April 27, 2016 by Rae

Impressions of Moab, UT

Moab didn’t make a very good first impression because of the insane cost of accommodation in the town. I expected a hoity toity resort town like West Yellowstone where even McDonald’s jacks up its prices. But my experience in Banff taught me that even such towns can be full of good surprises.

Moab is basically a swell in the highway, with most of the businesses along the main street. In the shoulder season, driving around town hasn’t been an issue, including making copious left hand turns onto the main street and finding parking. But I can imagine that in the height of the summer season, traffic and parking must be difficult.

The town is nothing to look at, from what I’ve experienced. What makes it special is its backdrop of red hills in one direction and snowcapped mountains in the other. The architecture is very ordinary. I didn’t feel a strong urge to take any pictures. I could be in Anytown, USA.

Two very positive things have stuck out for me.

First, the locals are incredibly friendly and welcoming. I’ve been to so many resort towns where the locals seem to resent the tourists that run their economy. Everyone in Moab I’ve spoken to has been very kind, very helpful, and very welcoming — genuinely so.

Second, I can afford to eat out in Moab! I have no idea if prices go up during the summer, but right now, in late April, there is something for every budget. Regular old diner food is exactly what I’d expect to pay for the quality and portion I got at the Moab Diner. Pad thai at Singha was a little pricier than I normally pay, but not significantly so. The only reason I had an expensive meal there is that I splurged on the beer.

Tonight, I had dinner at Sabaku sushi bar, a real splurge only because I’m cutting my stay here short and saving on accommodation. I have had sushi literally all over the US and Canada, in big cities and small. Who would have thought Moab would have really excellent sushi at average prices? $22 before taxes and tip got me two rolls (one large, one small) and a miso soup. If I had been in less of a mood for a splurge, I could have stuck to the happy hour menu and had even more food for the same price or spent less. I sat at the bar and watched my sushi-ya prepare my meal with real care and attention, so it wasn’t just dinner, but an experience.

I didn’t spend much time at the grocery store, but the few things I bought were very reasonably priced, including three large Fuji apples for just 99 cents. Other stores do jack up their prices, though. I priced trekking poles at Pagan’s and the ones I wanted were $20 more than the cheapest price I found online, so I passed.

It’s a shame accommodation in Moab is so terrible. At least, there’s the Lazy Lizard. Even if you’re not a hosteling kind of person, please consider them first as they are the only accommodation in Moab that keeps its prices reasonable while still trying to provide a lot of value. I’m not happy to be in a hostel, but I can separate that from my experience here, which has been very positive. My cabin is very comfortable and conducive to a good night’s sleep (comfy bed, dark, quiet, warm) and the ladies’ bathroom is spotlessly clean. I resent paying 39USD and not having my own bathroom, but they could charge as much as 60USD or even 75 a night for the cabins and still have the best bargain in town!

I’d say that Moab really hasn’t made that much of an impression on me. People don’t come to the area for Moab, but rather for all the outdoor experiences around.

Fun fact: sixteen years ago I worked at a bookstore and a guy came in asking to order a book on mountain biking Moab. After the order was put through and he’d left, the owner turned to me, wide-eyed, and asked, “What’s a Moab?!” I can’t believe I remember that!

April 26, 2016 by Rae

Camp Verde, AZ, to Moab, UT

I had a really good night in Camp Verde, to my surprise, getting a solid six and a half hours of sleep and then dozing for about an hour more. I had a lazy morning and then set out around eight. It was quite cold and very, very, very, very windy.

My first stop of the day was in Flagstaff. I had initiated an INTERAC e-Transfer while I was in Camp Verde so I could make a withdrawal at a Bank of America in Flagstaff. My GPS told me that would be my only opportunity to access a BOA ATM before Moab and I needed cash for the hostel. BOA is part of the same network as Scotiabank, so no ATM fees there. By the time I arrived at the bank, the transfer was done, so I was able to complete my part on my phone and then get in line at the drive-thru machine. I felt bad for the folks behind me because my withdrawal took some time. Like the ATMs in Mexico, the machine would spit out my card and make me start over if I asked it to take out more than I had in my account (sometimes hard to gauge because of the exchange rate).

That finally done, I took off and was pleased to get off the Interstate even if it would be slower going. Olive green hills that reminded me of home slowly turned to rich brown red and that brought the dust. The picture didn’t turn out well, but the clouds were dirt brown. Pardon my gross windshield — no windshield cleaners in the US!

After several hours, I finally approached Monument Valley! I have wanted to see Monument Valley since November 17, 1986, at approximately 8:05 PM EST. But I was told by a few friends who have been that the tours are the worst kind of tourist trap and that I will be enormously disappointed. However, readers told me I would be able to see some of the monuments from the main highway. Visibility was poor, but I was ready to stop at pull-outs if I saw anything interesting…

Monument Valley straddles the Arizona/Utah border.

Wow…

And, finally, a bit of a clearing!

Can you see the utter morons in front of me? They flew past me at the really nice scenic pullout right behind me and then pulled over right on the road to take pictures. Please don’t be like them.

There was still more to see. I actually have dozens more pictures!

Happy with my taste of Monument Valley, I pushed on through the very scenic town of Mexican Hat.

And this is why it’s called Mexican Hat, I’m sure!

Neat cut straight through a hill:

I climbed up to 7,000ft during my day and then started to descend to 4,000 feet, enjoying the vegetation changes as I did so, like this contrast of the red stone with the poplars. It got less windy as I started going down and a bit less chilly.

Snow…

More snow paused at a construction zone.

Another neat rock formation.

And my first arch! This is Wilson Arch.

I pulled into the hostel in Moab around six and paid for a second night since I was immediately not sure I would want to spend five nights there. It’s nothing to do with the hostel — it’s a hostel. I knew what I was getting into and this appears to be one of the good ones. I’m just past the age of living a million miles from a shared bathroom and the wifi only works in the communal spaces. But my cabin is private and the bed is good. So we’ll see how my first day at the park goes.

I went out into town to get dinner. Moab appears to be along a main stretch with a few other roads jutting off of it. There are lots of restaurants. It was fun to look up addresses in my GPS because Utah has a unique addressing system based out of Salt Lake City (eg. 60N 100W Moab, UT). I had a case recently where I learned about this and so it wasn’t a complete shock last night.

For dinner, I found myself at a really good Thai restaurant eating super spicy Pad Thai (I actually requested 3 out of 5 stars!) with a cold Chinese beer. But at 24USD, I won’t be splurging like that every night!

I had an early night since I had no internet access in my cabin and didn’t want to go to the communal space to get online as I was exhausted. I also couldn’t use my phone as a hot spot because I was out of pesos and CIBC declined my purchase of more money so I could buy a data plan. I’ll try again tonight.

I had a good night’s sleep, but the morning is being trying since I can’t relax in my private space with coffee to do my emails and online stuff. Hopefully, I’ll be less cranky after a day in the park…

It’s almost seven and the communal spaces are getting busy, so I’m heading out.

April 23, 2016 by Rae

A Year In Mexico… Isla de la Piedra to Guaymas

I woke up at four this morning ahead of a grueling driving day and two and a half hours away from daylight. Unacceptable. I dozed until about 4:30 and then, thankfully, fell back asleep, to wake up eight minutes before my alarm at 5:22. It’s amazing how different I felt after just another 50 minutes of sleep. I got up, dressed, put water on to heat, and then got to work packing up the bedding. Both toppers packed well and quickly. Even after adding them, the dirty laundry tub (topped with sheets and a blanket in a garbage bag), and my pillows, I still had plenty of room to add the bucket after I washed the floors.

I made coffee and while it cooled a tad, I packed my computer bag and got that into the truck. Then, I went through the fridge and freezer one last time and realised that I had six slices of fresh bread and a quarter of a small container of strawberry jam left. I converted that into three jam sandwiches and had one with my coffee. If that doesn’t speak to my state of mind this morning, I don’t know what does — it’s rare for me to have breakfast on a travel day! I knew I would have a very late lunch, so I’d have another sandwich at my morning coffee break and then have a final one a couple of hours before lunch. Perfect; that saved me a stop at Panamá’s. I haven’t been there much this winter, incidentally, not since we got our panaderia on Isla.

By 6:30, it was getting light out and I was done, the house left spotless and the truck neatly packed. It was time to go.

Yes, I was sad. How could I not be? I had the best year of my life (in two segments) living in this house, in this village. But I was also looking forward to new adventures, and so I was also happy. I have a biological imperative to go. I am unhappy if I don’t heed it and I am unhappy when I do heed it. But I am my best self when I let myself leave, when I accept that this is what my life has to be, constant arrivals and departures, so many hellos and goodbyes, so many shallow and fleeting friendships (and the odd one that really sticks), so much stress about what comes next. It is in this uncertainty that I find myself strong, ambitious, energetic, and productive.

I savoured my time in Mazatlán. I got to know parts of it in ways that I have only ever known one other city in my life. I truly lived in Mexico for a year, dealing daily with the locals for all my needs and speaking their language. I saw all manner of expats, from those who are truly integrated into Mexican life and those who come only for the weather and remain in their Gringo enclaves. My experience was closer to the former and incredibly enriching. I have come to understand things about myself that I have always suspected, but was never able to truly articulate. What I found in Mexico is exactly the same thing I found at my beloved Haven and merits its own post. But I will say now that I have spent but a scant year in Mexico and I have felt more at home in the parts of it that I have seen than I have ever felt anywhere in Canada outside of Haven, and that’s taking into account that the Mexican people are still a mystery to me since I haven’t really befriended any yet. All that to say, I’m ready to move here.

I set off at 6:30 and the Road was, of course, paved except for the last few metres. There were now topes at the houses midway and even speed limit signs (60KPH!). I look forward to reports of how the paving changes Isla over the next few years.

I’d only been driving a few minutes when I realised that my odo and speedo metres weren’t working! I pulled over in front of Estrella del Mar to check my manual and see if they are on the same fuse. Yes. So that was probably the issue, a very inexpensive fix, and one not worth worrying about. I prefer to use my GPS as a speedometre anyway, although I was concerned about not clocking the mileage on the engine. I hadn’t realised it was that easy to turn off and now wonder if the previous owner ever did that and my truck has more mileage than I thought? Ah, no sense worrying. Even though I haven’t driven since the end of November, Moya started up perfectly and was purring.

It was super early, so traffic was light coming into Mazatlán. I pulled into a Pemex at the northern end of town for a final bathroom break and asked the attendant to wash my windows. I also asked if she knew where I could buy a fuse and she told me I was out of luck until stuff opened around eight or 8:30. It was seven and this really wasn’t pressing (I had my turn signals and brake light) so I decided to just stop at the AutoZone in Navojoa near the end of my day.

Because of the increased amount of violence around Maz in the last few months, including several carjackings north and south of the city I made the decision to take the cuota (toll road) all the way, a decision cemented by the fact that numerous people told me to not take the libre no matter how safe I’ve felt taking it in the past. So the first part of my day was very boring, not particularly scenic, and very expensive toll-wise. The most exciting thing that happened was that I got an amazing coffee at the Oxxo 100KM south of Culicán. Second to that was the stop by the federales right after the coffee break, with the very fatherly officer telling me I really should be traveling with a dog or cat! I also had a couple of fruit stops, but they went quickly. Oh, and it rained hard most of the way from just south of Culiacán to just south of Los Mochis… and I discovered that my dead fuse also controls my windshield wipers! That was… “fun.” 🙂

This was my first time doing the cuota to Los Mochis and it really didn’t feel any faster than taking the libre, on top of not being able to go through the pueblos. It’s definitely not my favourite way to travel and the day just draaaaaaagged. I stopped at a Pemex at one point to put in more fuel (I always put in just $500 at a time to force me to stop more often) and had to pay with $50s, which I counted out. The attendant was shocked that I could count to ten in Spanish. Not the most amazing thing I’ve ever learned! Most expats I know who struggle with the language know that… He asked if I was going to Maz because he had some sort of coupon for a hotel, but I told him I was going way, way, way north!

There was a military checkpoint just before the Sonora border, where I got sent to secondary inspection, where I was told to exit the vehicle and go stand by the big dude with the huge gun (my description). My heart sank at the thought that they were going to empty out everything, like they were doing with the class B from California next to me. An officer opened just the canopy and rummaged through what he could reach, including the dirty laundry (*laughs*) and going into two tubs and unwrapping some things in one of them (keyboard and external hard drive). He then said I could lock up and follow him to the front so I could move the driver’s seat ahead so he could see what I was carrying behind it. I told him there is a rear door, so he opened that himself and rummaged through the two totes there. Then he asked me the usual questions of where I was coming from and where I was going before telling me I could go. I was there about 20 very long minutes!

Then, came the Sonora border, the really bad bit of road right around it, and another fruit inspection. This one also went very quickly. It was around here that I realised that I was going to “gain” an hour today, thanks to my GPS. I didn’t use a GPS last year and am pretty sure that I didn’t clue into this because I didn’t note gaining an hour until I crossed into Arizona. So that was a surprise, neither good nor bad.

It was slow going from the border to Navojoa because of construction meaning there was only one lane in both directions and I got stuck behind a semi. So by the time I reached Navojoa, I was just done and ready to call it a night! If I didn’t have that reservation on Monday night, I just might have done that! But, instead, I decided to have a proper lunch break. The last two times I passed through Navajoa, I noted one taco joint in particular (there are a lot of them on Mex-15 through the city!) that has al pastor tacos, Don Amable, in front of the Chevrolet dealership. I decided that I would stop there if they were open and I could find parking.

I got a red light before the Soriana coming into Navojoa and two boys took the time to wash my windshield. They couldn’t have been at it more than fifteen seconds, really, and did an amazing job — there wasn’t a streak or bug left! How do they do that with just a water bottle and a squeegee?! I love the window washers in Mexico, even if I sometimes get irked when I get my windshield done and one block later, another guy decides to do it again and won’t take no for an answer! In that case, he gets $1 instead of $5 (pesos!).

Before lunch, I stopped at AutoZone and wasted ten minutes. I found my fuses in under thirty seconds and then went to the till to pay. A few people lined up behind me and when a cashier finally came after a whole ten minutes of waiting, she called to the guy behind me! I said no, I was there first and she replied that they were there first, the five men in line behind me and that I could wait till they’d paid! What the hell?! Needless to say, I dropped my fuses right there and left. No, I did not misunderstand what she said.

Too hungry to be annoyed, I continued on a few blocks and found Don Amable open, with ample street parking across from it on my side of the highway. It’s just a normal taco joint, nothing special in terms of decor. I sat and a gentleman came to welcome me and take my order. I asked for two al pastor tacos with everything and he asked me to specify corn or wheat tortillas! Apparently, the look on my face said it all because he burst out laughing and said “Corn it is!” without my having to say anything. LOL!!! They came quickly with heaps of extras to pile on them!

Here they are naked:

And semi-dressed:

I kept adding stuff as I ate. I went light on the hot red sauces, but went through a lot of the salsa mexicana, guacamole, pickled onion, and shredded cabbage. I love cabbage on tacos, but have never had it on al pastor ones! I was done with my first taco when I started regretting not ordering something to drink. Just as I was about to look around for a server, one materialised to ask if I wanted anything to drink! Really! He was about to recite a list of beverages, but I cut him off and asked if they had Fresca. Yes! And it came in a glass bottle! How quaint!

I couldn’t feel my tongue when I came out of there and decided that it was fate that there just happened to be a Thrifty’s ice cream across the street… One choco brownie cone later, my tastebuds were restored and I was ready to do the final stretch to Guaymas.

Dull as the day had been, it had been a good one thus far. Now that have three Mexican cities under my belt and have driven away from this Mex-15 stretch, I feel that I have more general Mexico experience and am so much more comfortable in new situations. I did well going north last year, but I still felt that I needed to stick to familiar places. Now, I have a good idea of where to get things outside of chain stores and I’m not nervous about asking for what I need. I’ll definitely be able to hit the ground running when I move to Mérida and focus on the more advanced things I need to learn.

And so, I kept driving, and running into toll booths. There were exactly ten today, for a total of $677 (52.13CAD). OUCH. But I have to say that with my not being budgeted as tightly as I was last year, it wasn’t distressing, just profoundly annoying when you’d get to a toll booth only a few kilometres after the last one!

I finally got off the cuota at Guaymas. Traffic was light going through the city. I knew the AutoZone was on the “wrong” side of the highway, so I turned off before it so I could go in the back way. I love knowing little things like that! If I’d had to make the left-hand turn, I don’t think I would have bothered because I was knackered and just wanted to get off the road!

My experience at the Guaymas AutoZone was the completely opposite of that in Navojoa — I was out the door in under a minute! And as I opened my front door wide to put the new fuse in, an employee came to ask if I needed help! Wow! No, I didn’t need help. I pulled out the old fuse using a very handy little tool mounted right into the fuse box and then popped in the new one. I did a couple of checks and confirmed that my problem was solved. Easy peasy! Only cost me 2CAD and not an ounce of worry. I had to buy a package of fuses so I have a few extra. They’re 10A and I tend to go through at least one 10A fuse a season with one of my inverters in the RV, so the extras will be used up.

I was glad that I’d made the decision to stop in Guaymas rather than San Carlos tonight because I was just done as I left the city limits on the other side. I’d found a decently rated cheap motel, the Malibu, in front of the Walmart and headed there to see if they had a room.

It wound up being just past the Walmart and I had to do a U-turn:

Yes, they had a vacancy, and the room was $40 more than on the website. I lost that argument, but at $450 pesos, it was still a good deal. Well, as the check-in process moved on, the clerk and I chatted and she finally said, “You know what? I’m going to give you that $410 rate!” Wow. What happened?! So $410, plus a $100 key and remote deposit, with breakfast included. I was already doing better than at Totonaka!

The room is equivalent in terms of amenities and age, but marginally cleaner and the bed a touch softer. I like that the only window is in the bathroom, meaning that once the bathroom door is shut, the room is dark. I also like that there are multiple signs stating that people are here to sleep and that music and other loud noises will not be tolerated. Okay. I’m starting to like this place! I do miss not having that last view of the Sea of Cortez, though. But here are the red hills I’m going to be seeing a lot of in the next several days!

There is just one restaurant within walking distance, literally beside the hotel. And it’s Arbolitos de Cajeme! I didn’t realise they are a chain! I’ve been there a few times in San Carlos (they’re right next to Totonaka). In fact, if I had gone to San Carlos tonight, I would have going there and had the octopus pasta I had in November of 2014…

Needless to say, I barely glanced at the menu after I was seated tonight. 😀 I had the pasta with an icy cold XX and skipped the totopos and garlic bread. So yummy! I mean, Parmesan, fresh basil, red and yellow peppers, and tons of shrimp and octopus. Yum!!! It looks different from what I was served in San Carlos in that there, the Parmesan, basil, and oil are served as pesto while here, the ingredients are separate and you get the whole basil leaves. Both versions are great and are generous with the octopus.

There was an ad on the table for their freshly made ice cream so even though I really didn’t need dessert, I asked if they had the mango one. No. But they did have a bunch of other flavours and I decided to try the pineapple… which wound up being $69… and worth every peso for the presentation. I burst out laughing when this was placed in front of me!

Seriously?! I’m still laughing at how unexpected this was. The server says that the ice cream was made from the pulp of that miniature pineapple. Hmm… Well, the serving was very generous, but I got through it. 🙂

This was really good quality ice cream, very “pineapple-y,” and the perfect cap to a good meal. Dinner was $275 with the tip, a lot more than I normally spend on a meal in Mexico, but absolutely worth every centavo in terms of the quality and even gourmet nature of my meal. This was a 20CAD meal. You don’t get food like this for 20 bucks in Canada!

I was done for the day after that. I came in and had a tepid shower (perfect temperature), then crawled into bed to check out the wifi (a bit slow, but it works!!!!). It’s only eight local time, but nine my time and I’m almost at the point of needing to prop my eyelids open with toothpicks! Breakfast starts at six and sunrise is at six, so I might as well turn in early and get an early start. My ambitious plan for tomorrow is to get through Phoenix! I’ll know how realistic that is when I get through the border…

April 9, 2016 by Rae

Torrid Afternoon in Centro

I’ll be well on my way to the border this time in two weeks… I really have no idea where this winter went. 🙁

Having only an easy job to do this weekend, I planned my schedule so that I could go to Centro this afternoon for shopping and lunch and do a final run to Juárez tomorrow morning.

It is hot and muggy this week, but I’m not letting that stop me from living. The trick is to stay hydrated! So once I was done with work around noon, I dressed for town and headed out.

En route to the embarcadero I finally remembered to take a certain picture. Remember this house from last fall?

house under construction

Here it is today:

What a difference paint makes!

First stop in Centro was the mercado since I wanted to buy some blouses. I went to my favourite dress shop, where the owner can be trusted to be honest about what styles and colours suit a customer best. What she first showed me was exactly what I wanted, but she pulled out other models so I could be sure. They are a bit too big for me, though, so she suggested that I find someone to put a few darts in the sides for me. Hopefully, the dressmaker I used earlier this winter will be available to do that for me this week. “My” price was $280 for one, $500 for two. I’ll probably pay about $100 to get them fitted correctly. Still a bargain for such high quality clothing! The pink one is the same shade as my pink dress, so I wasn’t going to get it, but the owner said that it’s my colour, something her assistant and several friends have echoed so I caved.

For lunch, I had thought to do a shrimp burger at Tony’s, but I’m really fastfooded out. So I bought a small agua fresca for the walk to the Water’s Edge Bistro for a nice lunch in their courtyard. They still have their lunch menu with several choices for $120 each, including a beer, limonada, or a soft drink. I opted for a limonada to stay well hydrated and asked for it sour. It was made perfectly and was very refreshing. For my meal, I succumbed to the lure of pesto (basil!) and Parmesan cheese to have their penne pasta with roast chicken. It was a bit of a heavy meal for the weather, but the flavours were most welcome and I liked how the chicken was diced and then caramelised on all sides. The food is so good at the Water’s Edge and the portion sizes are just right. It’s a nice spot for lunch when I’m tired of Mexican flavours.

I then wandered towards the water and popped in at the art museum to see if it might be open. I’ve been meaning to go for ages but knew that it’s tiny and not worth a special trip out. Well, it was open and admission was free!

The art was… strange. The museum only has a few rooms and the art just got odder and odder the deeper in I went. Here are a few things that caught my eye. None of these are the truly strange ones!

This one is called “night filled with love”:

Lovely landscape.

There were a lot of variations on this theme of dying and moving on to the next plane of existence.

There is something about this one that spoke to me for some reason, even if I wouldn’t want it on my wall!

The museum has those dark ceiling beams I love:

I liked these black and white pieces showing the harshness of poverty:

The courtyard of the museum had an interesting tree:

This is an exterior corridor off the courtyard:

And here’s the entrance, directly across from Macaw’s:

I eventually made it to the Malecón and caught this image of Mazatlán’s Icebox Hill with an iconic pulmonía in the foreground:

Found this house for sale that made me rethink my Mérida plans (*winks*):

I eventually found myself on Miguel Alemán, from which I turned left onto Carnaval to head back to the embarcadero. I popped into the gelato place I like, where they’ve up their price from $25 to $35, and got their delicious “Snickers” flavour (chocolate, peanuts, and caramel), then enjoyed it as I picked my way down several streets that were under construction to eventually end up on Constitución, which led me straight to the Emilio Barragán a few blocks from the embarcadero. I was done in by the time we got to this side and the final schlep home felt very long!

March 26, 2016 by Rae

Savour the Moment

Semana Santa has come around again. Isla is so busy, but, again, it’s not rowdy. It’s a family friendly atmosphere ripe for entrepreneurs. Even yours truly joined in on the action and rented out parking spots in her yard! 😀

This was the beach this past Saturday (the 19th of March):

And this was the beach on Friday (the 25th of March):

This is an interesting time of the year where most of the Gringos have gone home and the beach belongs to Mexican nationals. But I live here and don’t feel like an interloper. I like to steal a moment a day to soak in the atmosphere on the beach, get a treat, and do some people watching. Because I know I can retreat to my quiet, almost secluded, home, I can be revitalised rather than drained by all the energy that comes here.

After visiting the botanical gardens on Friday, Sue and I went back to my place so I could pick up my wallet, then we headed to her place via the beach in search of a BBQed chicken to split. There were lots of stands along Calle Principal, but she prefers the shorter beach route and knew that there was a chicken stand along the ATV access route near her place. $100 got us a chicken that was divided up into two containers as well as a pile of tortillas each and a mountain of grilled onions (which Sue doesn’t like, so I got them all, yum!) and some grilled jalapeños. She offered to buy me a beer, so we went and sat at a little makeshift bar overlooking the beach. I’ve been on a light diet the last few days, so I tucked into my chicken so I wouldn’t be drinking on an empty stomach.

The moment was magic, with the sunlight hitting the water and bouncing off all the coloured umbrellas. This was a moment to savour. You never know the turns your life will make, when the bitter will turn sweet or the sweet bitter.

We talked about that and watershed moments of our lives. Ten years ago, I was living a perfectly ordinary life and starting to think of marriage and children with the man I was dating. But fate happened and we went our own ways. Now, he’s married with a child and I can’t imagine myself in that situation, but I don’t feel bereft or like I’ve lost anything. It’s just one of those moments of my life where I can clearly see the road diverging between the life I chose and the life that could have been. I own my choices, I accept that I can’t do everything, and as long as I keep moving forward and bettering myself, I refuse to mourn what could have been and instead focus on what I’ve accomplished.

Sue said that she couldn’t have imagined herself here eight years ago. Me neither. And yet where was I in March of 2008? On a gorgeous beach escaping the winter for the first time in my life… And then I spent three disappointing winters in British Columbia before running out of steam and wintering in Lethbridge. I couldn’t see the way forward then, thought I was at a pause, and yet, it was the beginning of the end of yet another chapter in my life. I bought Haven, had a major accident, and many meanderings later, found myself on yet another beach thinking the good times had finally come. A year later, I was wintering in an RV in Saskatchewan. It would have been easy to see that as a setback, to fall into depression and be convinced that there was nothing ahead of me. But I kept my focus and where did I end up spending the next two winters? Right here, on Isla de la Piedra, Mexico. Every setback that eventually led me here was worth it.

Who knows where I will be next winter. Right now, I’m thinking Greece, Portugal, or northern Africa, but I know better than to set my Path in stone. I have an idea of where I’m going and where I’d like to end up, but I’m open to what the vagaries of fate have in store for me. What’s important is that I’m excited about the journey.

It’s been a decade now since the last full year where I felt trapped, where I couldn’t see a way out of the mind numbing routine and ordinariness of my life. Where I was surrounded by people who liked their lives that way, so predictable that they could accurately guess where they would be ten, twenty, even fifty years out, and who made me feel like I was broken for wanting something different. I feel like I was born in the fall of my 29th year, that this is when I started to live the life that was meant for me. Even though I’m snowbirding now rather than RVing, I still very much feel like “Rae from Travels With Miranda,” like I’m still continuing on that same Path.

Leaving Ottawa in the RV in September of 2008 was another one of those major divergent points in my life and I rather feel like I’m on the cusp of another one. I know that if I go back to Europe for the first time in nearly twenty years, a floodgate of new opportunities will open that could derail my plan to move to Mérida. I recognise that. And much as I’m excited about the move to Mérida, I’m willing to jeopardise it for this new adventure I’m considering. Because I can’t do everything, but I must do something and that something cannot be another summer at Haven. That is all I know for certain right now.

Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Personal

Impressions of Moab, UT

Camp Verde, AZ, to Moab, UT

A Year In Mexico… Isla de la Piedra to Guaymas

Torrid Afternoon in Centro

Savour the Moment