Death Valley and hot springs!

Our plan was to head up to Mammoth Lakes and then Yosemite, but a giant snow storm thwarted those plans. So we journeyed back into the hot desert to wait until the roads north were cleared and ended up in Death Valley National Park. We spent our first day poking around and exploring some popular canyons. But at the end of the day, we realized we needed to get away from all the touristy spots. Colin had read about some hot springs in the northwest part of the park, and we were lucky to get a backcountry road map that had a small dot marked "Warm Springs." On our way out, we met a young couple in a Subaru who decided they too would attempt to make it up the "high-clearance" potentially snow-covered dirt road to the hot springs. Three hours of jostling and bumping later, we were there--a small camping area surrounding six or so tubs of varying heat and privacy. Luckily it was dark when we attempted our first soak ... because everybody was naked! We were thankful when most of the crowd left the next day and we had a beautiful day of sun and quiet to enjoy some more soaks and take in the beautiful scenery--desert mountains on one side and the snow covered eastern side of the Sierras on the other. Not a bad trip we're having ...

Los Angeles

We headed north out of Mexico and ended up in LA. More specifically, we ended up in Santa Monica to visit our friends Debbie and Kelly. We had a great few days enjoying the sun, riding their beach cruisers around town, and having a great meal at a Japanese restaurant called Musha (thanks Kelly). Plus we got to take some showers and do some laundry (thanks Debbie).

Our first foray on the bikes landed us at the beach. What we didn't realize was that it was the famous Muscle Beach, supposedly the birthplace of physical fitness. I am pretty sure that some people were in shape before Muscle Beach was established, but you never know. We had an absolute blast playing on the adult jungle gym. We left only when we couldn't hold ourselves up anymore. And we definitely had some sore muscles the next day...

Whenever Misa started climbing the rope, everyone on the beach stopped to watch my incredibly strong wife show up all the muscleheads!

Ouch...California

Oh boy

Greetings from cold, rainy, and WINDY Baja

 The title says it all. We have been in Baja for about 7 days now. Our initial idea to head to Baja was to escape the cold weather and wait out a bit of winter before heading north. So far, our bathing suits haven't emerged from our clothing piles yet, and we are still wearing full winter garb (insulated sweatshirts, furry boots, and fleece jackets (even long underwear at night and in the early morning!!!).  What the heck is going on?  And we haven't even begun to tell you about the wind and rain.

Let's talk about the wind.  Holy cow, Chicago has absolutely nothing on this place (not true, says Misa, who has experienced many a blustery winter in Chicago).  Each day we have to reposition the truck so that we are not blown away inside our sleeping area.  We've spent our days watching the whitecaps on the ocean...which makes the ocean look quite unfriendly. 

Baja is also known as a pretty dry place--it is most likely a desert--but it decided to dump about a third of its' yearly rainfall average on us during the course of one night and morning.  We camped at a beautiful point break called Punta Baja, which is a very remote fish camp.  The second morning, we woke up to the drumbeat of a heavy rain falling on the truck.  We thought, "This can't be right. It never rains in Baja!" But sure enough, we got quite a storm and it turned all the dirt roads into the slipperiest driving surface ever.  Getting to Punta Baja required driving on about one hour of mountainous dirt roads. There were many times when we weren't sure if we were still on the road or had veered off onto a ranch road. Getting out of Punta Baja started with a very long and steep grade, which was made incredibly challenging by the rain. It was impossible to maintain a straight line going up and down these hills, even in 4wd.  The truck is absolutely covered in mud and probably gained a few hundred pounds of mud cargo. We are on the lookout for a pressure washer to clean off the undercarriage.

We also learned some things about ourselves.  Misa really doesn't like turning off on every dirt road that may or may not in a few hours lead in the general direction of the beach. Colin, however, will gladly turn off on any dirt road to try to find the beach if it means that we may end up with our own private beach at some point in the vague and distant future. So we needed to discuss this.  After a long talk about car sickness and bumpy roads, we decided that maybe we should focus more on places where we truly want to live, not just places where are interested in for recreation. Now we are going to head north out of Baja.

We are both a little surprised that we haven't found the Baja that we expected.  Maybe we didn't travel south enough?  Maybe we hit a weird weather pattern?  Maybe we didn't choose the right dirt roads to explore?

Some highlights that we had while we were here included a great night's stay in the Bibayoff Winery, on La Ruta de Vino, which featured a fantastic outdoor shower via a pipe coming out of the ground,which we got to experience by full moon. The rain also brought real unexpected beauty to the desert and mountains. The desert is in full bloom now with flowers coming out of every plant. It is spectacular.

Some downsides to Baja were the numerous federales checkpoints (the Mexican army checkpoints where every car is stopped because of all the drug cartel problems).  The soldiers are all very nice and courteous, but they seem to have a problem with stealing things. Of course we don't notice it during the check, but it has happened twice so far. Colin got his brand new headlamp snatched, which was his Christmas present and Misa got a pair of underwear taken.  Even if we saw them taking our stuff, how are you going to argue in a foreign language with a bunch of soldiers with machine guns?  If you are ever in Baja and you see a soldier wearing a Black Diamond headlamp and pink panties, tell him we want them back!!!

Almost to Mexico & MPG updates

Finally, finally, we are ready to cross the border into Mexico! We spent our last Arizona night in Yuma, a strange complex of chain superstores in the middle of the desert--definitely not a place where we would ever live! But Yuma has a Barnes & Noble, which was helpful for getting a Baja guidebook and map. It also has a Walmart, where we attempted to sleep until we were told by a friendly old Minnesota snowbird that Yuma has an ordinance against sleeping in any commercial parking lots. The friendly bird, however, also told us about a casino parking lot down the road that doubles as an RV camp site. So after cooking one of our best meals yet, we headed to the casino and crashed for the night.

Colin has been keeping fastidious records of our gas consumption and miles per gallon. In case anyone is interested, here is what we've been getting on average: 17 mpg. Our best tank was 18.74 and our worst tank was 14.51 (due to Misa's first time driving the Tundra and the hills of Arkansas). While a far cry from free veggie oil fuel, this is not bad for a Tundra with a roof box and mini apartment in the back!

We are now heading through multiple border patrols and have already given up some tasty little limes. Hopefully they won't find our kale! Once in Mexico, we hope to travel as far down the west coast of Baja as possible today.

Yoga Everywhere

When we first started planning and saving for the trip, I'll admit that I was a little nervous about what would happen to my yoga practice. I even thought about starting a separate savings fund for yoga class expenses! Then I realized that most nights (hopefully) we'd be in remote places, far, far away from any town or city to drop into for a yoga class. 

I'm so grateful for my time at the Sivananda Ashram before this trip. The wonderful teachers there gave me a beautiful practice that I can take anywhere, share with anyone, and always return to for stability, regularity, and calmness amidst our day-to-day adventures. My alarm still goes off at 5:30 am, although I don't always respond by jumping out of bed and onto my mat. When weather permits (not too cold or rainy), I try to quietly slip out of the truck for morning meditation, pranayama, and a full practice. When weather does not permit, I stay in the warm confines of the truck and continue study of the Bhagavad Gita. There is no more anxiety about whether I will find time to practice or whether a class at a studio will fit into our day because I know a practice is always there for me as long as I want it. When I need more variations, I can add some play and variety into the basic practice. When I just want to relax into the familiar, I can stick to the basic 12 postures and feel rejuvenated. 


Never let your schedule or your environment fool you into thinking that you don't have the time or the right space for yoga!  

~Misa   

New Mexico

The drive through New Mexico was long and dry. The sun was hot and relentless. We both decided right away that New Mexico is not the state for us! After a night at a rest stop (and waking up to watch the news about Japan on the rest area TV), we headed to a small town called Holman to visit friends Daniel and Rebekah. It was nice to see a couple setting up their life together after moving out to an unfamiliar state simply because they both desired to be there (sort of like how we will be). After delicious pancakes and coffee, we went for a short hike just behind their backyard. It was a steep and pretty, like most of the land around them. Later in the day, they showed us the yarn mill and weaving center where they work, and then we departed with a lovely gift of home-baked bread and sweet honey.
On our third night in New Mexico, we turned off of Route 40 and headed toward some beautiful rocks on the Continental Divide Rd. We drove toward what we thought was uninhabited grazing land, but were surprised to find small pockets of houses nestled in between the desert scrub. What a gorgeous view they wake up to every morning! Here we were grateful for the 4-wheel drive as we drove up to our incredible camping site. In the morning, we went for a walk/jog/scramble, investigating, but soon learned that the rock there is dry, crumbly, and incredibly unstable! We returned to the campsite via road, and got in the car determined to make it out of New Mexico by the afternoon!