Hot and sunny. Must be Mexico!

We got in, courtesy of Continental Airlines, quite late last night. The airport was pretty empty and the people who were there were wearing surgical masks. They call them tapabocas (mouth-covers). Learned that in the New York Times.

We always have a little guessing game about what won't be working when we get here. It takes a couple days to work all the kinks out. This time, Anna (the cleaning woman who hides from me) had forgotten (?) to clean the main bathroom and Ross's study. Dust and cucarachas everywhere. Yuk. But the rest of the house looks pretty good. Kind of a strange choice she made.

Also, no hot water this morning. We'd run out of LPG. That's easily solved, except that it's impossible to relight the pilot on the water heater. I hope Ross figures it out by tomorrow. I don't want another chilly shower.

Since we had no food in the house, we walked up to Casa de Waffle this morning for breakfast. No, I don't eat the waffles. Then we took the long way home, walking up to the town square before coming back. I got a blister, but it could have been worse if Ross hadn't thought to lend me his socks!

Getting used to being 5000 feet above sea level is tougher than it sounds, so I needed an after-breakfast nap after all that walking.

After lunch, we went grocery shopping. We had a few things on our list that we couldn't find at our usual grocery store, so we went to Walmart. (Don't judge me!) And, as we were wandering the aisles, Ross noticed a kid with a Wallingford Wurst Festival T-shirt. That's our Seattle neighborhood annual sausage festival. The whole family was with him -- and they live within a mile of us in Seattle. Crazy, huh?

I imagine they're happy to be soaking up some sunshine, too.

Home.

In case you wondered, all four of us made it home safe and sound.

I still haven't uploaded pics, but that's the next thing to do.

We got to visit with Karin, Mike and Corey in Eugene on Saturday. We pulled into Seattle on a sunny, warm Sunday. (Wait . . . Seattle? Warm in April??)

Then it was all filing taxes and back to work and two-walks-per-day normality today.

But still sunny!

Hiking.

We took da boyz on a two-hour walk today in Patrick's Point State Park. They weren't allowed on the trails or on the beach . . . so we stuck to the roads. (Discrimination against fuzzy people with tails!)

I hope to have photos to share soon.

The walk seemed to wear them out completely. We haven't seen them since we got back nearly five hours ago.

Ross is about to start cooking dinner, so that might rouse them.

Speaking of cooking. I've shared the cooking duties a bit more than usual. My first dinner was black bean burritos and, if I do say so, they were maaahvelous. Last night, I made "tuna hot dish" from the same RV cookbook and it was, if not a complete disaster, generously you could give it a 4 out of 10.

Why an RV cookbook? I'm not sure. Maybe these recipes use fewer ingredients. They give you shopping lists for three day of meals. I didn't quite realize that you can be a little trapped in a big vehicle like this. You pull into the RV campground and get all attached, then realize you don't have ketchup. Now what?

That's why our next purchase is going to be a car we can tow.

Yes, we're going to sell the Prius. >sniff!<

Reason one is that it can't be towed unless all four wheels are off the ground. Reason two is that they don't sell them in Mexico, so we're pretty certain they don't know how to service them.

We're thinking about a Honda Fit or a Smartcar. Does anyone know anything about either of these?

Cruising.

We spent today on the road and arrived in late afternoon on the northern coast of California.

We saw some very pretty countryside along the way.

This adventure has reminded me of going on a cruise . . . it helps to enjoy the days at sea as much as the shore excursions. The dogs do! I think they really like being on the road.

Unlike a cruise, we don't have a room steward to clean up after us. But I'm learning to clean up pretty quickly. With such a small space -- and with everything needing to be put away before you get moving -- you can't let things pile up.

Tomorrow, a shore excursion.

We're officially defensive. Drivers, that is.

We passed! In fact, Frank said he thought he could train Ross to drive a tanker in about a week. I need some practice before I get that kind of praise. But I did fine.

We'll get certificates to prove we have the ability to get from point A to point B without endangering life and limb.

Now I want to do this full time. It really is pretty cool. We're forced to simplify our lives a little. (Although we can always find ways to complicate things . . . just like I can always find ways to add calories to whatever I eat.)

Tomorrow we head up to the coast of California, near Trinidad Bay, and hang out there for a day or two.