Mazunte, Oaxaca
We’d heard about this little hideaway on the beach from a fellow traveller and decided to check it out. It was so good that we ended up staying for three nights and had to drag ourselves away. We lounged on the beach, played in the gigantic waves, ate fresh chocolate filled bread every morning and drank fresh fruit smoothies at the ocean side cafe. We were also able to catch a few live bands in chill open air bars. To our surprise we also ran into the first person we knew. Linda and her partner Phillip from Whistler had been coming here for years and recognized Pete on the beach so we were able to enjoy a few glasses of wine and awesome pizza.
Barra de la Cruz
After tearing ourselves away from Mazunte we decided to hit one last beach before we went up to San Cristobal. Barra de la Cruz is a tiny town that’s gaining popularity amongst surfers. We got there nice and early so we hit the beach which didn’t have any homes on it only a palapa restaurant, fresh water river to swim in and a long sandy beach with good surf a little too close to rocks for novices. We spent a great night camping at Pepe’s and woke up nice and early for the long drive into the mountains.
San Cristobal de Las Casas
Off at sunrise we arrived in San Cristobal in the afternoon, found a place to camp and finally met two other groups doing the same trip as us. Marcus and Sonja from Switzerland are on a three year adventure around the world in a Land Cruiser and are shipping their vehicle from Panama to Argentina at the end of January. This may work out perfectly for us as we could share a container with them. We also met Max from Montreal travelling solo who has a mutual friend of ours. San Cristobal is a funky colonial town with lot’s of cafes, bakeries, good restaurants and live music. The town also has a very artsy-liberal-Zapatista feel which was great for Mexico’s Independence day celebration. We ended up cruising around for four days preparing ourselves for the next border crossing into Guatemala.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Mexico Part I
Mexico Part I
Nogales
We left the Affordable German with a new starter and a new hot wire relay that he pretty much threw in for less than the cost of the part. We then decided to get ready for our crossing into Mexico by doing an oil change, exchanging some money and getting our Mexican auto insurance. The latter two went smoothly, but unfortunately our oil change resulted in a leaking oil plug that we had to fix before we could cross. We needed new gaskets for the extra large plug that was in there, but we couldn’t figure out what size we needed without draining the oil. We had to do this a few times in random parking lots before we finally had success! A day later than expected we crossed the Mexican border without any leaks. We also crossed without any trouble. In fact we didn’t even know we had crossed into Mexico until we passed some shanty towns and went over a few topes (huge speed bumps set out to annihilate your suspension). After 21 km all you have to do is pull over and fill out a tourist visa and get your car permit. Although this was a lengthy process it went really smoothly and we were in. First stop... Bahia de Kino.
Bahia de Kino and San Carlos
After navigating through our first Mexican city and only having to back track a few times we found the lonely road to Bahia de Kino. We’d read that this was a sleepy little fishing village with an end of the road type feel to it. It turned out to be an asleep town waiting for the snowbirds and their giant RVs to arrive. We downed our first Mexican meal, found a place to sleep where we were the only ones there and hit the beach which we also had all to ourselves. This was a peaceful setting until the second night when a portable disco was set up right across from where we were camping. That’s Mexico.
San Carlos was our next stop. We quickly found a place to spend a few nights and went in search of “the Soggy Peso Bar” for the best margaritas in Mexico. After some adventuring through swamps and sand dunes we finally found the little oasis. There was a live band, great margaritas, swimming and a beautiful sunset. That night we were again kept awake by pumping bass from the disco across the street. Mexicans sure do love to crank their music. The next day we found a remote little beach where we were the only gringos. Pete tried out his snorkel from Renny and we spent the day lounging seaside. Then while having lunch in the van we were approached by a local fisherman selling the catch of the day: one kilo of prawns for 90 pesos. We had just been talking about what to have for dinner so we thought that this was serendipity at work. Garlic prawns and ceviche were on the menu with a side order of what we would find out later was FOOD POISONING!! We both went to bed fine, but woke up in the middle of the night spewing out both ends. This lasted nonstop for about 24 hours of pure torture! Little did we know that this would drag on for the next week.
Alamos/Mazatlan/San Blas
After a day of not moving we decided we had to keep going so we headed to Alamos, a little colonial town with narrow cobblestone streets and not much going on. We attempted to wander through the streets, but without eating for a few days we didn’t make it very far. The next morning we woke up and headed for the beach again. It was dark and we were running out of gas outside of Mazatlan so that’s where we decided to spend the night. We bargained with the guard at one of the RV parks for a cheap deal if we were out by 7am which worked perfectly for us. The next day we arrived in San Blas with tons of time to check out the town, do some repair work and get eaten alive by bugs. This would be the most perfect learners surf spot if it weren’t for all those damn sand flies and noseeums. They were so brutal we finally took refuge under our bug net in the van and went to sleep.
Guanajuato
We got an early start on the day and somehow managed to navigate our way around the giant city of Guadalajara with no difficulty what so ever, phewf. We arrived in Guanajuato just as the sun was setting and the town was coming alive. The streets were jam packed with Mexican tourists there for the Cervantino and Dia Del Muerte celebrations. We had to wind our way through narrow cobble stone streets going in and out of tunnels not knowing where we would end up. We were lost! We finally pulled over at the top of a hill and tried to assess our situation, but no one seemed to know what street we were on or where to go. Finally a young teen approached us and told us he worked for the tourism industry and asked if we would like him to take us to a hotel. At this point we were up for anything so he jumped in. He wound us all the way around town and then up a steep driveway to a hotel he said was 500 pesos a night. It was a splurge, but the next day was Karen’s birthday so it was worth it. We turned the van off and hopped out just in time to hear what sounded like a pipe exploding and to see steam and coolant pissing all over the driveway. Uh oh!! We decided to walk away from the van and get a room for the night, but the prices were jacked up to 1000 pesos a night for a not that nice place. What to do...we decided to go and see if we could fix the van and move on. Through some trial and error we found the problem. A sensor plug that we don’t even use had cracked and blown out of the expansion tank causing the explosion. This definitely couldn’t be fixed by morning so we went to plead to sleep in the van. The manager ended up giving us a room for 650 pesos a night and since we had little choice we went for it. The next morning Pete went in search of a suitable part while birthday girl Karen stayed in the hotel room to relax and get better as her stomach was still off. After three hours of running from mechanic to mechanic to parts store to mechanic Pete finally found a VW parts store that had our exact part!! On his way back to the hotel he also found us a cheap place to camp at a bull ring for the next two nights. We fixed the problem on a nearby dirt road and were off. After an afternoon siesta we went out to celebrate Karen’s birthday. We wandered the crowded streets, soaked in all the festivities and then found a cute little crepe place in a Paris like plaza and treated ourselves to a nice dinner (thanks mom, dad and nanny..we’re saving some money for a nice lobster dinner somewhere too). The picture was completed by Pete getting a man to serenade us with Mexican love songs. What a way to turn 30! For the next two days we wandered the streets and tunnels of Guanajuato checking out the dia del muerte festivities, cemetery, theatres and museo de mommias. We absolutely fell in love with the city!
Morelia
We were sad to leave Guanajuato, but it was time to move on. We made our way to Morelia, another colonial city and the capital of Michoacan. We arrived just in time for the last day of the dia del muerte festivities and checked out the art and music on the streets that night. The next morning we checked out the old aqueducts that run through town, a few museums, some cool fountains and Karen was able to eat her first meal, woohoo. Karen had been given some money at a surprise 30th birthday party back in Whistler to spend on her birthday down in Mexico and we’d been trying to think of the perfect gift from the girls. One of the main art pieces we’d seen during the festivities were these little statuettes of female skeletons that we both loved and thought would be the perfect way to remember the moment when we got home. So the next day on our way to the coast we stopped at a market in Pazcuaro and found the most breathtaking statue we’d seen yet and bargained hard for it. Now she’s travelling with us until we can find someone to take her back home for us as she’s too fragile to mail. Any takers? Thanks girls! A surf lesson somewhere along the way is going to be the other half of the present.
Rio Nexpa and La Saladita
We headed off to Rio Nexpa, but since we had a late start and stopped at the market we only made it as far as Playa Azul. We arrived there at night hot, tired and a little stressed from driving through an industrial port city in the dark dodging topes and pot holes. We’d read about a hotel here that sounded like they took campers and went for it. Not only did they take campers, but they also had two pools, a swim up bar and they charged us half price. We quickly jumped in the pool and had a good cheap meal on the street before heading to bed. The next afternoon we made it to Rio Nexpa to check out the surf. It was a chill place to hang out, but the surf seemed to be a little too big for us to learn on. We did however buy a $25 board off of Connan from Colorado for the next surf spot which was La Saladita. We’ve now spent 3 nights in La Saladita camping right on the beach under a huge palapa attempting to surf. Pete got up twice today and managed to avoid the sea urchins that lurk just below the waves waiting for a fallen surfer to land on them. Both of our necks, backs and arms are sore, but we’re happy. Too bad it’s time to get moving again.
El Paraiso / Play Ventura / Puerto Escondido
We left La Saladita not know where we would get, but figured we’d find a nice beach to camp at. After a few attempts down dodgy roads we finally found one that led to a beach. We paid a guy 40 pesos to park the van and took a boat across a river to a little strip of beach lined with empty restaurants and strange characters. We watched the sunset, scarfed down some salty food and then were taken back across the river to sleep in the van. Once there we were accosted for more money by a machete waving angry guy. Pete managed to calm him down and call his bluff so that we didn’t have to pay anymore, but we were on our guard for more sketchy characters the whole night. Thankfully nothing more did happen until 5:30 in the morning when we were surrounded by masked military men. Pete again worked his magic and we were left alone until the sun rose and we could escape. The next night we found Playa Ventura and were happy to be in a gated campground run by a Swiss couple. We were able to do some laundry after almost a month of dirty clothes and chilled out on the beach. Now we’re in Puerto Escondido on our way to the tranquillo town of Mazunte in Oaxaca. We're almost in Guatemala!
Nogales
We left the Affordable German with a new starter and a new hot wire relay that he pretty much threw in for less than the cost of the part. We then decided to get ready for our crossing into Mexico by doing an oil change, exchanging some money and getting our Mexican auto insurance. The latter two went smoothly, but unfortunately our oil change resulted in a leaking oil plug that we had to fix before we could cross. We needed new gaskets for the extra large plug that was in there, but we couldn’t figure out what size we needed without draining the oil. We had to do this a few times in random parking lots before we finally had success! A day later than expected we crossed the Mexican border without any leaks. We also crossed without any trouble. In fact we didn’t even know we had crossed into Mexico until we passed some shanty towns and went over a few topes (huge speed bumps set out to annihilate your suspension). After 21 km all you have to do is pull over and fill out a tourist visa and get your car permit. Although this was a lengthy process it went really smoothly and we were in. First stop... Bahia de Kino.
Bahia de Kino and San Carlos
After navigating through our first Mexican city and only having to back track a few times we found the lonely road to Bahia de Kino. We’d read that this was a sleepy little fishing village with an end of the road type feel to it. It turned out to be an asleep town waiting for the snowbirds and their giant RVs to arrive. We downed our first Mexican meal, found a place to sleep where we were the only ones there and hit the beach which we also had all to ourselves. This was a peaceful setting until the second night when a portable disco was set up right across from where we were camping. That’s Mexico.
San Carlos was our next stop. We quickly found a place to spend a few nights and went in search of “the Soggy Peso Bar” for the best margaritas in Mexico. After some adventuring through swamps and sand dunes we finally found the little oasis. There was a live band, great margaritas, swimming and a beautiful sunset. That night we were again kept awake by pumping bass from the disco across the street. Mexicans sure do love to crank their music. The next day we found a remote little beach where we were the only gringos. Pete tried out his snorkel from Renny and we spent the day lounging seaside. Then while having lunch in the van we were approached by a local fisherman selling the catch of the day: one kilo of prawns for 90 pesos. We had just been talking about what to have for dinner so we thought that this was serendipity at work. Garlic prawns and ceviche were on the menu with a side order of what we would find out later was FOOD POISONING!! We both went to bed fine, but woke up in the middle of the night spewing out both ends. This lasted nonstop for about 24 hours of pure torture! Little did we know that this would drag on for the next week.
Alamos/Mazatlan/San Blas
After a day of not moving we decided we had to keep going so we headed to Alamos, a little colonial town with narrow cobblestone streets and not much going on. We attempted to wander through the streets, but without eating for a few days we didn’t make it very far. The next morning we woke up and headed for the beach again. It was dark and we were running out of gas outside of Mazatlan so that’s where we decided to spend the night. We bargained with the guard at one of the RV parks for a cheap deal if we were out by 7am which worked perfectly for us. The next day we arrived in San Blas with tons of time to check out the town, do some repair work and get eaten alive by bugs. This would be the most perfect learners surf spot if it weren’t for all those damn sand flies and noseeums. They were so brutal we finally took refuge under our bug net in the van and went to sleep.
Guanajuato
We got an early start on the day and somehow managed to navigate our way around the giant city of Guadalajara with no difficulty what so ever, phewf. We arrived in Guanajuato just as the sun was setting and the town was coming alive. The streets were jam packed with Mexican tourists there for the Cervantino and Dia Del Muerte celebrations. We had to wind our way through narrow cobble stone streets going in and out of tunnels not knowing where we would end up. We were lost! We finally pulled over at the top of a hill and tried to assess our situation, but no one seemed to know what street we were on or where to go. Finally a young teen approached us and told us he worked for the tourism industry and asked if we would like him to take us to a hotel. At this point we were up for anything so he jumped in. He wound us all the way around town and then up a steep driveway to a hotel he said was 500 pesos a night. It was a splurge, but the next day was Karen’s birthday so it was worth it. We turned the van off and hopped out just in time to hear what sounded like a pipe exploding and to see steam and coolant pissing all over the driveway. Uh oh!! We decided to walk away from the van and get a room for the night, but the prices were jacked up to 1000 pesos a night for a not that nice place. What to do...we decided to go and see if we could fix the van and move on. Through some trial and error we found the problem. A sensor plug that we don’t even use had cracked and blown out of the expansion tank causing the explosion. This definitely couldn’t be fixed by morning so we went to plead to sleep in the van. The manager ended up giving us a room for 650 pesos a night and since we had little choice we went for it. The next morning Pete went in search of a suitable part while birthday girl Karen stayed in the hotel room to relax and get better as her stomach was still off. After three hours of running from mechanic to mechanic to parts store to mechanic Pete finally found a VW parts store that had our exact part!! On his way back to the hotel he also found us a cheap place to camp at a bull ring for the next two nights. We fixed the problem on a nearby dirt road and were off. After an afternoon siesta we went out to celebrate Karen’s birthday. We wandered the crowded streets, soaked in all the festivities and then found a cute little crepe place in a Paris like plaza and treated ourselves to a nice dinner (thanks mom, dad and nanny..we’re saving some money for a nice lobster dinner somewhere too). The picture was completed by Pete getting a man to serenade us with Mexican love songs. What a way to turn 30! For the next two days we wandered the streets and tunnels of Guanajuato checking out the dia del muerte festivities, cemetery, theatres and museo de mommias. We absolutely fell in love with the city!
Morelia
We were sad to leave Guanajuato, but it was time to move on. We made our way to Morelia, another colonial city and the capital of Michoacan. We arrived just in time for the last day of the dia del muerte festivities and checked out the art and music on the streets that night. The next morning we checked out the old aqueducts that run through town, a few museums, some cool fountains and Karen was able to eat her first meal, woohoo. Karen had been given some money at a surprise 30th birthday party back in Whistler to spend on her birthday down in Mexico and we’d been trying to think of the perfect gift from the girls. One of the main art pieces we’d seen during the festivities were these little statuettes of female skeletons that we both loved and thought would be the perfect way to remember the moment when we got home. So the next day on our way to the coast we stopped at a market in Pazcuaro and found the most breathtaking statue we’d seen yet and bargained hard for it. Now she’s travelling with us until we can find someone to take her back home for us as she’s too fragile to mail. Any takers? Thanks girls! A surf lesson somewhere along the way is going to be the other half of the present.
Rio Nexpa and La Saladita
We headed off to Rio Nexpa, but since we had a late start and stopped at the market we only made it as far as Playa Azul. We arrived there at night hot, tired and a little stressed from driving through an industrial port city in the dark dodging topes and pot holes. We’d read about a hotel here that sounded like they took campers and went for it. Not only did they take campers, but they also had two pools, a swim up bar and they charged us half price. We quickly jumped in the pool and had a good cheap meal on the street before heading to bed. The next afternoon we made it to Rio Nexpa to check out the surf. It was a chill place to hang out, but the surf seemed to be a little too big for us to learn on. We did however buy a $25 board off of Connan from Colorado for the next surf spot which was La Saladita. We’ve now spent 3 nights in La Saladita camping right on the beach under a huge palapa attempting to surf. Pete got up twice today and managed to avoid the sea urchins that lurk just below the waves waiting for a fallen surfer to land on them. Both of our necks, backs and arms are sore, but we’re happy. Too bad it’s time to get moving again.
El Paraiso / Play Ventura / Puerto Escondido
We left La Saladita not know where we would get, but figured we’d find a nice beach to camp at. After a few attempts down dodgy roads we finally found one that led to a beach. We paid a guy 40 pesos to park the van and took a boat across a river to a little strip of beach lined with empty restaurants and strange characters. We watched the sunset, scarfed down some salty food and then were taken back across the river to sleep in the van. Once there we were accosted for more money by a machete waving angry guy. Pete managed to calm him down and call his bluff so that we didn’t have to pay anymore, but we were on our guard for more sketchy characters the whole night. Thankfully nothing more did happen until 5:30 in the morning when we were surrounded by masked military men. Pete again worked his magic and we were left alone until the sun rose and we could escape. The next night we found Playa Ventura and were happy to be in a gated campground run by a Swiss couple. We were able to do some laundry after almost a month of dirty clothes and chilled out on the beach. Now we’re in Puerto Escondido on our way to the tranquillo town of Mazunte in Oaxaca. We're almost in Guatemala!
Monday, October 19, 2009
USA Part II
Utah
Said our goodbyes and thank yous to Ren, Jill and Case and headed for Utah. On the way we drove over Med Bow pass which took Patience to her highest elevation yet at 10,847ft and took us into our first snow. We also found out that hunting season opened that day which explained all the hunters and dead deer hanging from trees. It’s was mayhem!! After a long day of driving we made it into Utah and spent the night outside of a ghost town on the back road to Moab. It would have made a perfect set for a horror movie, but we slept well anyway. Moab was way too hectic for us so we grabbed some food and headed for Arches National Park. Arches, more arches and WIND!!! The wind was so strong that we got sand blasted in some of the canyons and had to gear up in desert storm gear. We did an awesome 8 mile hike that we thought was going to be 4 miles on the “primitive” trail which took us up and around and through a maze of sandstone formations. Great day! Then we headed towards Canyonlands National Park and looked for free camping along the way. We found a great dirt road which took us off the main road so we decided to follow it and before we knew it we were headed downhill in DEEP SAND!!! Uh oh! We got out and considered our options. We could keep going downhill and hope to find a spot to turn around or we could try and reverse out even though we are losing reverse due to our clutch. We decided not to make our situation worse and went for reverse. While Karen dug to firmer ground and pushed in the deep sand, Pete in true male fashion gave orders from the driver’s seat. The first go we went 6” and were stoked. We continued in this fashion with Karen getting her face sprayed with sand for about 20 exhausting feet before we found firm ground. Phewf!! We parked for the night and passed out. We spent the next morning checking out Canyonlands NP before heading to Bryce Canyon NP. Again we looked for another free site and found one up near someone’s cattle yard. We spent the whole night paranoid because it seemed as though someone was parked at the head of the road shining their lights at us. Good thing Pete brought a crowbar. We woke up to our coldest morning yet at -5oC and were awed by the frosted water sprinklers in the fields. We went for another hike in the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon NP doing the massive switchbacks twice just for fun and then headed to Zion NP. It was a beautiful drive to Zion, but the highlight was the mile and a half tunnel through the rock that dropped us down into the Zion canyon. We got there pretty late so we decided to spend the night and go hiking in the morning. We hiked up to Angel’s Landing for a view with thousand foot drop offs on all sides. We were going to do a hike up the narrows in the afternoon, but with the thunderstorm and rain that was on the horizon we opted out of getting hypothermia in the river and headed to St George instead. With our new climbing guide in hand we checked out the Green Valley Gap before heading into town to get our new front tires and alignment done. Four hours later we drove away a whole new van. It was like floating on air and so much quieter! All pumped up to drive we headed out to the Utah Hills to do some more climbing. The book said we had to go up a tough 2wd road and once again Karen ended up pushing so we took the closest pull out and spent the night on a steep off angle site. We woke up surrounded by rock, all alone. We spent the day climbing the limestone soul asylum wall with no one else around and the next day headed to Prophecy wall for two days of multipitches and long routes. Here we met Michal Nad who invited us to camp and shower at his place, an offer we couldn’t refuse and ended up staying there for two nights. Thanks Michal!! Spent another day climbing in Snow Canyon State Park where we realized it was time for a break so we threw the Frisbee in the sand dunes in the afternoon.
Nevada
Next stop... VEGAS baby!!! Bright lights, $9.99 1lb steaks and mini Elvis’s, that’s Vegas. We splurged on a night at the Luxor and took advantage of the four star room for $60! One night was definitely enough and we retreated to Red Rocks for some more climbing. We had an amazing first day even though the wall was packed and met Michiel and Kelly who let us tag along on a 6 pitch climb, the Prince of Darkness, the next day. This was a ~700ft climb straight up the face with 5.6/5.10b/5.10a/5.9/5.10a/5.10c pitches. It was a crimp fest with all hanging belays that definitely tested our new found strength. AMAZING!!!!! Unfortunately we were starting to run short on time so it was time to make a run for the border. We were surprised in Surprise, Arizona by a van that wouldn’t start so we had to spend two nights at 24 hour Walmarts and are now waiting at the Affordable German auto shop in Phoenix waiting for a new starter to be put in so that we can start the next stage of our trip...BEACHES!!
Said our goodbyes and thank yous to Ren, Jill and Case and headed for Utah. On the way we drove over Med Bow pass which took Patience to her highest elevation yet at 10,847ft and took us into our first snow. We also found out that hunting season opened that day which explained all the hunters and dead deer hanging from trees. It’s was mayhem!! After a long day of driving we made it into Utah and spent the night outside of a ghost town on the back road to Moab. It would have made a perfect set for a horror movie, but we slept well anyway. Moab was way too hectic for us so we grabbed some food and headed for Arches National Park. Arches, more arches and WIND!!! The wind was so strong that we got sand blasted in some of the canyons and had to gear up in desert storm gear. We did an awesome 8 mile hike that we thought was going to be 4 miles on the “primitive” trail which took us up and around and through a maze of sandstone formations. Great day! Then we headed towards Canyonlands National Park and looked for free camping along the way. We found a great dirt road which took us off the main road so we decided to follow it and before we knew it we were headed downhill in DEEP SAND!!! Uh oh! We got out and considered our options. We could keep going downhill and hope to find a spot to turn around or we could try and reverse out even though we are losing reverse due to our clutch. We decided not to make our situation worse and went for reverse. While Karen dug to firmer ground and pushed in the deep sand, Pete in true male fashion gave orders from the driver’s seat. The first go we went 6” and were stoked. We continued in this fashion with Karen getting her face sprayed with sand for about 20 exhausting feet before we found firm ground. Phewf!! We parked for the night and passed out. We spent the next morning checking out Canyonlands NP before heading to Bryce Canyon NP. Again we looked for another free site and found one up near someone’s cattle yard. We spent the whole night paranoid because it seemed as though someone was parked at the head of the road shining their lights at us. Good thing Pete brought a crowbar. We woke up to our coldest morning yet at -5oC and were awed by the frosted water sprinklers in the fields. We went for another hike in the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon NP doing the massive switchbacks twice just for fun and then headed to Zion NP. It was a beautiful drive to Zion, but the highlight was the mile and a half tunnel through the rock that dropped us down into the Zion canyon. We got there pretty late so we decided to spend the night and go hiking in the morning. We hiked up to Angel’s Landing for a view with thousand foot drop offs on all sides. We were going to do a hike up the narrows in the afternoon, but with the thunderstorm and rain that was on the horizon we opted out of getting hypothermia in the river and headed to St George instead. With our new climbing guide in hand we checked out the Green Valley Gap before heading into town to get our new front tires and alignment done. Four hours later we drove away a whole new van. It was like floating on air and so much quieter! All pumped up to drive we headed out to the Utah Hills to do some more climbing. The book said we had to go up a tough 2wd road and once again Karen ended up pushing so we took the closest pull out and spent the night on a steep off angle site. We woke up surrounded by rock, all alone. We spent the day climbing the limestone soul asylum wall with no one else around and the next day headed to Prophecy wall for two days of multipitches and long routes. Here we met Michal Nad who invited us to camp and shower at his place, an offer we couldn’t refuse and ended up staying there for two nights. Thanks Michal!! Spent another day climbing in Snow Canyon State Park where we realized it was time for a break so we threw the Frisbee in the sand dunes in the afternoon.
Nevada
Next stop... VEGAS baby!!! Bright lights, $9.99 1lb steaks and mini Elvis’s, that’s Vegas. We splurged on a night at the Luxor and took advantage of the four star room for $60! One night was definitely enough and we retreated to Red Rocks for some more climbing. We had an amazing first day even though the wall was packed and met Michiel and Kelly who let us tag along on a 6 pitch climb, the Prince of Darkness, the next day. This was a ~700ft climb straight up the face with 5.6/5.10b/5.10a/5.9/5.10a/5.10c pitches. It was a crimp fest with all hanging belays that definitely tested our new found strength. AMAZING!!!!! Unfortunately we were starting to run short on time so it was time to make a run for the border. We were surprised in Surprise, Arizona by a van that wouldn’t start so we had to spend two nights at 24 hour Walmarts and are now waiting at the Affordable German auto shop in Phoenix waiting for a new starter to be put in so that we can start the next stage of our trip...BEACHES!!
Friday, October 2, 2009
USA Part I Odometer 219522 to 222375
After saying our goodbyes to my parents and Pete's parents (thank you for EVERYTHING!!!), our trip started on September 16th at 8:30am. It began with the easiest border crossing into the States, followed by the hottest day of driving which caused us to jump in every lake we saw! Unfortunately Patience's heating system works even when it's hot out, uhoh, hehehe. After meeting Beynon for lunch in Spokane, Washington we started heading East. We spent our first night in Montana and woke up to a beautiful sky where we got our first shots with the van. After a few days of driving we finally made it to our first destination, Yellowstone National Park, where we played tourist with the endless wildlife and scenery. Two nights later we wound our way into Grand Teton National Park where we did an awesome 19 mile (30km) day hike up the Paintbrush Divide to Solitude Lake and down the Cascade Canyon. Breathtaking!! After our long day of hiking we said goodbye to the Tetons as they glowed in the setting sun and headed into Jackson, Wyoming. We immediately found a place to scarf down some food and looked for a place to crash away from all the blinding lights of the town. The next morning we woke up to frost on the windshield, welcome to Wyoming! From there we headed to Sinks Canyon outside of Lander for a few days of climbing to get us back into shape before we headed to Ten Sleep. Ten Sleep is a massive canyon with endless sport routes on both sides of the highway with virtually no one there (well except for a billion cows). Paradise!! We managed to get some 100ft climbs in and Karen did her first 11b/c (top roping). We are now hanging out in Laramie with Pete's childhood friend Renny, his wife Jill and their baby Case while we waited for new front shocks which Pete is now installing so that our tires will make it down South. Thank you for being awesome hosts and putting up with us for so long! Next stop Utah!
LOVING VAN LIFE!!!
Hopefully this slideshow works. If you click on a photo, it will take you to the online album if you want to see full size pictures.
LOVING VAN LIFE!!!
Hopefully this slideshow works. If you click on a photo, it will take you to the online album if you want to see full size pictures.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Meet Patience
We are travelling South in an '86 VW Transporter (Vanagon) that we purchased in downtown Vancouver in January 2009. She's not a pop top, but she's styling and way more stealth! The guy who transformed her into what she is today really new what he was doing. He installed shelving, storage, a bed, wood paneling and a swivelling front chair to make it feel like home and to maximize the space. We're surprised at how much room we have and how easy it is to keep things tidy. In our attempts to get her ready for the trip the van earned her name "Patience" and continues to remind us of her name often. Although she has also earned the nickname "White Heat". She's not a quiet ride or a cool ride, but we love her! Here are some of the things that we have done so far...
Fixed coupling in the steering column (Whistler, BC)
New Battery
Front brakes and bearings
New distributer cap, rotors, spark plugs and ignition wire set
New ignition coil
Oil change once using 10W30 and once using 20W50 (she likes it thick)
New thermostat, thermostat housing and coolant flush
New rear CV joints and boots
Fixed a cracked transmission mount (Nelson, BC)
New rear brakes due to a leak (Nelson, BC)
New front shocks (Laramie, Wyoming)
Two new tires and alignment (St. George, Utah)
New starter and hot wire relay (Phoenix, AZ)
New coolant plug due to exlosion (Guanajuato, Mexico)
Got horn fixed (Guatemala and Juayua, El Salvador)
Disconnected the alarm (Juayua, El Salvador)
Installed thermoswitch (Juayua, El Salvador)
Click on one of the photos to enlarge
Fixed coupling in the steering column (Whistler, BC)
New Battery
Front brakes and bearings
New distributer cap, rotors, spark plugs and ignition wire set
New ignition coil
Oil change once using 10W30 and once using 20W50 (she likes it thick)
New thermostat, thermostat housing and coolant flush
New rear CV joints and boots
Fixed a cracked transmission mount (Nelson, BC)
New rear brakes due to a leak (Nelson, BC)
New front shocks (Laramie, Wyoming)
Two new tires and alignment (St. George, Utah)
New starter and hot wire relay (Phoenix, AZ)
New coolant plug due to exlosion (Guanajuato, Mexico)
Got horn fixed (Guatemala and Juayua, El Salvador)
Disconnected the alarm (Juayua, El Salvador)
Installed thermoswitch (Juayua, El Salvador)
Click on one of the photos to enlarge
Canada
We had a crazy July packing up our apartment, holding two garage sales, storing all of our stuff we didn't sell at friend's houses all over Whistler (thank you Gail, Corinne, Jonas and Stacey, Jake and Clare!!!) and fixing up the van. We had a loads of help and were offered great couches to surf on until we left Whistler (thanks Jake and Clare and Mich and Alex)! Pete then drove the truck and the van to Nelson while Karen went to Ontario to visit with her family and friends. Both sets of parents then met up in Nelson for a few weeks to help spoil us before we set off. We were stuffed full of amazing food and wine so luckily we had time to do some hikes around the Nelson area. We made it up Pulpit Rock and the flagpole a few times with Mike and Franzi, Gwillim Lake in the Valhallas and Keyhole in the Kokanee Glacier before setting off. We were also able to do some last minute organization of the van including Franzi making us some awesome curtains, putting bug screens on and tinting the windows, and franzi making us a great van table.
Click on one of the photos to enlarge.
Click on one of the photos to enlarge.
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