Almost home and catastrophe hits crops in Sinaloa

Yes we're almost home, in Hood River tonight back where we started. I just wanted to add a few things since we ended up taking a different route so new stuff to blog about. We left Guyamas no problem. We had heard about the catastrophic frost in the Sinaloa valley but it's one thing to hear about it and another entirely to see it. Hundreds of thousands of acres of mostly corn completely gone, some tomato acreage as well along with orange groves. Sinaloa is one of the biggest growing areas in Mexico. They are well known for their tomatoes, they have a tomato on their license plate. The corn is, unfortunately, all of the genetically modified variety courtesy of a big Dupont subsidiary called Pioneer. I kept seeing those signs with the word Pioneer and WBG1234 or something of that ilk and knew it was a market for the corn. Obviously it may be resistant to disease but it's powerless against frost. GM corn has had a devastating impact on Mexico's native varieties which used to be plentiful and have now either been contaminated or dwindled down to the odd "cottage, indigenous" variety. It's a shame really I would even use the word criminal. Regardless the price of tortilla is bound to go up since corn is the premier ingredient wheat being too expensive for your average tortilla. True the government subsidizes tortillas quite heavily and they'll probably have to do it again.
While on the road we saw 3 men on top of a train heading for the border, long, dangerous journey ahead of them no doubt about that. I also saw another man who's head, covered with a woolen cap, was sticking up from inside one of the containers. I know he couldn't see me but his image haunts me. He seemed to be staring straight at me, right into my soul asking the question WHY?
I didn't have an answer that would satisfy either one of us. On this topic of dangerous journeys to El Norte a plug for a little, Mexican film called "Sin Nombre", rent it if you have a chance, it deals with this topic very realistically.
The border crossing was totally uneventful. We didn't even have a chance to buy Teguila and Cointroy before we knew it we were in the line, on our way and into the U.S.
We managed to find the casino where we had eaten the delicious salads on our way down, same price, same great serving and the weather was gorgeous around 23 degrees. It's always sunny in Arizona. The first night we drove a little bit further than anticipated, way past Phoenix and ended up in a town called Quartzide where there was exactly one motel, a trailer motel, yes we slept in a trailer. It was a little chilly but otherwise fine. Next door was a hopping country and western bar where Stetsons were definitely de rigueur. We felt like aliens from a strange planet visiting earth for the first time. Yes it was weird, a patriotic bunch too, lots of flags including army flags and of course the old stars and stripes. They even had a Polish flag but, unfortunately, it was hung upside down....ooops.
Left Quartzide the next day and headed past L.A. Instead of heading for the #5 we sort of made a mistake and ended up on the 101 instead which turned out to be a fortuitous mistake. I wanted to take the coastal road and Stan was reluctant but fate more or less decided the outcome for us.
Traffic was horrendous all the way to Ventura and it was a Sunday! We're gonna die in a sea of cars and twisted metal. I know we were driving too so it's hypocritical to complain but honestly I just don't get where all the people were going early in the morning on a Sunday. In any case the weather was gorgeous, we stopped in Santa Barbara a lovely slice of heaven well for the people who are lucky enough to live there. After Santa Barbara we took the Big Sur, Monterey highway 1 and what a spectacular drive that was. Probably one of the most beautiful drives in the world. Soaring cliffs, big waves, hills dappled with yellow, incandescent mustard seed and flashes of silvery pampas grass. Truly it was a magnificent if difficult drive. We stopped where elephant seals were gathered to mate and give birth to their young ones. They are strange looking animals especially the males who can weigh up to 5000 lbs. whereas the females only weigh 1,500 lbs. We managed to drive all the way to Monterey unfortunately we were too tired to actually visit anything.
Leaving Monterey we drove all the way to Eureka and left today still on the coastal road going through the magical redwood forest. I always remembered an earlier trip with our daughter when I pretended Ewoks were roaming around the forest. I think she knew it was a lie but she was happy to play along.
Today was a grey day, lots of wind and rain and some very hard driving by the coast. We were fortunate in that we never saw any snow. We're in Hood River now staying in a lovely room with a view of the river. It's a special deal for Valentine's Day. This is definitely the last blog. Thanks for coming along.