Our good friends Graeme and Jennifer are travelling in the USA during the southern winter, and have kept us up-to-date with their travels by e-mailing the following episodes. Latest entries at the bottom (just the one, so far).

Travelog 1 (April 2011)

Hi Everyone,
We arrived in the States on March 9 for our second trip. Eager to see our van after 6 months in storage, we headed from Los Angeles Airport in a hire car 2 hrs north to Bakersfield where the van was plugged into power and batteries charged for us. Everything was fine and we were soon putting the bikes on, filling the water tanks and heading out to Walmart car park for an early night's sleep. The next day was a trip Costco, our favourite food store, to stock up on food, and of course, the cheap grog - Jim Beam $20 for 1.75L and Gin at $15 for 1.75L should keep us sipping for quite a while! The days were a pleasant 22 deg in Bakersfield and we found a great 46 km cycle path along the river - a bit like Canberra in parts with trees planted in the parks!

We headed for the coast north of Los Angeles, where we left off last year. Travelling over high mountains and twisting roads we thought were never going to end till we finally came to the coast. All the towns near the coast have big new estates of mainly white houses. We headed north past lovely beach scenery to Hearst Castle at San Simeon a coastal town as we were told not to miss it. The "castle" is 8kms from the highway perched on a hill-top - it was built in the 1920s by William Hearst , a wealthy American who made his money on newspapers, as his summer getaway. Here he entertained the who's who of Hollywood, politicians and millionaires. It is an amazing castle with approx 22,000 sculptures, vases, paintings, wall tapestries etc. from around the world, and was his own private collection. Every room is ornate with gold plating everywhere including the lining and floors of the indoor heated pool. We have never seen anything so opulent in our life! His family gave the castle to the State of California in the early 70s after his death, to be retained for the public to see.

Continuing up the coast, the mountains run straight into the sea. The road is cut into the side of the hills - quite a chair-gripping experience as the ocean way below is inches from the guardrail, and the road is not very wide. A car waved us down and said the highway was impassable to San Francisco as a large landslide ahead had seen a large part of the highway slip into the sea. It was getting late in the day so we found a campground and started asking around in the morning. Yes, the landslip had happened, and it will be closed for a few months. This made us a bit wary about this road when they also have plaques describing previous landslips along the road especially after a wet winter. As a result of the landslip we had to backtrack 80 km along the coast, over more mountains and down another valley.
We were 200 miles south of San Francisco with the weather closing in - the forecast was for a week with maximums to 15 deg. That night we had rain and strong wind and fresh snow on all the hills around. We decided to head inland, back across more mountains, over high passes to the desert to southern Arizona where it would be warm and sunny.

As a result of this unseasonal weather it had been snowing on all the high peaks in California mountains, and some of the passes were not open. One pass near Barstow, on the way to Arizona, had just been opened by the snow plough. This called for a stop at the first available pull-in on the highway where we had a cuppa - a point at 4,000 ft. with snow all around us. After this little sojourn we continued travelling east down to the desert and warm temperatures within an hour of the snow line. We then crossed the Colorado River, into Arizona then turned south following the river to the Mexican border.

Last year, talking to fellow campers, we were told that thousands of American and Canadian retirees flock south to escape cold winters and substitute them for warm winters. The town of Yuma on the Mexican border is just 131 feet above sea level and is the warmest winter place in the USA short of going to Mexico. From Yuma access to the small town of Algodones, across the border is easy - all you need is a passport and USA visa if you want to return to the USA. In the bustling town of Algodones you can access prescription pills without a prescription, alcohol (1L max per person in 30 days), dentists, prescription specs, and hearing aids all much cheaper than the US. So our 'Yuma Experience' started with us heading to a 'couple of acres' carpark, where we could leave the van and walk across the border. As cars poured into the carpark early in the morning we joined by hundreds doing the walk into Mexico - we must have checked we had our passports ½ doz times before we crossed the border while reading numerous warning signs on the US side advising don't smuggle drugs, firearms etc. etc.

Finally over the border we were greeted by Mexican music, police holding machine guns and spruikers trying to get you into the various shops which lined the small streets. Algodones' four small street blocks have a concentration of doctors, dentists, chemists, optical, jewellery shops and market places in the streets. There are 400 dentists in this small area, so there is a bit of jostling for your business as you walk along, with offers including free checkups, quotes after a camera displays your teeth on a big screen in front of you and free x-rays, even if you don't go ahead with them. The worst thing about Algodones is that it can take up to two hours to get through customs, back to the USA as everyone is lining up to get out later in the day. After a week in Yuma visiting Algodones 4 times we had three pairs of prescription glasses, 2 crowned teeth, various prescription drugs and 2 litres of alcohol (Yes more alcohol!- hard to pass up as it is even cheaper in Mexico) for less than $950 - a bargain - this would have been around $4,500 in OZ. We also had a free camp (boondocking) within 2 km of the border, where we could walk or cycle to Mexico.

We felt quite safe camping as the Border Control paddy wagon went past during the day and evening and the helicopters flew overhead watching for illegal immigrants. With fellow campers we had a 'United Nations' representation of Aust, England, American & Canadian at happy hour each evening - on one of these evenings we celebrated with new friends, 25yrs of wedded bliss.
Yuma was about to hit 36° so it was time to make tracks to higher altitudes at Tucson, Arizona. As the hot weather followed us there we decided to seek refuge in the Catalina Mountains behind Tucson where we found a great campground at 1,400 metres. Still warm (but not hot), we spent the days on great walking trails in and overlooking canyons and around camp in the afternoon. For our cycling friends have we found a holiday ride for you! - a 2,000 metre increase in altitude over 40 kilometres - just join the throngs doing the ride any time, any day.
As the weather cooled we headed down to Sabino Canyon on the outskirts of Tucson. The 16 kilometre road through this canyon is banned to motorised vehicles, and consequently is heavily used by locals who were walking, jogging and cycling. The increase in elevation on the road is 200 metres resulting in a great ride highlighted by towering walls on each side.

Next we headed for the Saguaro (pronounced sah wah row) National Park. These are the stereotypical Mexican cacti (ie the ones which look like people) and which have been immortalized by the western movie - with one green straight trunk and a couple of arms bent upwards. These trees make for good photographs - either as individuals or when they cover the hillsides. Tucson has many hiking districts surrounding, with views to the city and surrounds.
Madera Canyon, 60 km south of Tucson, was recommended by a cyclist we meet in Sabino Canyon so we headed there late one afternoon to find a moderately steep road to the campground, 1600 metres and very steep road to a vantage point looking at Mt Wrightson which is over 3,000 metres above the sea - we cycled/walked this road after leaving the van in the campground. In the morning we were out for a hike when we were sidetracked looking at everyone with binoculars birdwatching. We soon leant that the canyon was a bird watching hot spot of southern Arizona. There were colorful birds everywhere of different shapes and sizes including a dozen different types of hummingbirds. They were easily seen from any walk at the base of the canyon. The accommodation lodges within the canyon also had feeders out so you could sit and see many birds eating and drinking throughout the day.

The weather came in again while in this camp so we had another day inside while sleet and snow fell around us. Overnight it was below freezing, although clear skies were in abundance the next morning - so we were up early and hiking a trail for coffee on top of a ridge amongst the snow - the walk up was worth every degree of coldness from the previous night with thick snow on trees, cacti, the trail and the surrounding mountain range.

Heading still further east we detoured trough Tombstone (the town too tough to die) famous for Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral gunfight. An early morning walk through the town before many inhabitants stirred gave us a real sense of how this place might have been 100 years ago, as many original buildings still stood and were in very good origional condition. A local's car bumper sticker amused us with the following "if it's tourist season, why can't we shoot 'em" - maybe this sums up Tombstone. Many roads from border towns in this area had road blocks with border patrol, checking occupants and cars with sniffer dogs.
Heading further east we will soon be in the state of New Mexico.
Till Next time!

Jennifer & Graeme