The drive North

Adios to Mazatlan until September. Janice, Ollie, and I packed the van up and started north Friday morning May 6th. It was bittersweet as Mazatlan is now our home and we were leaving home. It was also positive as the next four months promise more adventures and we will get to see the kids and grandkids.

Our gracious new neighbors agreed to water our plants, air out our home, pay any utility bills and look after our place while we are gone. We will make sure to do something special for them as this is above and beyond the call of duty.

Our first day was uneventful and we made it 550 miles to Hermisillo, Sonora which is about 175 miles south of the border. It was 104 degrees with 5% humidity. I noticed this shrunk the swelling in my arthritic right ankle almost to nothing and I was walking cane free. We stayed in the San Martin Hotel which had been recommended to us by former neighbors. It was clean and secure, so we had a good night there and got an early start on Saturday morning.

Day two also went well. We drove to the border at Nogales and after a half hour wait in line were cleared to cross the border. We stopped in Green Valley, Arizona around 11:00 and stopped at a Denny's and had an American style breakfast. It was a treat after so long. We then resumed our travels through Tucson and then on I-10 into New Mexico. We stopped at New Mexico welcome center as we had not been there before. We saw a winery in Deming, New Mexico that sounded interesting. We stopped there, tasted wine and bought four bottles. They recommended an Italian Restaurant that turned out to be one of the best we have ever eaten in. It was a family place and the owner/chef came out of the kitchen and sang ala Frank Sinatra to everyone. The entries were from $7-$12, generous and tasty.
After the wine tasting and heavy dinner we decided to drive no further and stayed the night in Deming.

Day three we started out early and arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico around 12:30. We spent about 2 1/2 hours prowling around the historic central area of town with many art galleries, art shows and Indian jewelry. We then headed up to Taos, New Mexico and stayed the night in Taos.

                                                                       Taos Pueblo

Town of Taos

Day four we slept in a little and then spent about an hour prowling downtown Taos, which was a disappointment. It is a town that is sleepy until Memorial day when it comes alive. A high point was the Taos Pueblo just outside of Taos. The Pueblo had been there from at least 900 A.D. and was interesting to tour. We enjoyed some indian fry bread while there. We started out for Colorado Springs from Taos around 11:15 and made good time until we were about to turn on to the highway that would take us to I-25. Cars and trucks were backed up. It turned out that a head on collision had killed two people and the road was totally blocked. After two hours of waiting our sister-in-law Ruth called us with an alternate route that took us 25 miles out of the way but we were able to make progress and arrived in Colorado Springs around 6:15. Fate might have been at work here as the detour took us through Alamosa, Colorado. My grandfather, aged 5, and his family had been put off the by the railroad near Alamosa in 1896 to homestead. They had come from The Netherlands. They were with a party of over 50 people. The first winter was hard with deaths from Cholera of which my grandfather was almost a victim. As none knew how to farm and this was non-irrigated sod land, all abandoned Alamosa and were taken in by fellow Dutchmen in Pella, Iowa. Sorry about the digression, but it was interesting to me.

Now is a time to rest and recover before we drive the rest of the way to Spokane, Washington. As of this writing, Joel, Janice, and Ollie are healthy and in good spirits and glad for a break.
                                                  

This is the way Ollie was on the drive. Either laying

by my feet or on a pillow inbetween us.

                   View of the snow capped Rockies on the way into Colorado Springs, CO.                                

Settling in new home and preparing to head north.

We have been in our new home in Centro Historico for a little over a week now. Pictures are being hung and the place is looking more like home. Our water feature is now on our rooftop patio along with our barbecue. Our patio is partly covered and partly open. Friday evening we did our first entertaining with a total of ten of us enjoying pizza, salad,soft drinks, wine and beer. Eight out of the ten of us happened to be from Washington State along with my brother Steve from Iowa and neighbor Gabino from Spain. This new home is of a daunting size. There are 11 rooms, three bedrooms, and three bathrooms. After our maid came for her weekly cleaning we agreed that a raise was appropriate. In the downstairs the ceilings are around 14 feet high, so I am dreading it when light bulbs burn out.

We learned one lesson. We get our water at night which fills a large tank called a tinaco. The tinaco then provides water during the day. One day we did two loads of laundry took three showers and had our guests over for the evening. At the end of the day the water was gone. Toilets would not flush, etc. The next morning the tinaco was full and we had water again. Now we know what others already know. Utilize your water supply wisely.

Centro is a vibrant place to live. Tuesday night we were treated to three hours of great jazz improvisations from several musicians. Within a few blocks of us there is always music of many varieties. We are right behind the art museum where many music lessons take place during the day. When we sit on the patio with our morning coffee and look at the lines of the buildings around us you know that you are in another country. Sometimes you can almost picture the middle east. We are in an arty area with several galleries within a few blocks. Our home may be showing some artists this fall during the monthly art walks.

This week was moto week in Mazatlan. Motorcycles from all over Mexico converge on Mazatlan for the week. Last night was the big motorcycle parade. The route was about two blocks away from us on the oceanfront Olas Altas. We enjoyed front row seats to an endless line of all sorts of motorcycles all decked out, some with as many as five family members on them, many of the riders had gorilla or ghost masks. The crowds were good natured and you can tell this is not an outlaw event, but a very family friendly event.

Friday morning we head north. Our planned trip takes us halfway to the border for a stopover in Navajoa, Mexico. Saturday afternoon we hope to cross the border at Nogales. We expect to arrive Monday afternoon in Colorado Springs to spend a couple of days with Janice's brother Ken, sister-in-law Ruth, along with nephew and niece, Jim and Carol. We expect to arrive in Spokane late on the 13th of May or possibly the 14th. It has been a great seven months this season that has flown by. We have been blessed by good health and continue to establish many treasured friendships. We said goodbye to Marina Gardens, our home for three winters. There are friends there that I am sure we will visit next fall when all return. We will try and let everyone know of our progress on our trip north.
Until then; La vida is Buena"