ROCK GARDEN                                                                                                                      It's a matter of balance.

Photo by Steve Simpson.

Earlier this year someone started stacking rocks in unusual ways along the access road to the south end of Coyote beach.  Here are some examples:

I am particularly fond of the arches that someone put together. They look easy but I'm sure that more than one person has to be involved.

HAS IT BEEN A MONTH?

Trying to keep up!

This photo was sent to me by Genevieve of the french family featured in

a previous blog. After crossing
the border which they had been nervous about, the frenchies went to Jim and Elena's (the Hobie Cat engineer)
who were also the subject of a previous blog. Surely looks like they are having a great time and toasting us
with their Margaritas!!!

This is Josie, my granddaughter who became 10 in January. She is in the 4th grade and likes to play soft ball and basketball.

A LITTLE THIS AND THAT

Minutia on the beach!

Still love those Baja sunrises!

Notice the cross supports to the
rear and the middle.  They are not 
supposed to be v-shaped.  The 
trailer was a little overloaded in
coming down and we were lucky 
to get here without falling apart.
Bob has had it rewelded and 
supported since then!





Our friend, the stick bug!

Many days can be very windy here, so
we try to stay out of it.










                                                                                                                                                                 

The above 3 pictures are the maiden testing of the electric motor for our boat. The motor works great and it's fun to watch people's
 faces when we cruise by without pedaling or paddling!

Christmas had the luminaries on the beach and a few lighted Christmas ships cruised by
with music.

Norm was festive with his hat.

Barb and Dody wore hair bows.

And we had a terrific Christmas potluck.

BEACH SURPRISES!

New Toys are such Fun!

Meet Elena and Jim Czarnowski. They set up camp next to us for a week. Bob first noticed Jim's boat because it was like ours only with a blue sail. He had a newer model (prototype) with new style seats. They had decided to camp next to us because they saw Bob sailing his Hobie. In conversation it turns out that Jim is the head engineer for Hobie and is the designer of the Mirage Drive (pedaling apparatus).

Jim was instrumental in helping Bob with the wiring for the electric motor on the Hobie. We tested it out on the smooth-as-glass bay.

 The four of us decided to sail our boats loaded with the appropriate gear to the other side of Coyote Island and camp for the night. We got a later start than we wanted, the sea was rough, and the wind was ablowin'!! Bob and I are not good enough sailors to make it to the other side so we camped on the near side beach.

The nearside beach where we camped. Notice the
glasslike water!!

Notice the difference in our setups! We have the standup tent and you can see how high the blowup air mattresses are. We are not a quick setup situation, but we are comfortable!!

While sitting outside after managing setup while it was still light, and enjoying our Margaritas, it was discovered that no one had brought coffee, no one had any matches, and we were out of Margaritas!! So Jim, with a little flash-
light I gave him, sailed back to camp in the dark; made more Margaritas, grabbed some matches and sailed back to the island. Took less than an hour. You may note that he forgot the coffee!

We celebrated Thanksgiving together with the french family and the Czarnowskis for a very pleasant evening!

MAKING FRIENDS

They come in all sizes

We have been delighted the past 2 or 3 weeks to become acquainted with
the Metayer family who are french. Genevieve, the mom, is from Quebec and
the dad, Fred, is from France not far from Angers. The 3 children were
born in Tahiti where they have been for the last 6 years.

Naida is the oldest at 6 years.

Vaiana is 5 and loves to string shells that she has found along with me.

Ylan is 2 and prefers wearing his birthday suit to play in the water. He enjoys using our noodles in the water--he calls
the noodles 'frites' and is partial to the green one.

Fred, short for Frederic, works for the French government in development involving hydraulics. They have been waiting to hear by email where his next posting will be. He is hoping for Nantes on the west coast of France. That is where we did our first home exchange.

As you can see, Fred is very easy on the eyes and has a beautiful smile!!

Genevieve, the mother is very personable and the speaker of several languages. She has been handy to have around with the vendors and at the grocery store! She and I are both very fond of Margaritas.

THE GREAT MIGRATION!

    Getting Ready

Bob has been working for months modifying the trailer for the new boat. 
And making further accommodations for storage and conversion into an outdoor kitchen when we get to the beach. It's all coming together now while the motorhome has also gotten serviced and readied for the long trip south.

The trailer now carries a long box that rides above the boat. Once on the beach, the box comes apart and is then reconfigured into the outdoor kitchen. Bob is so ingenious in his designs!!

All packed and ready to go; we should be in Baja and at the Bay of
Los Angeles before Halloween.  We plan on camping there for
a week before moving on to Coyote beach.

We left Portland on October 24 as Bob

wanted to be going through Los Angeles on Sunday.  I took a couple

photos of the Grapevine--no snow and

no ice!

We passed easily over the border and proceeded through the desert.  We

arrived at Coyote beach two days before Halloween.  There was only one 

other regular camped at that time--Bird Gary.  How empty the place is.