In mid-October we left Oregon heading east and south. This season we decided to travel in the RV (Dirt Boat). Some friends of ours (From the boat Seatern) were returning to Green Valley, so they tagged along with us in thier own car, but sleeping in the RV. It was great fun to have company along on the trip.

All went well until we were crossing Idaho one early morning when we had a tire blow out. Its a real unsettling feeling to hear a loud bang while driving down the freeway. We pulled over to see what had happened or to verify that we'd had a blow out. Our traveling companions were already on Google (1-800-466-4411) on the phone locating a near by town with a tire store with our sized tire. Half hour later we limped into the Jerome Les Schwab store and spent the next 2 hours getting two new tires (you can't just add one new tire as they would be different sizes and not wear well together) put on the RV. Of course this prompted the discussion of replacing the other two rear tires as a preventive measure. This was something we had wanted to do anyway but hadn't budgeted for. Somehow logic won out over costs. However the nearest store with two tires was in Provo Utah. So off we went in search of the next Les Schwab store. By 4 PM we reached the store and they promptly put on the new tires. By 5:30 we were done and it was time to find a campground. Fortunately one was near by and it was a welcome sight. Getting into the spot proved tricky but that's a story for another time.

The next day we left early to get to Cedar City Utah early enough to park the RV and go out to see the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs 15 miles NW of town. We made it to the site in time to see them and take some photos. This must have been a favorite trail back when these were done as they were a lot of them in a small area and it was in a gap between two valleys. Sort of a facebook and travelers blog rolled into one!

The next day we were off to "Sin City", Los Vegas to visit some friends that had recently bought a home. We visited them in the afternoon and then took our traveling mates on a drive down the "Wild and Crazy" streets of the Vegas strip. We didn't even park and walk around. We were all tired and it looked crowded so we opted for a drive by.

Off to Mesa Arizona to visit friends and family. Pat's youngest daughter had just moved to Phoenix. After two days we headed to Green Valley. Once there we prepared the RV for storage and then headed to Anna Texas for a visit with family.

After a week plus visit it was time to leave and head back to Green Valley. However there was a stomach flu bug going around and it grabbed the skipperette and sent her to the emergency room for help. Ouch!! $$$$$ She spent 3 days in bed recovering. We drove back to Green valley without incident except by the time we got to Tucson the skipper was sick with a viral infection and had to visit the VA ER. After a six hour wait we got his meds and were off to finish the trip. The Skipper spent the next two days in bed recovering. After another two days it was time to head to Mazatlan.

We stopped in San Carlos over night and went out to dinner with some friends from Rosebud. On the way to San Carlos we passed through the city of Hermiso where we were stopped by a friendly cop who wanted a early xmass gift so we settled on $500p ($40US) and continued on our way. The next day we left San Carlos and headed out to Mazatlan. We arrived safe and sound.

Since arriving we've been working on projects to make the boat livable and addressing any issues that have come up. So far there been few real problems.

Now to the cold part. This is a La Nina year and it has been cold and nasty up north and down here it translates into cool nights and mild days with low humidity. We have had to add extra blankets at night and wear sweat pants in the mornings and before bed time. Burr! Its not what we're used to for sure!

Since being here we went on an art walk in old town which was fun, everyone had to pickup something, there were no exceptions. We ate at the El Tunnel restaurant which we've eaten at before the food was great. We've had our teeth checked out and medical exams and did some planning. That's when it hit us square in the heart that once again we're not going to be able to go for a lengthy cruise.

It turns out that the skipperette had made commitments to her mom to help her transition out of rehab (she had fallen in October) and back into independent living. This event has been delayed due to her recovery and isn't going to happen until right before Christmas. Who wants to be alone at Christmas so the skipper is going along too. (PA will be so cold!!!) Ok so that puts our return into January and we could still go for a cruise except we also had made another commitment to help the skippers daughter after her thrid child is born in mid-March. OK that cinches it! What with getting the boat ready and looking for weather windows (going and coming back), getting there, spending time there, getting back and then putting the boat back to sleep and then getting to Anna Texas by mid-March that leaves almost no time for a cruise. Rats! It looks like another condo on the water winter. All is not lost however, we can still take mini cruises to the islands near by and we're looking into taking a road trip in January to visit the vacationing Monarch butterflies who migrate to Mexico, much like us each winter. Also we're looking into another road trip to visit the near by town of La Noria, and the Blue Agave farm and distillery (Tequila) located in the area.

Thanks for visiting our blog. More to follow for sure!