 1 was about 55 km nasty, rough road where we ended up with a punctured diesel tank. Now, that’s what definitely no one wants.
The first hundred or so Km of the road from San Felipe is beautifully paved (everyone said it’s rough all the way) So we had a great time enjoying the posh, smooth tarmac road, wild-camping on the beach at a couple of lovely places.

Baja California
May 2013

Then we learnt that the last 55 or so km isn’t paved so that morning we let the tyres down by almost half to soften the impact of the road and moved on.

We saw a car by the side of the road and we stopped to asked if they needed help then realising that actually we were the ones needing help. John hopped out of the cab and immediately noticed the leak soaking the dry desert ground with horrible diesel oil. We spent the following 3 hours in the bleaching sun pumping the diesel out from this tank to our container tank so at least saved the pricey fuel.

Diesel pumping.

When we were done, we cleaned up the mess as much as we could and heavy heartedly moved on, knowing that there’s still another 10K of this road. Surely, we know there are plenty of this kind of roads in Central-South America and Burt has been built to take the rough impact on these roads but after this experience we weren’t exactly in the “off roading” mood.

We finally reached the paved Mex1 highway, inflated our tyres and headed to Bahia de Los Angeles a small town where we heard there’s a mechanic who might be able to help with our tank. Bahia de L.A. is in a bay of turquoise water and with countless islands around it. It was pretty and felt good to see this beauty. Actually the road was very beautiful too with unusual, desert plants, cactuses, yuccas shining in various desert-colours in the sunset.

Desert view.
Baja California
May 2013

Once in town, we bumped into the same family+friend (Mark, Mary 2 kids, 2 dogs and friend Mark) for the 4th time. We had, once more, another good chat, a few tacos and a couple of beers with them, filled them up with drinking water, for return they suggested some great places to visit and for the 4th time, we said our goodbyes.
We found the suggested mechanic but he couldn’t (or didn’t want to) help so we moved on to find our spot for the night. Emotionally (also bit physically) drained we found our camp spot for the night (A little hippy-ish Campsite: Daggett’s Beach Camping) As we’re dry camping they let us park wherever we wanted (which is always right on the beach) + Johnny negotiated a bargain $10 for the night. (he still thought it was too much :)) We had a horrendously wind-storm throughout the night keeping us awake. I thought we’re going to end up in the water!
But we didn’t. After, finally a couple of hours sleep in the morning, as nothing happened, the calm water, the blue sky, sparkling sunshine and a few squabbling seagulls greeted us. The only reminder of the storm was the sand and dust that covered absolutely everything inside Burt that we tried cleaning up -almost impossible. We had more understanding for fellow travellers in the African desert. After our morning coffee we headed off keeping the broken tank in mind. How could we forget about that…

We were heading to San Ignacio (recommendation of Mark’s) a small midland town, an oasis in the desert that has a freshwater lake with lush date palms and a Mission church that’s apparently a must see.
After a good 6 hours drive (and a bit of a dramatic Mex1 experience involving a huge 40 tonne truck lying on its side across the highway -no one was hurt) we were only an hour away from San Ignacio driving through a small community, John had a good vibe about the place regarding to fixing our diesel tanks…. We pulled up at a run-by-father+son (+1 handy guy) workshop at about 4pm to ask if this is something they could fix, arranging a day and time etc. Of course there are language barriers but it’s amazing how one can actually have a conversation with anyone, anywhere in the world and generally understand pretty much everything. Anyhow this was one of those scenarios, Johnny couldn’t even finish the sentence the guy, Jose, was already under the truck unscrewing the tank bracket. Looking at John’s face…. I mean he’s built Burt with his bare hands, sweat and blood, it was his baby and now there’s someone unscrewing things, and disconnecting the fuel lines and all!! The concern on his face was….. priceless.
In no time the damaged tank was off. Turned out the three of them (Jose, Jose and Jose) were excellent thinkers and pretty creative to solve any issues throughout the whole process. This really suits how John operates so we can say it was a good match. Although John got himself involved just to make sure things were done his way (which is always a proper good way) Approx 3 hours in, by the time this tank was fixed and they moved on to the 2nd tank, (we wanted to strengthen this one too before disaster happens here as well) we were sitting around practicing our Spanish, their English, drinking a couple of cold Mexican beers and joke around, while the work was still progressing. And I think that suited their way of working. Even that Johnny’s got his hands dirty also made sure our super-duper aircraft glue was used to fix bits they didn’t mind his input at all -in fact I think they learnt a couple of tricks too.

The 3 Amigos; Jose, Jose and Jose (and their friend)

By 8pm both tanks were fixed and done. Hurrah! And we just had enough time to move on and get to San Ignacio before dark. Although the nice Tres Joses offered to park up at their workshop if we needed to. This was very nice of them but we were so close to our destination so after settling the deal we thanked their help and offer and we moved on.

By 9pm we were sitting on the patio of the restaurant of our RV park, enjoying a couple of nice cold beers, some fish tacos and listening to an amusing conversation about ice cream of folks from Birmingham (first time in 6 months hearing English people!)

In the next day or so we’ll be going to Santa Rosalia where there’s a port to find out prices and ferry time so we can make a decision to ferry over to the mainland or drive back up.

Wow. Where do I start…?

OK, here we go; Joshua Tree is one and only place in Johnny’s world that has ever got the title “my favourite place on Earth” Now, Johnny doesn’t give these titles easily, the place has to earn it. (He’s been here 5 years ago for a few weeks, climbing, hiking and such so had a solid foundation of his statement)

We’ve been scooting around in the state for over 3 months and been to really great places and met wonderful people. We meant to cross the border for Mexico probably 2-3 weeks ago but we always thought we had to go to Joshua Tree before we leave the country and I guess, also conveniently as being right south, we wanted to leave the best for last 🙂

But before I get to telling you about Joshua Tree, here’s something life brought to us (again). We travelled across this area back in March (on our way to Arizona) so we knew a good spot for the night (BLM land along Hwy 274 south of Barstow), and a sweet little cafe (Cafe 274 in Lucerne) for breakfast before we get to Joshua Tree. In the morning we set off and headed to Cafe 274 for a homemade breakfast and coffee. Here we bumped in to the same man, Ray who we met back in March and thoroughly enjoyed his company. With a big cheer, we greeted each other as old friends and he sat down at our table. Ray is really a ray of sunshine in anyone’s life. He is a very good-hearted man with a kind smile and the most optimistic belief in life. He rescues horses’ lives from places where they’ve been badly treated or neglected. He runs his own business from his own strength and support on a land where water and vegetation is seldom but this old cowboy lives and breaths horses and this morning he just lost one. Through his kind smile we saw his long term fatigue pain and we let him talk. His positive view on life shone through the conversations and we were just happy sitting there and listening to him for a couple of hours. For some reason, we bumped in to Ray twice, though we only had a chance to enjoy his company for a short time on both occasions, he sure touched our hearts. After this pleasant two hours he said goodbye and drove off in his old Bronco.

Betti and Ray
Lucerne, CA
May 2013

We moved on as well after breakfast (which was more like lunch) and reached Joshua Tree in the mid afternoon hours.
Johnny found a pretty good sounding RV park in Joshua Tree (the town) We had some domestic duties (cleaning, washing sheets, filling up with water and stuff) so a couple of nights in an RV park is in order. Besides it really sounded brilliant -Peaceful sites, Mojave desert night sky, water, lake, ducks, facilities in good condition etc (Joshua Tree Lake RV Park) And on our arrival, everything was as promised + friendly owners. There were 3-4 RV’s already parked up there but the site was huge and we tucked ourselves away in the far corner so it was peaceful and quiet. We planned to stay a couple of nights here then one or two nights in the National Park then head south to the border.
On our first day, after being busy with cleaning and tidying I left Johnny touch up a few things on Burt while I went to hang out by the lake for a few hours. Just chilling out with the ducks.

my guarding ducks
Joshua Tree, CA
May 2013

Later that evening John said that we had a visitor earlier, Bill -one of our neighbours, and he will pop over for a beer soon. And there he was, Bill From The Ville, with a larger than life personality, with energy of a golden retriever and with huge appetite for LIFE. He absolutely loved Burt -that was the thing attracted him in the first place, though not having much sense or interest in the mechanical background of the vehicle, it was actually a fresh breeze of air for a change not to explain and get into endless technical details (no offense :)) Bill had a wonderful sense of humour, a deep interest in us as humans, a generosity to share part of his life’s stories and a pair of eagle eyes for a photographer/ documentary filmmaker.
Bill is from Kentucky and is here to document the 11th Joshua Tree Music Festival that his childhood friend organises right here at this lovely spot in the Mojave Desert in about 10 days time. This year he came 2 weeks early to make sure he had good “making of” shots setting it up, and was staying in a “borrowed” RV. As a man from Kentucky in the Mojave, he had amusing stories about this experience such as; one windy night his RV was rocking so bad he rather spent the night sleeping in the men’s loo sitting upright on a camping chair!

He told us about the festival and about the people involved who are organising, designing and setting it up with such love and enthusiasm. He happened to mention that they could do with some help and they welcome volunteers. I could see the twinkles in John’s eyes who said “well we have tools, Betti likes painting, we also have a couple of days to spare so we could offer help…”

And we did. OK, it wasn’t such a straightforward decision (we thought my visa was running out and have only a few days but that’s just one reason) Johnny and I love discussing everything, analysing, discussing more, sleep-on-it, and talk it over again. As almost everything in our lives this topic was like that too. “Shall we do this or shall we just move on as planned?” One minute we felt this way, the next that way. Some point I felt moving on and John the opposite then the other way round.

Before everything, as we planned already for the following day, after Bill’s visit we scooted into the Joshua Tree Park for hiking, climbing and general chilling. We found a sweet little spot in the furthest campground. The park, the trees, the boulder rocks, altogether the view and atmosphere was spectacular.

JT National Park, CA
May 2013

JT National Park, CA
May 2013

We love the desert plants.
JT National Park, CA
May 2013

After a day hike we returned to our spot and found that we weren’t alone anymore. On one side we had a cheerful couple of families who we ended up sharing the campfire with and on the other side was a bunch of college kids arriving around midnight when as far as they concerned the start of the party time was and didn’t stop till laaaaaate…
Anyhow the following day we turned up at the work-in-progress festival site, introduced ourselves to Barnett (the main guy) and immediately we had duties.

Bill, John and Barnett

We loved being involved and being busy, productive, helpful and all. It felt good. Johnny and I thought “let’s take this day by day, then we can decide if we still want to stick around for the actual festival” It is an experience itself just to get involved and we were already making friends which was fun. From this point, taking each day as a new decision saying each evening “Let’s turn up for 9AM and see if they still need us, if not we just move on” And each day was followed by another 9AM start. 6 days later we were offered 2 free tickets and a prime camp spot backstage in the hub of the organisers and all the new friends.
And guess what… the night before the festival, John and I were sitting in Burt at the supermarket’s carpark discussing if we should stay!! Eeeer…. how much signs and arrows pointing at the obvious direction did we need???

Finally John said “Something great is going to come out of this” I felt he was right. He turned the engine on and we made a left back to the festival site.

When we arrived at backstage taking our spot a huge cheer greeted us from Gareth, Chris, Travis, Al, Kali, Barnett, Lynn, Sarah and people who we didn’t even know but they heard about us. From that moment on we were part of the gang and as Bill said “and this, my friend, is the MOJAVE MAGIC”

One of our finest decisions yet. Eventually I checked my passport, my visa was good for another month. We decided to stay for the tear-down and an extra 3 days with some of the guys who also weren’t in a rush so had some quality time with our new friends.
We came away from this experience with 2 things. 1; trusting our hearts, knowing it only brings GOOD. And 2; Friendships for LIFE.

Thanks Bill.

Bill Stark

This post reflects on our leaving day from the Sequoias, May the 4th, after we spent a really amazing 6 days in the Sequoias.

The day started lovely. Got up at 9am which late for us although we both had a patchy night of sleep -John still has his cough that keeps him awake. We set off from our lovely campsite shortly after our coffees.

One of our favourite camp spots.
Sequoia Nat. Forest
May 2013

Then within 10 minutes at our first quick toilet stop we bumped into Eric and Chris! We met them and spent a very pleasant evening a few days ago. They are a brilliant, outdoor-y, open minded couple from San Diego and it was great to see them again on our leaving day!

They were just as pleasantly surprised to see us as we were to see them. We had another nice long chat. Changing suggestions on campsites in the area -Eric was giving us a few good tips on camps on our way.  We said goodbyes again and finally set off. We were a bit behind already and then we didn’t know yet how focus-demanding and windy the road will be ahead of us.

After a while we decided to stop by another giant forest. It was a tiny bit of a “waste” of time. I mean the forest was wonderful but it was Saturday and was absolutely packed with people, the path all the way paved which takes away the nature feeling of a walk in the forest so we didn’t enjoy it as much as our other hikes in the past few days. Anyhow we jumped back in to the cab feeling a little more pressure about time. As we were driving down the windy road at one of another trailhead we spotted (and them us too at the same time) the Argentinean couple! It was such a happy treat to see them again -and strangely, I thought of them earlier to check their blog to see where they are.And there they were!

Meeting the Argentinian couple the 3rd time.
Sequoia National Park
May 2013

How strange and wonderful. Again, an unplanned hour talk -sharing ideas on places to visit, camp, buy food etc then we were even more behind! We took off at about 3.40!

As John didn’t have breakfast or anything to eat at all so I suggested to stop and fix up a quick late lunch which we did.  It was quick and soon we were back on the windy road again.

Leaving Sequoia National Park
May 2013

Leaving Sequoia National Park
May 2013

We were a few miles away from the end of the road (effectively the park exit/entrance) where we saw a dump station which was perfect. We needed empty our waste tank and rinse it out. It didn’t take longer than 20 minutes but we had to do it. Jump back in a cab, making our way and enjoying the view as the river winding with the road down in the canyon. Then suddenly we saw red-blue flashing lights and a few cars -one of them upside down in front of us. We stopped there and the line behind us quickly got longer and longer. The ranger advised us that it will take long and appreciate our cooperation.

Leaving Sequoia National Park
May 2013

As we found out later no one was seriously injured and the driver -young guy, was arrested for drink driving. There was a little club-afternoon gathering at our vehicle and we all. Chattering away for about an hour when they finally let us through.

So we were moving again. A few minutes later we reached the Park entrance/ exit and then we were on flat roads. There were still a fair amount of mileage had to be done still but needed food so stopped at a supermarket to fill up. I think at that point John thought it will take a long few hours till we reach our camp tonight so he suggested to eat there in a restaurant. We found one overlooking the river so we treated ourselves with an eat-out dinner. Actually the food was forgettable but it was nice to sit on the terrace, people watching and hook up to their wifi.

Straight after this at around 7pm we were back on the road, this time knowing that we didn’t need anything and all we have to do is plough on and get to the southern Sequoia Nat. Forest as soon as we can. We knew -from our map that there’s a couple of campsites right after the entrance but before that we had a long drive ahead of us through farming roads. The sun was going down fast and soon it was dusk just when the road became quite focus-demanding again.

Leaving Sequoia National Park
May 2013

The flat farm land turned to hills and the road became narrow, windy and steep then finally we reached the forest.  It was dark and around 9pm when we crossed to the National Forest border -where we know, we can park freely and it is usually full of camp opportunities and I thought we are just minutes away from stop and settle for the night.

Well, this forest wasn’t giving us any chance. We had those two ‘campsites’ way behind us (never found them-the map must be way out of date) and all side roads -usually where we find good sites were all closed so we didn’t have a chance but keep moving on.

I was getting tired and cranky. John was pretty amazing driving all day on challenging roads, driving in the dark on the equally challenging road here and trying to keep my spirit up. Strangely this National Forest was full of private lands so parking rules were strict and overnight parking was prohibited.

It was nearly 10pm when found one side road and a big gravel area by the road. I would’ve been ok to stop there but John didn’t feel comfortable.

So we moved back on the main road where we found a baby owl sitting in the middle of the road. Luckily John saw it in time and went around it then we turned around and drove back. We don’t want to leave him on the road. Poor little bird, must’ve been hit, looked confused and clearly distressed (though no signs of physical damage) He let Johnny pick him up with a soft scarf and move him onto the grass. Of course there are numbers of danger there for him too but at least he was clear of the road. We felt terrible for him and I like to believe that he will recovered safely.

This event took the edge of my worry of finding the campsite and within a few minutes an open road offered us opportunities. We turned down on it heading to the woods where we saw a levelled ground with fire pit and we knew this was our home for the night.

It was really wonderful, the forest was perfectly silent and the stars above us couldn’t been sparklier. We stood outside for a while and admired them. Then all of a sudden the Universe signalled us with two amazing shooting stars for two wishes, and we hoped the baby owl sees the morning.

Slowly but surely we were making our way north, visually embracing the spectacular view of the Sur, taking our time for lunch at a great spot and stopping for sea lion watching. So it was, again, the early hours of the evening when we arrived at the campsite where the Airstream rally was held.
A bunch of jolly Airstreamers, including our friends Lianne and Kevin were gathering with glasses of wine and beers in their hands as we pulled up at our given site though it turned out it was too low for us so John and Lianne quickly sorted this out and within a few minutes we finally took our spot for the weekend, right next to Barbie and Bart.

Bart and Barbie entertaining John

Barbie and Bart is a delightfully eccentric couple from Manolo Park who are very in to generally supporting Earth’s good health in anyway they can. Bart is a steam engineer and Barbie is an art teacher -being very arty herself as well as being an excellent photographer. We had the good fortune to flick through their 3 picture books she made of her photos she took at Burning Man where they are being volunteers for years! (Burning Man festival was one our dream to go to, although we know that it won’t happen as we are here at the wrong time. doh.) They were wonderful neighbours to have, never stopped smiling, joking, laughing or being generous with their wine, beer and lemon supply plus with their complimentary guests’ tickets for the Monterey Aquarium.
We had more friends arrived later that evening; Nick, Desiree and their little boy Scott. Who was a delightful kid quietly sitting and absorbing life and whatever is happening. Everyone, throughout the weekend, was constantly complimenting on the unusually chilled behaviour of Scott’s which I’m sure partly gets from his cool and laid-back parents.

The next morning a few of us decided to hit the Monterey Aquarium. We all squeezed into two cars and off we went. We had a wonderful time. Barbie has been there numerous times so she knew her way, also she proved to be an excellent source of knowledge just about every species in the aquarium.

John and I could spent the whole day there and perhaps we took our time way slower than everyone else only just at the end realising that no one had anything to eat yet and it was already 3PM! Being a huge fan of Forrest Gump I was keen to try the Bubba Gump restaurant 🙂 where we were up for a quiz about the film. I think we answered 12/12 at the end. It was fun.

Lianne discovered that there was an English brewery not far from our RV site. This was something everyone was up for! So before we headed back home for the Airstream evening gathering we thought we could swing by for a couple of pints of homemade ale.
Feeling jolly after the our “tasters”, we got back to the gathering meeting more delightful people which is exactly the receipt for an excellent evening.
We were mostly chilling the next day. I enjoyed the free wifi so could catch up sorting and uploading photos, stories and so on. Johnny was enjoying a potter-around Burt. Then we were invited for a sea otter and sea lion watching by Barbie and Bart. Took some nice pictures, had a few good laughs, bought fresh artichokes and strawberries.

Then we returned to the site for the main event of the weekend which was the potluck (I made Italian bolognese earlier) This was a slightly quieter but very nice, chatty evening.
Lianne and Kevin have been wonderful to invite us, not only here but into their lives and introduce us to their friends. They were, as always have been, generous with their time, kindness and their delicious homemade ale that we had the good fortune enjoying many times throughout our time together. We were sad to say goodbye to them after a (short yet) long relationship with them. They are the true and living proof of the fact that no matter what, you can deeply enjoy every minute of life. And they really can.

Lianne and Kevin with us and with the rigs.

As the rally ended on Sunday, our good friends and new-made friends were packing up for their journey home. Some needed to leave early morning for a longer trip, and some had time to enjoy a few more hours in the day. But eventually by the early hours of the afternoon we said goodbye to the last people standing; Barbie and Bart and we left to find our next camp spot.

Barbie.

Next The Sequoia National Park.

We are approaching to the end of April and we are still in Bakersfield. We’ve been treated like kings by the family & friends, even (speaking for myself) got into a slight easy-life routine, while John’s been busy improving things on Burt I’ve been going to morning swims or yoga, coffee and long chats with Leslie and visiting her mum, hang out with the nephews – Andrew and Christian then dinner with family or friends and so on. It’s so easy to slip into these things but as even good things come to an end, eventually this had to as well. After two and a half months in Bakersfield, heavy heartedly (and in a bit of a panic -last minute Hap A and B booster jabs, pick up some malaria pills) said our goodbyes to the family and headed to Pismo Beach on the 22nd of April.

Lianne and Kevin invited us to an Airstream rally north of Monterey for the last weekend of April. Despite Monterey was the opposite direction where we generally need to go we decided to go anyway. Spending a few more days with Lianne and Kevin and their Airstream-enthusiast friends sounded like a fun idea.

We left Bakersfield on the Monday before the Monterey weekend giving ourselves time and a chance to visit a couple of places on the way. It was also Lianne’s suggestion to visit the State Park in Pismo which is one of the two (?) beaches in the US where you can legally park up on the beach feet from the water. We were drawn to this idea since we heard about it so we fitted this visit in our schedule.

Camp on Pismo Beach
California
April 2013

Camp on Pismo Beach
California
April 2013

We spent a couple of nights on the beach which was great -and, ahem necessary as we stuck in sand. On our arrival (which was in pitch dark) we couldn’t be bothered worry about it. We were level, we had water, food, a few bottles of beer so decided to stay a couple of days. As it was Monday/Tuesday the beach was quiet and peaceful. Apparently this patch of land is packed with ATV vehicles off-roading on the sandy beach at weekends. We loved spending our two days walking along the shore, reading, writing, sleeping and generally just relaxing.

We got up early on the morning of our departure knowing we have a good couple of hours digging ahead of us so after our coffees we packed up and grabbed the shovel. John had the right hand side and I was in charge of the left hand side.

John is on the case.

As we were shoveling a pickup truck appeared watching us from a short distance. We chatted the guy for a few minutes -turned out he was the local towing guy who, spotting us, was just waiting for an “easy prey”. He has never seen sand-ladders and had doubts they would work. In about 20 minutes we felt we shovelled and evened the sand out enough to put the sand-ladders down at the rear wheels for good traction. John jumped in, started Burt and gently navigated the beast out in reverse with no problem. The guy couldn’t believe his eyes 🙂 Brownie points for the sand ladders! The whole process with packing the ladders up, took about half an hour and we were on our way.

Next destination is the Big Sur!

Big Sur
California
April 2013

We heard that there are a few campsites in the National Forest and one of them particularly recommended (Kirk’s Creek) As oppose to all the campsites, Kirk’s Creek Camp is located on the Pacific side right on a huge cliff with lush pines and with a view of the ocean where, at the right time of the year you can listen to the Gray Whales’ songs. Sounded great to us. In the early hours of the evening when we arrived to the small campsite, pretty much all the spots were taken except the one that no one wanted 🙁 You know, right at the entrance, wonky ground surface, no ocean view. Although I liked the surroundings with the gorgeous forest, greenness and all and it was quiet. John wasn’t as forgiving as I and grumpily adjusted Burt’s level (as much as he could, the ground was really off!) he hunted for some fire woods and lit the campfire (first time in our travel) I think it was lovely, we had BBQ chicken with simple tasty salad and sat around the fire till bedtime 🙂

Camp at Kirk’s Creek, Big Sur,
California
April 2013

The next morning there still was a slight hangover of John’s grumpiness -for fairness he couldn’t sleep on the tilt but a couple of cups of the good old PG tea put smile on his face. We decided to have a short hike before we set off. There was a trail leading down to the rocky beach where we were rewarded by seeing a pair of mom and calf grey whales passing by. That made up for the wonkiness.

Kirk’s Creek, Big Sur

Next; Monterey

State facts
Nickname: Silver State
Capital City: Las Vegas
Famous for: the slot machine, Burning Man

We only spent a few days in Nevada. So close to our first big stop in Bakersfield, we were driven by time. We have family there who were expecting us and we had our damaged wheel and a few bits waiting to be fixed.

We planned to drive long days so left Wendover early morning in the fog and headed south-west on Hyw 93, the most direct route for us.

Foggy morning
Wendover, Nevada
February 2013

Still snow patches here and there but generally the weather was warmer and warmer as we made our progress. Our campsites were the desert on public lands where we had our first opportunity to climb out of our top hatch make ourselves comfortable on the top of the box and enjoy stargazing in the mild February desert nights.

Camp in Nevada. Still snow but getting warmer.
Nevada
February 2013

Our first breakfast with open hatch in the mild morning weather.
Nevada
February 2013

We read somewhere about an RV park just few miles from Beatty, where they had 3 private hot spring in antique bath houses which sounded cool. And as we were heading that way we thought it’d be almost a crime not to stay there for a night. We rolled up in the early hours of the evening got ourselves a good spot had a short hike up the hill then headed to the antique bath house  They had 3 different houses with different temperatures. The “antique bath house  is a bit strong title -I imagined something like at the end of the film Maverick (with Mel Gibson) sitting in a bathtub in a gorgeous colonial spa…. this was more like 3 tin sheds with stingy lights but I liked the pool. I guess they wanted to leave a natural feeling so the bottom of the pool was gravel which was slightly weird first, but over all we did like it. It sure was private and we stayed there for a long time enjoying the hot water. Here we met a lovely couple from Oregon. We had a very nice chat. They were on their way to Death Valley (as we were too) and recommended an RV place to stay where they were planning to stay. It was good to know as usually we rarely have forward plans on camp sites.

This was our first official sunny and genuinely warm morning. No jackets, no scarf or gloves! We set off first thing to the nearby town, Beatty for a quick breakfast and coffee then planned to move on. As always we were looking for the cafe where locals go, and we found it. A bright, little cafe with ’50’s design and delicious eggs & bacon (and some pancakes) An eccentric, middle aged gentleman from the opposite table was interested in our vehicle and our travels so we invited him to sit with us. We had a great long chat and as our time in the cafe was approaching to the end he invited us to his home which was just across the road. After we paid we headed to his property and parked up. His place was a warehouse conversion with unique interior. Rupert, our host was waiting for us with the kettle and the fire in the fireplace on. He was an artist, a designer, a collector of antique art and furniture, an architect, a big thinker. His place was a real inspiration of great living space with style. He had a large black and white cat shyly hiding from us and a Harley Davidson parked up in one of the corners of the warehouse.

He was a racing-car enthusiast (he designed a racetrack which he was planning to bring it alive southern Nevada) and he was a lover of stylish coffee table books. Rupert is Canadian born from English parents and though he never lived in England in his heart and in his all being he seemed very much English to me. As John is a designer, architect and engineer himself, I think this was one the reasons they were gravitated to one another and enjoyed each other’s company very much. Regrettably our time was running out -as we spent half a day at Rupert’s home, and we had to say goodbye and move on.

We were going to take Hwy 374 which is the shortest (and only) way to Death Valley but within a short 15 minutes there was a turn off sign to Titus Canyon which was effectively a scenic route to our destination. We decided to take this dirt road instead. (at this point we were more confident that our wheel would hold out) The dirt road was rough first and we were making a pretty slow progress but then when the hills started appearing the road surface turned smoother and so much more interesting. The narrow road wiggled upwards by the side of the higher and higher hills opening our view to wonderful mountains in the distance. There were some turns and twists that I thought we were too big for but as I was holding my breath and griping on the handle John effortlessly maneuvered us round up then down on the steep skinny route.

Driving through Titus Canyon
Nevada
February 2013

Driving through Titus Canyon
Nevada
February 2013

And after some long hours (at least it seemed long to me) we were over and on the other side of this beautiful and breath-catching hill-chains and rolled on to a flatter surface in a basin surrounded by mighty rocky mountains.

Driving through Titus Canyon
Nevada
February 2013

Driving through Titus Canyon
Nevada
February 2013

We found out there was an vintage automobile gathering over the past weekend in Beatty and many of the participants choose this route to leave instead of the highway so we had some company once we stopped for a short hill-climbing. There was a historic sign claiming that where we stand there are 100 years old supposedly Native American rock paintings -I wasn’t sure what they really were but it was a good stop for stretching our legs in the wonderful warm air. The oldsmobile people caught up with us. They were a cheerful bunch -some of them dressed in vintage costume emphasizing their love to the era. We equally admired each other’s automobiles, took some photos and they scooted on leaving a small dust cloud behind.

Driving through Titus Canyon
Nevada
February 2013

Driving through Titus Canyon
Nevada
February 2013

I mentally prepared myself for another hour or so slowly rolling up on narrow roads then down on steep ones to get over the monumental mountains ahead of us so I thought we better get going. As we were making our way towards the rocky giants, instead of going uphill we entered a breathtaking deep canyon that winded our way between smooth red, white, grey stripy rocks and eventually lead our way out to a sunny parking patch. The actual canyon drive took about 15-20 minutes and we didn’t want it to end. (the whole drive + hike was all together about 3-3.5 hours) The wonderful thing about this drive was that we didn’t know what to expect, and as it’s a one way only route the scenery was building up to the grand finale of the canyon. Number one drive for us! and any who isn’t in a hurry and don’t mind a little suspension work-out on their vehicle.

Driving through Titus Canyon
Nevada
February 2013

Driving through Titus Canyon
Nevada
February 2013

Somewhere through our drive in the canyon we crossed the state border to California. We arrived at an oasis of RV parks, shops, restaurant, bar etc in the desert of Death Valley and what we felt doing right away was to get a couple of cold beers at the bar before we check in to the RV park for the night. As we were enjoying our beer there was the lovely couple from Oregon walked in to the bar! We all cheered loud and greeted each other as old friends. We had a great evening and we got an invite for a hike in the Mosaic Canyon for the next day with them.

This was our first really busy and slightly noisy RV park experience -that just made us appreciate all our previous nature campsite more. As we had dinner and maybe a couple more beers we got to the RV place in the dark and just about found one spot to park up creating a little noise and a little diesel fume. Sorry.
After a patchy night sleep and about 15 people’s visits in the morning (completely new experience; in a busy RV park we can’t hide and clearly many people are interested in unusual RV vehicles) Anyhow, eventually we could set off with our friends for our hike.

Mosaic Canyon
California
February 2013

The canyon was beautiful the four of us had a great time and lovely chats, John and I got to do a little rock climbing and go a little further in canyon which we loved. A few hours later we had to say goodbye to our new friends and make a move again.

We found a wonderful stop for our last night in the rocky desert. One more peaceful and starry night.

BLM land camp
California
February 2013

Tomorrow we’ll be arriving to Bakersfield where family and a few repair work are waiting. Next, Bakersfield, CA.

Utah state facts
Nickname: Beehive State
Capital City: Salt Lake City
Birthplace of: beloved bandit Butch Cassidy (1866)
Famous for: Mormons, red-rock canyons, polygamy!
Best souvenir: Wasatch Brewery T-shirt: Polygamy Porter -Why Have One?

We were zig-zagging our way south from the Bear Lake, ID still sticking to small roads (but not too rough as we were still limping on three wheels). The weather was stunning and sunny all the way to Salt Lake City. This was the first city since the beginning of our journey we wanted to visit. Not that we are religious but we are interested in religion just a smuch as in culture, people, food and so on. Were fascinated by the little story we knew about the Latter Day Saint (LDS) religion, also known as the Mormons and thought where else we could find out more about it if not here, in Salt Lake City the capital city of (not just Utah but) the Mormon religion.

Salt Lake City was established in 1847 by several followers of the Mormon Church who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. The city’s population is nearly 190,000 and just less than half of this are members of the LDS Church. The city itself is very pretty and there’s a slight European feel to it with gorgeous old, colonial buildings and tram lines running across town yet surrounded by breathtaking snowy peaked mountains. Really beautiful. We could park Burt at the heart and also at the top of the city by the Town Hall Centre. This was great and everything we wanted to see was walking distance.

In downtown there lies the headquarters of the Church on the 10 acre Temple Square where you can find the Church Office building, the Temple (where not just visitors but certain members of the Church aren’t allowed to go in), Culture Centre, Library and The LDS Museum. This was a fascinating experience and we spent a few hours wandering around and talking to the well groomed, well spoken (single, young, female only) missionaries who are volunteer representatives of the Church and were from all around the world doing their 18 months “experience work” for the Church in order to participate in the religion on deeper levels.

This was a fascinating experience and we were glad we went even that the price we paid was to stay in a noisy and relatively expensive RV park in the outskirts of the city.

As we were still concerned about our worn-out wheel hub we had to plan our route shorter, more direct and on relatively smooth roads to Bakersfield, CA where John has family and we planned to stop there for a couple of months anyway. Now, we also planned to have all the repair jobs done (a few more adjustments and fixes too) there. So bearing all this in mind we decided -heavy heartedly, to miss out on southern Utah and just head across from Salt Lake to the Salt Flats on I-80.

Interstate 80 is bonkers. Flat, straight and looooong. The second part of the roads is flat as a pancake but was wonderfully weird.

When we arrived at the Salt Flat we learned that it isn’t “ready” yet. Being too early in the year (1st Feb!) it was brown and wet. Someone would be disappointed but we loved it anyway.

After our late lunch we rolled in to town (Wendover) on our usual way…

It was getting late in the day to move on so after visiting the Wendover Airfield Museum (for John’s biggest joy), we had to stay in this town. Which was actually a fun experience for a couple of reasons. One; despite the snow patches the climate was considerably warmer (for my biggest joy) and Two; the town had 2 faces; being split by the Utah-Nevada state border, one side of the town looks just like a regular town with gas stations, supermarket, post office and so on but as we crossed one traffic light (and the border) we found ourselves in a neon city with huge casinos, bright lights, palm trees, harsh green fake grass and bars. We decided to stay this side of the town 🙂

Montana state facts
Nickname: Treasure State, Big Sky Country
Sale Tax: No state sales tax!
Birth Place of: Gary Cooper and legendary motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel
Famous for: big sky, fly-fishing, cowboys and grissly bears

We spent an amazing and eventful couple of days in West Yellowstone where we came across with the sweetest cafe owners, a Hungarian urban-documentary photographer Zoltán Balogh -trying his spanking new Sony Alpha in the snowy un-urban national park, spent a pleasant evening with a very nice couple from Seattle, we saw even more volcanic geysers, bubbles and steam eruptions and had a good fortune to talk to a grizzly bear attack survivor, who told us his extraordinary story.

On our arrival, which was at around 10am, we decided to have breakfast at a local little cafe (Runnin Bear) Adorable little place that radiates its owners love and care. Besides the delicious full Americana breakfast, they gave us great tips for a day trip with Burt around the area.

After our long-stretched breakfast we popped in to the visitor centre where we booked our snowmobile trip for the the next day then decided to visit the bear/wolf closure before we head off for a little afternoon trip.

The clouser was very quiet. There was a guy with number of cameras, endless lenses, being busy taking photographs. We ended up chatting then invited him for our day trip. He was a multi award winning urban photographer from Hungary. (see his blog at the Link menu) He was here on a 10 days wildlife photo expedition that he won on a photo festival as first prize. He decided to stay behind from the others who, as in the past 8 days, went in to the park for the day to photograph bisons and stuff. He was very happy to take our offer and we spent a great afternoon together before we said our goodbyes.

The next day John and I, another couple and our guide were gathering at the snowmobile rental for the kickoff of our day trip to the Park. It was a small group and it was perfect! As we crossed the Park entrance we were, again in Wyoming (who can keep track of this?) Stopping every now and then at interesting points or when spotted an animal.

Our guide was thoroughly knowledgeable about the Park’s history just as much as he was passionate about its wildlife. We really enjoyed his talks and, as we found out he was a grizzly bear attack survivor. He eventually gave in John’s arm-twisting and told us his fascinating story. The day trip and the Park with its offerings was stunning. The weather turned beautiful and though still quite chilly (especially on the snowmobile) it was crystal clear and sunny.

We drove to Old Faithful where we had lunch and saw the big geyser eruption which happens every 91 minutes.

On our return we invited Annette and Rob (the other couple on our trip) for a drink as we had too much to talk about after a day like this! It was a wonderful day followed by a very pleasant evening with this sweet couple.

They predicted a big snowstorm as we were leaving, and they were right. It started with pretty heavy snowfall but we were leaving anyway and within 30 minutes the icy wind became very strong, and thick fog and slippery road surface made our trip less ordinary. We decided to press on and make as much mileage south as possible mainly because of the weather and because we were beginning to have problems starting Burt in big minuses.

After a tense whole day drive we made 250 miles from West Yellowstone to the Bear Lake at the Idaho-Utah border. We were tired and hungry by the time we found our spot and and we were ready to bed. Despite the storm we had a peaceful night. Tomorrow Utah!

Early breakfast then set off. By 8.30 we were on the much clearer road with blue sky and sunshine above us. We headed to Salt Lake City, the first city since Halifax.

YNP is the first national park (in the world) and is basically a massive volcanic crater where we can actually walk/drive on to the top of it. (last eruption was half a million years ago and not predicting one anytime soon so it was OK) There are a few more smaller volcanoes around in the park but this biggie has the most offerings to visitors with its ever erupting geysers, steaming prismatic hot springs, bubbling mud pools and so on. The park also packed with wildlife including huge herds of bison, elk, deer and the magnificent looking big horn sheep that gracefully hops down of steep cliffs, wonderful birds, coyotes, black and grizzly bears and my favourite; grey wolves.

The other fun thing to get to the YNP in the winter is that, due to many cross country roads being closed, we had to drive in to Montana then back into Wyoming. This was cool so we got to see a bit of Montana also known as the Big Sky Country. Oh man, and it was. Something there that stretches out the sky and its blue sparkles as nowhere else. After a long day driving we settled at a fishing spot by a river about 40 miles from the north entrance.

The following morning arrived to Mammoth and straight to the ranger office to familiar ourselves with the activities around the area. Mammoth is a small posh-looking town like a little antique jewelry box. The few main buildings (the ranger office, post office a restaurant and the grand hotel) are nice, colonial looking stone buildings. Had a nice big walk around the sulphur geothermal terrace just walking distance from town.

Then later we decided to visit an open natural hot spring just a few miles out of town for a plunge. No facilities just a simple car park, half a mile walk into the wilderness and we were there. The reasonable size natural pool, where the boiling hot spring mixes the ice cold river had only a few people in it. In fact it was only a 6 members Native family and us. The two little twin boys, three man and a woman looked just as beautiful and distinguished as I imagined Native Americans look. We we relaxing in the hot water enjoying listening to the 3 men singing native folk songs meanwhile admiring the rising full moon on the purple evening sky. (honestly, I didn’t make this up)

The following day we drove to the east end of this one open north road to a little town called Cooke City. Stopping every now and then for short hikes, taking photos or just admiring the wildlife. Sometimes we didn’t have a choice…

There was a section in the road that wasn’t cleared and gritted and we found a huge delivery lorry slipped into and stuck in the snowy gutter so we stopped and hooked Burt to his cab and our little Burt managed to pull the 30 ton truck out. Haven’t seen a man happier.

Cooke City is in fact in Montana (again, we were in and out of the the two states) and “city” is a generous word for the place. It’s a wonderful small town that is hugely busy in the summer and has a cool atmosphere in the winter with skidoo dudes and cross-country skiers. Seldom our ski supply we went for a nice big walk in the snow then found a fantastic place to eat dinner, have a few beers and chat with the locals.

It really was a nice place and glad we went. The next day we headed back to Mammoth and arrived finding a herd of bisons wondering around in town. It was a bizarre sight for us but apparently they do wonder in town every now and then.

Though the rangers jump on horse backs and herd them back to the wilderness. Mammoth is the edge of the national park so if the buffaloes would make it to the other side they’d be outside of the Park which means they would be without protection and hunters would be free to shoot them. So that was done and dusted within a few hours. We wanted to stay another night here again and before bedtime wanted to visit the natural spring bath again as our last time was so special. Well this time it was….err…. different. When we arrived we found the pool packed with screaming, laughing, buzzing college kids, drinking beer and eating peanuts. So this time wasn’t so special.

The next day we decided to move on and try to get to the Park’s west entrance. This was a 4 hours round trip out of Wyoming, in to Montana then in to Idaho then back to Wyoming. Simple.

On our way there, we stayed a night in a deserted primitive campsite by a river before we arrived to West Yellowstone and that is a whole new chapter, I’ll be reporting on that…