Hasta Luego Mexico! March 19th - 26th, 2024

The time had come. We were leaving Mexico. After sailing & motoring 2,086 nautical miles…Yes, that’s right - 2,086 nautical miles! Where was I? Oh yes, after taking our home a few thousand miles, we had to take ourselves back to our Santa Cruz life for a while. -To see family & friends, get things in order & work.

So how did we decide to make that transition? Well, we were leaving Mexico a little early because Easter Week was coming up & things get a little crazy & any business of convenience closes down. That just wasn’t going to work for us, if we wanted to get back to Santa Cruz by the end of March. Therefore, we decided to take a shuttle to Phoenix. Then rent an RV. It would be fun to visit the Grand Canyon & other places while carrying all of our luggage & making our way back to California. Basically, we just went from one traveling house to another. Although, it became clear at what kind of traveling we were much more adept to.

Picking up the RV was easy enough. The staff at Cruise America were friendly & helpful. Our RV seemed brand new & super clean! We were excited! We were hungry & needed some provisions. Luckily there was a Sprouts, a Trader Joe’s & a Target close by! We went a little crazy. The US is definitely the land of plenty for consumers!

Inside our new RV house.

After getting all of the necessary & unnecessary provisions we were off to the campsite we found on HipCamp. It was fairly close to the Grand Canyon & all we basically wanted was a place in nature to park for the night.

It got dark & finding the place wasn’t too hard, but the ground was very hard! -Dirt & rutted & not at all comfortable to drive on. It was nice that the dirt “road” wasn’t too long & we got to the area to park by 10pm. We ate a quick dinner & then set up our bedding & went to sleep.

Thank God we bought plush blankets & pillows at Target for bedding rather than use the thin sheets we could have rented from Cruise America. It was cold! Somewhere in the 30 degrees Fahrenheit cold during the night. So needless to say we didn’t get the best sleep.

We woke up to sunshine though. -It was basically in a weedy field but charming enough with the hills in the background & the bright blue sky.

Then it was time to see the Grand Canyon. Matt had already seen it a few times. I had never seen it. And it seemed, that at that time, my body didn’t want to see it. I felt awful. My stomach was cramping. I felt wiped out. I felt achy. I just couldn’t go. We were in the parking lot! That’s how bad I was.

Matt reluctantly went to the entrance by himself & waited in line to go have a look. I kept feeling worse & worse. I started feeling so horrible that I texted or called Matt to come back. I think I needed to see a doctor. Matt came back right after I started throwing up. -Which never happens to me. I wasn’t sure if I was coming down with adrenal failure or what. But once my stomach stopped unloading we searched for an urgent care. We found one not too far! Great! -Except for the fact that no one could see me because I didn’t have insurance that they accepted. Yay! Another one for the US healthcare system.

Just some hole in the earth.

Luckily as we were driving away, after having some liquids with electrolytes in them that I could keep down, I started feeling slightly better.

There was no way I wanted to spend another cold night out in the middle of nowhere. So we agreed to get an Airbnb in Flagstaff. I found one with great reviews & hosts who were very responsive & we drove there & pretty much crashed.

Matt was starting to not feel so great either so we called it a day & fell asleep in the amazingly comfortable bed.

Snowy Flagstaff & the comfy Airbnb.

Then the next day, we were off to the Joshua Tree area. We actually didn’t rush so we got a late start. Thankfully, we were feeling better than the day before & managed to get to the outskirts of Joshua Tree to our next HipCamp spot at a driveway at a lady’s house. It was interesting. The view was pretty though.

We were just hoping it wasn’t going to be freezing cold again & that we could get into the Joshua Tree Park early the next day.

And we did just that. Unfortunately, it was already starting to get crowded. I was a little bummed that we couldn’t get a campsite inside the park but I guess those are snatched up months before & we had only come up with idea the previous week.

Anyway, we did a little hiking. But Zephyr wasn’t allowed on the trails so that was a bit of a bummer & we didn’t stay much past noon.

Joshua Tree

Since we were in very southern California again we thought we’d check out Anza Borrego State Park to see the wildflowers that bloom abundantly every spring. Unfortunately, spring hadn’t sprung yet & there was nothing.

Okay, so this trip hadn’t lived up to our lower expectations but the day wasn’t over & we should just get to our next camp destination up in Palomar Mountain.

Palomar Mountain is very cool! My family used to go there when I was growing up & I was excited to show Matt. Of course all of the official campgrounds were full but we found another HipCamp spot that did look beautiful with a beautiful view.

And it was beautiful with a beautiful view. It was also up a mountain where the pave road ends & a long dirt road begins to give you an exciting drive to the camp. It might have been more exciting than harrowing if we weren’t in an RV that did not have a 4 wheel drive & that drove kind of rickety to begin with anyway. The listing did not mention that you needed a 4 wheel drive to get there. And technically, you don’t. We actually made it. Barely. And when we got there they didn’t know where to put us.

For some reason the owner of the place said that she didn’t know that we were an RV. But we stated it on our reservation. -What size we were & that we weren’t a 4 wheel drive. So I’m guessing she just didn’t read our reservation very carefully?

Anyway, the girls managing finally found some ground that was slightly level. And we set up for the night. There were horses there. And a bunch of other interesting stuff. -Which you’ll see in the future video. We also got to have a campfire. -And that was really nice.

We woke up the next morning & thought it would be fun to explore the place & we were even scheduled to stay another night. Unfortunately a major storm was coming & we didn’t want to be trapped there. Because if the road got muddy or there were landslides, who knows how long we would be stuck. (-I think it was my dad who said that one thing, that would be nice, about doing a road trip is that we wouldn’t have to worry about the weather! Hahahahaha!) So, we made a beeline for sea-level ground & got down the mountain just before the rain started coming down.

We were actually supposed to stay at another place the next night but they were in a bit of a flood zone. This meant that we had to find a place to camp for 2 nights that wasn’t going to wash out.

My parents’ home was fairly close & I was just ready to see if we could turn in the RV early & stay there. But we have paid for it & it wasn’t cheap. All the campgrounds were full. Ugh! I thought we might as well as just stop at some in case there were any cancellations.

So, we rushed to San Clemente before the 2nd storm came. We got the last camping spot! The annoying thing is that we had to call instead of just getting that reservation at the front of the campground when we got there. Not understanding how it’s more efficient to call someone far away to book a spot when you are right at the front kiosk to the place. I mean, what are the people there in the kiosk for?

We stayed there for 2 uneventful nights. And at that point, uneventful was good.

San Clemente

At this point, we were both so ready for the RV trip to end. Maybe it was an experience so we could appreciate things more when we got back to Santa Cruz. I guess doing something like this after our time in our boat home in Mexico is a little dumb. Of course we would be underwhelmed & irritable. -Not at each other, just at the whole situation. Our last night was basically spent in a parking lot by the beach at Bolsa Chica State Beach. It was fine. I mean there are much worse places we could have been but it was kind of a lackluster place after everywhere else. Oh well.

Bolsa Chica State Beach

Well, I guess it’s good to know we aren’t the RVing type. Maybe more of a camper type. -If we’re talking about a nomadic life on land. However, we are pretty stoked on traveling by sea in our lovely little home MerSea!

There are pros & cons to whichever way you decide to venture out into the world. And there are even those who prefer to nest & create their own little eden at home. So I wish all of you to be able to create the life you want!

Here is someone who knows how to travel in style! Our friend, Jenn, recently bought her new home on wheels & is rolling about across the land to go on her own adventure. Actually, she is one of the people who have inspired us for our current lifestyle. About 10 years ago, she was on her way down to Mexico on her own boat! -Believe me, her notes from that experience have been invaluable to us! So thanks Jenn!

If you’d like to follow Jenn on her current travels, just click below for her blog. She just started out last month & has already a bunch of stories to tell! Very fun!

I was so good that no one even knew I was there until we stopped at the border!

Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next week with another video. -This one on some of the last anchorages we stay at before getting to the top of the Sea of Cortez! Until next Wednesday, remember to apply sunscreen!