Heading for Nogales and the border tomorrow

Yesterday was another day of non stop driving. I love road trips under certain conditions which feature great weather, no rain but not too sunny, no snow and especially no other cars or trucks on the road. So far none of these ideal conditions have been met but I'm still hopeful.
We got to the outskirts of L.A. when it was starting to get dark. Stan was tired of driving and I was tired of sitting watching him drive. It was very difficult trying to find a motel so close to L.A. thus we had to settle for one in the lap of luxury, that is luxurious by our standards but really it was quite posh. We went swimming in the good size pool and sampled the hot tub. We opted for microwaved soup in our room. There was nothing around and we were too tired to brave the traffic again. The driving is incredibly fast, everybody is in a terrible rush to get to wherever they're going. A very stressful life with these endless freeways, not something I would enjoy on a permanent basis. A couple of observations:
there must be over a million acres of almonds and pistachios planted which is weird since neither of those is a staple food. We just wondered what they do with all those nuts! Our little orchards in the Okanagan are so
puny in comparison, 10 acres is considered quite big. Here we're talking hundreds of acres planted with one single crop.
We finally made it to Yuma, looked for our friend Karl but it was too dark and he had given me pretty sketchy directions. We opted for the Ramada this time and are quite happy. We had our first Mexican meal, it brought back fond memories. Yuma almost feel like Mexico. A lot of the working population is Hispanic, with all the gringos sampling the good life in their RV parks. There are literally dozens and dozens of those. Again not for us but they seem quite happy, it does beat the cold and snow.
We'll be in Mexico the day after tomorrow, it should be smooth sailing. Adios for now.

California here we are

Left Summerland bright and early around 8 in the morning. Crossing the border was uneventful, the language is the same the only thing that's a bit of a problem is getting used to miles and gallons after having dealt with the metric system all these years. The price of gas is per gallon,relatively cheap at around $3,00, the distances are now all in miles thus making it appear as though it takes much longer to get wherever you want to get to and the temperature is in balmy Fahrenheit. After one day on the road these little discrepancies don't represent much of a hassle at all.
The first night we stopped in Hood River, Oregon. Hood River is an absolutely charming little town, full of quaint shops and proud of its historical past. It sits right on the mighty Columbia river. It's a favorite hangout for aficionados of wind surfing. Apparently the wind really blows in the summer and you can cover huge distances. We checked out the Hood River Hotel, mostly empty, but no deals to be had at over $100.00 a night, courtyard view only.
We politely declined, so early into our trip I can't afford to blow that kind of money on a hotel. We settled for something far seedier up the hill a ways from there. Still not cheap at $59.00 a night and extremely basic. Fifty nine dollars doesn't buy that much in terms of accommodation in trendy Hood River.
Two beds with "not so lovingly worn" bedspreads, sheets were white, not incandescently so but passable. The T.V. was your average box, no flat screen for this puppy and the bathroom was utilitarian, even the faucets were the old star shaped faucets that one rarely sees anymore. In any case the water was hot and the toilet worked and the beds didn't sag in all the wrong places. We managed an okay night after a supper of Chinese, no smorg, just a chicken dish with plain white rice. We're really trying to eat well while on the road, it's always such a problem with all the fast food joints along the way which we religiously avoid nevertheless. I'm not a fan of Wendy's, had never been there before this trip, but they now offer four quite pleasant salads which are more than palatable. That's what we're sticking to.
In the morning we went for breakfast at the same restaurant we had been to on the way back from Mexico two years ago. Our motel was right opposite it. While there we also chanced upon a Polish friend which Stan had made while we were staying in La Ventana, in Baja California. His daughter owns the restaurant and he goes there for breakfast every morning. It really is a very small world, sometimes.
The road was great till we hit some rain in Oregon where it doesn't just rain it pours. Driving was very difficult, there are so many big trucks on the road, passing them is a lousy experience which we had to repeat, unfortunately over and over again. It's hard to imagine how many of those trucks are on the road at any one time all across this continent, it simply boggles the mind. We saw our first 3 trailer truck, a truck for which the word behemoth could very aptly be coined it's that frightening. As we got closer and closer to California and Mount Shasta the rain rapidly changed to snow, huge flakes which combined with the mountainous nature of the terrain made driving very hazardous. It was a tense two hours but we made it out, safe and sound. We are now ensconced in the Vagabond Inn, a step up over what we had yesterday which explains why I'm able to file this report.
We're going to relax, have supper and watch a little mindless t.v. We watch a lot of Spanish t.v. need to freshen our mastery of the language, even commercials sound okay in Spanish. Tomorrow we're aiming for Lake Havasu in California and ultimately Yuma, Arizona where we might spend a couple of days.
I won't update my blog every day, possibly once or twice a week depending on what we're doing and on whether any of it is worth sharing. Adios for now.

Winter 2010- Leaving for Mexico, part 2

We were ready to leave today November 30th but changed our plans to tomorrow. The car is almost fully packed and I think we're ready. I've made a sort of list and checked it twice and everything is where it should be. Impatient to get going. My posts will get more interesting once we hit the road, I promise.

Winter 2010- Leaving for Mexico, part 2

We're still in Summerland, British Columbia but we're all packed and ready to go. We will be leaving in our little Subaru on Tuesday, November 30th. We want to get an early start to avoid driving in the dark. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, it has gotten warmer in the last few days. We didn't put any winter tires on our car. We don't want to be stuck driving with those in Mexico. Our car is all wheel drive and we have good all around tires, I think we'll be all right. If the weather is intemperate with lots of snow and ice we will make a beeline for the coast and head towards Portland instead of taking the interior route. I will post again soon. I've been having some trouble accessing my own travel blog account in the past but I do think I have it figured out now, not excessively computer savvy as you can see. I am learning.
If you do access my various posts don't hesitate to leave a message. It's nice to hear from family, friends and strangers in equal measure. Gracias.