We returned from San Diego to our winter digs at Tower Point in Mesa, AZ on Thursday April 3. Had to swing by Tucson on the way, and pick up the Roadtrek RV from Sandy's West RV. They are a Roadtrek dealer, and we'd dropped off the RV there before heading for Baja. They did a great job sleuthing out our problems: micro-wave oven that wouldn't open, coach charging system that wasn't working, some crotchety cabinet latches, and a toilet valve that wouldn't flush. All were diagnosed and repaired, and Roadtrek warranty handled everything. We couldn't be more pleased with Sandy's service, highly recommended.

Back in the USA!

Wednesday morning, we were up bright and early, had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Menu for breakfast just as funny as the dinner one. I had scrambled eggs with Mexican sausage. Tastes great, just don't think too much about what might be in the sausage. Off we went back toward Ensenada, crossing Baja again from east to west. I've thrown in some more photos of Baja, it's just so amazingly wild and beautiful. There are only 450K people on the whole peninsula, compare that with 35 million in California. So much open space, unspoiled vistas, wide open beaches. It was a great trip, and I know we'll spend more time there in the future.

We had lunch at the same great little taco stand right along the main drag by the harbor that we'd enjoyed on the way down two weeks before. Then we walked around the tourist shops for a while, and finished up our souvenir shopping. Just north of Ensenada, we parted from highway 1 to take highway 3 back thru the wine country to Texate. When we got to the border around 4PM, there was only one vehicle in front of us. We answered a couple of questions, showed the INS agent our passports, and didn't even have to get out of the car. It was a breeze. MUCH better than going thru Tijuana!

The drive from Texate to San Diego is around an hour, no big deal, since you'd spend that long in the line at the border in TJ. Spent the nite at the Good Nite Inn in San Diego, 10 minutes from the airport and across the street from Denny's, as we needed to drop Anne and Keith off at the airport at 7AM.

Our hotel in Catavina turned out to be pretty nice. The hotel was spacious, and had a rec room with pool table, a swimming pool, bar, restaurant, and garden. It also had a posse of cats. They followed you around the grounds, and tried to come into your room. Outside our room's door to the open central patio, there was a wounded bat. We told the hotel staff, and they flicked it into the shrubbery. Later that evening, we returned to the room to find a cat outside the door munching on a freshly killed field mouse. Hey, at least they keep the rodents under control! We had a big laugh over the restaurant menu, the best item being "young donkey". Well, it's a literal translation.....see, a burro is a donkey, and a burrito would of course be a young donkey.... About the old car in the cactus garden.... I'm not sure how that fits in, but it did look kinda cool. Maybe the guy didn't pay his hotel bill or something.

The gas station in Catavina, Baja California

Tuesday April 1 was to be our last night in Mexico. We left Mulege about 7:30AM and heading back north and east across the high country of Baja. Our destination was listed as a 4 star hotel in Catavina, at about 2200 feet. We had a 7 hour drive ahead of us, through rugged mountains, valleys, and cactus. We filled our tank in Mulege, as there was no fuel available for over 100 miles. There had been a Pemex (Mexican gas station, run by the government) in Catavina, but it was closed, we were told. An enterprising local had set up an independent gas station. Take a look at the photo.

We asked an American expatriate bar-fly at the hotel bar where was a good place to eat dinner, and he recommended the El Patron restaurant on the beach. He said to follow the river road to the end, we couldn't miss it. So, we piled into the car and headed down the street. The street became a dirt track after 2 blocks, and I pulled over to ask directions of a local who was walking down the road. She assured us we were on the right road, and that it was only 3 km. down. We bumped along at 15mph, and finally came to the end. There was a little bar and restaurant on the rocky beach, with plastic lawn chairs around tables. We pulled out our dominoes, ordered drinks, and enjoyed ourselves until dinner time. Then, we ate the usual fish tacos and had a great time. We also walked along the rocks and found some nice shells. There was a single fisherman, in a red kayak, with rod and reel looking for supper in the calm water of the Sea of Cortez.