Time to head east, toward OshKosh Air Venture. I’m so thrilled to be up in the air in 243CM.

Thanks to Ephraim and all of his effort, work, and patience in getting the engine installed, tested, broken in, and running strong!

We changed the oil, fixed the grounding problem in the comm antennae, did a couple of test flights around the pattern in Arlington, and then, off I went!

What a relief to finally launch! I had so much anxiety, worry, and stress about this trip really happening. Sleep was impossible the week prior to leaving. My feeling was that I was not going to pull it off and that I would need to make a different plan.

And then, takeoff. Charlie Mike was ready to go.

Flying through the mountains was a great confidence builder. Once reaching Stehekin, all tension, stress, and worry, faded away. The adventure to OshKosh begins!

My destination: Winthrop (Methow Valley Airport). The weather closed in immediately after landing and is staying for a couple of days. A treat for me to hang out with my friends Lynn and Eric on the edge of the Methow River.

Great friends, good food, and more adventure ahead.

Life is great.

From Reno to Seattle was as smooth as one could wish!

I soaked in the Hot Springs at Summer Lake. It’s funky, fun and the pools are the perfect temperature.

Onward in a northerly direction, it felt like a full circle to stop at Maryhill State Park for my last night of this trip. I stayed there my first night on my way south, so the circle was complete.

I wanted to ride my bike after driving for most of the day, so just took off from the park. Soon, I saw Stonehenge up on the hill. LOL. Scott and I had explored there many years ago. I rode up (and up, and up) from the river to the structure.

My last stop on this leg was the Yakima River Canyon. What a GREAT time of year to visit! Everything is green and flowers are bursting out everywhere. I couldn’t help stopping to shoot photos of flowers while I was running the trails at Umtanum.

Lupines and little yellow flowers

I would have been disappointed if the rain didn’t start to fall on my way over Snoqualmie pass. It was rain mixed with snow. I drove out of the rain as I rolled toward Puget Sound.

Westie went 14,000 miles without any problems! I do LOVE my Westie!

It’s great to be home!!

Now, what’s next?

At least that’s how it feels. I’m just about to arrive in Reno for a burning man operations summit. Will be so helpful to meet many of the folks I will be, and have been, working with.

SO many miles! Since buying the car, I have added 13,000!!! Holy cow! Westie is rolling strong. I am in love!

In Truth or Consequences, NM I soaked in hot springs, had a massage, and camped in Elephant Butte State Park. It was packed (as all of the parks are these days), and the water level is about a mile from its high point. Drought is becoming a way of life.

Debby arrived in Albuquerque and after picking her up, we went to Santa Fe, then on to Cha Cha’s. Dru and Wendy (Debby’s brother and wife) met us there. What a blast! We hiked at Ghost Ranch, visited Taos, took in Meow Wolf (yawn) and before we knew it, the weekend was over.

Onward toward Reno for me! After dropping Debby back in Albuquerque, I stopped in Winslow Arizona for a few hour paddle with Thomas Kelly. Beautiful!!

From there, I drove to Death Valley. Whew! It was hot! 92 the first day and 99 the second. I went for a bike ride and the coolest hike near Furnace Creek. Again, tons of people, yet so little traffic. I really need to spend more time there next trip.

From Death Valley, I drove West toward the Sierra’s. I have never been to Lone Pine, Bishop or anywhere in that area. Wow! Just Wow! I loved it! For me, it became a hot springs tour, which was simply icing on the cake.

I’ll spend the weekend in Reno, then head north toward home. I hope to get to Alvord Hot Springs, then a stop in Pendleton, and finally Seattle. I’m excited to reach home, get some hugs, and check on Charlie Mike. Flying will be the next focus for me.

Funny that Reno feels close to home, but given how far I’ve traveled so far, I guess it makes sense!

It’s surprising how startling it is to be back in the USA. Someone asked me how it feels. I answered, “like everyone is in a hurry”.

Of course, there are more differences than that. Everyone here drives a new car. Houses are bigger, roads are smoother. Yet, I miss a lot about Mexico with its shitty cars and rough roads. I’ll be back, for sure. La Paz has my heart.

I’m picking Debby up at the Albuquerque airport on the 16th, so I have been cruising through California, Arizona, and New Mexico, trying to take in some sights.

I visited Saguaro NP, and went for a long run. I remember (maybe I remember the photos) visiting there when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I sure spent a lot of time with cactus in Mexico – mi amigos!

Next, on to the caverns below Kartchner Caverns State Park. Wow, those caves are trippy!! I was lucky to get to go on the tour because someone canceled. Side note: The campground was totally full, so I camped in a parking lot, which they allowed.

Since I was so close to Bisbee, AZ I cruised through there too. Humm…..maybe if I had stayed longer I would “get” Bisbee. The town has done a great job keeping itself alive.

Onward into New Mexico! White Sands NP is such a joy!! WOW! I biked the loop that most people drive, and then I went for the 5-mile Alkali Flat Trail which was NOT flat. The dunes go up and down and most visitors (from Texas, mainly) were sledding.

Last night I stayed in the Organ Mountains, outside of Las Cruces, NM; mainly so I could watch the sunset and in the morning do a nice trail run to a saddle.

Today, I’m in Truth or Consequences NM enjoying the hot springs, beautiful Elephant Butte Campground, and a massage tomorrow! This place needs visitors to drop some money. I’m trying to do my part.

Two days until I pick up Debby. We will then descend upon Cha Cha and Linda for a few days. Dru and Wendy (Debby’s brother and wife) will be joining us there. I can’t wait to see a group of people I know and love! The very best part of being back stateside.

Leaving my comfort zone in La Paz was a challenge. Knowing there were still beaches and towns I want to visit got me moving.

I headed East from La Paz to Playa Muertes, a beautiful, more or less deserted, white sandy beach. What a joy to spend a long weekend here! I ran, biked, and snorkeled. I finished reading a book. All the things that make a long weekend great!

From Playa Muertos I headed to La Ventana. I have a sweet campsite about 50 meters from the water. It’s quiet, beautiful, and as an extra gift, Lindsey, Peter, and Eleanor are here! What a joy to see familiar faces from home!

On a morning mountain bike ride (the trails are amazing) Kaley ran by!! Omg! What a great surprise! We chatted and then made a date to run the following morning. Another friend from home!! My heart is full.

I won’t be here long. This is a paradise for kiters and there are some sweet mountain bike trails. A paddle board ride awaits prior to departure.

I’ll be back in La Paz tomorrow thru the weekend, then off to the North on Monday!

A group of us ventured from La Paz to the Pacific for a day with whales. The group was a private one, all of us temporary residents of the Peace Hostel.

We set out at 6:30am, a van full of eager whale seekers.

Porto Chale is sprinkled with a few homes, more boats, and several temporary structures hosting life jackets. It’s on a huge bay with mangroves, sand dunes, and views of enormous Isla Santa Margarita.

Soon, we were in the boat, cruising out into the bay. Before we knew it, we were watching grey whales breach, roll, jump and play. In every direction, there were whales. It was thrilling!

After we “played” with the whales for an hour or so, we then headed to the Island for lunch – ceviche! Yum! We ate, we swam, we hiked. It was lovely.

Once we were full, had our fill of our beach, we jumped back in the boat for the trip back to La Paz.

Wow, what a treat to get to see that many whales and spend a day with delightful friends. Yet another reason to love Baja!

Leaving La Paz for the weekend for the first time in a month took some serious force against my enertia!!

A group of us from The Peace Center went out to Tecolote for the event.

Tecolote is amazing! Beautiful! And the event was fun. Here’s a drone view of the event.

It was pretty quiet for an event with 300 vans (22 Westies). I was hoping for some good dance music on Saturday night. Next time, I’ll bring the playlist.

My favorite moments were a Saturday afternoon bike ride with Anna, SUPing on Sunday morning and seeing two enormous turtles swim by, and running on the beach Monday morning before heading back to La Paz.

I’m so glad I went. The beaches of Baja are so special and now I’m inspired to continue exploring.

The Peace Center is so cool. Ana, Pavel, and Zarza run the place. They are fun, positive, warm, hosts. Everyone loves them.

Most of the time, the place is full. The only way to reach them is to come by and yell through the “gate” Hola!! Someone will come to greet you and give you the latest on availability.

There is a group of french-speaking Candians staying currently. It’s fun to see how happy they are to be together here in Baja. There are definitely life-long friendships developing.

Last weekend, we had a really fun potluck, with everyone contributing.

The ebb and flow are fun, as is meeting so many new people. Any time someone needs to “chill”, they just retreat to their van, close the door, and everyone knows to respect their privacy.

Living in La Paz is quiet, fun, and vibrant. How lucky I am to be here.

Last Saturday I was so lucky to be invited to train with the La Paz triathlon group!! My hosts Pável & Anna are members of the team and allowed me to invite myself to the workout.

We left Peace Center at 6:30am on our bikes. We rode about 5 k to the meeting location.

After we locked our bikes, stored our packs in another members car, and joined the warm up

Next, we ran about .75 miles to a dirt road. We then did 6 hill repeats, running up 2.5 min and down 3.5. Gut busting! And I loved it!!

We the. Ran back to the meeting place and changed into swim gear. Swimming in the bay is amazing!! Schools or rather walls of fish went by! We all stoped at several places to meet up, one was a rock with a huge pelican perched on top.

I got cold and turned back along with two others. When I reached the beach Anna and Emma were cheering me on!

I changed back into dry clothes and rode my bike back to the hostel.

What a great to get to hang out with the local athletes of La Paz! There is a race on Feb 12 that I hope to volunteer.

Can’t wait to do it again next Saturday.

The full moon shined bright throughout the entire trip. What a joy to traverse the biosphere of Baja.

Finding details on this route was next to impossible, and six of us decided to go for it. Here is the map we did find:

We were loosely organized. Raphael was kind enough to head to the park office twice to get our permits. Jaden and Amber coordinated with Raphael to leave one of their cars at La Burrera (our finish point). I took the bus from La Paz to Los Barriles to meet up with David and Leea, whose house in LB became our meeting point.

We all rode together to Rancho San Dionisio to begin our trip. There, we were invited into the ranch, which was amazing! Organic gardens, grass, games, and great hospitality surprised us! We camped out in the lawn, while Clarence told us his story and the story of the Ranch. Our trip was off on the right foot!

We were off! The first couple of miles were flat. Of course, we forgot our permit in the car, and I ran back to get it. Luckily, it was just the flat part. Then things started to get steep! Really steep.

At least we had shade and water. Jayden was backpacking for the very first time. What a way to start! Everyone kept a really positive attitude and arriving at Poza de Pepe made it all worthwhile!

The next morning we set out for the Laguna. It was mostly a hike along a ridge. Less steep than day one for sure.

We made it to the lake early enough that Leea and I dashed off to the peak. It was about a two-hour round trip hike. There was a group of runners from La Paz who were doing up and back in a day. Good on them!

One surprise to me was the Madrona tree! Growing everywhere once we were slightly west. How cool! A taste of home!

When we got back to camp, we learned of an unfortunate situation with the landowner (parks are weird in Baja with much private land throughout). The owner charges 400 pesos per day per person to cross his land. A very high price, which feels pretty awful. We got him to charge us 400 pesos for two days, but it came at a price that involved a lot of arguing and stress. Ugh. That was the only downside of the trip. Leea and I were on the peak when it all went down, but I guess it got ugly.

The next morning was our last and we had a lot of mileage to travel. The down was difficult, hot, sandy, and dry.

Everyone was pretty beat by the time we got back to the car. It felt SO GOOD to complete our goal! I could not believe we pulled it off. No maps, a couple of vague descriptions, very few people we could find who had done the trip.

It felt so special to cross the Sierra de la Laguna and visit the tallest point in Southern Baja. What a wonder to see a place so few people ever get to touch. My team was amazing, and so, so fun.

Full moon over Baja in La Sierra. Pure Joy.