Saturday, November 30, 2013

Daydreaming on a grey snowy day.


                   Villa Del Palmar at the Islands of Loreto, view from my balcony, wish I was still there!

Today I am checking out the possibilities for what to do once I go full time RVing, something to help the budget and help me stay active and meet new people! How about this job?:


MN - US  :::  Seasonal Work Camper Couple For Family Nudist Campground   2013-11-26 12:47:20 2111
Avatan Inc., East Bethel ,MN is accepting inquiries for Office Manager and Campground Maintenance couple. Work period May 1, 2014 thru September 15, 2014. Duties include but not limited to: telephone reservations, checkin of guests, cleaning of rental cabins (5), pool monitoring, clubhouse, bathrooms/showers cleaning, and grounds cleanup/mowing. This is a 5 day position(s) and you will work 40 hours per week, 9:am-5:30pm.

Prefer you provide your own trailer/motorhome (we provide space and utilities), however newly remodeled trailer available for no charge. Fun environment, you work unsupervised in a nudist campgound. Nudist couple preferred. Pay and bonus negotiable, we offer $500 coming/leaving per diem. trailer provided if needed. Go to Avatan.com for look see of property.This posting will be filled quickly, so please contact ASAP. (952)201-0362 or (763)434-4922 ask for Don.


Not for me!! Hahaha.

I've found a company that hires Dietitians on a temporary basis, Dietitians on Demand, sounds perfect for me once I get back from my winter in Mexico on the Baja. A few months working and then free to explore the countryside, sounds ideal.

What I'd really love is to have a popular travel blog and go all over the country or the world even!! But sadly I don't think anyone knows I exist!!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Planning my Escape to Mexico!!

The reason we went to the RV parks around Loreto was to find a landing place. I have a goal of spending winter after next in Mexico (so not this winter, not next winter but the winter after that!).
The questions are:
1. What to do with my house?? Rent it out. I might be able to cover most of the mortgage with rent.
2. What to do with all my stuff?? Well, we bought an old UHaul truck a few weeks ago that supposedly will hold a 3 bedroom house worth of stuff! The rest will sell and I'll take my few antiques to my sister's house if she's willing to babysit them. By emptying out my house I can lower my homeowners insurance, can park the Uhaul on my land or perhaps a friend's land.
3. What will I do for income after I quit my job?? Well, hubby will have his pension and his social security check, and I will have my rental income. I bought 3 rental houses in 2004, using my inheritance, and another 2 houses in 2011/2012 after we sold our log cabin. Plus my current house gives me 6 houses to rent out, 2 of which are paid for! And another two in 9 1/2 years thanks to super low interest rates. Plus I plan on starting a new career as freelance writer!! (we'll see about that).
4.What will we live in?? We have a late 90's Winnebago Adventurer, 35 feet with large slide. Will we get along in this? who knows.
5. What will do all day if I am not working?? I have no idea but I am sure I'll like it! Mike keeps asking me "are you sure you won't get bored??" Hmmmm. What would it be like to live a life totally unscripted? I will hike, write, read, walk my dog, watch all the movies I've not seen, socialize with people, yes, people, wouldn't it be something to have the time for that! There is a clinic in Los Barilles funded in part by Rotary club and they have a diabetes clinic, I see myself working or volunteering there, or barter my skills for say free electric hookup for a month or something?
6. Where will we go when it gets too hot in Mexico? Back to Idaho to see the kids, and to Sequim, WA to see family, then where ever, then I'd like to work as a maternity leave relief RD at dialysis clinics or hospitals where ever in the US. Who knows. Or try work camping.
7. Who is my inspiration for all this? www.TravelwithKevinandRuth.com, Technomadia and Tioga George.
    (Just google it).www.travelwithkevinandruth.com  ; www.technomadia.com 

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Trip Report to Loreto Mexico September 2013


Mike and Leah’s Trip to Loreto September 2013

Sept 20th:  Son drove us to Spokane airport in the evening, spent the night at the Ramada at the airport for early flight next am. $55 plus tax “Name your own price” on Priceline. Had Wendy’s for dinner.

Sept 21st: Walked across the street to the airport, flew out on Delta at 6:30 am. Spent the night at LAX Radisson, $80 +tax. Sat by the pool, dinner from Subway, $5 Footlongs, ate half, saved the rest for bkfst the next day.

Sept22nd: Flew out on a Bombardier prop plane from LAX at 10 AM, free beer/wine! I had black tea with cream and sugar! Arrived at Loreto at 1:15, blast furnace of heat! Very tiny airport, only 2 airlines fly in here, Alaska and can’t remember the other one,  but nice and brand new. The man stamping passports couldn’t stop smiling! Picked up our rental car at Alamo, a new red Chevy Aveo, bright red with a big Alamo sticker slapped on the back, if that doesn’t say “tourist” I don’t what does! ($59/week plus Mexican insurance: $178 total/week.) Drove off  into town, and looked for a place to eat, hungry by now!! Found a place attached to a tourist hotel, trying to look like a 50’s diner but not succeeding. Mike had 2 hot dogs (“horrible and cold“) and I had a burrito, really good, prices were for tourists. Went off to find our hotel, Posada del Cortez, $50/night, brand new with beautiful green and blue tiled shower, the owner was very nice, brought us 2 ice cold beers after we checked in. Just 1 block to the beach and a beautiful roof top patio with an incredible view of town, mountains and a little of the beach.  Found the Mission and town square, walked around a bit, Sunday so very quiet, then off to the grocery store to buy breakfast and sandwich items and bottled water etc. Had PBJ sandwiches in our room for dinner.

Sept 23 I climbed the thin spiral staircase in the morning and had coffee looking out over everything, watched the sunrise. Went for breakfast at the Oasis Hotel, right on the beach, no one was there, had an omelet with potatoes, really good potatoes!! The omelet was interesting as they had not mixed the egg first so was white or yolk. Spent the driving about town looking at a few RV parks and for a fishing pole/reel etc. Finally found a fishing pole/reel but not much for bait. Went to the Marina on the malecon, after several inquiries at the office figured out that no license is needed to fish off the rocks. Mike fished and I watched from the shade. Had to pay 5 pesos to use the restroom, sketchy experience, the man was nice to knock on the door and hand me the toilet paper!!

Sept 24 Back to the rooftop for coffee in the AM. Toast and peanut butter for bkfst. Drove to an RV park “Loreto Shores” and looked around. Went back the Oasis Hotel for lunch, best tacos! Drove around Loreto some more then off to Mulege! Drove up Mex 1, lots of pink flowers everywhere, went through 1 military checkpoint, no problems, stopped at Buenaventura beach, small restaurant, had a cold beverage and spoke with the owners for a while, then off to Burro Beach, Mike fished and I sat in the shade,  next stop Santispac beach, almost no one there, I got my swim suit on (in the car!) and swam then snorkeled, first time ever snorkeling!! Saw hermit crab, baby rays, lots of silvery fish. Spent a few hours there, then off to Mulege, got into town late afternoon, tired and done for the day, pulled up to first motel we saw “Hotel Mulege” and got a room for $28 USD/night, (no English spoken) with modern air conditioning, English TV and a nice courtyard.  I walked around the corner, about a block, and found a nice pizza place, run by an American, visited with a couple from Virginia, there for a week, renting a house for $500/week! The pizza was really good!
Sept 25: Drove around Mulege, went to a small tortilla factory and a grocery store, lots of odd things for sale, had a moth fly at me that was as big as a bat! Looked around a few more RV parks then back South on Mex 1, lots of washouts on this road, and road construction, men mixing concrete in wheelbarrows by  hand. Stopped at Playa Santispac for a few more hours of fishing/snorkeling, bought a blanket from a man with a tienda in his truck.
Back into Loreto to stock up on groceries before heading to the resort, Villa Del Palmar. Got there around 4 pm, impressive! At check in they bring you a chilled rolled washcloth (nice) and a warm virgin pina colada. (ick)  Our room was on the 6th floor, what a view of the bay! Had sandwiches in our room for dinner.
Sept 26: Free breakfast buffet as part of our Timeshare sales pitch, our sales lady was from Boston,  did not buy a time share! Went to restaurant by the beach, had pizza with prosciutto ham, which we picked off to use for bait. Sat in the hot tub. Later, when it cooled off we went to the beach and Mike fished from shore, caught a small muhara, that’s what the attendant called it.
Sept 27: Breakfast in our room, cereal and milk. Managed to buy a 5 gallon bucket from the kitchen after much hand gesturing and phone calls, put our fishing/snorkeling in the bucket and went off down the beach from the resort, spent the day there fishing and snorkeling, saw so many hundreds of fish, some prehistoric, like the 4 foot long silver stick fish! Mike caught all sorts of small fish, none really big enough to take back to eat. They sure liked that prosciutto! (the bucket was for him to sit on)  Dinner was sandwiches and fries on the beach.
Sept 28 Slept in, had cereal in our room. Took a walk around the grounds. Had late lunch in the nicer restaurant, shrimp and rice, spendy but good. That afternoon went swimming in the huge pool, had all to myself! Then went to the fiesta/show, great dancing and comedy!
Sept 29: packed up and checked out. Stopped by at the marina to get gas on the way, huge yachts! Made our way to the airport, the car rental lady comes out and says “there’s no plane”. Alaska airlines agent then arranged for us all to get on shuttle to Loreto, to La Mision hotel on the malecon, our room was right on the pool, not a bad extended 1 day vacation, once I got ahold of the kids etc. They had a buffet for us stranded passengers, really tasty. Best margaritas of the whole trip!
Sept 30: Flew out of Loreto, to LAX, cleared customs no problem, back on plane to Seattle, then to Spokane, got in at 10PM. Back to work on October 1st!