Paper came today. Guess I spoke too soon – the contract with the Fire Department might not be legal. Incredible! The Sheriff’s Log this week has a lot of calls about trees down across roads. The ground is so wet the slightest breeze topples the trees. This is my favorite call this week “9:04 p.m. 911 caller on Wells Drive reports there is lightning in Indiana some where. Wants to know if it is here.” Um – couldn’t he just look out his window?

Miracle of miracles we finally got someone to come out for the pond. He was here most of Thursday (after the rain stopped.) Climbed right into the water and worked on mucking it out. Ick. Pulled the pump out so it can be fixed. Bill’s looking into that. Late afternoon he went home.

Got a hold of the insurance company for the roof and they sent out a roofer to check it over. He says there is quite a bit of damage to it. So today we are waiting for the adjuster from the insurance company to see if he thinks they will take care of it or not. Of course it has rained either every day or every night for the last week – month - year.

Kind of an interesting thing happened the other day. I finally got around to making some empanadas – a kind of meat turnover that is a staple in Argentina. Had to order the pastry on line. Anyway the last time I made them was about a year ago. Had last batch in oven when the phone rang. I answered, “Hello.”   “Hello, does Bill Sirimarco live there? I’m calling from Argentina.” I’m thinking what???? “Who’s calling please?”  “This is Diana.”  Who? I tell Bill “You have a call from Argentina from Diana.” “Who?” is his answer. Hand him the phone. He says Hello and then gets a puzzled expression on his face. “WHO?” He listens then a big smile and the conversation switches to Spanish. I had to go back out to kitchen to get empanadas out of oven. The conversation goes on for a long time. When he hung up he found me and told me who had called. I believe in my original web page story about our trip to Argentina in 1978 I mentioned that Bill’s brother and his then wife, Nellie, lived in Buenos Aires and that we stayed by them for quite a while. Nellie had two daughters, Nora and Diana. And that is who called. They were talking about us and Diana went on line and googled Sirimarco and found us!!!! Since then they have been exchanging e-mails. Small world.

Well guess it is a case of “Be careful what you wish for.” Was wishing it would quit raining and it did. But gee did it have to get so warm? Have had more days already this stretch over 90 then we had all of last summer. Not only is it hot it is VERY humid. In fact it is so humid you can see the moisture in the air - let alone feel it. We were out riding around one evening just after 9 o’clock (still very light here then) and we passed some bean and corn fields – looking across them we could see the moisture hovering over them. Now that is humid. Thank goodness for the air conditioning.

Guy came back and finished fixing the pond. It is now clearing up and the pumps and water fall works. In a couple of days it should look really nice again. It has an “eco system” set up so it shouldn’t need any more care – supposed to take care of its self.

Had someone do a bunch of weeding for us. Sure makes the yard and area around the pond look nicer. Then of course had to buy some plants to fill in the empty places. Speaking of plants, I took a picture of one of the day lilies growing out front. It is a wild one. For some reason the deer just eat the ones we planted, they leave the wild ones alone. And speaking of deer. Bill and I were sitting out on the bedroom deck just enjoying the late afternoon. A deer came across the street and up the driveway. She paused to scratch her nose with her back leg!!! and gave us a bored look. Then down into the back woods. Came back up out of the woods a while later and stopped and gave us a dirty look before leaving. Guess she went down to check for corn and there wasn’t any there. It’s getting too expensive to feed everyone. The turkeys, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, birds and raccoons all were coming to eat.  

Before it got too hot to work out in the garage Bill finished another wood picture of a different covered bridge. Very nice. It is now hanging out on the deck too. One of our friends is trying to talk him into making one and hanging it in a restaurant down town to see if any one would like to buy it. He seems to be considering it. But then it will be a “JOB”!

Still waiting to hear from the insurance company about the roof. Hope we hear soon and get it fixed if we can. We both want to get out of here in Alfie for a while.

Well the Fire contract is now signed BUT…..according to the fire chief a whole paragraph was left out of it……Gads people – get with it.

That’s about all that has been going on.

Almost forgot. I have listed our location on a DataStorm map system. So when ever we travel we can update where we are on the map so if any one is interested they can check it out. (those of you who got update - just ignore them as I was just trying it outl)

Also have been completely re working my movingon1.com web pages. Think they look much better now. But will have to check them as I think as I cut and pasted some of the words disappeared into space on a few pages. Never ending job. Still haven't finished the pages for our winter trip. No excuse just lazy.

Since April we have had 18 inches of rain and rain in the forecast for the next week. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!  Just what is the difference between “isolated thunderstorms” and “scattered thunderstorms”? Both are predicted in the next few days. Guess they don’t sound as bad as “MORE DAMN RAIN!” (And we don’t get as much as the towns north of Indianapolis – poor people they got hail the other day that tore their houses up. Didn’t know hail could do that kind of damage!)  Wednesday night around 3 a.m. we were shook awake by the thunder and lightening. Quite a show for awhile. Heard thunder last night too but it was far away.

Ordered a SunSetter Awning for the deck outside the bedroom. Finally had enough dry weather to get it up and we can leave it up all year as it rolls up and has a cover. It’s nice to sit out there and read. Getting it delivered was a whole other story. Got a call from UPS – “Be home Thursday between 1 and 5. The package will be delivered.” Stayed home, no delivery. Called – “Oh it just got to distribution center it will be out tomorrow. Be home.”  Nope, no show. Called no deliveries Sat or Sun. Monday called them. “On the truck will be there this afternoon.” Waited – 5:30 called them. They contacted truck driver. Answer…..   “He says he can’t deliver it to you his truck is too big.” WHAT!? Patched Bill through to driver. Long conversation. Boiled down to – can’t get in there with my truck. And from Bill – “I bring my 40’ motorhome up here all the time.” Don’t know who hung up on who but no delivery that day. Next day – different driver with smaller truck called. “I’ll be there between 1 and 2 please be there to help me unload it.” [Don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but if one uses MapQuest or a GPS to find our address – it doesn’t. Both send one off into the woods somewhere. So we try to tell everyone how to find the place – when they will listen. Surprising how many people would rather trust their GPS then someone who lives at the address.] Anyway – around 5:30 the deliveryman finally called us and asked for directions. So 45 minutes and four days late we got our delivery.

With all the rain the ground is nice and soft so I spent some time out by the pond weeding. Because of all the rain the weeds grow – well like weeds. Anyway I found a tiny snake out there just watching me. About as big around as my little finger and 10 to12 inches long. As long as I was watching him he didn’t move. As soon as I looked away he disappeared. So I weeded the other side of the yard. Not afraid of snakes, but don’t want to pick one up with a handful of weeds. While on the subject of animals. Bill had a couple of planters of parsley, basil and oregano out on the back deck. They are gone now. The possums? raccoons? squirrels? would get into them every night and dig them up and use the dirt as a sand box. UGH. He got tired of cleaning up the mess every morning.

Have been watching the deer feeding out back and have noticed one really bitchy doe. When she is eating the corn she won’t let anyone else near it. She even runs off her fawn. Stomps and snorts at the squirrels and chases the birds. The poor little fawn just stands back and watches her if he doesn’t want to get bit. We were talking about her with the neighbor and he knows her too. Said one day she was bothering his dog and he had his leaf blower out so thought he would teach her a lesson so he turned the leaf blower on her. Well she jumped straight up about three feet and came down and charged him. So much for teaching her. Both he and the dog leave her alone now.

Bill and I have finished our respective wall hangings. His in wood mine in material. Both look pretty good. Don’t know what I’ll do with mine. His is hanging out on the back deck and he has started another one. He also got a new toy – a wood carving machine. Works kind of like my embroidery sewing machine. Put a pattern on a memory card, put it in the machine and it does its thing. Pretty interesting. www.carvewright.com   But also like the sewing machine, if you want to be able to do everything you have to buy more attachments!  Ah, ha.

Don’t know if I mentioned it or not but with all the rain the roof above my bathroom has started leaking. Finally found someone who would come out and take a look at it. WOW – wonder if the insurance will take care of it. Have to call them Monday. But we really need to get it fixed before the ceiling is damaged to the point it has to be replaced. Again the same problem as with the pond – no one wants to come out here – too far away -@#$%^&*. 

Bill was out checking the Alfa and found that all the moisture has caused some of the paint on the mirrors to bubble. So he spent a day taking them down, cleaning them off and repainting them. Wonder what other problems the humidity is causing in there. Don’t have these kinds of problems in the dry desert.

Politics in the country. This is weird – don’t even know if I can explain it. We were without a Fire Department for a week or so. As it is it’s a Volunteer Fire Department not full time like in the cities. Any way…..We get our mail addressed to Nashville but do not live within the actual town. Where we do live is Jackson Township [there is no town of Jackson so don’t know where the name came from.] JT has its own governing body {joke, joke} One of the main people is the township Trustee. One of his jobs is renewing the contract with the fire department. For some reason the relationship between the Trustee and the Fire Chief went to heck in a hand basket and the Trustee refused to renew the contract and was not about to agree with anything the Fire Chief had to say. In fact the Trustee went so far as to tell THE SHERIFF not to send emergency calls to the Jackson Fire Dept. He told the sheriff – who does not work for him! So it got pretty sticky for a while. One of the other people in the township government could not even get the Trustee to return their calls. Finally a Reverend was brought in to mediate and the contract got signed. Really weird way of running a government. I kind of think the Trustee might not be reelected. We asked our neighbor just what does a Trustee do? His answer, “Stick his hands in peoples pockets.” Hum….

Had a big surprise yesterday. We were watching TV in the middle of a bright, beautiful sunny day and suddenly across the screen comes a Weather Alert – then it lists the counties affected – there we were Brown County right at the beginning (well they are listed alphabetically so…) We both looked outside. Hum. Sun was still shinning, sky was still light blue. We waited and waited. Sky never changed, sun never went down, weather never came. All the while the Alert was still flashing in the corner of the screen. Then came “Tornado Warning” – we were still looking out at bright sun and blue sky. When it was time to go to bed we did see some lightening flashing in the far distance towards Indianapolis.

I’m working on a quilted wall hanging of a covered bridge – the same pattern Bill is making in wood. No, I haven’t finished the window yet – just taking an extended break. Actually I kind of go back and forth so I don’t get bored.

I’m going to stop watching NASCAR – there were two races yesterday the Nationwide Cars and the Trucks (the trucks were a make up because of rain the day before.) Both races Kyle Busch led the most laps and lost both in the last few laps. The cars because he got bumped from behind and in the truck cause his tire blew. Of the last six races he’s run he only won one but has led right up until the final laps of the other five. The Earnhardt fans love it when he loses. There is another race today ----- [Another week has passed and he finally won a race.]

Been trying to get a photo of the turkeys but they leave at the slightest sound. Really pretty with their neckties. Also the raccoon has been out back a lot lately. Yesterday he and the deer were sharing the corn.

Time has a way of flying by. Bill’s computer PC took a dump. Took it to the Geek Squad to see if it could be repaired. So we looked around while waiting. Have you priced PCs lately. A brand new – much better then what he had – HP including 20” flat screen monitor and printer was $650!  I paid more than that for my first flat screen 14”!  Anyway they wanted $250 to repair and another $99 to pull the stuff off the hard drive. (Most of it is backed up – we think.) So he bought a new one for $350 – didn’t need the printer or screen. It’s amazing. So today he’ll be setting it up and I’ll try to figure out where I put his back up info. Found it so he is up and running now. It’s nice not listening to the horrible buzz his old one made.

Went to a quilt show over the weekend. Sure saw some beautiful stuff. Makes me want to try new things. But I don’t have the patience for most of it. Still working on my wall hanging of the covered bridge. Bill finished his and it is hung already.

Took the convertible out for a drive over the weekend. Guess what? Now the mice have discovered it! Country living is so fun!  Bill cleaned it all up and put mouse bait in it. Maybe we should just use it more often.

The guy working on the satellite internet for the house and motorhome has finally finished the job. Only took 1 ½ months. Works fine in the house – but now we have to take the motorhome somewhere to try it out. Good excuse. What is with the price of gas? One day it was $2.45 – the next morning it was $2.60 then when we went past the same station that afternoon it was $2.65 Egads! Now it’s $2.89!!! So far though the price of diesel has just gone up a few cents. Guess we’d better hit the road if we’re going to. Still want to go to Hersey, PA and then tour Gettysburg.

It was a year ago this weekend that the whole area flooded. Still a lot of homes and buildings sitting empty.

Jeff has started to blog again his site is    http://jeffmarshreport.spaces.live.com

Sounds like he is having a good time.

The guy who was going to work on the pond never called or showed up – not unusual for this area. So now were waiting on a couple of other people to return our calls. Sure….

Oh yes, the Sheriff’s Log – one lady called and said a guy was beating on her then he stole her narcotics and ran away.  Wonder which one the Sheriff will go after? Another guy says he has been attacked on both sides by his brother and sister. Humm…”3 cows are headed north on Lick Crick Road.”  45 minutes later “The cows are eating the caller’s wife’s flowers on Lick Creek Road.”   Another one “An anonymous caller says that his son went to visit his mom and there was a weird smell in the house and people were acting funny and the female had really dark circles under her eyes.”  - Guess no one stole her narcotics. And I love the names of the roads – Scarce O’ Fat Road, Clay Lick Road, Possum Trot, and Greasy Creek to name a few. On a serious note there were a couple of reports of people being bit by copperheads. Guess I’ll stay out of the woods.

Not much else going on. Life in the slow lane……

Sunshine again and the house is finally painted. Had to rent a “cherry picker” for one day so the painter could use it to paint the top half of the front of the house. In the back to reach the walls above the hill they used one of the longest ladders I’ve ever seen. The cherry picker bounced every time the painter moved and the ladder was sagging in the middle it was so tall. No way Jose.

It looks really great. She did a wonderful job. Now the NASCAR Menards car is going to have to find someone else to pay for its tires – we don’t need any more paint.

Several people have stopped when driving by to comment on how nice it looks. (Probably really relieved that it isn’t bright red.) Have put all the outside furniture and most of the potted plants back. Need to get some kind of shade for the deck outside the bedroom. The one we put up last year came down from the weight of the snow during the winter. Live and learn.  Bill is working on all his bird houses, repainting them and figuring out where to put them. Then he wants to build something better for the bird seed – so they can’t make quite such a big mess when they are eating. As soon as he puts the hooks back in I’ll fix up some nectar and put the hummingbird feeders back up.

Our neighbor, the one who is the fine woodworker, gave Bill a bunch of really nice wood – walnut – so he is salivating to get started on something. He found a really nice pattern of a covered bridge wall hanging he is thinking of doing. Would look great out on the back deck wall.

We still don’t have the satellite dish on the house so still running the Internet off the laptop using the wireless from the motorhome.  It is aggravating me ‘cause I want to clean the laptop off and take it back downstairs and do some embroidery, all the patterns are on it. Also AOL won’t come in on my laptop, works fine on Bills. Have talked to tech support and everything. If it won’t work off the dish guess I’ll have to try reinstalling it. But that is a last resort. Well the guy that was supposed to come and put up the dish fell off someone’s roof (he says) yesterday and won’t be able to get here until next week.

I HATE paperless society. I’m ready to go back to paper and pencil. At least then I KNEW things were done. Just found out my phone bill didn’t get paid last month. Supposed to be an automatic payment (been being paid that way for months) – but didn’t! Somehow the information at their end just disappeared- poof- into never-never-land, I checked on line and I could see it – but when I finally finished answering all the questions and pushing all the buttons and got a real person they said it was not registered on their end. How does that happen?!!! It’s a good thing the sun is shinning today or I’d really be having a hissy fit.

Went out the back door this a.m. and startled a deer eating. She gave me a really dirty look as she walked away. Shy eater I guess. Got all our hanging baskets up out front again and the roses are already starting to bloom. And Bill’s Blue Spruce tree has grown so much this year – almost 3 feet tall.

Have come to a standstill on my window. The center is done and I started on the border and BROKE the first two pieces I cut. And of course it is the most expensive piece of glass. Going to see if Bill has better luck cutting it. All it is is straight lines for heavens sake. But the glass has flecks in it and wants to break where it wants. GRRR.

Went to town yesterday and got some flowers for the pots that go on the railings of the deck and some parsley for out back. Have to plant them today (he)….Also got some real cute birdhouses that were on sale in Hobby Lobby (need to stay out of that place. To much cute stuff.) So now he needs to figure out where to hang them.

Summer has come with a bang – got to 90 yesterday. And last week I was complaining about the rain. It will be back though – tonight. Said on the news last night that this has been the first time we’ve had five straight days of sunshine this year.

We got a nice surprise this afternoon. Answered a knock on the door, there was a lady there. She said she was on the committee that put together the charity event every year where houses, usually log houses, are open for visitors. She gave us tickets (at $15 each) for this year’s event and asked us if we’d like to include our house in next year’s event. Dropped my teeth! So she took a tour of the house and will be in touch. In the mean time, next weekend, we will tour this years homes to see what actually goes on.  I’ve always wanted to take the tour but was too cheap to pay the $15 each. We’ll see Bill is not to gung ho about it.

Had lots of wild life today. The deer came a couple of times and three tom turkeys stopped by. The toms are much bigger than the ones we usually see and they are much prettier too. And they have a long feather hanging off their neck that makes it look like they are wearing a necktie! While they were out there eating a raccoon came by to pester them. Didn’t get pictures this time.

Bill’s back is bothering him again, hope it is just a twitch and not serious. But he won’t sit down and baby it.

Was going to post this a few days ago but suddenly we had no Internet at all. Guess all the rain and the trees being fully leafed out cut out the reception. Today hopefully I’ll get this up. The technician is on the roof now installing the dish. Sure hope Hughes is a better system than WildBlue was.  Probably wishful thinking. Been raining again the last few days, just enough to make it very muggy. 

Cannot believe the last two NASCAR races in Charlotte. Kyle was leading the majority of both races and LOST them both because of rain! Each time he (and all the guys in front) had just made a pit stop before the rain started. But because others did not pit (ones from way back) stayed out they WON when the race was called because of rain.  If there had of been 10 more laps – Kyle would have been in front again. Crappy way to lose a race.

Not much else going on this week. 

Been another kind of interesting few weeks. In the last week we’ve had around 8 inches of rain. There are now lakes where there used to be fields and parking lots. Finally the sun is shinning and supposed to last for at least four days. Wow – SUNSHINE! It’s Sunday and the painter is here busy at work. Every time she starts something the sky opens up again. Its starting to look pretty nice though.

Yesterday would have been John’s 44^th birthday. Miss him. Also just found out my good friend Georgia who I worked with, palled around with and went to school with died last week of cancer. Will miss her too.

One of the reasons I haven’t updated this is the Internet – don’t have it on my big computer, just on the laptop. Why? You ask. Well because we just had a satellite system installed on the motorhome so we’ll be able to get TV and Internet no matter where we travel – from Alaska to Mexico. After the fiasco with the credit card last time in Mexico we had to do something. So here in the house I am able to pick up the wireless from the motorhome – BUT the weather has been so bad the dish couldn’t pick up the signal. Today everything seems to be working fine so thought I’d try updating. Oh yeah, for some reason I couldn’t get on AOL with my laptop. Spent about an hour on the phone with them today and hopefully it is fixed. I could get to AOL if I went on line with IE or Firefox but not direct. Just a pain.

Let’s see what’s been going on. Our sewer backed up again, this time the lines were plugged, had RotoRooter here so that should be okay now. Don’t like finding gunk on the laundry room floor. Ick! The roof over my bathroom is leaking again, this time right in the middle of the room. Roofer is supposed to come in a couple of days. Will need to repair ceiling in bathroom when it is fixed. I HATE HOUSES. Well not really but …

As I said the painter is still at it. Have had to buy many, many 5 gallon cans of paint. We’ve paid for at least two sets of tires for the Menards NASCAR car. Finally agreed on a color for the railings and deck. Will look really nice when it’s finished. Am including a picture of it now, just the top of the front isn’t painted in this picture.

We’ve replaced the dead roses and all are doing fine, almost ready to bloom. Our Clematis are blooming like crazy, just gorgeous. Lots of colors. And the strawberry patch is full of flowers, should have a bumper crop – if the animals don’t get them.

I’m working on the stained glass windows for the living room. I have the interior of one of them kind of put together, still have to put on border and do all the finishing work. They will be really pretty when they’re done. Have also been doing some quilting – made some placemats and a little pillow. The pillow was a pain the squares of material were only 1’ big. Will be a while before I do anything that small again.

A couple of notes from Brown County. Went to the grocery store yesterday and they had a big sign on the door announcing – “Live bait for sale. Just got a new batch.” Okay that’s what I really want to find next to my groceries. Also according to the newspaper the contract for our fire department isn’t going to be renewed because they lied. WHAT!?!? All these little areas have their own volunteer fire dept ours is Jackson Township.  So after next month, unless a contract is signed, we will be serviced by the Fruitdale Fire Dept – further away – and according to other articles, not trustworthy, one time they showed up for a fire and their tanker truck was being driven by a 16 year old. Will just keep our fingers crossed I guess. A couple of quotes for the 911 Sherri’s call log in the newspaper –

“Railroad Road man says he thinks someone is blowing something up in his bottom.”  You’d think he know for sure.

Hummmmm “Woman says her car has broken down on Helmsburg Road and her phone is out of minutes.” Okay…..

“An ambulance is needed for a baby that the caller says is choking on Greasy Creek Road. Dispatch asked if the baby in the background screaming is the one that is choking and the caller says yes. Dispatch advised them that the baby was screaming so it could not be choking.”  Makes sense. 

So much for life in Brown County – till next time.

To set the scene….When we bought this house in the summer of 07 we did a lot of remodeling. Added several square feet to the master bedroom and bathroom. Added a deck to the bedroom and expanded and roofed the existing deck around the side and back.

The house was built in 1972. The exterior was of Brown County rock and red cedar siding. When we added on we could not match the cedar siding (unless we wanted to rob several banks) so the contractor used cedar siding in panels. So there were two colors of wood on the house. In my infinite wisdom I demanded the new siding be painted. Was overruled by husband and contractor. “The new wood will weather and blend in.”

Well last summer was the “weathering” summer. NOT! So this year we decided to paint. Because of the different textures and colors we could not just stain it, so are using a ‘solid’ stain – a stain that covers. Of course we could not agree on colors at first but finally settled on a deep rust color. Went and bought the paint. As the painter was preparing the outside for the painting I suggested Bill ask her, the painter is a she, to do the garage wall so we could see if we really liked the color. My first mistake was telling him instead of her. So while I was inside he was busy painting the garage wall. I happened to look out the window and could not believe what I was seeing. Went out and asked him what he was doing. “Well you wanted to see the color,” was his reply. He added, “It will dry darker.”

“Well I sure hope so as it is tomato red now,” I shrieked.

To make a long story shorter – as it dried it got redder – kind of the color of McDonalds’ French fry holders! I could see the headlines in the weekly paper “Crazy couple has big tomato on top of hill.”

So we loaded the paint can into the car and rushed into Columbus to the Menards and informed them that they had made a big mistake coloring the paint. They were very nice about it and gave us another can of paint ‘the right color.’ But they did mention that the label on the can we returned was an “old label.” I piped up, “It can’t be we just bought it a couple of days ago.” Didn’t have to pay for new can of paint. Brought it home and tried it out – ah yes, that looks much better.

A while later Bill came inside looking very sheepish. “Um guess what I did? When I went in the garage to get the paint to do the wall I picked up the paint we had mixed last summer to paint the Japanese in the side yard.” The bridge is the brightest red we could find at the time. “I feel so bad,” he added.

So the next time we went to Menards he confessed his mistake and offered to pay for the other can. The people were very nice, said they knew he must have made a mistake but we’re such good customers they didn’t argue with us. And not too worry and we didn’t have to pay for the other can. So we bought 20 more gallons of the right color mix.

In the mean time we had several neighbors almost wreck their cars as they passed our ketchup colored house. And the painter has told Bill not to touch any more paint.

So little by little the house is getting painted as the weather cooperates. She still has a lot to do and then stain all the decks.

P.S. They are still laughing every time we go into Menards.

[This has taken three weeks to write.]

Another F-in rainy day. Can’t get on the Internet. It’s only 9:30 a.m. and the electricity has already gone off and on once. After all the years in CA and NV this dark dreary wet sh** gets on my nerves. And its cold got down in the 30s again last night. Yesterday, Easter, the sun did come out but it was too cold to go out and work in the yard – as if I wanted to anyway.

Another week has gone by. We had two days of wonderful sun and warm – up to 77 – weather and now it is raining again and supposed to get very cold again tomorrow with rain or FLURRIES!!!! – Guess I need to look at the bright side. What’s the saying? “April showers bring May flowers.” At the rate we are getting showers we should be covered with flowers next month. Right now the redbud trees are starting to bloom, the daffodils are everywhere and a little purple flowered ground cover is springing up all over the place. 

There has been a change with the chickens – we gave them away. They were already getting too big for the little pen we bought, they were starting to smell even with changing the flooring every day. And we couldn’t agree on where to build a coop outside. I thought we could put it behind the house under the deck but after smelling them for a few days that didn’t sound like such a good idea with summer coming. And didn’t want a chicken coop in the front yard. Also found out the hawks take full grown chickens right out of the yard. Ugh. So they are now in a good home on a farm. We can go visit them if we want. Have already run out of corn. One deer came by yesterday while we were standing out on the deck. He walked up to where the corn usually is and then looked up at us standing there as if to say “What’s Up – Where’s the corn?” He just stood there for a while giving us dirty looks.

It was so nice out yesterday I went out to weed and clean up the area around the pond. Well I got about a 7 x 7 foot square done then gave up. Spent a lot of time out there and it doesn’t look like I did anything. Today I feel like I was run over by a truck. Bill was out there trying to clean up some of the leaves from last fall. What a joke. And the trash people won’t pick up yard waste. Blew a lot of them down over the hill but still a lot to go.

Another week – Well we’ve been home a month now. Seems like its been forever. At least now it is WARM – never happy am I? Up into the very high 80s the last few days. Wind blowing like crazy.

I promised myself I will sit here until I finish this and post it. Had a couple of really nice days and then it started raining again and will continue for at least two more days.

Since I last sat here we’ve had to pump out the septic tank – again- went down to do laundry and found the laundry room floor flooded. Ick! At least it was just in there. Found mice in the motorhome again!!!! – Guess we have to put the mothballs back out there. At least they seemed to work. Caught them before they made a mess. And yesterday found little tiny turds in the furnace room. Country living ain’t it grand. The power has been out at least three times recently and the internet inaccessible most of the time. (Storms to the southwest I guess.)

We are having the house painted finally. Only took a year. Taking a long time with the bad weather. And we hired a cleanup crew for the yard. Guess we're getting old.

I’ve been in a deep moody blue funk - no real reason. The gloomy weather hasn’t helped any. Have started sewing again, made a couple of sets of place mats for summer for the dining room table and signed up for a quilting class. Also started working on a couple of BIG(20 x 40) stained glass windows for the living room high up windows. Still need to finish putting together my web pages and sorting all the pictures I took in Mexico.

This past week has if nothing else been very interesting. We have had WEATHER, new additions to the family, a change in our landscape and a remodel in the kitchen and earned some extra money. Not bad for being home for only a week.

First the weather. Had sprinkles off and on the first few days we were home. There was enough off that we got Alfie all cleaned up and put back into her parking spot. Though the ground was so wet I thought she was going to sink to the bottom of the hill when Bill was backing her in. But she seems stable now. She is full of dryer sheets, electronic mouse repellents and mouse bait (poison.) Hope some of that works, sure don’t want t0o have to clean up that mess again.

Back to the weather. Today is Tuesday. Sunday was an exciting day. Heavy, heavy rain, thunder and lightening with lots of wind. We were under tornado watches and warnings most of the day. The TV gives a list of the counties that are under the watches and warning, Brown County was on the list all day. A “watch” means ummm might be some problems. A “warning” is more serious... keep tuned to radio or TV. Which is fine except when the power goes out, which it did for a couple of hours. At least it was about 4:30 p.m. when it went out and it doesn’t get dark here until after 8:00. The power came back on about 7:30. Why do I mention this? Well when we got home we didn’t think about recharging our lanterns after they sat unused for the winter. We remembered when we went to turn them on and only one out of four worked. They are now recharged.

After it quit raining it started to get pretty cold – down in low 30s. By morning it was SNOWING. Snowed for a couple of hours, but just a light dusting stayed on the roofs. Not even enough to take a picture of. Still made us wonder why we hurried home. {Yes, I know – THE TAXES. Which by the way are done and mailed.} Also discovered today the creek way down the hill in the ‘holler’ is back. It is only there after a lot of rain.

Bill has discovered that the squirrels that made their nest between the outer wall of the house and the garage wall have started to chew through the inside wall. They are no longer “cute” when they poke their heads out of the holes. Mothballs and bait into the nest between the walls and particle board on the inside walls. They don’t eat it. He has got the garage all cleaned up and ready for him to work out there – except now it is too cold to stay out there. Today it is only 35 so far and supposed to only get to 43 with lots of wind.

Remodeling…we bought four sets of tiles painted with fruits and baskets when in Hidalgo. They have already been put up. They are between the lower and upper cupboards on the side of the kitchen. The kitchen is painted a bright yellow so we got some nice yellow tile and Bill put it and the painted tiles up. Adds color to an otherwise drab area. (Pictures included.) When he decided on something it gets done quickly. Now he is looking for something else to do. I in turn have washed and put away the set of dishes we bought in Hidalgo. It has serving for six and lots of extra serving pieces. All hand painted and signed. We are going to use them for everyday – not save them for special times. Luckily they are dishwasher safe. My first question when we were thinking of buying them. Have also had company a couple of times since we’ve been home.

Oh yah – I mentioned new additions to our family. We made the mistake of going to Rural King (its like a home improvement store for farms.) They sell baby chickens this time of year. They are soooo cute! Trouble is you can’t buy fewer than 25. Soooo now in the furnace room we have a mini coop with 26 teeny, tiny baby chickens. Of course had to buy the coop and put it together, heat lamps ‘cause they are so small and have to be kept warm and feed and a feed tray and a water bottle. We haven’t discussed who is going to clean the coop yet. Maybe if I just ignore it it will take care of itself….When they grow up they can go outside under the deck in the back yard. Wonder how long it will be before the bobcat smells them???  While at Rural King we also got Bill his John Deer cap and a couple of bags of corn to feed the deer. YeeHaw!

Can’t work outside on the landscaping yet as we have to wait until the final freeze of the year – supposed to be around the middle of April. Looks like most of our plants made it through the winter. The lilacs are leafing out and so are most of the roses. The daffodils are blooming all over the yard. There are lots of fish still swimming around in the pond but they aren’t hungry yet. When it warms up finally there will be a lot to do out there to keep Bill busy.

I got a shock a couple of days after we got home. Got a BIG order from my bead web site. Sold a bunch of stuff. Kind of exciting. Now I have to replenish!!!

Wednesday a.m. We are now on I-65 and will stay on it until we make the turnoff for Nashville. We are past short and sleeveless t-shirt weather now. In fact I’m thinking about putting on a sweatshirt.

Have not done anything worth writing about except driving. Stayed in Hammond, LA for two nights but didn’t do anything except go out to eat and some grocery shopping. It would have been over an hour drive to New Orleans. When and if I ever go there I want to be able to spend some time there and in the surrounding area. Not just drive there, run around for a couple hours then drive back.

For the most part the roads have been good. We’ve gone from Louisiana through part of Mississippi and are now in Alabama heading towards Tennessee. Stayed last night just south of Birmingham and it poured all night. Took off at 7:30 this a.m. to get through the city before the workers traffic and between rain showers. Scenery is just highway, grass on both sides then trees and an occasional river. Here in Alabama we are seeing lots of trees in bloom. Some with bright pink flowers that look like redbuds to me and some tree that either has rust colored leaves or flowers. Can’t get a really good look to tell for sure. Also another tree with little white flowers – I’m guessing Dogwoods. 

Saturday, well I started this while we were driving home our last day on the road. Finally getting around to finishing it now. We were gone 134 days and drove Alfie 6270 miles. Also put approximately 4900 miles on Willie with all our running around here and there.

Glad we came home when we did as the states we drove through were the ones hit by the sever weather and tornados. Don’t need that.  From about Louisville on to home the weather cleared up. Summer hasn’t come to Indiana yet all the trees are still bare and the only flowers we’ve seen are the daffodils.

It’s strange being home. Couldn’t figure out how to start the microwave, kept pushing the wrong buttons. Dah! Tried to flush the toilet by stepping on the lever – more dah. Had to reprogram the upstairs TVs – grrrr….Called internet service, it came right back on but today it is almost nonexistent because of the heavy cloud cover (been raining off and on all day.) Speaking of weather – tomorrow it might SNOW! Guess we came back a mite too early.

Called AT&T to have phone service turned back on – was informed it would be back on till next day. When I asked them to turn it off they did it right away. But it was back on that night. 

Kind of used to being home. Been cleaning out Alfie and mouse proofing her - I hope. No mothballs this time though, they stunk worse then the mice.

The house was in great shape. Our friend had even cleaned it. Looks like most of the fish survived the bobcat and the freeze. We even have frogs already. What plants I’ve noticed seem to be fine. But will not really know until it warms up some and I really get outside and check.

Remember all the lady bugs we took with us when we left? Well all their friends and relatives are here now looking for them. Will sure be glad when the spring swarming season is over.

Got all my new dishes washed and put away, not one of them broke on the trip home. Was worried about them when we hit stretches of bad road.

Still working on my pictures and cleaning up the laptop and transferring things to the big PC.

It was fun to be gone but it is good to be home. Already thinking about where to go this summer.

While in Rockport we visited with the ladies from the RV Forum the first evening we were there. They all came over to Alfie and we sat around and learned about each other. The next day Bill and I met two of them for lunch over by where they are camped. One of them is work camping at the campground and has been there the whole winter. In fact since last summer.

After lunch we drove down to Corpus Christi and took a tour of the USS Lexington, a WWII air craft carrier. Very interesting. The Japanese thought they sunk it four times but it kept showing up again so Tokyo Rose started calling it the “Blue Ghost.”

Left Rockport Saturday a.m. and drove north. There sure is a lot of nothing to see in that area of Texas. Miles and miles of nothing but nothing. And then the fog – so we couldn’t even see the nothing. After about an hour of driving we were even missing the topes and the cows wandering in the road  – anything to break the monotony. By the time we were on the road to Houston we finally started to see trees – that’s it – just trees and straight highway. I know people who say Texas is a beautiful state, but I’ve got to ask Where?  Around Rockport on the Gulf it was pretty  the coast and water and all. And the Twisted, bent oak trees were interesting. But the rest of the state we’ve been through over the years hasn’t had much in the way of scenery. Maybe someday we’ll find the pretty part.

Bill just scared the crap out of me – he started to snore – well he was pretending to snore but it sure got my attention. Maybe we need some good ole Texas outlaw music on to help pass the time. Except he likes quiet so he can listen for anything that might go wrong with the vehicles. Willie and Whalen where are you when I need you?

We’re finally out of the fog but luckily it is still overcast enough that it is cool out. I keep seeing masses of little pink flowers in the center divider and along the sides of the road. At first I thought it was clover blooming, now I don’t think so as they look like they have petals. Wonder what they are? Suddenly some bright orange flowers started to show up too.

Well just east of Houston the scenery started to be at least scenery. Now there are lots of trees on both sides of the road. Kind of scrawny but at least trees and a bright blue sky filled with puffy white clouds. Going through Houston was fun, don’t think I’ve ever seen a city with so many interchanges with so many different ramps at each interchange. Nice road going all the way through though and good signage.

Filled Alfie’s tank – diesel is cheaper here now than in Mexico – how things change over a period of a few months.

Well we are in Louisiana for the night. Had planned on stopping in Beaumont, TX but blew on through as it was still pretty early. Then finding a park with space became a challenge. Crossed into LA and stopped at a rest stop to call a few. One just a couple of miles up the road from where we were said “Just come on in.” Okay – we did and there was no one in the office. Had to call on the phone for some one. “Hello.” 

Me, “Is this the RV park?” 

Her, “Yes.” 

Me, “We’d like to check in.”

Her, “Just pull into space 79 it’s just around the corner and put $30 in the drop box. Bye”

Me, “ Ahhhh….bye.”

So I got out and went looking for space 79. Just around the corner were spaces 83 and 85. Hummm  Some guy came up to me and asked if the park had cable TV. Gee I don’t know I’m looking for space 79. Shrug. Kept walking AH HA – space 79. Walked back to the rig and pointed the way for Bill.

Pulled in on the level concrete pad. Got settled in without having to unhook the car. 50amps so the air is working great. Wow there is Wi-fi! And we managed to get the TV going to get the last 7 laps of the Nationwide race. What more could I ask? (Well maybe that he unhooks so I don’t have to cook dinner – we’ll see.)

Well a few days have passed and we are now back in the USofA The same as last time we made the drive from Queretaro, MX to McAllen,TX in one day – almost 600 miles and $95US in tolls. At least the road was good most of the way. Just a very short stretch of really rough road that started Alfie vibrating more than ever before. Sounded like everything in the back end was coming apart. The Driver immediately slowed to a crawl. Sure hope the dishes we bought in Hidalgo, that are stored in the basement, are still in one piece. (More about Hidalgo later.)

From Guanajuato we went to Queretaro and spent over a week. Again stayed at the same campground we stayed at two years ago and 30 years ago. The name has changed – instead of Azteca it is now called Juriquilla. Easy to get into and out of. Has a restaurant with Wi-fi. They installed a 30amp breaker for us to use so we had air conditioning and were able to use the washer/dryer. And as I said we went from there to Texas in one day – ugh.

No problems leaving Mexico, we even managed to get our paperwork turned in with no problems. This time we crossed at the Pharr International Bridge, just a few miles east of Reynosa. Much easier to do. The only problems came from the US side again. Well live and learn. This time we learned we can’t bring back apples, oranges (didn’t have any), pork or chicken. I told the inspector we didn’t have any pork as we didn’t eat it. I was thinking pork chops, pork roast etc. Well he was thinking bacon, salami and sausage. 0f course all of which we had – HAD! He even took Bills expensive unopened package of prosciutto (dried ham). And chicken, “Nope no chicken” I said. “Well eggs.” he said and took the brand new dozen we had just bought. Good grief. Shouldn’t have gone grocery shopping in Queretaro. Next time we’ll download a list of what we can’t bring back.

Stayed in McAllen a couple of days. Didn’t do much there as we did it last time we were there.

Now we are up on the Gulf Coast just north of Corpus Christi in the little town of Rockport. The RV Park has cable TV and internet as long as we are willing to pay for it, silly question. 50amps and good water and sewer. We’re here because we are meeting some women that I’ve been corresponding with through a Women’s RV Forum on the net. That’s kind of neat. So will hang around here for a few days then on north again.

I will continue to add more information on what we did in Mexico – will also continue to update my web page until it is complete.

We left Guadalajara around 10 a.m. and arrived in Guanajuato around 3:30. It was about 180 miles and most of it on very good roads. Toll of course, about US$60 this time.  Oh well just keep thinking about the shocks and tires. We found Bugamville RV park with no problems. $14 per night. Nothing fancy, electric probably wasn’t quite 15 amps, water was okay and no sewer. Basically we parked in a big open field of dried grass. Only one other camper there when we arrived. But while we were there the Big Red German tour bus came for one night. It is a sight to see. All the women pile out and cook dinner, the men set everything up. And a couple days later a Trek Caravan came in with 15 rigs. They had come from the Yucatan and said the roads were terrible and that this was the nicest campground they had been in!

While in Guanajuato we made a couple trips over the mountains – 9000feet - to Dolores Hidalgo – where the Mexican Revolution started in 1810. In fact we are following Ruta 2010 – this road follows the revolution through the interior of the country. It will be 200 years in 2010. Hidalgo is its own story.

We were now at 6300 feet altitude wise. Both of us are feeling it somewhat. Walking slower and not climbing stairs too fast.

Guanajuato – what can I say about Guanajuato? It is a wondrous town. Like something out of a fairy tale. Words cannot prepare you for it. To quote a little from a book – “ The city of Guanajuato owes its foundation to the rich silver mines that were discovered by the Spanish from 1548 onwards. It subsequently went on to become the richest city in Mexico.” 

After we parked and got set up we decided to drive into town for just a look around. As we were driving towards town we went through one short tunnel then through another. When we came out of the darkness into the brilliant sunlight we could see the houses clustered together on the hills, each one a more vivid color than its neighbor. They were built up the hills like stair steps. We later found out that some of the houses are entered from the roof. The cars are parked on the roof and the stairs leading to the interior go down from the roof. Next we came to a plaza with all kinds of statues of frogs??? Later I learned that the original name of the city was Guanaxhuato - meaning hilly place of the frogs.

We were watching the signs pointing to the “Historic Center” and following them. Suddenly we were in a tunnel with no light at the end. Tunnels branched off from this tunnel. Then there was daylight. As we emerged from one we saw the beginning of another. But between them were yellow, orange and pink houses built on top of the rock walls. Their balconies were hanging out over the road supported by wooden beams that fastened into the walls. A few yards and we were back into the next tunnel. Some were very narrow. Others were wide enough for two way traffic or cars to be parked along one side. Some had stairways leading up to the top others had parking garages, if you could spot them quick enough to make the sharp turn into them. Where other tunnels joined this one there were signs “Uno y Uno” – one by one - to control traffic. (As if you could see if anyone was coming.)  Then just as abruptly we were out of the tunnels driving the bustling narrow streets. Whoa! What an experience!

Again from the guide book – “Guanajuato’s unique underground streets cross the city along the dry riverbed of the River Guanajuato. From 1963 to ’66 they were converted into streets. Another tunnel opened in 1996, the newest of the tunnels that have been built through the mountains to relieve the city’s traffic problems.” 

Went back to the motorhome to think about what we had seen and to savor what we would see in days to come.

Guanajuato uses the old cannon ball type topes. And they are everywhere – dividing the lanes, warning of intersections, around roundabouts, by schools and throughout the tunnels. They certainly get your attention. They use the regular built up asphalt topes too. In fact from the main highway 110 to the campground there were eight of them. Poor Alfie – he got bounced good no matter how slow we went over them.

We called it a day pretty early – more to come later.

I’ve also added some pictures from Tepic and Guadalajara.

While in Lo de Marcos at the wonderful El Refugio campground we did some wandering around the area. Went to Puerto Vallarta a couple of times, back up MX200 and into Tepic once and then visited a couple very little towns near where we are stayed.

We took one whole day and drove to Tepic. This time we were in the Jeep but the road was still a chore. Bill ended up having a sore elbow by the end of the day.

When we got into Tepic we ran into lots of road construction. In fact at one of the detours we got good and lost. Seemed like every street in the neighborhood we were trying to get through was a dead end street. Had to have a couple of young guys on a motor scooter lead us back to the main street into downtown. Parked and walked around a little bit. The coffin store was still there. The Huichol Indians weren’t. Last time we were here several of them were in the main plaza selling beading and embroidery. Did see a few walking around in their colorful clothing. The Hotel Don Juan they were working on a couple of years ago was finished and beautiful outside. We also by accident found a magnificent department store. At least a city block big and two stories. All the expensive name brands in there. The RV park we stayed in last time is still there but they have built a small shopping center in front and to enter you have to drive through the center then through an arch. Bill says he could make it through with no problems.

We went into Puerto Vallarta a couple of time. Neither one of us were too impressed with the town. Glad we didn’t wait and drive all the way there to find an RV park. Everything was completely full. Being in the northern part of PV was like being in the states. Huge hotels lining the beach couldn’t even see the water. Wal*Mart, Sam’s Club, Office Depot, Home Depot, Costco and all the fast food chains were lined up one after the other. 

Down in the older district we parked and walked along the water. Stopped to look at the big church and in several shops. Especially the places with the Huichol Indian bead and embroidery art. Stopped at the Hard Rock Café and got me a shirt – had to have that. Looked at all the sand sculptures. A lot of hard work in them. And then they have to be kept wet to stay together.

Along that area are lots of regular sculptures too. One neat one is a bunch of weird chairs. We watched all the people taking their pictures sitting in them. Bet there are pictures of them all over the world. The second time we were there a couple big cruise ships were in so it was wall to wall tourists. As a town it didn’t seem to us to be as laid back and friendly or as clean as Mazatlan. Maybe we didn’t spend enough time there to get to know it.

Also went to a couple of the other small towns around where we were staying. Checked out the RV park in La Peñita – it was full so glad we didn’t stop there. Also not near as nice as where we were. Same with Guayabitos.

A couple of nights before we left the owners of the park put on a party for all the campers who have been there all winter. It was a thank you for staying with us party. Really nice. Dinner was provided as was entertainment and music.

The trip to Guadalajara was uneventful but expensive again in tolls. Found the RV park there with just a little problem – made one wrong turn but was easy to take care of. The road into it was about ½ mile long and all cobblestone with big trees on each side. Their roots have made the cobblestones really rutty. The park is nothing to write home about. The water barely dribbled and the electricity was not even 15amp. Could not even run the microwave without help from the generator or inverter. Weather was getting hotter as we got further from the ocean even though we were higher.

Back out from the park and across the main road was an Applebee’s and a Wal*Mart super center – so that was okay.

We looked up my cousin Jeff – he lives in Zapopan (part of Guadalajara) now with Gina and her daughters. So we gave Gypsy the address – she wound us through the city and we showed up at his door to visit for awhile.  Seems to be fine since his triple bypass in November. He’s thinking about moving back to the Chapala area.

Didn’t spend much time in Guadalajara as we’ve been there a couple of time before and explored and the smog was really bad this time. The kind you could taste.  

We left Mazatlan around 8 Saturday morning. Every mile we go further south the greener and more tropical it gets. Lots of vegetation. Farms with agave, napol, corn, tomatoes, tobacco and mango orchards. Seeing more banana plants and tropical foliage. I have been pleasantly surprised by all the flowering trees. I wish I knew what they were. Trees with bright yellow flowers at the ends of the branches, some with red flowers others with pink or white flowers. And the cactus is starting to bloom too, though we are leaving them behind.  We also left the state of Sinaloa and are now in Nayarit.

The road as far as Tepic was good -  mostly new toll road and expensive - over US61 in tolls for less than 200 miles. Only a few miles were still under construction. (I think it was somewhere in this area that we ended up on a portion of the new road that wasn’t officially open yet. Was okay until it dead ended and we had to take the construction road – read dirt – to get off on to a real road. Never a dull moment.) The road goes from sea level to over 3000 feet high. As the climb got serious there were containers of water next to the road every five to ten kilometers. From Tepic to Lo de Marcos at Kilometer 108,  where we are staying (about 40 miles north of Puerto Vallarta) we drove Highway 200. A VERY interesting experience. The first thing was passing through the little town of Xalisco. Streets are one way, thank goodness. This is a very busy road what with all the trucks and busses that use it. At one point we had to stop and The Driver had to blow the horn to get the attention of the owner of a parked car to come out and move the car as we couldn’t get past. As with all little towns, there were falling down buildings and pretty colorful restored buildings. Very slow going till we got back in the country. Now we’re in sugar cane country. It must be a year round crop as we saw fields that have been harvested and fields that were just planted and all stages of growing in between. Passed many, many big stake bed trucks loaded with cane on their way to Tepic where there is a processing plant.

From here on I thought the road was a nightmare. The Driver said it was No Problem as long as we weren’t in a hurry. Highest speed entire way wasn’t more than 34mph. Mostly it was slower. Many, many, many curves – some that almost came back on themselves. And all down hill. Lots of wonderful scenery of tropical plants and trees. And lot of trucks – with double 53’ trailers. Of course everyone else was in a hurry. There were no sections straight enough to allow passing so it was not unusual seeing people passing on blind curves or when they were cresting a hill. I just held my breath and hoped that if they hit someone we’d have time to stop. The road itself was actually good, just been repaved and repainted and even had a little shoulder in most places. The curves were well marked – especially the curvsa peligrosa – dangerous curves. Lots of signs and topes to slow you down. Don’t know why they thought some were more dangerous than others, they all seemed bad to me. Most of the signs indicating curves were not the squiggly signs we are used to they were indications of right ┌ or left ┐turns and they meant it!

As we got closer to the ocean and lower in altitude we started seeing roadside stand selling lots of fruit. Bananas yellow and green hanging on wires above melons, mangos and papayas stacked in pyramids.

We started to look for a place to stop. Had heard that the RV parks in PV were full to capacity. Bill was busy driving so there I sat with the laptop with Streets and Trips on, the Mexican Camping book open and the update pages next to the book – looking from one to the other trying to figure out where we could stay. My first suggestion was too far from PV to stop there. The Driver said he had seen some campgrounds in Bucerias, right on the outskirts of PV. Looked them up – two had fewer than ten spaces. The third one’s directions sounded pretty iffy to me. The turn towards it was marked by a couple of businesses – the book is over three years old – would the businesses still be there? Then I found a little town about 30 miles from PV that had three RV parks and it wasn’t too far in front of us. So at Kilometer marker 108 we turned into the little town of Lo de Marcos and drove down their cobblestone street. Bill was asking where the RV park was. I’was reading the book fast as I could. “Oh here,” I read from the book – “You will reach the village square at .5 miles” (if you zeroed the odometer when you left the main road – we didn’t. Great.)” Just beyond you will see the Villas Tlaquepaque on the right.” Okay that had to be the square but um – no I couldn’t see the Villas. The Driver now wanted to know where we were going. “Oh! Oh! There – see the white building – I think that’s the Villas,” I pointed down the street at a white arch that had some writing on it – what I could see looked like VILL to me.

“Is it or isn’t it?” The Driver reasonably asked as we continued to crawl down the street.

“Yes, yes it is. The way in is right beyond it.”  By now we were barely moving over the cobblestones and topes and the street had really narrowed down. The Driver pulled past a car parked on the left and stopped. “Well?” he asked.

“Oh, oh!” I muttered.

“What?” he wanted to know.

“Well the book says ‘it’s narrow and the right turn into the RV park is difficult for big rigs. If you are one of those you’ll have to swing far to the left before turning, hopefully no one has parked on the road in front of the park. If they have don’t try to enter. Just park on the road and investigate the situation. ‘” I read to him.

By now we were completely stopped at kind of an angle in the street. While we were sitting there contemplating the next move the parked car between the jeep and the curb backed up and left. Okay. A big red truck came up the road towards us. And stopped as there was no way he could get by.  (And we didn’t know if there were any spaces available in the park.)  Thank goodness right then a young man from the RV park came out of the office and said Yes there were spaces available and to just pull in. Easier said than done. At the angle we were at The Driver couldn’t “just pull in.”  Meantime the Truck driver is getting angry, The Driver is miffed, I’m being very quiet waiting to be told what to do. The Driver got out and unhooked the jeep and told me to back it up out of the way. I did. The Driver jockeyed the motorhome a little and barely made it through the narrow gate. The Truck Driver roared past me on his way to wherever he was going. I took the Jeep through the gate, saw the motorhome disappear through a big arch and wondered where he was going. I parked and went looking for the office to try to find out where we should go. Come to find out unbeknown to me Bill had already been led into a space by the young man.

Well alls well that ends well. Got a really nice space in a beautiful park. In fact it is one of the nicest RV parks we have ever been in. Two pools, bar, restaurant, all kinds of game courts, beach access, lots of trees, grass and flowers, Wi-fi and we can pick up one US TV channel. Check it out at http://www.villastlaquepaque.com  it’s worth just looking at their web site. We are going to end up staying here for one week.

The park is just about full. Almost everyone here is from Canada, only five of the 80 some rigs are from the US.

The show we saw in El Quelite that day was wonderful. There were Pre-Hispanic ritualized dances. One that involved handling fire. The other was the Stag dance. The one dancer as the deer and the two warriors after it. Four dancers from the Ballet Folkloric entertained us with their great dresses and dances. A Charro performed with his rope and two fighting cocks gave a quick demonstration of their ability. The brass band and male singer that had been at the restaurant came out for a couple of songs. And the dancing horse closed the show. All in all quite spectacular. Sure glad we went back that day.

Haven’t done too much the rest of the time here. Went to the little town of Rosario one day. It was a nice drive down the free road to the town. Through lots of farming land. Tomatoes, corn, agave and napole (cactus). And many many mango orchards. Checked out the church in Rosario. Nice but new – It was built in 1933. Has an impressive altar though. All carved and gold painted. Drove around the town but didn’t stop any where else.

Back in Mazatlan we stopped one day and looked at a condo. Very, very nice place. Only 20 condos in the building, right on the marina. Two bedrooms, two baths, all built in appliances in kitchens. Pretty roomy 1700 square feet. US$300,000. We were just curious not interested. But this would be a nice place to spend winters. Nice view of the marina. Some really big boats out there.

Ate out one night at an outdoor restaurant – nice ambiance. Good food. Then walked around and looked at the ticky tacks near by. Bought a magnet in the shape of the little taxies. They are called pulmonias which translates to pneumonia. Bill thinks that is pretty funny. Guess they could get pretty cold riding around in them.

Carnival started Feb 19^th. Mostly the festivities are along the on the Malecon – beach - in the older section of the city.  We were impressed with all the set up that was going on. Tents, viewing platforms, band stages, portable bathrooms and gates to keep the cars out to keep the revelers out of the neighborhoods were put up. The rest of the city was pretty much unaffected.

Friday night, the 2^nd night of Carnival, in the late afternoon, we drove to the Historic District to the plaza we had visited before. To our surprise it was completely blocked off with tables and chairs from all the restaurants in the street. Decided to stay for the evening, found a parking lot and left Willie. Walked back to the plaza to have dinner. The surrounding streets were packed with vendors and there was a band set up on the gazebo. As we walked around trying to chose a restaurant we realized that we would need sweaters or something as it was getting quite a bit cooler. So we walked up the street to the central market to buy something to wear. I love the central markets, they are so interesting to us Gringos. Lots of produce and meat for sale. Took a couple of pictures of one of the meat markets. Something about the piggy heads sitting there looking like they are smiling at you makes my hair stand on end.

Both found sweaters and returned to the plaza for dinner. Very enjoyable evening. Lots of music and interesting people watching. Where we were the celebrating was more family orientated then right on the beach where it was more boisterous. 

Come Saturday a.m. we packed up and drove away from Mazatlan.

Valentines Day in El Quelite

Went back to El Quelite on. Talk about a good idea. Originally the reason for going was – On Saturdays the locals play the pre-Hispanic game of Ulama. It is kind of a weird game – watching it anyway. The only thing I know for sure is –when in play the heavy rubber ball is propelled with knees, hips and elbows through a stone ring placed high on one of the walls surrounding the ground.    So anyway we wanted to see it. Before the game ritualistic ceremonies are performed.

First thing we did was have breakfast at the same restaurant. It was crowded – but very few people there were tourist types, mostly Mexican couples and families. Today there were a couple of women preparing corn tortillas by hand. When the tortillas were ready they were wrapped in bright plaid napkins and placed in colorful woven baskets and brought to the tables. The ladies were wearing bandanas, embroidered blouses and bright red aprons and working at tables covered with the distinctive tablecloths. As we sat down I looked back at them and noticed that under the table I could see one ladies feet with her white and black tennis shoes. For some reason that was unexpected.  As we drank our coffee music started and a beautiful woman started to sing love ballads. We remembered that it was Valentines Day. Her black hair was braided. The braids hung over her bare shoulders, just touching the top ruffle of her embroidered peasant blouse. As she moved through the restaurant her dark blue full skirt just brushed the top of her white boots. And such a beautiful voice. Never did get her name though. Also one of the actresses from a Mexican soap opera came in, all the waitresses had to meet her and people asked to have their pictures taken with her. Didn’t find out who she was until later – or would have gotten a picture of her. Very pretty, thin and long dark hair.

Then there was a commotion as a large group of people came in and were seated. The waiter told us it was the Secretary of Tourism and his party. Seems it was his birthday and he came to El Quelite to celebrate it. We were just about ready to leave when a brass band came in the door followed by a male singer. They serenaded the Secretary then left as fast as they came in.

Bill asked about the Ulama game and was told where it would be played.  Did we ever stumble into another serendipitous situation. Because of the Secretary there was a whole big show just for him.

But before I talk about the games let me talk again about the village. This being a Saturday and Valentines Day there was a lot of activity going on. When we came out of the restaurant there were several vendors set up selling their wares. (Last time we were here they weren’t.) So we bought one of the plaid tablecloths and a piece of pottery to hold napkins. As we were buying them a young man rode by us on this brown and white pinto horse. We nodded, he tipped his straw hat and off he went. Before we got out of the area along came a couple of young boys on their donkeys – one donkey gray the other brown. Both boys had on jeans, t-shirts and big straw hats. No one but us seemed to pay them any attention. As we walked towards the arena we passed a skinny older man in beige chinos, white shirt and ever present straw hat leading his burro with a short rope. On the burro was an ancient wooden saddle and hanging off each side was a big milk can. When Bill asked the man what was in the cans he gave Bill a smile as if to say “Dah.” And answered “Leche” (milk.) Of course, what else. He continued on his way down the street. At the corner he was passed by a couple of teenagers on a red motorcycle. The past and the present.

Stopped and talked to the ladies in the granary again. They were surprised to see us and were pleased when we told them how much we liked their village. Bill asked them if the government provided any money to help keep the town so nice. They said No, it is the pride of the people who live there that keep it so pretty and clean.

We found the arena which was in reality just a big empty dirt and weed field surrounded by adobe brick walls. Immense trees offered lots shade. We were told we could sit or stand anywhere off to the side of the marked ball field. To stand at the ends could be dangerous if the ball came that way. Except in the first three rows of white plastic chairs that were for the Secretary of Tourism and his party. We picked a good spot under one of the trees, within a few minutes we were brought chairs. All along the walls children sat and played. In the back of the field were several of the boys we had encountered earlier on their horses

 or donkeys. .Some with saddles some just using a blanket.  Butterflies flew all around us, orange, yellow and green ones. We could smell the flowers, the dust and the horses. The ball players stood at the back of the field waiting for the game to begin. They were young men dressed only in loin cloths and red bandanas tied around their hair.

Just behind us was a beautiful gray dappled horse. His rider dressed in a typical Charro outfit. Big felt sombrero with trim around the crown and rim, long sleeve with shirt, slim cut pants with a line of embroidery up the side seam and cowboy boots. He had his granddaughter in front of him in the saddle. The saddle was beautiful. Leather of black and white with silver trim and silver stirrups. As we watched him work his horse the phone on his belt rang! He answered it – another old and new sight.

Finally the Secretary and his party arrived and the show began. Amazing. Next installment – the game and show.

For pictures http://www.movingon1.com/ValentinesDayElQuelite

El Quelito…….

Thirty miles northeast of Mazatlan sits the beautiful little pueblito (village) of El Quelite, population 2,000.

But what a town So far this is my favorite town and that is saying something. Even the drive there was nice. We took the free road to the town turn off, then into the mountains. Wild bougainvillea grew along the road, cows wandered on the highway and occasionally we passed a cowboy on his horse. As we neared the town we saw the big yellow arch proclaiming “El Quelite.” Around the bottom of the arch were pots of flowers. We drove down the main street, dodging the chickens, teenagers on ATVs and little kids on their burros and parked in front of the plaza and Church.

The first thing we noticed as we drove under the arch into town was the color. Color everywhere! Of course the buildings – homes and businesses – vivid colors. Watermelon pink trimmed with lime. Yellow, orange, eye hurting green, purple, red – every color of a crayon box. Then the plants. Bougainvilleas from white to deep purple and every shade in-between. Sub-tropical plants growing along the streets, in pots on porches, even some cactus growing on a few roofs. The cobble stone streets are very clean, not a single stray piece of paper or trash any where. It is like walking into a fairy tale and being able to stroll around.

Some of the sights and sounds while there. Roosters crowing. A pickup truck with speaker driving around announcing very fresh fish for sale. Eventually he pulled up behind us and a couple of women came out to buy the fish. He took it out of his cooler and cut and weighed it then bagged it all in the bed of the pickup. Of course the vegetable truck and bottled water truck. Both were doing a brisk business as they drove around town. Then the pick up truck loaded with school kids, stopping now and then for one to get off.

As we were walking towards the restaurant a boy on a burro came riding up the street going who knows where. Mothers with strollers and older women with their umbrellas to keep the sun off. Roosters crowing. 

We met lots of interesting people. The young man in his calf high white rubber boots who told us he worked in the little cheese factory in town. He had lived in the US and spoke excellent English. Said he preferred the town to the big cities.

Then the five women sitting around an old wooden table in the granary picking the stones out of the cow feed. Stopped and talked to them for a while. They would dump a bunch of grain in the middle of the table then pull a couple of handfuls towards them. Take out the stones and put the clean grain back into another bag. They had me take a picture of them. Bill had them all laughing by the time we left.

As I looked at the old buildings and homes it kind of jogs the mind to see the really old weathered tile roofs with laundry on the line and water tanks then right next to the tank is a big satellite TV antenna.

Saw some wonderful cactus, can’t describe them you’ll have to look at the pictures. And crowing roosters. As for the roosters - right across the street from where I was taking pictures of the weird cactus were several cages with loudly crowing roosters in them. We walked over to check them out. They are beautiful to see. Such colorful feathers. Orange chests, black bodies and iridescent green tails.  Weren’t there long when the middle aged man who owns them came out to see what we were doing. Talked to him for awhile. He reached into the cage and took one out for us to look at. Then explained they were fighting cocks. I think he expected us to make typically American comments about “How terrible.” When we didn’t he kind of relaxed and told us there is a cockfighting training ranch in town. All the roosters are fighters. Kind of an “Oh,Boy” moment for us. But it is legal in Mexico and people take it really serious. After explaining this he walked over to talk to one of his friends – all the while petting his rooster.

We stopped at a big restaurant for brunch. The food was excellent, the service great and the ambiance marvelous. It was like being in a Disney Jungle World in Beverly Hills. All kinds of plants, even a live parrot – who took off out the door with the manager in hot pursuit. She got him back. The tables were set with the finest feeling cloth made in the village, a brilliant plaid material. The dinner wear was pottery made in the town. All the food was grown and or processed there. Fresh fruit, fresh cheese, eggs and ham.  A hugh bougainvillea formed the roof overhead. And the bathrooms – never have I seen anything like them. Took a picture of the ladies room.

This information was written on the back of the menu. “This town is so lovely that it inspired Francisco Terriquez to write the famous Mexican folk song ‘Que Bonito es El Quelite.’”  

Also – “The driving force behind the town’s rural tourism initiative is El Quelite’s medical doctor, Marcos Osuna Tirado. He transformed his old family home into the restaurant and a B & B. And is encouraging the young people to train as qualified guides, earn a little income and practice the English that they are learning in the local school of 250 children."

This is just part 1 of El Quelite – we returned a couple of days later.

Pictures at   http://www.movingon1.com/ElQueliteMexico

We’ve decided to stay in Mazatlan another week. Actually it was decided for us when the air conditioning went out. Had to have the compressor rebuilt and a breaker replaced. The rebuilding took us past our original week so we opted to stay another whole week as weekly rates are quite a bit cheaper than daily rates. The air is working fine now and we are having the fiberglass spoiler on the front of Alfie removed and that area strengthened. The guy doing the work should be here to finish it today. Our second week is up tomorrow……

We’ve had some cloudy cool days and some quite hot ones. At least the cool ones were days the air was out. Went to the Home Depot here to get some insulating tape. Just like being at home. Looked and smelled the same.

Carnival is getting near – starts a week from yesterday. There are masks in neon up on all the light posts and strings of lights everywhere. Supposed to be a really big celebration here in Mazatlan. Guess the town wants to make it a nice event, as on the news last night it was announced that drinking on the beaches or sidewalks is now against the law.

We took one day and drove up to another little colonial town established in the late 1500s by the name of La Noria. A great excursion. Very small town. Visited the church built 250 years ago. It is painted yellow with pink trim. There is a bell tower with some circular steps leading up to the bells. Got claustrophobic just looking up them.

We drove around some after leaving the church just checking out the town. Only a couple of the roads were paved with cobblestones, the rest were dirt and rocks. As we were getting ready to turn one corner the road narrowed and two older women were standing there visiting. One was wearing a black and blue sweat suit with a straw hat the other a dress a flowered house dress and sensible shoes. Bill slowed way down and started to creep past them. Then he stopped as they spoke to him. Spent a while talking to them. The lady in the dress wanted to show us her three week old grandson. She was very proud of him.  Beautiful baby with long straight honey colored hair and big brown eyes. Saw another young woman in jeans outside watering the street to keep down the dust. Her little boy in his bright red pants and gray t-shirt was standing on the steps watching her. One thumb in his mouth the other hand holding his bottle. He shyly waved to us as we drove past.

Most of the buildings have been kept in good repair, their fronts painted in vivid colors and their roofs warped and the tiles blackened by age. A couple of roofs even had cactus growing on them. I mention that the fronts are painted because that is usually the only part painted. The sides and backs are gray cement or old bricks. Some of the houses had cows and/or chickens in the back or side yards. The fences build of kind of straight limbs tied together with barbed wire and twine. Flowers and flowering trees grow every where. Bougainvilleas of every color, some almost as big as the house they are next to.

On the main street were a couple of young men cooking meat. They use half a big drum on legs with a grill on top. Get the coals going good then place the meat on the grill. This is chopped up and put in tortillas – called Machaca. Must be really good as they were fixing a lot of it.

On one corner was a shop where leather goods were made. Belts, saddles, Huaraches (leather sandals) and various tourist trinkets. It was just a small room painted in a dingy shade of green paint that was peeling in places. The ceiling looked like it had been painted white in maybe the early 1900s. Pieces of leather were hung over a work bench, purses hung from a big floor fan and sandals were strung on a wire above the counter. The beginnings of a saddle sat on the floor.  Stayed in there quite a while. Bill picked out a nice piece of leather to buy. After he put it in the car we continued to walk around.

Saw another building that was beautiful on the outside, painted a bright orange trimmed in yellow but when I looked in an open door I discovered a big room with peeling plaster walls and a high wood beamed ceiling. I could see several different coats of plaster of different colors where it was peeling. Except for a couple of bales of hay, a modern looking scale and some empty buckets and a wheelbarrow it was empty. Looked like it must have looked 200 year ago. Beyond that we found a tiny grocery store. Went in to visit with the ladies working in it. As we got inside we could see that the store was actually a room in the front of their home. One lady was scooping white beans out of a big burlap bag with a sauce pan and pouring them on a piece of newspaper. The other was then taking the paper and wrapping the beans up and sealing the paper with tape. It was one kilo of beans, cost 30 Pesos. She said that with the beans, one kilo of tortillas – 10 Pesos and a half a Kilo of cheese – 20 Pesos a woman could feed her family a couple of days.

As we continued walking up the hill we saw a very old looking house that appeared to be abandoned and stopped to take pictures. An older woman with her gray hair in a long braid who was coming down the hill stopped to tell us about it. She said it was very, very old and had last been lived in by an “old American man.” And since he passed away it has been empty. She also told us that at one time she had the plaque that originally was over the door of the house describing when it was built and who it was built for. She said it was one of the Spanish Conquistadores. There are so many friendly people and so much history in these small towns.

On the way back we stopped at the Vinata Los Osuna Tequila Distillery. According to the guide book this is the only place in the world where Tequila is grown, harvested and distilled all at one place. We passed through a couple of kilometers of blue agave plantation before arriving at the distillery that dates back to the 18^th century.  We took a tour of the distillery and talked to the present owner – it has always been in his family. Very interesting and such a good smell. Got to taste the agave after it had been cooked and turned a dark caramel color, very sweet. Didn’t buy any bottled tequila though.

The grounds themselves made the trip worthwhile. Flowers and humongous bougainvilleas of every color were all over. As were cactus and flowering trees I can’t name. Also several over 200 year old jacarandas with trunks five feet across.

for pictures click here  http://www.movingon1.com/LaNoiraMexico

Had another couple of interesting days. The cruise ships are in town on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so all kinds of things happen then.

I saw in one of the flyers I picked up that the Voladores de Papantla (Papantla Fliers) put on shows here. We saw them years ago in Mexico City. Five men dressed like “exotic birds” climb a pole 105 feet high then one stays on top while the other four fly around the pole with a rope attached to their ankle. The pole revolves and the men eventually unwind right to the ground. Any way we kept asking around – “Where are the Voladores?” Finally someone knew and told us where they perform and when. The when being the crucial information. “On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays when the cruise ships are in.” Ah Ha.

So Wednesday we trooped over there to watch. Got parked and finally found the right place. Had to walk through lots of little shops to get to it. Didn’t see any place to buy tickets. Started up the bleachers to sit down and were stopped by security. Nope we couldn’t stay and watch. Why not? We’ll buy tickets. Nope.. Bill started talking to Security in Spanish, finally he told us to just stay where we were while he went to talk to someone else. So we stayed in the little shop that had a great view of the pole and stage. Meanwhile the bleachers filled up with people with tags on their shirts identifying their ship tour guide. When Bill came back he told us the event was ONLY for the cruise ship tours – no one else. BUT they wouldn’t make us leave the little shop we were in. So…we watched the entire show while standing in the shop. No problem. Security just smiled at us and talked to Bill. Ended up buying a Christmas manger wall hanging.

The show was interesting, in fact it was more than we thought we were going to see. There were Folklorico dancers, some dancers doing Latin dancing to promote Carnival, Danza del Venado (Stag Dance) this dance is the state dance of Sonora and is featured on their license plates.. Also a rope twirling demonstration by a Charro (who was a a boy of about 14.) And then something I’ve never seen before and don’t know the name of. Four men climb on a wooden structure that then spins like a ferris wheel. Finally the pole fliers. But here because of space restraints the pole was only 60 feet high. Still spectacular.  Glad we got to stay. Another foursome had come in the same time we did and they weren’t on a cruise either. But they made such a fuss when being told to leave, several uses of the “F” word that they were escorted out by Security. Ha to them.

The next day we were driving around and I mentioned “I wonder if the divers dive when the cruise ships are in?” So Bill headed out there. Got there just as two guys were getting ready to dive. Got pictures. The amazing part of this was it was low tide. I could see the rocks through the water. Crazy.

Then we went to Applebee’s, yes Applebee’s, for late lunch. Was okay. Something about steak and Mexico – just doesn’t seem to work. Even hard to find the cuts we know in the markets.

Guess we’ll be here a few more days as the air conditioner stopped working. The compressor went. It is now in a shop being rebuilt and won’t be ready until at the earliest Monday. Maybe longer. That’s okay there’s a lot to do around here and a couple more little villages I’d like to go to.

The people that have been traveling with us will leave today for another beach town about 80 miles down the coast. Will see about catching up with them later.

The next day we drove up into the mountains east of Mazatlan. We took Highway 40 that eventually reaches the city of Durango in the interior. Had thought about taking it when leaving here – changed our minds quickly it was slow in the jeep and we only went 35 miles up to Copala. In fact we were looking up the mountain where the road winds around it and watched a big semi-truck coming down the mountain that had stop and to back up at least a truck length so that another semi coming up the mountain could pass by him to continue his journey to Durango. Don’t  think Alfie would like it – let alone me. Even The Driver said, “Problem.”

Copala is a tiny town nestled way back in the mountains surrounded by tropical vegetation. It was founded in 1565 as a mining town. Mined gold, silver and copper. As we turned off the main highway we found ourselves on a worn cobblestone street. Followed it past the cemetery, around a bend in a dry river and up into town. The first thing we saw was Daniel’s Restaurant and Hotel. More about it later. The houses started to come into view. As always they were painted in brilliant colors. Vivid turquoise, bright yellows, dazzling whites with purple, orange or pink trim. Their roofs were rounded tiles, once red now turned a deep maroon with age. They in turn were covered with incredible cascades of bright flowers – every shade from white to fluorescent pinks. We turned a corner and encountered a Bimbo truck delivering bread to a small store in the front of a house. Just managed to squeeze by.  Turned another corner and there was the main plaza, at its back a magnificent church. At one corner of the church was the biggest bougainvillea I have ever seen. It had to be 20 feet across. Breath taking.

In its shade sat one of the townspeople carving little replicas of the town out of the bark of a tree. He does all the carving by hand, no electrical tools of any kind. Of course, I bought one.

The church was dedicated in 1765. It has a stone carved front, made of cantera stone. It is exquisite and words cannot describe it. (Pictures included) Inside is just as wonderful. The altar is made of carved wood covered in gold. Everything of course was done by hand as all of this was done before trucks and power tools.

In front of the church is the plaza with its lush plantings, gazebo and wrought iron benches. As I stood facing the plaza one my right was a beautiful mural of the town and its people. It was painted on a building that housed crafts for sale from the surrounding areas. Loved looking in there. Saw some marvelous ceramic tile that would look good in my kitchen. No, I didn’t get it, just drooled over it. More multihued buildings, some with grass growing on their roofs made up the other two sides of the square.

We reluctantly piled back into the jeep and headed out. But wait – Daniel’s Restaurant. We had to stop there for lunch and pie. The owner had been born in the town but migrated to the US. As he grew older he missed his home and returned to Copala. By then the mining had stopped and the town was disappearing so Daniel had an idea. Build a restaurant, get the people to sell their crafts and contact the tour companies in Mazatlan. And that is what he did. The fathers and sons from the town helped build the restaurant and now the mothers and sisters and the sons of the sons work in the restaurant. It was a great experience. Excellent food and friendly atmosphere.

Reluctantly we left Copala, when the chickens finally got out of the road that is, and headed back towards Mazatlan. But first we had to stop in Concordia to check out the hand carved wood furniture made there. And the Plaza. And the Church. And the vendors.

Again we followed more cobblestone streets to the main plaza. We could see the towers of the church from the road so just headed in that direction until we found it. This church was also built around 1765 and again out of hand carved and cut stone. Hard to imagine but its carvings were more intricate than the church in Copala. I almost used up two full batteries for my camera.  In front of the side door were two small statues of stone. They were human figures but they had no heads. From reading I discovered the heads had been lopped off by the French during an invasion. Across the street from the church now housing an art gallery is an original home of the Marquis de Panuco from the 1760s. We walked around some and I ended up getting a beautiful light beige muslin dress all hand embroidered. Might keep it in the car so if we happen on a church I’ll be able to throw it over my shorts and feel presentable. Bill bought a wooden chess set – pieces, and case that is the board. Beautiful.

Stopped a couple of places and looked at the furniture. Asked it they shipped but No was the answer. Too bad, saw a couple of chairs that would be perfect for the house.

It was a real nice excursion into real Mexican towns. The people we met were great. They had interesting stories to tell and were very friendly and funny. The lady that sold me the dress told Bill she keeps the money she makes in her blouse ‘cause it makes her boobs look bigger. He was laughing so hard he could hardly translate. Then she pointed to his money and his front shorts pocket and clicked her tongue. Thought he would fall over.

Another happy day had passed by the time we got back to the RV park

for pictures of Copala  go to   http://www.movingon1.com/Copala

for pictures of Concordia go to   http://www.movingon1.com/Concordia