Supreme Laziness !

Supreme laziness has captured me! I've been so busy enjoying the sunshine that I've neglected reporting my adventures!

We have made a couple fun side trips though, in the midst of the lazy days! One involves the Seri Indians, residents of this area for a long, long time. Annette found an article about them - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2003246785_mexicocoast10.html?syndication=rss

which interested us enough to prompt a trip out to their little village. One of our neighbors provided simple directions (turn at the Western Horizons sign and stay out of the drifting sand!) and warned us the road was a little rough. Man, oh man, was it! I'm so glad I decided to wear a bra for a little extra support!

The drive was gorgeous!

Since we're still in the Sonoran Desert, the drive was thru land very similar to that around where I lived in the Tubac Foothills. Ocotilla in bloom, saguaro cactus everywhere, palo verde in full blossom! And absolutely nothing else! All the way out, we were wondering about our sanity for making that hard drive. Once we arrived, we were so glad we had!

There was no one in sight when we drove into town. But as soon as we stopped, the women of the town came for everywhere with their wares for sale! Lovely shell necklaces and fantastic woven baskets. The necklaces were very inexpensive, and I bought too many, to help support the families. The baskets were very expensive, and worth the money, but I was able to use the excuse that I have no room in my little house on wheels to justify buying one. We actually met the lady in the photo at the above web site, and the tiny little basket she offered (I could cup it in the palm of my hand) was $50. US. The big baskets are way more!

The village is on a little protected harbor,

Perfect for the pangas and fishermen. Very pretty setting. But no place to buy a bite to eat or anything to drink. So we headed back to town.

As long as we'd made the drive, we decided to take a side road and get a look at a 'luxury' RV park - Western Horizons - on the way back. Beyond the fact that I'd NEVER drive my coach down that road, we agreed there was nothing that would make us want to stay there. The views were marvelous. But the drive to town for the basic necessities, like margaritas, or even food or propane, is just too long and hard.

We were happy to get back to civilization, but would make the trip to the village again!

The next day, I was supposed to be packing up to return to Tucson to get my little Penny to the vet. Annette had been invited to take a panga ride out to Alcatraz Island (or Pelican Island as a lot of the regular touristas call it). I so wanted to go, but just didn't think I had the time. Fortunately, when she went to meet the other gal who was going, she had overslept and the trip appeared to be off. (That's not phrased very politely - sorry.) I didn't know that - I had seen a little boat headed out to the island and snapped a picture, so she'd have something for her collection. About an hour later I heard her voice and looked out to see the 'tour guide' at her trailer saying he was still going to go out, did she want to go. I couldn't help myself - I invited myself along! And I'm so very glad I did!

What a fun morning! The seas were calm, so the trip out was delightful. And we even had a chance to rescue a bird who had been caught in a net.

He wasn't very happy, but did appear to recognize that we were trying to help him.

Reyes, our boat captain, grabbed hold of his head so he couldn't rip us up as we cut him free. Really neat experience!

We were the only ones out there when we arrived and walked the beach.

Reyes had warned us that some of the gulls were nesting just above the high tide line and not to approach the nests because the gulls would abandon them. Some of the other visitors to the island were not so careful, and even admitted they knew they shouldn't go to the nests, but just had to see for themselves. Idiots!

Photo ops out there were grand - so many varieties of birds, including my favorite pelicans, so many different shells. Just beautiful.

On the way back, we took the long route and went all the way around the island. Thousands of birds -guano covering the mountain - spectacular views.

We ran low on gas on the way in (my fault for asking to go all the way around!), so shut down the motor and rode the currents for a while. As we talked (Reyes' English was quite good and we received an interesting description on the politics of the region and the view of the people) and enjoyed the day and the breezes,a pelican paddled up close and demanded something to eat! Perfect ending to a wonderful little cruise!

Made the rest of my day rather hectic, but it was worth every minute!

I headed out the next morning, very reluctantly, and the drive home was uneventful. Except that I ended up the wrong lane for crossing back into the U.S. The Border Patrol fellow, with his dog, were kind enough to open barriers and let me into the right lane - cutting in front of a lot of, I'm sure, disgruntled other drivers. Made the crossing a lot faster than it might have been! Arrived back at Beaudry (I should take up permanent residence there) just before dark.

The next morning, since my car is still up at Lizzie's house in Phoenix, I made a reservation for a taxi to take Penny to the vet. Obviously taking a taxi in Tucson is not an easy thing. After calling every 10 minutes for 2 hours, I gave up. Had to make a new appointment. And found a rental car. What a mess.

Then I spent the next two days at Beaudry's service center - again - trying to get a few more things repaired. Had a mobile mechanic put a new 50 amp plug on my power line, so I could at least have a/c, a treat since Tucson is now HOT again. I think we've finally fixed the battery problems. We'll see this week, since Liz and I are going to Country Thunder, a four-day concert in Florence . . . dry camping. My first attempt at dry camping. Hopefully the batteries will hold up, but I think the generator will take care of us if the batteries don't.