Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

Travels to Start off the New Year
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What a great way to begin the New Year! We went to San Felipe, Mexico to visit and renew friendships begun in 2004.

We thought we'd recognize the turn-off where friends Jess and Ginger's Winter "home." However, we drove several times up and down MX-5, looking for the sign to their campo. The afternoon was waning, and Kathleen does NOT like driving in the dark: Mexico or the USA. We decided that we'd go on to KiKi's where other friends reside during the winter months and find out from them better directions to Jess and Ginger.

We arrived at KiKi's and found lots of room for our Lazy Daze. What a lovely and warm welcome we received! It was a real treat for us to see more friends than we expected.

Once we were welcomed and made to feel "at home"there was one thing we "had" to do before retiring for the night. We drove the Element down to the Malecon and stopped at Rice and Beans. The shrimp cocktail and margarita were just as good as ever, and we had a delicious mixed fish soup to make the meal perfect.

The following day we walked into town - a favorite stroll when we spent the winter there, and no, we did not stop at Rice and Beans again! Later in the day, Paul enjoyed a nice stroll along the beach and Kathleen sat and chatted with Joyce,

and visited with Bev and Ray,

George and JJ (don't know where her better half was at the time).

While we were visiting, we were intrigued by this "character" who sits in front of JJ's rig, ignoring everyone who passes by!

Kathleen was surprised he made no response to her friendly greeting ... until she realized he wasn't "real"!

We were able, after many searches, to find covers for our LazyDaze couches. This young lady made several trips out to her car before we were able to find two "blankets" that complimented the rig. We are very pleased with our purchase!

We finally pulled out of KiKi's for our drive up to where Jess and Ginger and some friends were camping.

The campground (Villa El Cortez) is a lovely place. About 2,000 many acres that have been in the owner's family. The campground is 2.5 miles off MX-5 and sits in a quiet, peaceful setting.

Here's our LazyDaze at the campground.

Good friends of Jess and Ginger are Segrario and Ron whom Jess and Ginger met when they were all in KiKi's. Their friendship has blossomed and Segrario and Ron, their children and grandchildren had joined the group at El Cortez. What a great group! We had met Segrario and Ron a couple of years ago, so it was a double pleasure to visit with them again. Kathleen regrets not getting any pictures of the family.

Villa El Cortez is a work in progress, but surely impressed us! No noise at all - beautiful vistas, the longest beach Kathleen remembers ever seeing, peace and quiet! We give the place an A+. The first day we were there we enjoyed a long stroll along the beach that seems to go on forever.

Our last night there, we suggested that we all (Jess and Ginger and Jose - the chap who keeps the campground neat and tidy) to go to town for dinner. Jess had a suggestion of a place down on the Malecon, so off we went - the five of us and the two dogs - all in Jess's truck! The food was great and we enjoyed a great time together.

The following day we found the tide was "out" and we could have walked nearly 3/4 of a mile out to where the Sea of Cortez waited before returning to the shore.

We were amazed at the number of clamshells.

Ginger has found many other types of seashells during her time there. The place made us think of Shell Beach that lies south of San Felipe.

Our plans were to leave San Felipe on Wednesday, and we reluctantly pulled ourselves away from the campground around 1:00 pm but we took away plenty of happy memories of both campgrounds and friends.

A "family portrait" - Ginger, Jess, Jose and Patches and Fritz ... doesn't Fritz look as though he's really posing?

The plan was to cross the border at what is affectionately called the "new" crossing. Somehow we missed a turn and found ourselves on the less desirable exit route - through Mexicali. However, our wait to cross was only 20 minutes! We've heard about 3-hour waits at the "new" crossing, so we decided our missed turn was a blessing!

A quick stop at Costco on the way to Sunbeam, and we were soon "home".

So are we going to "settle down" for a while? No, not actually. On the 10th or 11th we will drive up to San Diego for a doctor's visit, then drive on up to Pomona where we'll have some work done on our little LazyDaze.

Our building permit for the deck to our Park Model finally came through, so perhaps once we get "Little Red" updated, we'll stick around Sunbeam and put up the deck. Until then, we'll enjoy the drive up to San Diego and Pomona.....

Looks as though this is going to be another great year!

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