Sunday, 29 Jan Baja 300 in Los Barriles

So today was a pretty fun day.  We got up fairly early because we could hear the announcers starting the various classes on the Baja 300.  We sat out and drank coffee.
About 9:00 John and Lori and Chuck and Laurie came by on their quads.  So, we all went down to where the dirt road meets the highway to watch the first big turn of the rails, VW bugs and the trucks.  
We sat on a wall and watched them come flying down the dirt road in front of us, then slide around the turn onto the highway, cross the highway and slide back onto a dirt road on the other side.  

One of the rails like the ones in these two pictures rolled over on a turn coming down this dirt road.

From here we rode our quads to another spot and watched them come down a bumpy dirt road, across an arroyo and then up a big hill right by us.  It was fun.

From here John and Lori went out to let the dogs out.  Chuck, Laurie, Rob and I kept quad-ding to see if we could find the race somewhere else.  We found one spot and sat there long enough to to see two cars go by but it wasn't very exciting.  We decided to call it quit and go on home until later and catch them when they came back to town.

Rob and I went off and found a place to eat. They had a totally undrinkable margarita.  The first undrinkable I have ever had in my life.  The food wasn't great and the place was a bit dark, so we were a bit disappointed.  Since we don't take Bella quad-ding with us we thought it was about time to go back and get her and go for a hike.

We walked up to where the road leaving town hits the highway and then crossed over and found a trail that climbed up a mountain.  We hiked along for about 2 miles and got to the top and over to the other side.  There we were above the spot where we watching the race in the morning.  So we watched them race down the arroyo, make that turn onto the highway, cross over, slide around that turn back onto the final stretch dirt road and back into the Hotel field where they started.  It was really fun.

Later, after getting cleaned up, the 10 of us who are left from the original caravan met for dinner at La Casita.  It is the newest, fanciest and most expensive restaurant in town.  We had to actually make reservations.  We had nice wine, Cesar salad, Rob had pork ribs, I had sea food pasta.  For dessert we had cheese cake with avocado ice cream on top.  It was delicious. 

We also ran into our new friends whose son plays for Arizona State and who own Brockway golf course in Tahoe.

It was a really fun eve.  

Rob and I walked back home and, soon after getting there, went to bed. 

Saturday, 28 Jan. Los Barriles, SJDC, La Ribera, Buena Vista, and The water falls.

I got up fairly early this morning.  
I walked over and met John, Lori, Chuck and Laurie at Caleb's.  It is a cafe and Bakery right next door to our RV Park.  We met at 8:30 for breakfast.  
From there we walked through the Farmer's market that takes place every Saturday morning.  They have puppies for adoption, clothing,  jewelry, rugs, produce, baked goods, all kinds of stuff.  I just bought some Mango Empanadas and a cinnamon roll.  Lori and Laurie each bought some earrings that they had seen last week but the woman didn't have the color they wanted so she told them to come back this week and she would have them for them.  She did, so they bought them.  Lori also bought a top to go with her new earrings. 
After that I walked home, grabbed Bella and the truck and went off to pick up Rob at the Airport in San Jose Del Cabo (SJDC).  
From there we drove to the little town of Mia Flores.  The Canadians, our friends the Wright Brothers, told us it is a really cute British town and we wanted to check it out.  It was cute.  Many of the streets are still the cobblestones.  We just drove through it.
From there I took him to the town of La Ribera.  It is where I went with the group for lunch on the quads last Thursday.  We drove around the town.  It is pretty big.  
From there we drove along the dirt road to the town of Buenavista.  We were looking for the hotel the Gary, Jen, Rob and I went to many, many, years ago where they served us two very small margaritas that had us stumbling around acting crazy.  Jen reminded us of the name of the place so we wanted to go back to the "scene of the crime" so to speak.  What used to be a small hotel is now a hotel and Beach Resort.  It is really pretty with only a very vague resemblance to what I remember.

We only wandered through it and then left.  No sense pushing our luck by having a drink or anything.

From there we headed back up to the highway and back into Los Barriles.  

Denese had told me about this awesome waterfall that they had found up at the end of the arroyo and I wanted to go see it.  So when we got back we parked the truck and grabbed the quad and headed off.

It was awesome.  Rob drove and after what I had told him about my ride on Thursday he pretty much had the throttle wide open. We drove along through the dusty dirt road until all of a sudden it was wet, and the rivulets of water.

And then very very wet

 And then the waterfall

 We climbed up and explored a bit

 And looked back down at the quad

 The fall was rushing pretty good

Tomorrow is the Baja 300.  It is a 300 km off road race that begins and ends here is Los Barriles.  There will be motor cycles, quads, dune buggies, rails and supped up pick-up trucks.  They are setting up down at the hotel on the driving range so we decided to go down there and check it up.  We heard it is a really big event.

Some of the vehicles are so awesome looking.

We each bought a T-shirt.  Rob's has the whole route of the race on it and I bought one that said "off-road girl- Let's race!

We went back home and took showers and then walked down to 3 dog corner to join John and Lori for dinner.  Friday and Sat nights they set up tables in this dirt parking lot and fix the awesome baked potatoes and hamburgers.  Rob and I had the baked potatoes last weekend, tonight is the hamburgers.

There was a lovely sunset happening as we walked down.

We sat at a long table with John and Lori and were joined by two other couples.  John had his Arizona sweatshirt on (they are from Tucson) and the man asked if it was from Arizona state.  His son plays Baseball on their team.  John is a big fan. He sat next to Rob and when Rob looked at him he noticed that the man (I cannot remember his name) had a Brockway Golf shirt on.  Brockway is the little 9-whole golf course in Kings Beach (Tahoe) that we have played a million times and the only course that Rob has had a bad shot that hit a tree and went through a giant pane glass window in a house.  As it turns out, they are the owners of the the course and it was their window that Rob broke. They were really nice people and we enjoyed the evening with them.  They have been coming down for 20 years.  They put their 4 boys in grammar school here in town and they have a big, beautiful home here.  

After dinner we walked back and went to bed.

Friday, 27 Jan; Los Barriles

It's a little bit warmer this morning.  Bella and I went for our little walk about and then sat out having coffee.  
I putted around inside cleaning up and then decided we wanted to go out and find something to eat.
We walked over to 3 dog corner.  I wanted to find Cafe Maria's where Pam said she had the really good Chili Rellenos.  I texted Lori to find out what they were up to.  she said they were finishing up laundry and were headed my way.
I gave up trying to find Cafe Maria's and headed back toward town.  I settled on a place I had not been before which is Compestre Triny. After a bit John and Lori joined me.  We saw Denese, Steve and their son drive by and we all waved.  After a few minutes they came back and joined us as well.
I had half a margarita while waiting for John and Lori to show up.  They took for ever and I even texted her back to find out if she were crawling to the restaurant.
Anyway.  The service was lousy.  The food was really good, but it took forever to get it.  My second margarita was totally different than the first one which was odd.
Bella and I walked back to my place so I could get the quad. I left Bella at home and then John and Lori followed me onto some of the trails I had gone on yesterday.  They weren't liking it so much so we turned around and headed back down to the beach.  
We rode along the beach back to their place.  Chuck and Laurie were sitting out so we joined them for a bit, sitting in the sun.  It was really nice.  
Their park, Playa Norte is having a pot luck this evening.  So, I sat with them until about 3:30 and then had to go back to my place to fix something for the potluck.
The food at the pot luck with really good.  The hosts grilled fresh fish, two or three different kinds that I don't remember.  There were also lots of salads which was great because we have been eating lots of beans and rice and not a lot of fresh veggies.
I stayed around until it got dark and then headed home.  It was pretty cold, and the ride back on the quad was really cold.  So, when Bella and I got back I brushed my teeth and climbed into bed with my book.

Thursday 26 Jan, Los Barriles to La Ribera and back

What a great day for both of us!
Rob left Oakland early this morning for Kona, HI and took this wonderful picture.

I was sitting out having my coffee and working on the blog.

I gathered with what turned out to be a very large group of quad riders here in the park at 10:00.  We are riding through the trails, hills, washes, etc to the town of La Ribera for lunch.  The trip is supposed to be 5 hours so I am assuming it will be 2 hours to get there, an hour for lunch and 2 to get back.

Our neighbor across the way, Bob, rode with me.  His wife Cori and sister-in-law are in the quad on the right. I was glad he was with me since this was my first real time to go "quaking over the type of terrain we were going to be going on.  He also knew the route and would give heads up when a turn was coming up.

We headed out down the main street of town which quickly turned into a dirt road.  Pretty soon we were screaming through trails with branches slapping the bars and rocks and dust and it was a blast.  We climbed up big rocky hills and then down into steep washes.

We split up into two groups.  Some of the quads, like mine, were too wide for some of the rocky trails so we had to go a different way.  We stopped a couple times to regroup.

 Since I was driving, and had to keep my hands on the wheel, I wasn't able to take many pictures.  (Rob and I will have to go out again and see if I can remember the path so we can get the picture). I did sneak a few though.

We stopped in at the Bat Cave which was awesome.

 This is looking at the cave

 This is looking back down the arroyo

 These looked like fungus growing out of the walls inside and many were covered with honey bees.

 I'm not sure what these were, they looked sort of like mud ness and were along the ceiling and the walls

 Walking deeper into the cave

 A cave inside the cave

 A light was shone and those are all bats clinging to the ceiling or flying a bit due to the light.

Exiting the cave back into the arroyo

We were really running out of time.  The restaurant has actually set up a buffet for us due to the large number in our party and they are expecting us by noonish.  It will be closer to 1 when we get there, so instead of finishing the route on the trails we went up on the road and zoomed 40 mph to the town.  

The restaurant was cute and had a nice view, but it was freezing.  It was a really cold wind coming off the ocean.

 Being elevated made it colder

 Not everyone has arrived yet

View from upstairs.

The buffet was delicious.  Salad, shrimp, chicken, beef, Chili Relleno stuffed with shrimp, hot tortilla soup beens, rice.  It was super yummy.

When it was time to leave we discovered it was a bit warmer on the ground than it was up there in the restaurant.  We returning to Los Barriles via the beach so I added my sweat shirt layer to my short sleeve shirt with long sleeve shirt over it.  It was still really cold.  Goggles and a face mask help, but eventually my goggles fogged up from the sea air and I had to take them off.  We screamed along the beach and then had to pick our way through the rocky areas.  It was a little nerve wracking at that point.  But, we made it safely home.

Bella was excitedly jumping on me and licking me for at least 10 min. Perhaps she had been afraid for me.  Anyway, I grabbed her and we went off to the gas station and filled up the quad.  Might as well take care of it now.  Then we went back down the beach to see if John and Lori were home.  I was excited and wanted to tell them about the adventure, but they were gone for the day.  So I went back home.

Meanwhile, Rob was in Hawaii exploring around.

And to end a perfectly lovely day, he shared his Hawaiian sunset with us.  Im not sure where he took it from since there is a road in it, but it is lovely just the same.

Good night all!

Wednesday, 25 Jan, Los Barriles

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANET.  YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN 65 TODAY. I miss you!
It rained during the wee hours.  I had to get up and pull things in, like the fire pit and the chairs and put them under the awing.  I was going to roll up the rugs but had no place to put them so I left them and went back in and went back to sleep.
I didn't sleep very well on the couch. I kept waking up either because I was uncomfortable or because of noises.  There are a lot of dogs barking throughout the night and some time really early in the morning there is a turkey that gobbles for about 30 min.  It is very strange.
I took Bella out and she immediately shied away from a dog who was on a leash.  We walked a bit more and she seemed OK.
We sat outside and drank coffee and then I went in to tackle the remainder of the projects.
I put the chest upright and put all the drawers back in and it seemed happy.  I put it back in place and all is well.
I grabbed the garbage drawer and put it back in place and it seems to be happy as well.  It works, Yippee!
Now for the closet.  I figured if I just put it back the way it is it would just collapse again.  So, I got the great idea of drilling holes and wiring the rod to the shelf above it. So, I found the drill and a bit and headed in.  We always keep one battery plugged in, so I swapped the batteries, but guess what, it wasn't really charged.  I thought about maybe borrowing one, but I had already had to borrow some sand paper so I decided not.  I ended up taking a hammer and nail and pounding the nail in to make the holes.  Not an easy task.  But I managed to wire it up in 6 places.  I also made the dowels longer and propped them up to help hold the shelf in place.  
I had just finished that part and was thinking about putting the clothes back when Lori and John came by.  They said they were going to walk around town and shop and then have lunch and did I want to join them.  Boy did I ever.
It was about quarter to 10:00 and so we agreed to meet at noon.  That would allow me to finish up and take a very badly needed shower.
I very proudly got everything I wanted to keep back into the closet both on hangers and on the shelf.  I did get rid of some stuff.  Wow, what a job.
Meanwhile; Rob is traveling around the country and took these pictures in Oakland on the Bay Bridge. I guess he wanted to ride it!

I took a wonderful shower after my closet workout and it felt great.  Then I looked at the clock and it was only 11:00.  I got dressed and thought maybe I'd just go for a walk when I got a text from Lori saying they had finished shopping and were going to go to the Restaurant now and did I want to join them early.  I told her I was on my way.
El Viejo is just a cool little taco place, they have beef, shrimp, chicken and other fish, grilled, breaded or however.  They they have a salsa bar of all kinds of stuff you can add to your taco.  It was yummy.  We had a really nice, enjoyable lunch and visit.  They both walked back with me and we found the very cool house that is for sell here in the complex.  I had told them about it and they wanted to see it. Then Lori and I walked up to the tortilla place.  Ants had gotten into the ones I had gotten yesterday. 
We walked back into town and went to the produce store and then waited for John to come back with the quad to pick her up. 
Bella and I came back to the rig and hung out.  We went out again later for a walk, but mostly I just watched the rest of the season 3 of The Fall and then went to bed.  I don't know if they will have a Season 4 pursuing something or someone else or not.  I'm glad it is over though, because I was pretty obsessed with it.
I went to bed in my own bed with no clothes piled on top of it.

Tuesday, 24 Jan; Los Barriles

Today I tackled all the broken projects.  We have 2 little chests of drawers in the living room.  One has my sewing notions in it the other has other odds and ends.  In all of the jostling on the road coming down here one of the wheels broke off because the board it is screwed into broke. So, I glued it back together and drove a little nail or two into it. Now it is drying.
Last night I filled the holes on the face of the garbage drawer with wood putty.  I broke it off last week trying to get the garbage out of it.  It had 4 little screws holding it on and I managed to yank it off the screws.  Hmmm.  So, today I sanded the wood putty, backed the screws out, lined it up, glued it (with wood glue) and screwed it back in.  Now it is drying.
Next, I tackled the closet.  OMG!  I took all the clothes that are on hangers laying on the floor and put them all on the bed.  Then I took all the clothes that were on the shelf in there and put them on the bed.  They I took all the shoes out.  I took everything out of the closet and it is all piled on the bed.  It almost touches the ceiling.
Then I started tackling the repair job.  I fought and cursed and propped and glued and somehow managed to get it back together.  
I was so hot and sweaty that I decided it would be a good time to go check out the pool.  
It was flippin freezing.  It is a small pool, it is probably only 5 feet deep and it is gray.  I was expecting, by the size depth and color, not to mention the warm sunny days, that it would be warm.  It took my breath away! But I stayed in it for awhile until it was warm enough to enjoy and I was cooled off enough to survive and then laid in the sun for awhile.  Finally I went back to the rig.  
I took Bella out for a walk.  We walked over to the tortilla place and bought some nice, freshly made, still warm tortillas and walked back.  I peeked in a couple shops, but there really isn't anything I am interested in.
We went back and I had a peanut butter and banana tortilla burrito. They are so good.  
I am hooked on a Netflix series called "The Fall"  It is sooo good, I am probably killing our data limit.  I actually started watching it a couple years ago and the series ended.  I kept watching for it to start again, but I never found it.  It is on Netflix only and I got away from Netflix so never found it again.  Last night I was looking for something and found it.  I got hooked again. I watched the first series throughout the day and evening yesterday and last night, and Now I'm hooked into Season 2.  That is where it ended before and totally left us in limbo.  
I watched for a bit and then took Bella out for another walk.  We walked all around this complex.  She was on her leash.  This gal drove up in her quad and when she got out 3 dogs, two small one large all jumped out.  The two came right over to Bella and started sniffing which made her nervous, and then the 3rd, a bigger one came over and attacked her.  The gal came and grabbed Bella's leash and pulled her away from her dog so I could pick her up and then she started hitting her dog.  Bella was ok, just shook up and had pooped herself.  I told the lady to stop hitting her dog, but she didn't I needed to get Bella away and told her "I have to get out of here, I can't stand people who hit dogs"  I took Bella home and cleaned her up.
I finally curled up on the couch with Bella to watch The Fall.  Finally it was time to go to sleep.  Remember, my bed is full of all the clothes from the closet.

Monday, 23 Jan, Los Barriles and San Jose Del Cabo.

We got up really early this morning.  Rob has to fly back to LA for a dentist appt. this morning and Work tomorrow. So, we had to drive to SJDC to the airport to drop him off.  It is about a 50 min drive to the airport and then another 10 or 15 into town.  Cabo San Lucas is another 30 down the road.
We got to the airport with no problem.  I ran in to use the potty (coffee presents needs) and then back out so Rob could leave.
From there I took the long way into SJDC.  There is a toll road that takes about 10 min, but it is only 8:15 am and I want to go to Walmart.  I figured it isn't open yet. The long way means through town and hitting every speed bump, which you have to crawl over or you will hit your head on the roof of the vehicle, and every traffic light, including those that aren't working. So, it took me about an hour to get there.  But the timing was perfect, it was open
I needed to get some dog food and water.  While there I also found a couple cute summer dresses that I bought.  
There wasn't much else I really wanted to do and the truck is so big I wouldn't know where to park anyway, so I just headed back.
I didn't really do anything for most of the rest of the day.  I just chilled until late afternoon.  Bella was looking very bored so we went for a walk.
I thought it would be nice to go find somewhere down on the water to get a beer and a bite. 
As it turned out, nothing was really open.  It was only 5:00 and I don't think people around here really eat until 7 ish. 
I went down to Exotickite which is a kite riding school.  They had a bar but were not open for dinner.  I had a beer, but it wasn't a very pleasant place to be so I only drank about half of it and left.
We wandered around a bit more and finally ended up at Smokies which is like a sports bar in town.  It is somewhat lively.
I had a really good dinner.  A salad with cucumbers, shredded carrots, and lettuce.  Then skewered prawns grilled with onions, red, yellow and green peppers with a scoop of rice.  It was really good.  And a margarita to go with it.  Yum Yum.  I took my time and enjoyed it.
After that I went back to the rig.  I sat outside for awhile until it got a bit chilly and then went to bed.

Sunday, 22 Jan; Los Barriles, MX

Today was a fun day.  Rob had taken his bike in to be tuned up on Friday.  It was supposed to be ready yesterday, but when we went to pick it up at 2 pm the shop was closed.  The sign said open 'till 4.  hmmm
So, today he took my bike and went for a nice long ride. 

When he got back we grabbed gear and went down to the beach.  Today is the finals for "Lord of the Wind" and it is supposed to be "big air".  It is finally windy again so they will be able to do their stuff.
We found a good spot and started putting up our chairs.  We turned around and John and Lori were walking in the crowd. So, they came and joined us and we spent the afternoon watching the amazing guys and gals flying through the water and the air on their boards being lifted by their kites.  

Sometimes they'd land perfectly, but not always.

 They would do flips and spins and it was pretty crazy fun.

The NFL playoff games are also today, so the plan was to go over to El Gecko at about 3 and watch the games.

John went off to get a drink and Rob went off in the opposite direction for a walk.  

 These are all the kites on the beach waiting for their turn in the competition.

When John came back at 1:15 he told us the first game was already on and almost half over.  He and Lori went off to the little cantina to watch.  When Rob got back we joined them.

We were sitting under a tent that was rattling in the wind and Bella didn't like it.

Our team was losing.  At half time we went over to El Geckos to watch the rest of the games and to get something to eat.  Jen and Tony joined us there.  Bella was much happier here and especially when Leila arrived so they could go run around on the beach a little bit together.

Our Teams lost, both of them.  The dump cheating Patriots are going to the Super Bowl again.  That does not make me happy.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember who the other team is that will be playing them.  

There was another couple there with two children.  They were lovely.  The little girl really liked Bella and wanted to pet her.

Bella is bratty shy!

After the games were over Jen and Tony came back with us to see where we were living.  Originally I thought they were going to spend the night with us and head out in the morning from here.  Jen apparently hadn't discussed that with Tony.  Anyway, he popped his head in, said "nice" and they left.

We went to bed.