Settling in

Greeting to all from sunny Mazatlan; As most know by now Janice, Ollie, and I made the trip unscathed as did all of our cargo.

Our trip was good. We left Spokane Friday morning the 1st of October and drove to Stanwood, Washington where we stayed two days with Tom and Crete Tazer at Tazer Valley Farm. On the 2nd I officated at a wedding at the farm.

Sunday morning the 3rd of October we started our trip south and ended in Medfored, Oregon. On Monday we drove to Santa Nella, California where we stayed at a beautiful Mission Style Hotel. We travel using the hotel coupons book, so sometimes we get great hotels, sometimes not. On Tuesday evening in Palm Springs our luck ran out. We got a great rate, but Janice described the place as a step up from a flophouse. We had a scare as I misplaced the key and Janice remembered signing something that said it would cost $300 if the key was lost. It turned out it was $50, but at the last minute we found the key. Palm Springs was not a bust as we got to see our friend Kerry Donavan and had dinner with him.

On Wednesday we drove to GreenValley, Arizona and stayed in a wonderful Qulaity Inn where we had stayed last year when we drove down. We met Nancy from Aspen, Colorado at the hotel and had dinner with her. She would be part of our caravan into Mexico. On Thursday morning we met Sandy and Maria who would also be part of our caravan. Sandy was from Wisconsin and Maria was from Ecuador. At 8:00 we crossed the border into Nogales and all got green lights at the first stop. (This means no customs inspection). Once insdie Nogales we found an ATM and got pesos for our trip. At Kilometer 21 was the Aduana. This is where we got our visa and registered our cars. This is a time consuming process, but all of ous had our ducks in a row, so were out of there in less than 45 minutes. (In Mexico three carloads of people dealing with administrative detail, this is a miracle). Luckily, all three of us got the green light again and were on our way.

Thirsday evening we pulled into Navohoa, Sonora, Mexico. We were able to stay in a nice hotel where they had patrols in the parking lot all night, which was a releif as all three of us had vans full of personal property.
Friday morning we headed towards the final day of our journey. All went well until about 140 miles from Mazatlan. We were the last car in the caravan. Sandy and Maria's car was ahead of us and all of a sudden pulled off the road. It was on a section of the road where after where we turned off there were no exits for miles, so the lead car driven by Nancy was unable to stop by the time she realized we had turned off. Maria emerged from the car covered with shattered glass, but luckily no cuts. Their passenger side window had been smashed by an unidetified object as we were driving down the road. Where we parked of was a nice young man who used his air compressor to blow out all the glass and help clean up. We had our cell phone, so Sandy was able to call her insurance company and report the incident. We then started driving again. I asked if they wanted us to follow them, but Sandy said she preferred to follow us. At a toll booth about 20 miles later we crossed and waited for them to come through. We waited a half an hour and they didn't show up and looked the other side of the toll booth and they weren't there. We ended up driving the last 120 miles alone and were relieved to find they had safely made it to Mazatlan as well as Nancy.

After unloading our car at home, we went to our favorite ribs joint for a welcome home dinner. After dinner we hooked up the TV we had brought down. It was not connecting to the sattelite. We knew the sattelite was working okay as the TV our landlord had was working fine on it, but we had him take it with him. Someone is coming today to get our TV working. Also today someone is coming to connect our Wi-FI and local phone. We have been using the Marina Gardens internet, but we have to go outside to pick up the signal. The weather currently has been arounnd 90 degrees and very humid. Traditionally the muggy season gets over the end of October. Until then we sleep in an air conditioned bedroom and have a dehumdifier running. I have dumped at least five or six gallons of water from the dehumidifier so far.

Saturday evening we felt better settled, so we went to a beachfront cafe called Diego's. We had a perfect spot to watch the glorious Mazatlan sunset and enjoyed Tapas, Mojitos, and Cerveza. Sunday we went to Sam's club and Mega. We stocked up on groceries and bought a propane grille. I spent Monday afternoon assembling the barbecue. It took only 24 easy steps tha took almost four hours, but I hardly muttered. Also on Sunday evening we met friends at Macaw's a cafe that was having 10/10/10 specials. 10 peso beer and 10 peso shredded pork sliders. 10 pesos is about 80 cents. The pork sliders were about twice the size of sliders we have bought in the US. We then went to friend's home on a hill overlloking Mazatlan and watched another great sunset.

Monday we started "eating clean". Our diets consists of mostly unprocessed food. This is easy as fruit and vegetables are very fresh, tasty, and inexpensive here. On Monday I also played bridge for a couple of hours with friends on the Oltas Altas. I also checked in with the library and they will be letting me know my schedule soon.

Today Janice is going to shop for patio furniature and curtain material while I wait for TV man and Telcel man.  At 2:50 our friends from Calgary, Alberta fly in and we are picking them up at the airport. Brian and Larysa keep an old car here, so can avoid the drive down. It is cheaper and safer to fly than it is to drive to Mazatlan.

This morning we received shocking, saddening news. Our firiend Wayne Millirons died suddenly on Sunday. it appears to have been a heart attack. He and his wife Brenda had asked me to officiate at their renewing of their wedding vows on Decemeber 3. He as an awesome man. He had retired from the State Department and Brenda from her job. They had sold everything they owned except for what would fit in a min-van and moved to Mazatlan in June of 2009. They had been married 34 years. We had many good times with them during our last season here.

For now, that is the update on Life in the slow lane. Janice, Ollie, and Joel are health, although Janice has had itchy eyes so who knows what is in the air to cause that. Tomorrow, Joel will go to Hermandad de frijoles Y cerveza to see what all the guys have been up to this summer. We hope everyone is doing well and we send our love.