Driving near Catavina and the Granite Boulder fields. This is also where you find the Cirios cactus.



We stopped along the road to explore the granite boulder fields and strange Cirios cactus near Catavina.



Jeff desert gazing.



The desert was so green as we drove through this time. There has been so much rain recently. This Cirios is full of leaves and blooming at the top.



Brody can't resist climbing on the granite boulders.

Granite boulder and Cardon cactus.



Jeff doing his best Cirios imitation!



Cirios Cactus.



As you are driving in the middle of the Baja with desert all around you what a surprise it is to see a valley full of palm trees surrounding a lagoon. It seems so out of place and so beautiful at the same time. San Ignacio is one of my favorite places of the Baja.



In the village square is an old mission built in the late 1700's. Some of the wall construction has 4x4 foot stones.



The old mission from the late 1700's in San Ignacio.

Front doorway to the old mission. Click on this link to see really great pictures of this place. http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=43174

Side door to the old church in San Ignacio.



Brody is climbing the steps on the side of the old mission. They turn the corner and go about again as far as the first section. You can see that sometime along the way someone added width to the stairs. "You better stop Brody"!

I think that Madalyn is praying for Brody out there on those steps!



In the middle of the Baja, clear out in nowhere is a wide spot in the road called Catavina. I had read on a website called bajanomad.com that there is an ex-pat American who hangs out there and panhandles. When cars slow down at that place he is known to approach and ask "got a peso"? So he has been nicknamed "Gottapeso". He is also known to be very dilusional. Sure enough, as we approached, there he was sitting along the side of the road with his belongings. Knowing that we would most likley be seeing him we had packed clothes, candy and other things for him as a Christmas gift.

His dilusions are as such: "I invented the Duncan yoyo, Frisbee, Hulahoop. I wrote most of Elvis's songs. John Lennon ask me to write the songs for the Beatles. I was the little boy in the original Tarzan movies. That house in Brazil that is in the movie "Scar Face" is my house. I put a battery in a watch and invented electric watches etc., etc., and on and on and on. Here I am walking away from him as he is telling me that all his money is in a trust in Switzerland and he is waiting for it to come in! He just kept on talking. If you are ever through Catavina, watch for "Gottapeso"!



Madalyn and her pal ready for the second night sleep in the Baja. We spent the night just past Mulege on the Sea of Cortez.



Here we are at Rogers place in Coyote Bay. I met him through a website called bajanomad.com. The reason we stopped at his house this time was that he had posted on the website that he had a craving for Rice Krispie bars and the only kind of Rice Krispies he could get in Mulege was the chocolate kind. So he put a plea out for anyone coming down the Baja to bring him Rice Krispies (regular) and marshmallows! So, since we were going to leave in two days.......we obliged!



Elijah being introduced to Roger and Debbie. They are from North Dakota but Roger has been coming to his house here near Mulege for decades. Roger is known as "Pompano on a website called bajanomad. He has posted some great blogs about different areas in the Baja. Click on one of them and see what I mean! http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=43174 This one is about one of our favorite spots in the Baja called San Ignacio.



Jeff and the boys loading into the kayak for some early morning kayaking on Coyote Bay.



The kids are enjoying some "out of motorhome" time. Looking for shells!



Roger and Katie launching one of the kayaks. The water is clear and quite warm.



Katie and Madalyn off for an early morning kayaking on Coyote Bay near Mulege, BCS.



Here Katie is standing just about where we want to build the house. La Paz is across the bay and the evenings are beautiful as the lights come on.



We drove three miles from the camp up to our property to watch the sunset. It sat soon after we arrived. When the sun sets it gets dark very quick here.



After getting our car running we headed back to El Centenario for some great food.



We have got the motorhome parked at Campestre Maranatha and will be living here until Jan. 1. I put a new battery in the car and it started right up! A roll of toilet paper in the trunk has been chewed up a bit by mice. I will be sure to leave a little present for the mice when we leave.



Finally some time alone for Jeff and Katie. All of the energy is drained out of the three kids and they are fast asleep.



After dealing with the car rental place for over an hour, Jeff and Katie are all loaded up with the kids and headed for San Jose del Cabo for four days. Will be back for Christmas. Will post again tomorrow!

In El Rosario

Here is Dad and Mom with one of their larger trees! Dad said that the pictures posted earlier only showed some of the smaller trees. They have sold more than 3000 trees so far this year.


Walking across the border at Tecate.


We were not more than 10 yards into Mexico when we did this trick! We had returned to the motorhome to drive across the border and the step did not retract! Well the drive across is not much wider than the motorhome and a cement curb took it out. Will fix it in La Paz.



We made it to El Rosario tonight. Spent too much time in Tecate doing all the "cross the border" requirements. It was dark when we arrived here but found this RV place. Full hookups for $17.00! We are the only ones here. The road from San Quintin to here, about 50 miles was soooo narrow and no shoulders. And I did something completely against my better sense. Drove the last 30 miles in the dark. Maybe 2 inches between mirrors with those trucks. On the road at 0700 tomorrow.

Christmas Tree Lot in San Diego.

We got to the Christmas tree lot that my parents manage in Mission Valley about 20 minutes before closing time. It is located in the Mission Valley shopping mall parking lot.

Brody got his picture taken with Great Grandpa Gerig! I think all the kids were surprised to see GG-Gerigs doing something so different than what they are used to seeing them do!

This picture of Madalyn was taken just seconds before Frankie saw a little dog come into the lot with it's owners. Frankie took off running towards that dog and Madalyn completely taken by surprise was not going to let go of the leash. It all happened in front of me as if in slow motion. Next thing I saw was Madalyn straight out parallel with the ground her arm outstretched and her feet behind her. Then a sudden dragging across a short section of the blacktop. She came out of the ordeal startled but without even a scratch!

Yikes!!.........What ya gonna do?

Traveled from Lebanon to San Diego with one tank. Well if you divide $375.17 by 7 persons it comes out to $53.60. Okay, now I feel better. Right, now I feel better!

Right up there in the top 5 !

Ya know, I can't think of anything right now that I dislike more THAN DRIVING THROUGH L.A. TRAFFIC!!!! We came down off of the Grapevine into the "Pit" and was immediately met by this solid wall of red brake lights. Of course you really never know why they come to a complete stop on California freeways other than to stop and talk but I doubt it. The goal is to leave enough room between you and the one in front of you because they are going to slam on their brakes at any time. So the minute you leave some room for safety some on in a lane near you see's a hole and just has to fill it! On and on it goes. Mile after mile after mile. Were do these people come from? Do this do this day after day on purpose? This just confirms why I live 0.7 miles from work and can get there with no traffic lights.

Linda told me my shoulders were tensing up so much that they were nearly touching my ears!

Earlier it was nice to travel without being the one driving. Jeff took the wheel for awhile in the San Joaquin Valley.

We are on our way!

Thanks to Kebbie coming in to work for me at 3am this morning, I was able to get about 4 hours of sleep before we started on our journey. It was raining like crazy when we left Lebanon and now we are in the Red Bluff, Calif. area and it has not stopped raining! Makes the driving twice the work. We stopped in Albany and picked up Jeff, Katie, Brody, Madalyn and Elijah.

Both the dogs wore their antlers for the picture and that was about it!

We will drive to the South end of Sacramento tonight and pull it over for a better night of sleep than last night!

Some of our cargo.

We are packing 28 sleeping cots in the basement of our coach. These are for Campestre Maranatha. There are more and more large groups that use the camp for retreats and special events. Up til now, many including older men and women have had to sleep on thin pads on the floor.

We are also packing 1000 sand bags to help keep the flood waters from entering the camp.