Travels of the Bay family and the Yoda Van

This is what a 235 Peso (US $23.00) hotel will get you in Jiménez, Mexico: 

• A television 
• 2 comfortable beds 
• A bathroom in your room including shower and soap and shampoo 
• The cleanest and most sparkling floor tiles you have ever seen 
• The wickedest thunder/lightning storm pounding down on our corregated tin roof 
• A tree full of deafeningly loud birds at sunset 
• Screens on most of the windows (some with holes, some without) 
• A lot of stares 
• A wake-up call at 6:50 AM by a the sound of a man in the next room barfing 

What a 235 Pesos (US $23.00) hotel will NOT get you in Jiménez, Mexico: 

• A toilet seat 
• A secure handle to flush the toilet  
• Hot water 
• Straight curtain rods 
• Paint that sticks to the walls 
• A remote for the TV 
• Cockroaches, scorpions or spiders (Thank God!) 
• Desire to spend another night in Jiménez, Mexico

The border crossing from El Paso, Texas into Juarez, Mexico went really smoothly.  We did get the red light (for those of you who have been to Mexico know what that is all about).  However, the woman who was searching our car was so helpful.  We asked her where to get our tourist card and our car permits, and she told us where to park and how it all worked.  (Matthias is really good at starting conversations with total strangers.)  The men issuing the tourist cards were even friendlier.  We felt like we were off to a good start.  Then we tried to get out of Juarez.  It took us 45-mintues to get out of the city.  First we missed our exit, then we turned around went back, and then took the wrong exit.  We were lost.  At one point we stopped at a stop sign and their happened to be a policemen standing next to our car.  He seemed awfully concerned that I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, which seemed odd to me since no one cares about all the Mexican’s riding in the back of pick-up trucks.  But he was at least able to get us back on the road to Chihuahua and out of Juarez.
We had to drive all the way to Chihuahua that day as there really is only 1 small city between Juarez and Chihuahua.  Chihuahua is big (not sure of how many people live there) and we found it awfully difficult for us to navigate.  We found a hotel room for $15.00 but I backed down and said I wasn’t ready for that room.  While wooden floors might seem quaint, they sure weren’t in this hotel.  There were gaping holes in the floor, they were uneven and squishy in parts.  The shower was crumbling concrete and there was no way I was going to take a shower in there.  There was a closet in the room, but the light level was so low in the entire room that it was impossible to see what was really deep down in any corner of any part of the room.  We drove around for at least another hour until we found a hotel that we were all ok with.  It cost 50 instead of 15, but breakfast was included and Matthias and I both were willing to spend that for our first night in Mexico.  We are going to ease into the entire Mexico experience.
We sure do turn heads here.  Today we went from Chihuahua to Jimenez, which is a very small town with exactly 4 Gingos – Allison, Matthias, William and Julian.  Julian has always been the focal point when we walk through town with his almost white-blonde hair and pale white skin.  In just the day and a half we’ve been in Mexico so far I’ve heard “Nino bonito!” in reference to Julian more than once, and we really haven’t been out that much.
To be honest, I don’t always feel so comfortable here.  Our Spanish is bad.  We are able to rent a hotel room, buy a map and I almost ordered breakfast completely in Spanish today.  (I didn’t understand ‘scrambled’ or ‘over easy’ in Spanish when the waiter was referring to my eggs).  We get stared at a lot, and it is hard to interpret those stares.  Are they just looking and don’t care that we are here?  Are they curious about us?  Do they want us to leave?  Probably all of the above.  We’ve been here for less than 36 hours, and I’m sure it’ll get easier with time and some improved language skills.
30 kilometers outside of Juarez is the office where you get your vehicle permit.  While there we talked to a really nice couple (both anthropologists) who were on their way into southern Mexico to live for a year.  Starting when their son was 3 they used to take a year sabbatical every few years, move their whole family to Mexico and do independent work in some very remote areas.  When they heard about our trip they were really excited for us.  Neither one of them was all that shocked about what were doing since they had done it a bunch of times themselves already.  She told me “Most people don’t do these kinds of trips but really they are about 99% nerve.”  It’s good to remember that in those moments where I don’t understand anything anyone is saying and have no idea where I’m going to sleep that night.  It is also good to remember when yet another person skeptically says “Ohh, Mexico.  Well, be careful.”  But it is also clear that this woman is right when we meet yet another Mexican on the street who strikes up a conversation with us just to see who we are and where we are from, or when the guys next to us in a traffic jam asks us where we are from and gives us directions to where we are going.  There are a lot of really nice people here, and a few bad ones, just like in every other country.  Now it is up to us to see what is interesting about this country.

I have a new name for all the KOAs we’ve been staying at: Kamper’s Anonymous.  I didn’t realize until today, but there is a strange fact about all these KOAs and that is that no one talks to one another.  You might be able to strike up a conversation with the desk clerk or the night watchman, but not usually with other kampers, unless they are mentally challenged like the Rain man we met in our virgin Salt Lake City experience who was a man that had memorized every highway exit and corresponding city on every major highway in the US.  Other than this odd bird you are not likely to strike up a real meaningful conversation with anyone while staying at a KOA.  These Kampsites are filled with closet kampers that aren’t even willing to admit to their neighbors that they kamp.
But today we had a great experience at the KOA in Las Cruses, New Mexico.  We are kamping next to a family of fellow Washingtonians that has totally blown my mind.  Mom has 6 kids, but is only traveling with 5 at the moment.  The ages of the kids are: 9, 11, 13, 15 and 19.  I’m reluctant to tell you that the Mom’s name is June, lest anyone derive any “Leave it to Beaver” images of what this family might be like.  June is a no-bullshit, open, likable woman who we’ve really enjoyed talking to over the last day (has it only been a day, so far?).  She quit her job and decided to take her kids on a road trip for the summer.  She ousted the 11-year from their tent and is making him sleep in the car since he decided to gnaw a hole with his teeth in the air-mattress they had, just so his sister couldn’t use it.  They’ve already been to Georgia and are now on their way home.  She separated from her husband 4 years ago – so that means she is traveling with 5 kids on her own.  Hats off to you June, you’ve got balls, and patience that could duly be spread over all our blog readers.  Every one of her kids is interesting and polite.  This morning we went swimming with the two youngest and the oldest is starting to become really interested in other cultures and was excited when he met a guy from Italy in the bathroom.  Today I overheard her reprimanding a few of her children since they hadn’t completed a journal entry since they had arrived in Las Cruces.  How cool is that?  I hope William and Julian become as likable as all these children someday and that we can have great family energy like this group of six one day.  We spent the entire day sharing food and campsites.  All 10 of us made a mad dash for the pool at ten minutes to eight tonight, only to get kicked out shortly after closing time (8 PM).  That was ok because we all went back to our campsite and sat around the picnic table and talked for a few more hours.
Over the past week we made it to Albuquerque where we spent 4 days with my Aunt.  We had a great time visiting with her and seeing a bit of Albuquerque.  We decided to head south through Alamogordo since my mother lived there as a kid.  It was interesting to see where my Mom grew up and also where my grandparents are buried.  However, not so interesting that any one of us would like to stay.
Alamogordo was very hot (lower 90’s) and quite humid due to all of the rainfall.  We didn’t have a campsite so we decided to swing by the Visitor’s Center first.  We heard about a campsite nearby that used to be a KOA.  The fact that it once was a KOA, but no longer, should have been an omen to us that it would be bad.  But Matthias and I thought “Oh, it used to be a KOA, which means it probably has a pool.”  Salivating we drove quickly to the campsite and paid the hefty 27 dollars for one night’s stay.  The 2 cop cars in front of the building, and the two policemen in the waiting area gathering evidence didn’t faze me one bit.  The fact that this campsite was devoid of retirees in neat yellow polo-shirts bustling about deciding what project to undertake next (like painting the mailbox yellow so every one can see it) didn’t send up warning flags either.  The dorky guy my age with a pony tail who offered me a discount for AAA membership didn’t scare me off either.  What finally made me nervous was the rusty playground.  And the gaps between shower stalls were so wide that you couldn’t really consider them private.  The wi-fi cut out after every 15 minutes and required a full reboot in order to re-connect.  But what really made me realize what a shit-hole this was was the pool.  We walked up to the pool and you couldn’t see the bottom.  The water had this greenish-brown tinge to it and was utterly disgusting.  What was even more repulsive was the fact that we went swimming in it – TWICE!!!  It is really hard to explain to a 2 and a 4 year old why we can’t go swimming when we are all standing next to the pool in our bathing suits.  The first day we just took long hot showers afterwards.  The second day was even worse since the pool was then filled with a brew of mosquitoes and gnats.  I couldn’t even tell one toe from another in 4 feet water.  My advice to any of you traveling through Alamogordo (other than STAY AWAY!) would be to splurge on a hotel, I mean MOTEL room.
After leaving Alamogordo we visited White Sands National Monument.  Matthias considers this the highlight of the trip so far and I think I might have to agree.  White Sands is nearly 300 square miles of pure white sand dunes in the middle of the desert.  It is possible to drive out into the dunes and walk around (which we did).  It was at least in the mid-90’s out on the dunes, but so absolutely cool. William and Julian had so much fun sliding around on the sand.  It felt like we were in a totally new world.

After this we settled in Las Cruses.  We are staying here two nights and have enjoyed the truly wonderful pool (we went swimming 3 times today) and the great company.  It is so hard to describe the thunder storm we witnessed our first night.  For hours we were surrounded on all sides by lightning in the distance.  Slowly as the night progressed it moved closer and closer.  We woke up in the middle of the night when it was finally directly overhead.  I’ve never heard thunder that long or that loud in my life.
Next we head to El Paso and then into Mexico.  We are anticipating crossing into Mexico on the 31^st.  This will begin a new chapter of the trip.  We’re not sure what to expect, or when we’ll have internet the next time.  By the way, does anyone know if there are Kampgrounds of Mexiko?

One of the challenging parts of this trip was packing. Everything we needed to take with us on our trip had to fit IN, ON or UNDER our van. We need to bring a certain amount of tools and misc. car parts, diapers, baby wipes, toiletries, food and enough clothes to stay warm at high elevations and to keep cool in warm climates.

Julian and I share a space (18” wide, 6” tall and 18” deep) for our clothes. Measure it out – it really isn’t that much space if you consider we are planning on traveling for a year. The kids have a similar space for the toys they brought along. Matthias and I share 12 inches of a clothes rack where we can hang clothes on hangers. Matthias and William each have their own space (8” wide, 8” tall ,14” deep). That is all the room we have for clothes. For me that amounts to 4 pairs of shorts, 2 tank tops, 2 pairs of pants, 2 long sleeve tops, a pair of pajamas, underwear, socks, 1 bathing suit and one sweatshirt. It really is frustrating since I haven’t even worn one pair of jeans and 1 top that I brought once. Space is golden in our van and to waste it is a sin.

I really love shoes. And I like to buy a lot of them and it was hard for me to decide what shoes to bring with me. I would have loved to bring all my shoes, but we just don’t have room for them all. Believe you me, I can make a good honest case for bringing each and every one of my pairs of shoes with me, but in the end I am so committed to this trip that I only brought a pair of tennis shoes, a pair of Keen Waterproof Sandals and a silly pair of flip-flops. I think I started about 6 months ago on my search for the perfect sandals. First and foremost they had to look good, plus I wanted them to be waterproof (for the rainy season), they also had to have good support because I figured they would probably be my main shoes. I had always kept those Keen shoes in my sight, but they really weren’t ideal. They have such a ridiculous bulbous toe, but they seemed to fulfill all the functional requirements. Nordstrom had them on sale during their Half-yearly sale and I gave in. Matthias and I both got a pair (his are black, mine are red). Then I bought William and Julian a pair on ebay (William has Navy and Julian has Lilac). So we are now a family of matching Keen waterproof Newport sandals. We are just so cute and so Northwest!!!

This trip is really about paring down to the necessities (like Keen Waterproof Newport Sandals) and there are a lot of things we all just had to do without on this trip. I left all my make-up at home. I also left my hairdryer and my flat iron. The things that have replaced that are insect repellant, sun tan lotion and After-Bite. We are living a minimalistic life and are doing really well.

Another great thing about being on the road is the Vanagon-love you feel on the highway. We had a bit of a dry-spell between Seattle and Albuquerque (we saw 1 Vanagon outside of Salt Lake City and 1 in Bryce Canyon). Surprisingly, there are a ton of Vanagons in Albuquerque. It is a great unwritten rule that when you pass another Westy (a Vanagon with the Westphalia pop-top) that you honk or wave or possibly give the peace symbol while driving. Recently when Matthias was driving our Vanagon around the Seattle area he noticed a guy with dreadlocks on a bike waving at him. He must have been a Vanagon owner.

And lastly about our car – It seemed like we were leaking oil, but that is no longer our concern. We had an oil change in Santa Fe (a 7 hour affair) which revealed nothing. But afterwards, it seems our oil level is higher and our gas level is lower. Is gas leaking into our oil chamber? We have no idea, but we have faith in Yoda, and faith that he will bring us to Las Cruces, New Mexico, one of our last stops on our way to Mexico.

We never intended this blog to be a travel guide.  There are travel books that do a much better job than we do. It also is not supposed to be political (politically incorrect maybe).  I do however want to write a little about the land anyways. After being on the road for almost 3 weeks and having driving over 2500 miles, I am still looking forward to every stretch of road ahead.

This land is beautiful. People who know me are probably stunned by this statement. Being German, I usually complain and criticize everyone and everything (Allison’s dad and my old co-workers will definitely agree with this). Don’t worry, I still do my share of complaining (just ask Allison). I therefore have to say it again. This land is beautiful!!
I am not only talking about the National Parks. They are of course spectacular, but we have been more impressed by things that you don’t find on maps and travel guides. We loved Highway 12 in Utah between the National Parks, the prairie in Idaho, where the road had no turns for over 1 hour of driving (Yoda Van speed), the black mountains near Hover Dam, Snow Canyon in southern Utah, where we spent one night, before we where on another incredible stretch of land on the way to Mesquite, Nevada. We saw incredible thunderstorms in Flagstaff, Arizona, had wind gusts that brought our 67 horsepower engine almost to a standstill. We drove from sea level to 11500 feet in altitude. The list could go on and on. The most mind-boggling thing however is the sheer size of the country. Driving hour after hour through the most beautiful landscapes imaginable and not even making it half way from coast to coast. Unbelievable! I think that answered the title question. Size does matter. I know it matters to our RV-er friends at the KOAs with the 100 foot long luxury vacation homes on wheels that get 4 miles to the gallon.
Driving the Yoda Van makes this experience twice as enjoyable because we are the slowest vehicle on the road.  It is a rare occasion when we pass someone and as a result we have plenty of time for enjoying the scenery. It also helps to that we started only driving during nap time for no more that 2 hours every day. Having 2 sleeping kids in the car (no one asking “Are we there yet?”) could make a drive through the German Ruhrgebiet a scenic drive.
We would also like to say thanks one more time to our Las Vegas friends Lynn and Daren for their incredible hospitality.  Since they were sleeping in the guest room, and we were in their room, we provided them the opportunity to find a new appreciation for their own bed.  Thanks also for teaching us great new baby-sitting techniques (see picture).  However, I’d still bet big money in a cheap Mesquite casino that Julian could find a way to hurt himself while he was locked in a dog cage.

Originally I wanted to make this entry all about what we brought with us on our trip to give you an idea of what it means to “travel light”, but this afternoon was such a crazy afternoon that I figured that these stories were much more blog-worthy. I’ll write about our inventory another time.

Today we had a big travel day – we left Las Vegas and almost made it to the Grand Canyon. Right now we are staying at a KAO about 50 miles south of the Grand Canyon, and a little west of Flagstaff, Arizona. It hurt to pass up a National Forest Campsite just a mile down the road, but the pool, playground and Wi-Fi are too much to pass up. We strategically requested the campsite that was close to the KOA office and kitty-corner to the playground. This way we could let William and Julian run over to the playground and exert some of their pent-up energy while still in sight. After a while, Matthias went over to check on them and comes back a few minutes later –“Where’s Julian?” he asks. I answer “I don’t have Julian, he was with you!” It is immediately clear that neither one of us knows where Julian is and what he was up to. We both do a quick scan of our environment – we peruse the RVs and pick-up trucks mottling our surroundings and we see no Julian, which is not good. Matthias calls his name and we hear nothing. We start running in the direction of the office. When I hear him crying I look up and I can’t even believe what I see. He is on the freakin’ roof of the KOA office. He’s on the ROOF!!!! And he is crying and stumbling towards me with arms wide open like a drunken man. How is this even possible? My frame of reference of what is possible in the world is coming crashing down.

I rush into the office and push myself to the front of the line, terrified that Julian will fall off the roof any second. “My son is on the roof. How do I get up onto the roof?” No one looks all that alarmed. “He’s 2 years old. I need to get up to the roof immediately and get him down.” The woman in front of me turns to her co-worker who is checking in some new “kampers” and says “Uhh, I think you need to help this woman right now.” I re-explain and this rotund woman lumbers her way up on to the roof. On the way up she is a bit perplexed, “The stairs are on the back side of the building and they are really overgrown with weeds I don’t know how he could have gotten up there.” We get up to the roof and I see what an oasis of hazards it is. First, the stairs have no railings. Next, I see there is only a small narrow pathway that was intended for walking along the perimeter of the roof. If Julian had decided to cut across he might have fallen through the wide gaps between buildings, or even worse, fallen into the pool. When I finally get to him he is standing on the corner of the building, about a foot away from the edge and about 12 feet above a group of approx. 15 RV-ers wondering how in the world he got up there in the first place.We felt safe back at our campsite, but about 5 minutes later he walks into an open door of the Yoda Van which results in this big gash on his forehead. 10 minutes after that, he falls off the picnic table and lands on his head. Shortly after that, he tried to drink the bottle of dishwashing liquid left on the table (not the first time he has tried that). Later we went swimming and Matthias throws Julian to me in the water (something we do all the time). However, I wasn’t ready and Julian sinks to the bottom. He was under the water for all of 3 seconds, but you should have seen us scrambling to get him up to the top. As I write this he is sleeping soundly (yes I checked that he is still breathing), but one thing is for sure – this cat of ours definitely has more than 9 lives.

In the meantime we went to the Grand Canyon. We spent the night at a great campsite in the National Park. We did a few walks around the park, but the easiest trails were the Rim Trails, and walking along the edge of the Grand Canyon just didn’t seem like the right thing to do with Julian right now. The drive south from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff was really amazing. Next we are going to work our way down to Albuquerque and stay with my Aunt.

We do have some good news though – the knocking has completely stopped. However, we also have some bad news – we appear to be loosing oil. We’re searching the net for good mechanics in Albuquerque and we’ll keep you posted.

From Bryce Canyon we made our way to Zion National Park. Our van was knocking the entire way. After Zion, we decided to head to St. George since there was a VW mechanic. We didn’t arrive until Saturday, and of course the repair shop was closed on Saturday and Sunday. We decided to spend the night at Snow Canyon State Park. That is one of those surprises I mentioned – it was beautiful. It had petrified sand dunes, live sand dunes, narrow canyons, tortoises and Gila monsters. It was extremely hot – close to 100 and that night we laid out on the hot pavement and watched for shooting stars. William finally saw his first shooting star, and Julian just fell asleep on the blanket.
    
We decided we would not wait until Monday for the repair shop to open and start making our way head Vegas, where there definitely were several repair shops. In Snow Canyon some Dutch women told us about Mesquite, NV and how it is possible to get really cheap hotel rooms. When we rolled into Mesquite it was about 104 degrees (40 Celsius) and an air-conditioned room sounded perfect. That was definitely the right decision for us since at 10:00 PM it was still 97 degrees and the Yoda Van was sweltering. We paid 30 bucks for a decent hotel room and went swimming twice.Mesquite is not a nice place. At least Vegas has a lot of flair and they go all out. Mesquite is just cheap and trashy and the worst of what these casinos are all about: crappy $7.99 prime rib buffets, cheesy flashing lights, bingo tournaments and old run-down casinos.

That night we ran some errands and the knocking sound was even louder, no longer just in 3rd and 4th gears, but was occurring in all gears (even reverse), and also even when the clutch was pressed down. This was not good.

The next morning we assessed our options: stay in Mesquite another night, have our car towed to Las Vegas or just risk it and drive to Vegas. We didn’t want to stay in Mesquite another night since we’d wake up tomorrow with the exact same dilemma. We called our road service and they said they would tow the car to Vegas, but then we’d still have to get all of us to Vegas somehow. To risk it and drive was not ideal either since it was 75 miles and almost nothing in between us and Vegas. We decided to just take the car out onto the freeway and see how the noise was first. We put in a call to the shop before we left and got on I-15. The knocking was just the normal/customary knocking we were accustomed to so we decided to just keep going and live on the edge and risk it. The temperature along the way was about 105 and breaking down would have been horrible. These were the longest 75 miles of the entire trip.

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If any of you have been around a 4-year old for any length of time you will know that everything is poopy. Poopy food, poopy car, poopy lo lo, and poopy head. Julian is also starting to pick up on William’s fecal fascination and from him we are starting to hear poooo-peee as well.

We are also really starting to get into a good poopy groove on our trip. We’ve abandoned the idea of driving long poopy stretches at a time. We are pretty much only driving during nap time so William and Julian get good poopy naps and minimize their awake time in the car. We’ve driving 100 miles or less each day which makes us all a happier, poopier lot. Cooking in the Yoda Van is also second nature now, and setting up and packing up is a piece of (poopy) cake.

The noise in our engine is also getting louder and now starts right up as soon as we start driving. Poopy! The last couple of days it only started after about an hour of driving. We’re headed to a larger city and hope that our poopy Yoda Van makes it.

Over the last couple of days we entered the national park region in southern Utah.

Man is it poopy. Originally we wanted to head to Moab first in order to see Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. In the end we decided against it because it would have just been too poopy. It would have added another 10 hours to our driving time and we didn’t want to be stranded out there if our engine was making strange noises. So we decided to head towards Capitol Reef. All I can say is Wow! We had seen pictures in travel guides but they really don’t do that park justice. There are 100 miles of these magnificent red cliffs. We spent the night in the park and then continued on to Bryce Canyon. This drive was one of the most amazing drives Matthias and I have ever seen. Every 10 to 15 minutes the landscape changed so dramatically and it was all so beautiful. There are so many amazing spots in this part of the country – most of them are not the main attractions, some not even on the map, but are just fantastic surprises along the way.

As diverse as the scenery is, so are the people we have encountered along our trip. Originally I wanted to title this post Willkommen in Deutschland. There are so many Germans traveling in rented RVs. In the last campsite we stayed at we meet 4 separate German families in the pool. Who knows how many other Germans there were lurking around that campsite. We also have meet lots of people from the Netherlands and the UK. In addition to this, we met the deafest old man ever to hold down a job, a man who was carrying a helicopter on his Ford Ranger and a trio of Amish – a man, a woman and a dwarf. The full-sized woman regarded us skeptically, but the dwarf immediately struck up a conversation with us which turned into a discussion about childhood ailments. What weird country this is. Now we are on our way through Zion National Park on our way to St.George where there is (apparently) a good VW repair shop. I’m sure it will be just as poopy as the rest of our journey so far.

The enemy of the true American camper is the KOA (Kampground of America).  Just the fact that they write words like ‘campground’ and ‘cabin’ with a ‘K’ is enough to dismiss this establishment as something I don’t want anything to have to do with.  Alas, we find ourselves at a KOA and we are loving it.  We’re traveling with our 2 kids (William (4) and Julian (2)) and they just don’t dig 5-hour car stretches.  The KOA offered us restrooms (something we didn’t have at the last RV Park we stayed at which turned out to be right between a gas station and a junk yard), plus a lot of extras such as a swimming pool, a playground and Wi-Fi.