Veronica, my friend who is living down here, and I rode the bus into Guaymas to spend the day shopping and have lunch. The open air market is similar to Pike Market in Seattle. The people we spoke with were friendly and helpful. What a colorful sight.
For those of you who are geographically challenged, we included a map showing where San Carlos is located. Follow the yellow line south from the Arizona border to the city of Guaymas and then west to San Carlos. The Totonaka RV Park is our camping spot in Mexico. There are places for 140 units here and we have noticed several CO license plates. The majority, however, are from British Columbia.
We've been at the Totonaka RV Park for almost a week now and have been remiss in updating the blog. We've spent a lot of time bothering our friends the Spencers. We've ridden our bikes a little and done some exploring of the area.
Today we're doing some laundry prior to going to look at the Islander 36 sailboat for the second time. We didn't get to finish our look-see the other day. So far my biggest concern is the engine. It looks terrible on the outside. The boat sat in the water for about five years so there are a lot of things that are sun damaged. The interior, however, is in pretty good shape.
Today we drove a total of about 20 miles from Tucson to Green Valley to visit with Mike & Mary Cartwright.
On the way down, we stopped to see the San Xavier Mission that was started way back in the 1700's by Father Kino. Must have been an amazing sight for the natives who saw this edifice in the middle of the desert for the first time. The left side of the mission is being restored so it looks a little funny in the picture.
The Cartwrights lived across from Karen's parents for years and became close family friends. They live most of the year in Arizona but have a 'cabin' near Livermore, Colorado. Mary was an Art Teacher and does beautiful work with whatever medium she chooses. Mike retired from the Miami Dolphins organization and keeps busy doing all sorts of things around the house and the neighborhood. I think they are kept even busier with all the 'friends' that just happen to be going through the Green Valley area.
We want to thank them for their hospitality and kindness
This is a zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden all in one place. We walked the paths traversing acres of desert and saw some beautiful scenery. They even had natural type enclosures for the animals which are endemic to the area. Mountain lions, lynx, javelina, Harris' hawks, various birds, river otter, fish, snakes (ugh!) and insects of all kinds. The varitey of life that lives in the Sonoran Desert is just amazing.
We visited this place on the day we were waiting for the motorhome to be fixed. The engine started to miss and we didn't want to go into Mexico with this problem. We were able to stay in the motorhome for the two nights it took to repair the engine problem.
January 10
West of Socorro, New Mexico, we visited the VLA. The Very Large Array is a radio astronomy telescope operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. It consists of 27 dish-shaped antennas that are connected together to form a single large radio telescope. You can find out more about it by going to: http://www.nrao.edu/ The VLA is used by astronomers from around the world. There is no charge for the use of the array and the associated data analysis computers.
On the road again
January 9, 2006
This time our travels find us going south where it is warmer. Our first stop was in Belen, NM, which is just south of Albuquerque. We are using a GPS system that is helpful in finding our way. This is the latest toy in the RV. A GPS receiver is plugged into a USB port and the mapping software keeps track of your location with a green dot. It even tells you with a soft female voice when you have taken a wrong turn. It is amazing that there is technology that does this for less than $100.
