New Adventures and Old Friends

The last month has been a blur of activity for our little family and if the Blue Zones theory on social interaction= overall health we should surely be some of the healthiest folks on the planet!

We left Los Barriles to once again trudge north to the border. We checked out areas we would visit with our Baja Amigos group and revisited old favorites, including an extraordinary, and too short visit to Coyote Beach on Concepcion Bay. An unexpected joy was running into our sweet friends John, Bertie, and Vince for a short evening in Catavina. We never know exactly what our day will bring on this strange road we have chosen.

Our arrival in San Diego proved to continue our track record of spending too long and too much money in this beautiful region that has somehow still never fully won our hearts for a whole host of reasons.

We did accomplish what we needed to which meant new tires forTaco (after a shredded trailer tire in Lazaro Cardenas), a new bed for us, and a host of supplies picked up in preparation to meet our group at Potrero park.

We truly weren’t quite sure what to expect of our caravan experience. Three weeks in I can report it has been quite an experience. While group travel has never been our thing, although we’ve done a whole helluva a lot of it, small group travel does lend itself to creating both new friendships you know will continue and the possibility of tension. I’m happy to say we’ve had much of the former and very little of the latter!

From the beginning, our group has brought plenty of laughs and good times. Even while diversity reigned, out of five couples there happened to be two sets who actually were high school friends making for an interesting blend.

Our short stop in La Paz delivered lunch with John, Bertie, Ken & Wendy for a special treat. Loreto brought us too many margaritas with Bill, Linda, Carl & Judy. But two short nights in Los Barriles brought all of our friends out by storm. Margaritas at the round bar at Rancho Buenavista, dinner at Lily’s, more drinks at camp, an ATV day to the waterfalls which we got from an outdoor ATV jeep rentals store, and lots of hugs and fun all around (maybe they just were really happy we brought them frozen lemonade for summer beer!). We pulled out of town exhausted but with full hearts.

There have been the inevitable challenges with one big rig jumping a tope and ruining the back shocks to a couple stuck in the sand at Tecolate beach but we have been so fortunate overall. There have been no major disputes, no major issues that weren’t solved quickly, and a whole lot of happy hours and fun along the way.

One unexpected benefit of leading this group down Baja was the chance to experience some things for ourselves that we had someone missed during all of our trip up and down; the blowhole at La Bufadora, whale watching for Jim at Guerrero Negro, and more time spent La Paz than we have ever taken on ourselves.

As I sit at the pool in Mulege before tonight’s pig roast it’s still too early to fully reflect on the entire experience. The main question we have been asked by friends is “would you do it again?” That may remain to be seen for several reasons but what is evident is that showing a familiar area to a new group of travelers brings its own rewards. One week from today we will again cross the border into the USA another interesting chapter will come to a close on our ever-varied life on the road with fond memories and stories for another day.