German
USA: Arizona and California
May 2019
No fear of contact - Beach Life in Mexico
During Holidays and weekends at beaches you will find tent next to tent with an adequate noise level. A certain noise tolerance is required. Bus companies make good business with the rural population, who take them from inland to the beach and back for a day with their children and toys. Even on old, rickety pickups, up to 15 people including cooking utensils, food and drinks are easily transported. After arrival at the beach, these people cut foodstuffs and cook for the large families. Here having children still works conservatively, well Catholic, because the Chinese 1-child policy has not got around yet. Nor do the indirect environmental consequences.
Occasionally beach vendors try to sell their goods to the people. It understands itself automatically that nearly each group competes at the same time for the strongest background music with the music boxes they bring along.
Mexico: Beach Life May 2019
Places under rented sunshades are limited. It is therefore clear to many that the proximity of a camper van providing shade is the ideal place. Volleyball and football are played and in between free-running dogs enjoy their lives. Groups of drinking buddies open beer bottles with their bare teeth and it seems to us that the records in swallowing beer are daily broken here.
But what "fascinates" us the most is that any garbage including baby diapers is simply thrown to the ground and that's how it looks like.
On Sunday evenings the spook is over. One gets (only nearly) abstinence symptoms!
PS: The incision into the personal eating habits, transport needs or travel wishes seems to be acceptable. The incision into unrestrained human reproduction, however not. Soon mankind will also have to face this taboo topic of overpopulation/limitations of growth. Leaving children with a future worth living means more than just banishing car traffic from the big cities in order to create more space for lorries.
Police in Puerto Vallarta
Recently we mentioned to other travelers that up to now we were not bothered in Mexico by police and military in Mexico. On the double-lane motorway from the airport junction to Puerto Vallarta this changed.
A police woman on a motorcycle overtook us with a flashing blue light and waved at us to follow her to an exit ramp. After we stopped, she told us that we are driving a truck and therefore were not allowed to drive on the expressway here in her city, and we therefore had to pay a penalty. We resisted with the argument that we drive a RAM pickup and not a truck. She said that we as tourists also had to inform ourselves about the rules in foreign countries and have to stick to the rules. We replied that she should show us the rule where it is recorded that a RAM is a truck. She claimed that since we are a motorhome, we are a truck. And with this claim she had definitely lost.
We showed her our entry customs document from the Mexican border. On it was written RAM auto and not camper. The fact that we were not declared as a motorhome was to our advantage.
When she asked how long we had been married, we knew that we got out without paying. So it was. We chatted a bit about our travels in beautiful Mexico and then said goodbye with a strong handshake.
USA: PIMA Air & Space Museum 2019
PIMA Air & Space Museum
The PIMA Air & Space Museum, one of the world's largest non-government funded aviation and space museums, is located on the outskirts of Tucson, 2 hours south of Phoenix by car!
The list of exhibited aircraft on display is very extensive with over 300 aircraft. Some of them are even the last surviving specimens, but there are also unique pieces and prototypes.
The museum is also the exclusive operator of bus tours to the nearby ARMAG "Aircraft Boneyard," probably the largest military aircraft cemetery in the world. Unfortunately, due to the necessary safety check, a pre-booking of at least 10 working days is now required here.
We have therefore only visited the museum. Was very impressive!
Erick Schat's Bakery in Bishop
Once again we heard about a great bakery. It was on our route, so we had a stop in Bishop, California. The offer in this American style shop slayed us.
In addition to plenty of soft toast bread varieties, however, we found some super baked wholemeal breads. We also bought to replenish our freezer again. In the assortment there were also a lot of different sweet pastries, freshly prepared sandwiches and jams. Everything in an American way - in huge quantities.
The same company also ran a well-stocked wine shop next door so you don't have to sling the bread down dry.
Meeting rattlesnake
On a campsite in the National Forest near Bishop, we parked backwards. Brigitte leveled our vehicle with stones at the back right. After we both got out of the car and folded down the stairs to our house, we noticed a meter sideways a snake. It was motionless, and we therefore thought it was dead. But that was not the case. After 10 minutes, and a throw of pebble stone, it retreated in the bushes.
In the evening we informed ourselves at the ranger:
Rattlesnakes regulate rodent populations, play an important role in maintaining biological balance and can even save lives because their venom is used in cancer research.
Rattlesnakes also shy away from encounters with people and attack only for self-defense. They have limited poison stocks and therefore use their poison sparingly; at least the adults. They need their poison for killing their prey and defending them against enemies. Humans are out of the question as prey, because far too big, because she swallows her prey in one piece.
As a tip we got: If the snake attacks, lift one foot up, because it is very likely to bite into your shoe. If you don't walk around with flip-flops in nature, but wear sturdy shoes, the snake will certainly be left with nothing.
Pet Cemetery
Where highly elevated pets are laid to rest at the pet cemetery near Bishop, CA.
Our pets provide companionship, emotional support, and unconditional love during the time they share with us. We love them and consider them members of the family. So when that special relationship comes to an end it’s only natural to grieve. Many of us find comfort by memorializing our beloved pet in a meaningful way.
The world’s oldest operating pet cemetery is in New York and today it is the final resting place for more than 70,000 animals.
When we had finished our tour of this particular site, Edy asked me, what date do we have today. It was May 16 – birthday of Amigo, our American Staffordshire Terrier buddy, whom we still miss.
