We have arrived…..

 

Our Location:

Cabo San Lucas

Baja California, Mexico 

A short post just to let the masses know we have arrived safely. It has been a very stressful trip but all went smoothly.  My last post was from daughter Bradey’s lively house in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. We stayed from Fri-Mon, Bradey drove us to the Hamilton Go Station on her way to work. We travelled by GO Bus back to Toronto’s Union Station where daughter Courtney met us, an Uber ride later we arrived at her much quieter home. Normally we would have taken the subway but it was out of service for a short section and the Uber was easier. We stayed with Courtney from Mon-Wed afternoon, Riley and I then took another Uber to the Four Points on Dixie Rd. An early morning shuttle had us arriving just before 6 am at Pearson International Airport, Toronto. Everything went very well and we easily passed all of the security checks. 

San Jose del Cabo, at the airport waiting for our ride.

Our departure was delayed about 2 hours, seems the front tires didn’t look right, so the auto club came out to change them while we waited on board. So at approximately 11:20 am we finally taxied to our runway and we were soon hurtling down the runway and into the air. The flight was good, Riley did well, a bit of turbulence didn’t seem to bother her. We landed approximately 2 hours later than planned, with some difficulty in finding our driver but eventually we managed. The drive from San Jose del Cabo to Cabo San Lucas was about 40 minutes but Beto stopped at a Walmart so we could pick up a few things to tide us over for a day or two. Ever the gentleman, he pushed the cart, loaded and unloaded the suitcase and groceries upon our arrival. Majo our hostess greeted us, gave us a tour and she and Beto left.

Waiting for Beto to come pick us up.

Overall Riley did extremely well, she has had a number of very anxious, stressful new experiences but has reacted much better than I thought she would. Even though the preflight days were with family it was not our usual quiet routine, everything was different, beds, sounds, foods, noise levels, and bathrooms. The two nights we spent in hotels had a calming effect to a degree. I have changed our reserved seats for the flight home. Although I think the delay was a big factor in the overall experience, two less hours may have made it much easier for her. Overall she did well, we took a whole day to just decompress, enjoy the quiet and sleep. Yesterday we walked for a while, today we rest, tomorrow we will get out again, and so on. Our transportation will primarily be our feet, bus and taxi. I miss the Big Dog but we will adjust.

Our location is near a busy road and it is about 3 minutes walk on a dusty road to get to the sidewalks. The apartment is fine but not very bright inside. I will speak to the hostess to seek a different spot but if none are available we will make do with this one.  The people here are extremely friendly, very welcoming and I have no doubt we will enjoy our winter. The temperatures are high, hitting close to or reaching 30+ C/86F every day, by the end of November thru until February we should be down in a more comfortable range of 25C/77F for day time highs. In March it will once again start getting warmer and by the end of April we will be very ready to head home.

There are many things we need to learn and accept. I believe this winter will be a very educational adventure. In some ways Riley will have an easier adjustment than myself, she has a different approach to many things and I’m looking forward to learning from her about our new adventure.

Until next time……

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Not a typical summer here.....

 

Our Location: Summer Spot, Manitoulin Island, Ontario

 

It's nice to read all of you are doing well. Some of you working hard, some of you hardly working, and others just having a great time doing old things, new things and other things. 

 

Webs and fog caught in the dewy morning views.

Wild fruit, chokecherries, billberries, apples and raspberries. (not in that order)

Not a typical summer here weather wise, it's been cool, cold at times, dry from the sky but humid, hot and breezy. Lots of smoke, plenty of clouds, some foggy mornings, and a bit of pure blue sky! We more often than not, have lots of clear blue skies for the summer months with some hot, humid days, and dripping, dewy, mornings.  The cool to cold waters of Lake Huron are fantastic for cooling off on those days. Some days the water is warmer than the air and other days it's the opposite. It depends on the wind direction. 

 

 

Some greenery and some blossoms!

 The summer is slipping past so quickly. We've been back in Ontario for over 90 days and in about 100 days we will be leaving our summer spot for this season.  Not crossing into the USA at that time but leaving here for southern Ontario. How does time pass so quickly?

 

You have to love the views!!

 

We've had some visitors here around the Igloo in the form of the cattle pasturing here on the farm. They are foraging for green grass and with the lack of rain for so long there is little to be found. They found a few things to chew on that were green, now we will have less tomatoes than we planned and The Cabin is half a flower short. We have cow deposits around but other than that our visitors were here and left quickly. 

 

A different drive home with just the Dogsled after we park the Igloo.

 

The promise of rain appears every few days but it never really comes, a drop or two here and there, 5 more the day after tomorrow and mist the day after.  We truly need some water from the sky for a few days and nights. The fields are crunchy, the leaves are starting to show lack of water, and the water levels in the ponds and rivers are getting lower.  It has rained all around us for weeks, fire bans have lifted around us but not here on the Rock. Although we wonder if we can get it turned off when we've had enough. 

 

The Igloo up there in the trees,(top left, bottom right) a water view (top right, bottom middle), with and without fog, low pond levels.

 

Spoke with my SIL Janet, she's doing well, things are moving in the right direction. She and Dennis will be moving to Portland for the rest of the summer months, taking a cruise  to Hawaii and then returning to Indian Wells for the winter. They hope to get a round or two of golf in at Pebble Beach before they return to IW.  

 

A beautiful field of Canola!

 

Today's photos are of various things that caught my eye. I hope you enjoy them. 

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all stay well. 

 

Until next time...

 

Take care, stay safe, 

 

Deb

 

 

A very warm day here……

 Our location: Laguna Vista RV, Marshall, Texas

No photos today, sorry. I took only one all day.

A quiet night last night, it cooled nicely and this morning we didn’t need any kind of sweater, it was pleasantly comfortable.  It was a do nothing day except a couple of minor things that took up a few hours this morning.  Two loads of laundry, washed, dried, folded and put away, the Igloo vacuumed, the underside of the cooktop cleaned and a few screws tightened, some veggies chopped for our “grab a ready veggie” dishes. A trip to town with three stops, groceries, fuel and some wire mesh. Walmart, Murphy’s  and Lowes. We were back shortly after 1 pm. For reference we filled up for $4.66 at the Murphys.

The wind picked up this afternoon and we are under a short wind advisory here in Marshall until around 7 pm tonight. Tomorrow looks good and we are happy about that as it’s a travel day. 

Highs today reached 84F/ approx 27c with a fair bit of humidity in the air. One more day of this kind of heat before things cool off about 10 degrees. 

On that note I am going to sign off and enjoy the rest of the evening, thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Until next time,

Take care, be safe,

Deb

Sierra Vista today....

Our Location: Las Cienegas Grasslands, Arizona

Warmer this morning than yesterday morning, today we were at 47F/ 8.3 C when I looked at the temperature around 7:30 AM. Not a bad start to the morning. Plans today but no hurry to get out the door. We enjoyed some breakfast, a hot drink and a visit with our blogging friends before we loaded up the truck to head into Sierra Vista for some errands.

 

A watering hole with some pretty green algae on top.

 

We first decided we’d check out a few things in the area but after about a half hour turned around and headed back toward the Ranch House entrance/exit. I had thought to take the BLM road out to AZ 82 but didn’t as I was worried it might become too soft. After turning around and getting on AZ 83 we took a scenic sort of drive toward AZ 82 which intersects with AZ 83 at the little hamlet of Sonoita, AZ. We hung a left on AZ 82 and motored along the road way passing Quail Ridge Campground where we have stayed a time or two in the past. We screeched around the corner onto AZ 90 heading toward Huachuca City and Sierra Vista.

 

Can you see the snow through the tree?  Love these grasslands.

Our first stop was on the far side of town at Best Buy to get a new power cord for my Mac. Expensive and I ended up bringing home the wrong cord. I’ll have to return this one, it is about 2 pins too large. Oh well, we need to go back for a couple of other things before we leave the area anyway. A total of $104 CAD for the cord, and I’m thinking I’ll just return it and make due with this one until we get back to Canada. 

 

So pretty, so vast, so inviting.

 

From Best Buy we headed off to Fry’s Grocery and man was it busy today. The first day of the sale flyer and I had I known I would have held off another day. However we were in and out without too much trouble, loading our purchases into the Big Dog before we pulled around to the Juice Bar. With our VIP Fry’s card we saved 10 cents per gallon today so we paid $2.69 per gallon instead of $2.79. Yeah us!!!!

Can you see the cow down there?

 After we left Fry’s we cruised on over to Walmart to get a few other grocery staples that we need. You know I used to bake bread at home, from scratch, with my hands, no bread maker, and I love the smell of freshly baked or baking bread but as we walked into Walmart the smell was horrid. I have no idea why that would be but it was almost enough to make me turn around and leave the store. Riley also mentioned it to me and had the same reaction. I’m glad we don’t eat their bakery stuff.
 

This cow got off the road when the car behind approached, then back on the road until we got closer, back off and after we went past she came back on again. Too funny.

 

After doing our business at Walmart we headed off home thinking we’d get water at the Ranch headquarters but lo and behold on our way through Huachuca City we spied a water dispensing machine at the car wash, and whipped in there to fill up our jugs. Very reasonable $1.25 for 5 gallons or 30 cents per gallon. We filled them all before heading back home. 

The same mountain peaks we see out our window.

 

Back home around 2:30 pm we managed to get the groceries all put away, everything separated for the freezer as well before we had lunch. I always like to get the separation accomplished as quickly as possible. We almost always have to repackage things in single one meal size packs for our use. We like being able to pull a single size packet out of the freezer in the morning for our big meal at lunch time. 

 

Wonder if it's round up time? Statues or metal work off on the hilltop.

 

The afternoon was warm but with a pretty strong breeze that has since died down. High today was 83F / 28.3 C and the numbers have been dropping in the last hour or so, as I type this at 6:30 pm the temp is down to 60 F/ 15.5 C and still heading downward. Big swings make the chilled air seem much cooler and the hot air much hotter. However this is not a complaint, just once again stating the facts. 

 

The junction of AZ 82 & AZ 83, the town of Sonoita welcomes everyone. I think that may be a Texas Longhorn. Statues again.

 

A chat with my buddy Ron tonight has us finalizing some plans to get together with him and Sharon, his lovely bride of many years. We’ll be heading north of I-40 this year on our way home before we reach Memphis and so will be by passing our stay at Big Buck to spend time with Ron & Sharon instead. We are so looking forward to seeing them again. It’s been a couple of years since our paths last crossed.

Not our white tailed deer but they sure are pretty in this setting don't you think?

 

So that was our day, thanks for dropping by, I hope you enjoyed the visit and made yourself at home. 

We didn't have the zoom lens so it's a bit blurry.

 

Until next time… take care, be safe,
 

What an amazing ranch this must have been in it's time.

 

Deb