Dave has been watching the forming of Odile hurricane and tracking its path and it doesn’t look good for Cabo or La Paz. Our boat is in the water at a marina in La Paz so we are a little concerned about it all.
Noreen and Ron had their annual Crab Bisque on Sunday the 14th and had a great turnout. And as always the Bisque was great.
We were planning on leaving on the 15th but Dave had ordered a part and it hadn’t come yet. Hopefully it will come tomorrow so we can leave on Tuesday. We are all packed and ready to leave. Ron and Noreen are moving to their condo on Monday as Ron leaves for Alaska on Wednesday to go Salmon fishing. So it is easier for Noreen to stay at the Condo, which is close to the ferry, as she works in Seattle. Then when Ron gets back from fishing they will be living at the condo until summer of next year.
The hurricane, Odile headed for Cabo San Lucas and they were hit straight on. We saw pictures of the aftermath and heard stories of people stranded and couldn’t fly out. The airport got badly damaged and the city doesn’t have electricity, water, gas/diesel and the stores are being looted, so the situation down there is not good. There was a lot of flooding in Cabo as well as in La Paz. La Paz got hit with 100 mph winds, but because of the boat being in a marina that is pretty well tucked in from the open water, there wasn’t a lot of damage to the boat. Dave got a hold of the broker on Tuesday to give him instructions of how to secure our boat and the things on it. After the hurricane passed the broker went back down to the marina to check on the boat but couldn’t get through the gate. There was major flooding to where water was up to the top of tires on trucks. All he could do was just look and told us it looked o.k. from a distance. Well with that over we started tracking Odile heading right up the middle of Baja California Sur, and then into Baja California, straight to Bahia de Los Angeles where our house is. Now we were concerned about the house. We were able to contact our gate guard through facebook and at the time I wrote him he said there hadn’t been much wind or rain. Then soon after that the hurricane turned into a tropical depression which dumped rain on the town and had winds up to 50 mph maybe more. It knocked out electricity in town and took down about 30 telephone poles; flooded the roads into town, and a lot of the cemented parts across the arroyos had been washed away. We have seen some pictures and it isn’t a pretty sight. The gate guard was able to connect to the internet at our neighbor’s computer so he told us all the houses were good in our area and we did have a small window open in the garage so we may have had some water in there but no big deal. So that was a relief to know.
We had to start heading south on the 16th and decided we would just take our time getting to Mexico. I tried to get a hold of my niece who lives in McMinnville, Oregon, but she wasn’t home. So we had to keep going. We ended up spending the night in Albany, Oregon and then traveled to Brookings, Oregon the next day to visit our friends, Robert and Kristi. The weather was cloudy but warm. We had a nice visit and they had had information on Loreto, where their house is, saying the same thing as there was some damage and no electricity and all that. But by the time we left, they had had word that electricity was back up so that was a good sign. I know the Mexicans are scrambling to get the roads fixed so food and gas can be delivered. The military is out in force to keep looters out of the stores. We had heard that the water supply in Bahia was broken so it will put a strain on where a lot of the people get spring water. They are rationing it so you can only get 150 gallons of water at a time. No worries as we have been in the situation before. We have a large tank at the house and we never run it down to nothing. So when we get home we will have water. We are hoping the solar panels are still standing and water didn’t get into the generator room where the batteries for the solar panels are. We really won’t know anything until we get there. We don’t want to impact the town since food can’t be delivered until the roads are fixed so we will just take our time. We can’t get to La Paz either due to road conditions.
We left Robert and Kristi’s house headed for Fort Bragg. We were told it is the best glass beach in the world. I am excited. The trip from Brookings to Fort Bragg was not a good one as it rained really hard in spots. But we made it and saw that the skies were clearing and it wasn’t raining so life was good. We stayed in the Beachcomber motel which was right above the beach. The entrance to glass beach was blocked due to construction so I walked down to where the construction fence was and there were trails to the beach. Robert told us how to get down on the beach. At first all I saw was sand and I was disappointed and thought I was in the wrong place but as I walked further and followed people I ended up on the glass beach. I again was a little disappointed as the glass was just as small as it was on North Beach in Port Townsend. Well I wasn’t going to give up yet so I collected some pretty smooth small pieces and then I walked further and ended up getting some larger pieces and some unusual shapes. I had a zip lock bag with me and filled it about ¼ inches full which doesn’t seem like a lot, but I was thrilled anyway. When I get home and get them cleaned up I will have fun creating.
The next morning we headed for Santa Cruz to visit with our friends, Dennis and Rainy. They are supposed to be crushing grapes tomorrow. The weather is warm and it was sunny where their house is but foggy in town. We had a wonderful dinner that night and the next morning I met some of their friends who came to the house to wait for the delivery of grapes. They make their own Malbec plus other red wine. Luckily the grapes arrived and the crushing began. We had never seen the process let alone be part of it so it was exciting. We had so many people helping it didn’t take long to get the grapes crushed and everything.
Afterwards most of the people went home but a couple people stayed and we shared snacks and had beer and coke. After everyone was gone we got cleaned up and Dennis told us we were invited to a friend’s house for a BBQ. I made a salad and Rainy made a tomato plate and off we went. What fun we had and I met more great people. Most of the people we have met are partners with Dennis and Rainy and make their own wine and enter it in fairs. We had great food and conversation. We said goodbye and went back to Dennis and Rainys’ place. We stayed up for a while then called it a night.
It is Sunday and we are on our way to the flea market in Santa Cruz. Rainy drove by herself there as she had an appointment to go to later. So Dave and I rode with Dennis in his truck. The flea market was great! I found a lot of neat stuff but not able to get anything as we have no room in the jeep. Maybe next year I can take some treasures home. After we left the flea market we went to West Marine and I got a shirt that was on sale for $4. Can you believe that!!!!! What a steal! The shirt says ‘Don’t Worry Beach Happy’ with three surf boards in the middle. Dave got some really nice sandals on sale so we both lucked out. Then we came back to the house and Dave had to create another profile on my computer for whatever reason. There is something imbedded in my computer that goes belly up once in a while. We have a friend in Washington who could have fixed it but unfortunately his and our timing was off. So maybe next year. While Dave was working on my computer Dennis was out sorting through the firewood that was delivered yesterday. I offered to help but he was doing his thing and there wasn’t much room for another body. So after Dave got my computer up and running I worked on my blog.
Monday I walked up the hill from Rainy and Dennis’ place and the road forked to where if I took the road on my left it would go up a steep hill. The other road was more flat and straighter but I wanted a challenge so I decided to take the steep hill. I had to stop 2 times as I am out of shape and I only made it half way. I didn’t see a need to kill myself on the first walk in a while so I headed back down after I caught my breath. Once down the hill I took the lower road until it ended as I wasn’t ready to give up my walk yet and I really need the exercise. When I got back to Rainy and Dennis’ house the guys were working on trying to get one of the props off Dennis’ boat that was in his driveway. Since Rainy was golfing with friends and the guys were occupied with the boat, I decided to take a shower outside in their backyard as the sun was just beginning to shine back there to warm it up. It was my first outside shower ever taken and it was awesome!!!! It really brings you back to nature. I wouldn’t mind having one at our house. After that I washed clothes and watched the kittens play and sprint around and try to catch flies. Dennis and Rainy had just gotten two kitten from the SPCA. One is a female, part Siamese with beautiful blue eyes, the other is a male with orange stripes. They named the female Boog because she has a dark spot under her nose that looks like a booger, and the male was named Jellybelly but they call him J. They are really cute and fun to watch. They crack me up and I’m not a cat person!
Before Rainy came home she called and asked if I would make Chicken Dijon Parmesan and of course I told her yes. She had already taken chicken out of the freezer to thaw. All she needed to do was pick up butter. She had never made it before so she wanted me to make it to show her and then she would have the recipe. It was a good dinner.
The day before we left Rainy wanted to take me window shopping in Capitola on the beach of Santa Cruz. It is a popular place for people to come and shop and stay in the summer. Rainy took me to a nice restaurant and we sat outside and enjoyed the beach and water view. Lunch was delicious and we needed to do some walking to burn it off. So we started looking in stores. What fun and I even saw some of the jewelry made from sea glass like I make and rock characters too!!!! I was really surprised and know that if I want to sell some of my stuff in the states I could make some money!!! Hmmmm!!!! Once we had gone through most of the stores we came back to the house. I had a really good time and it was fun!!!! Just a girls day out!!! Dennis had taken Dave to see a couple of his friends and did guy stuff while we were doing our thing.
We finally left on Wednesday the 17th to head to San Diego. We thanked Rainy and Dennis for a wonderful time and for housing and feeding us, then we were left. We stopped around 2:30-3:00pm for the night just north of Los Angeles on Highway 5. We will start again in the morning and try to get through L.A. after rush hour. Dave was tired so he stayed in the room while I went for a walk to check out the stores and restaurants near the hotel. I made the circle back to the hotel (as there wasn’t much) but kept going to check out what was down at the other end of the street. I walked quite a while and it was hot. I was getting worn out so decided to start walking back to the hotel. There was a fire station and a Famous Footwear store but nothing else. When I got back to the hotel I was beat and I had gotten overheated. So I got some ice and drank ice water until I cooled down. Then showered and relaxed. Dave and I walked to the Iron Skillet for dinner. It was an interesting place inside a small mall. The food was good and when we were finished we walked around the small mall past Baskin Robins and a tempting yummy chocolate stand. We were so full we couldn’t eat anything more so we passed on dessert! Somehow that’s got to be wrong-------right??????!
The next morning we were up at 6:30-7:00am, had a continental breakfast and by 8:00am we were on the road again. Whenever I write ‘On the Road Again’ I think of the Johnny Cash song!!! O.K.------so we had a long day as we did get stuck in L.A. traffic but it was due to an accident. Pretty soon we were out of L.A. and heading toward the ocean to Carlsbad to stop and see another one of our Bahia friends. Unfortunately they weren’t home so we had to move on. We decided to call Creela and Phil to see if they were home and Phil answered and said they were heading home as they were coming from the doctors. He just had cataract surgery. When we arrived they were having lunch. We had stopped for lunch before getting to their house so they wouldn’t have to feed us. It was sure nice to see them and Phil was doing well. He was amazed how much brighter and colorful everything was in the eye that got fixed. He will have his other eye done in about 5 weeks. I remember Dave telling me that everything looked yellow and he couldn’t make out colors and it was dull. After living with seeing like that I bet it is a revelation!!! Creela made a pot roast and it was funny because she hadn’t thought about the weather as it was 90 degrees outside and a bit warm inside. But we lived through it with the help from a large fan!!!!! Ha!! We asked if we could stay until Sunday and she said yes. We have a couple people we want to see while in San Diego and one of them is our ex landlord. Lois found out a couple months ago she has breast cancer and had under gone 2 chemo treatments so far and says she is feeling good so far. The other couple we want to see are our neighbors just 3 houses north of ours in Bahia. We wanted to stop and see another friend that lives in Encinitas, San Diego but they were further to travel to so we decided we had better just visit the two closer to Creela and Phil.
We had a very nice visit with Larry while Lois was at the store. When she came in she was sporting a short hairstyle wig that is free to all cancer patients. It looked really cute and much shorter than she had worn her own hair. She thinks she will keep it that short when her hair starts growing in again. It was so good to see and talk to her and know she is doing so well. She is getting tired more since her white cell count is higher, but her spirits are high and she hasn’t let anything stop her yet. I think of my oldest niece, Kathy, whenever I know someone who is close to me that has or did have cancer. She was a real trooper and had a positive attitude and a strong will. The 3 friends I have were strong and positive; unfortunately I lost one of them as she was 73 and just let it go too long before detection. My good friend, Ruthie!!!! I think attitude and fighting as best as you can does make a difference for most. I am so thankful Kathy made it through the ugly process and is still living life on her terms!!!! I love you!!! Awareness is the key!
We had a nice but short visit with our other friends Lynn and Tom. Our Bahia neighbors. They had a party to go to that evening, but it was nice to have had the time to visit and catch up.
While at Creelas’ I helped her with yard work. They have several fruit trees with leaves and weeds needing to be rid of so I raked and pulled weeds. She worked in one area of the yard and I in another. We did pretty well in a short period of time and it was looking pretty darn good!!! Still more weeds left but Creela said she would get those another day as it was hot and our backs were getting sore. She is in her 70’s so I was happy to help out. After a shower, Creela dropped us off at Lysel’s house just down the street from Creela and Phil’s house. She used to be the land landlord but recently gave that job to her nephew since she is getting up in age. We had a nice visit with her and then we walked back to Creela and Phil’s house. Creela had gone to see her daughter. I did a load of laundry so we would have all clean clothes for our trip home.
Sunday morning we said goodbye to Creela and Phil and thanked them for their hospitality. We will hopefully see them in a month down in Bahia. We decided to cross the Mexicali border. We have been told by several people who have gone that way that it cuts the travel time by at least an hour and there are few or no trucks on the road and it isn’t switchbacks through the mountains. We crossed the border with a green light and were on our way home!!!! We are anxious to get home and see the house and if there was any damage anywhere on the property. The drive was pretty uneventful and we only saw a couple of trucks. We came to San Felipe and it was too early to stop for the night, so we decided we would make it home that day. It was not a really scenic drive until we came to San Felipe and was able to see the Sea of Cortez. There were a lot of desert and hills made up of boulders it looked like. It was interesting to say the least. We saw several lots where gated communities were being built. It looks like a nice place to live, but unfortunately it gets hotter than Bahia in the summer and they get stronger winds there too. We did consider living there at one time. Glad we live where we are now. The last time we got gas was in San Felipe and it was several miles to the next town, Gonzaga. Dave was running low in gas and was concerned about running out if we didn’t get to a gas station pretty soon. We got to Gonzaga and the only Pemex station there was closed. Uh oh!!! We continued down the road and came to another Pemex station and they were closed also. Now we had a problem. We stopped and asked a couple people about gas and they said we could check across the street at the mini market. Well they weren’t open yet so we waited and waited. During this time Dave walked across the street to talk to the guards at a gate to a gringo community. No luck. After Dave came back the store opened but they didn’t have any gas and knew of no one who did. Well we had thoughts of sleeping in the car and we saw a gringo drive up to the store. We asked if he knew of anyone in the community across the street that might have some gas we could buy. He said he just came from there and the guys at the gate would let us in. So we thanked him and drove across the street to the gate. We explained to the Mexican guard what our intentions were and if we couldn’t find gas we may stay at the motel that was in the community. We got in and stopped at a place we thought was the motel but ended up a private residence. An American man and his wife greeted us and we proceeded to tell them our plight and he was able to sell us 5 gallons of gas for $20.00. Yay!!!! The good Lord, as usual is watching out for us!!! We thanked the couple and went on our merry way. Just shortly after leaving Gonzaga the paved road ended. The government is redoing the road by paving it and building a bridge and the work isn’t finished yet. So we traveled on a fairly smooth dirt road past the construction of the new road and the bridge. Then the smooth road ended and we were on the original road which was rocky, dusty with washouts that had been filled in, thank goodness. Let’s just say it was not a pleasant road and we thought we would never get off it to join the paved highway 1. We did, however, stop at Coco’s Corner which is famous with all the Baja racer people. The man that runs it is Mexican and he use to race until he got hurt. Now he is wheelchair bound but makes his money selling beer for the thirsty travelers coming down from Mexicali. He also gave us a couple stickers and was looking to sell us shirts but he didn’t have our size. It was interesting and I am glad I got pictures because I think it will be a long time before we go that way again!!!!!
After leaving Coco’s corner we bounced and jarred our way to the main highway. It was getting late but luckily the sun doesn’t go down until around 7:30pm or so. It was so nice to be on paved road again!!! Everything was fine and we turned off highway 1 to the road leading to Bahia de Los Angeles. As we got to the top of the hill where you can finally see the Sea of Cortez, we saw what Odile had done to the road. It wiped out the highway in a couple places and they had made detours around it. A couple pictures were taken through the windshield. The power poles you could tell had been replaced, which was quite a few.
Then coming down the hill to the town of Bahia the main road was blocked off with a detour around it. The force of the water from the mountains came as a rushing torrent and washed out the road and filled the town on the north end with mud and debris. It was amazing.
There was a huge mud slide from the north of town over to the Sea of Cortez but we couldn’t see all of the devastation it caused due to not being able to get there. In town the road and stores were fine and it looked like it did before we left. Luckily few homes were damaged and no lives were lost. The military came in to help people clean up and get them back on their feet again. We had waited to come home because we had seen pictures of the flooding and all on U-Tube and knew it would be a while before they could get supplies in and electricity. When we arrived the electricity was on, they had water, ice, gas, and propane. We stopped at one of our favorite tiendas for milk, bread and ice. I asked about the owner’s casa and he said it was fine. You could tell they were just starting to fill the shelves again. It will be a couple more weeks before the shelves are completely filled. We left town and headed for home. We had heard the road from town to our place got washed out in several places but they had filled in the arroyos and graded the road. It wasn’t as good as before we left for Washington, but it wasn’t bad. For the most part it was good except where Baja race runners made the road a washboard!!!! As people come down with their heavy trucks and trailers, it will all smooth out again. The sad part is the Baja 1000 is supposed to race on that road in November. Oh yay!!!! It is what it is. We arrived at the gate to our little community and the guard wasn’t there so we unlocked the gate, drove in and relocked it. We had heard the road to our house was bad but we thought with the jeep we could make it to the house with no trouble. Little did we know we couldn’t cross the road as there was a deep rut in it. So by this time it was dark and Dave was having trouble seeing to back up. I was standing outside on the road to help guide him. We eventually got to our next door neighbors place and used their access to their house and then had to drive across the arroyo to get to our house. We had to get a flashlight and go explore to see how our buildings were and land and we saw some very eye opening things. But we decided we would have to wait until daylight to really take note of what happened. It was about 7:30 or so and we were tired and hungry. We parked the jeep outside as the truck was in the garage, and came upstairs with just our overnight bags and stuff for the night. We would unload in the morning. The inside of the house looked great. A neighbor of ours who had been down in their house already for a while had opened a couple windows to air it out. The windows and doors were swollen due to the humidity but all in all everything looked great. The house must have shook really hard as I noticed one of my dishes that was above one of the sliding glass doors was perched on the edge of the shelf and had there have been more shaking it would have fallen. So I took it down for now only to put it back later. Just making sure it didn’t come down when we opened and closed the sliding glass door. We ate something and a little later went to bed. What surprises will there be in the morning?
The morning brought sunshine and hot temperatures with a lot of humidity. Ugh!! That is for the humidity! We walked around the house and grounds and to our surprise found most everything undamaged. We did have some run off from the roof of the house which made a couple holes in the soil along the new rock wall but nothing we can’t fill in quickly. We walked toward the beginning of the driveway to the house and the trench that Roger made for us, so mountain water runoff would be diverted into the arroyo, worked like a charm. Thank goodness otherwise the water would have come straight down the driveway into the electrical room where we have the batteries for the solar panel. God was looking out for us again.
Then we walked to the edge of the driveway and surveyed the road from there to the gate to get out and oh my goodness!!!!! There wasn’t just one washout but 3.
What a mess and it will take a while to get that all filled in and smooth again. The land landlord has been contacted and he is getting money together to have the road fixed. That is good. There is another gate we can go in and out of which is good and it takes us onto the airstrip, which is closed, but allows us access to the main road to town. So we can still get in and out of our little community. I walked the neighborhood and took pictures of homes because I knew everyone was concerned about damage to their homes. Fortunately all was well. A trailer with a cover over it had a piece of the metal roofing curled up but all the solar panels on the houses and antennas and all are still standing!!!! Amazing! We gained a lot of sandy beach in front of the house from where water rushed down from the mountains into the arroyos. It is kind of nice looking out to a sandy beach as there were many rocks before.
The force of the water running down the arroyos had to have been something to cover those rocks! In a way I am sorry we weren’t here to witness it in person, but on the other hand glad we weren’t as it would have been scary and they didn’t need more people in town. We walked in the front yard to view our new beach and noticed we had a huge washout where there was access to the beach. The stairs were still there but the soil had been washed away and left a large trench.
That was caused by the water runoff from the roof of the bamboo room. It can be filled in with rocks and sand as there are plenty of those around. I went back upstairs to put things away and Dave went to the garage. As he was checking things out and moving things around he noticed containers filled with water. That was from the garage window being left open. For the most part nothing got ruined, well at least we don’t think so. So some clean up was made and things dried out and now we are pretty much back to normal. With all the humidity caused from the torrential downpours there are a lot of tiny little bugs that buzz in your ears and think your ear is a cool little tunnel!!!!! We have bunches of flies but that isn’t surprising as there is a lot of debris on the beach still. We have put up fly strips around the house but pretty soon all those bugs will die as we will be gone to La Paz and the house will be closed up. Thank goodness we have a breeze blowing basically everyday which keeps them away. The worst part is at night and early in the morning when the wind isn’t blowing. Those little buggers also like to get a ride on whoever has been outside bringing them in on their clothes! Oh well. This too shall pass!!! I do have to say that the desert is a beautiful green and I am seeing plants with foliage that haven’t had any since we lived in the house. Flowers start to pop up and show their faces.
The desert can be beautiful!!!!
All the suitcases have been unpacked and things put away and it is looking like home again. We will stick around for awhile then head south to La Paz. That should be an interesting ride to say the least. Luckily we will be able to stop in Loreto half way between us and La Paz to see our friends.
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