mOOners in Mexico

by Kris

Today we're leaving Roca Azul in Jocotepec, for the playas of Michoacán. After three great months of living here we've spent the last couple of days re-grouping for a road trip. An un-expected item on our to-do list was a dental appointment for me to check out a crown that came lose in a popcorn accident.

Many of our Mexican and Gringo amigos in the Joco area are satisfied patients of local dentist, Dr. Juan Carlos Garcia Martinez, fondly known as Juan Carlos. My appointment was yesterday. My time with Juan Carlos was one of my most enjoyable experiences in the five years I've spent in Mexico.

Ken and I were greeted in the waiting area by the family dog...a delightful pup who welcomed us with wags. What a great way to relieve any dental anxiety..

The waiting room was open air and very comfortable. The dental office is contained in the home of Juan Carlos, his wife and assistant, Alicia, and their four daughters, two of whom are also dentists. Juan Carlos was raised in this home (nicely modernized) and the dental operatory is in what was his mother's kitchen.

This is a one operatory office; everything is done in one room. He is with one patient - not hopping around to two or more patients at a time. It was very relaxing. Juan Carlos also has a wicked sense of dental humor...

Juan Carlos has an amazing chair side demeanor. He speaks English beautifully, but because he is so easy to talk with, we conversed in Spanish. We spoke of Mexican places we've visited, foods we love, and friends we have in common. The hour flew by. He removed the crown, cleaned it, gave me a painless injection, cleaned a bit of decay, then re-seated the crown. The cost: $380 pesos..$29 US..

Really.

mOOners

by Kris

We're packing for our trip across the country to Nova Scotia. As we load the truck and camper we're unloading the leashes, food bowls, blankets, and toys of our little travel buddy, Duffie. Our 14 year old Westie is romping in the big dog park in the sky; chasing squirrels and eating more than his share of carrots.

We choose to celebrate his life with funny memories and pictures that almost, but not quite, capture the spirit and personality that made Duffie the best friend and travel campanion we could ask for...

Duffie had an appreciation for quiet moments in nature

Duffie loved the smells, the sounds, the sights....SQUIRREL!!!

 Duffie was happy surrounded by his four legged amigos...

happier hanging out with the kids...

happiest wherever we were...sailing was ok...light winds preferred...

Duffie was loyal to us, his family, and friends...even to his favorite toy, Squeaky Shoe, purchased the day he adopted us and still squeaking strong..

Our travels won't be the same without our uncomplaining back seat driver...

The sweetest deepest sleep is for pups who play hard and love hard and travel many miles...

Little Duff, wherever you are...here's looking at you ♥

mOOners

by Kris

Four years ago this weekend, we moved out of our suburban California home into our 10'6" Bigfoot Truck Camper. What amazes me about this is not that we live in such a small space but that it's been FOUR YEARS! How did this happen so fast?

We purchased our camper in 2002 to save on travel costs while campaigning our Santana 20 up and down the West Coast. Here's "mOOn" racing and leading on Fernridge Reservoir near Eugene, Oregon

The more we spent time in the camper, the more we enjoyed it and looked for opportunities to use it apart from sailing. As educators, our summer breaks afforded us weeks of time to hit the road. We spent five weeks in the summer of 2004 in Oregon...zigzagging across the state from the mountains to the coast and back, following the best weather. 

The following year, after a fun spring of planning and organizing, we ventured to Mexico. For six weeks we traveled down the west coast of the mainland stopping in villages and cities until we reached Sayulita and set up camp.

What we learned from our summer adventures was that we loved this way of life. We enjoyed not just being somewhere new and exotic, we liked the planning, the organizing, the driving, and living in our camper.

When we retired four years ago we decided on the vagabond lifestyle and felt well equipped to make it work. Apparently we have! Along the way we've adapted and evolved. We no longer haul around the internet satellite dish opting instead for now available wi-fi and  3G USB internet plug-ins. We have loaded and instantly loadable Kindles to replace boxes of books. Ken's greatly streamlined his musical gear to smaller (but more powerful) amps, speakers, recording equipment and he's replaced the keyboard with a nice set of blues harps (aka harmonicas..) Our camper has an abundance of interior and exterior storage and we're able to be comfortably liveable without clutter.  When we're off the truck - as we are in Roca Azul for months at a time - we unload our basement and the backseat of our king cab Ford F-350 dually into our cute little tent/bodega...

Our home on wheels reflects our personalities and is colorfully eclectic with an emphasis on Mexican style with fun artifacts from areas we've visited. I love waking up every morning to this warm and embracing coziness wherever we are. Wherever we are...I love that!!

There are many benefits to living in an RV and more so in a smaller (22') rig like ours...we can stay in areas (particularly remote beaches ;-) that the big guys only dream about.  We take up a regular parking space and can overnight more inconspicuously as necessary when boondocking.  And there are times when the highway conditions are less than optimal for larger rigs...

We make the most of our living space by annexing the great outdoors...our equipale table and chairs (stored by friends in Jocotepec, Jalisco in the summer) offer comfy alfresco dining and socializing from breakfast til bedtime.

Napping is taken to a higher level in a hammock swaying gently in a tropical breeze after a morning of snorkeling, fishing, reading, and blongo in our backyard...

Our neighborhood changes as we travel and our neighbors become friends...or they don't. We've been fortunate that most travelers we meet are open minded and welcoming; our cultural differences are explored and celebrated. These zany neighbors from Nova Scotia are keepers!

Four years of this lifestyle? Yes, and I am thankful for the opportunity and the experiences.

I join Duffie in looking forward to more...

mOOners

  by Kris

Hola blog, I've missed you! You keep me in touch with our experiences and give me an outlet for my creative juices. Or something like that. My original blogging intent was to keep family and friends informed and entertained with our travels. Ken and I enjoy re-reading entries and remembering more vividly where we've been, what we've seen and done and eaten, and who we've met.

Returning to Jocotepec and Roca Azul RV park is like coming home. We have Mexican and gringo amigos all around the area and since being friendly attracts friends we're always making new ones. I'm not sure it's us or Duffie that people warm to but we'll go with it.

Before I dive into a new season of blogging, I'll say goodbye to the year with some of the memorable faces from our 2010 travels. Disfruta...

You may recognize some of these special characters from blogs past or get to know them in upcoming bloggings. Feliz Año Nuevo...

mOOners

 by Kris

From Mid Mexico wintering to the Mid Atlantic Truck Camper Rally-ing was a large jump from one culture pool into another. The fifth annual gathering for east coast tc'ers was held April 15th through the 18th at Tall Pines Harbor RV Resort in Sanford, Virginia.

You may wonder how mOOning in Mexico transitioned to such an event...and we have your answer in the form of our Mexican travel amigos, Paulita y Geraldo, of Nova Scotia, who make this truck camper gig part of their trip home and lured us to follow them this year. We couldn't pass up one last fling with these characters...

The route to Virginia from our border crossing in Eagles Pass, Texas, led us across Louisiana, into Mississippi and up the incredible "Natchez Trace" to Nashville, Tennessee then over to Va. and across the Chesapeake Bay and up the penininsula to Tall Pines. It was a delightful trip through areas of our country we'd seen little of or not experienced at all. In Louisa County, Va. we called Ken's Mom to say hi from her birthplace. We stopped at nearby Monticello to visit the home of President Thomas Jefferson...holy moly $44 for two of us to tour...that's almost 500 pesos!! We had a nice lunch and Duffie walk in the parking lot and called it good..for $44 I want to sleep in Jefferson's bed.  Money well spent, however, was the $17 one way toll over and under the "Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel"...20 exciting miles!

We arrived at the Mid Atlantic Truck Camper Rally Wednesday April 14th, a beautiful day...a day of many weather changes signifiying what spring means in areas where seasons are distinguishable. A very green layer of pollen covered the ground and within minutes, our campers.

Welcome to allergies, ugh. If not for a medicinal intervention by Truck Camper Magazine's editor, Gordon White, Ken would have spent the weekend indoors. It was fun meeting Gordon and his wife and co-editor, Angela, who interviewed us for their online magazine last summer.  Angela and Gordon were busy capturing the festivities and festivians for their magazine. I snapped Angela as she (with Jerry's help) photographed Paula and Ken sporting their new TCM hats.

Truck campers are a minority where we travel and it was quite amazing to be in the midst of one hundred and thirty nine (yes, 139!) of them from all over the eastern states and Canada. This is the largest gathering of tc'ers in history. Local truck campers, Ron and Michelle Humpress, started the rally four years ago to gather other tc'ers they'd met on-line at RV.Net or through their association with Assateague sport fishermen. They are great promoters who offer a stress free experience for their attendees. There were group activities - like most groups the best get togethers involve food -- here's Ken re-loading at the "Chili and Chowder" chowdown.

Wilderness survival expert, Brian Bawdy, was one of many presenters and exhibitors sharing experiences and expertise. He did so with his Lance camper and its many modifications.

We assembled Mexican goodies, books, and maps to support the well attended and lively "Mexican Travel" question and answer session presented by our amigos, Paulita y Geraldo.

Walking around the grounds we met tc'ers who use their rigs for fishing and camping trips and have them outfitted accordingly. Not too many of them have ventured across the border to Mexico, and we appeared to be the only full-timers. For many attendees, this rally was the start of their camping season. That work stuff really gets in the way of exploration and good times. Like us, many travel with their pooches. This gentleman introduced us to his gal, Annabelle, and he laughingly pointed out their resemblance...coming and going...

There were noses to pat, bottoms to sniff - for the dogs, and tummies to rub...

The grounds of Tall Pines Harbor are beautiful; acres of lush lawn with sunny camping sites and shaded sites among the pines. The beachfront area on the Pocomoke Sound is perfect for a picnic, quiet time with a book and a handsome fella playing his guitar, and a walk out the pier to enjoy the sunsets. We enjoyed it all..

This event marked the end of our 2010 adventures with Paulita y Geraldo, it was, therefore, anticipated and dreaded...there was a farewell song by Geraldo - he promised to sing all winter and finally did. And yes, it was worth the wait :-)

The rally was too much fun, or close to it. This leg of the trip was a hoot; to experience sooo many tc'ers enjoying their tricked out rigs, to meet such a variety of eastern and southern folk and hear so many accents...and to say goodbye for a few months to our amigos and head west. Four months ago I took a happy picture of Paula and Jerry driving into Patzcuaro to begin our travels...this photo says adios y que les vaya bien...

We're heading west, we have many adventures to blog about from the stateside trip and the adventures of the past five months in Mexico. We've traveled over 10,000 miles and I have almost a photo per mile..sweet!

mOOners