Hi Everybody,

Well, I’ve been in Mexico a month and I think I have enough news for another update. For the past month, at times it has been unbearably hot. My air conditioner went out on my RV and all I can use is the vent to bring air in from outside. Strangely enough, when I’m outside, in the shade, just sitting and reading or grooming one of the dogs, it is very pleasant. There’s nearly always a nice little breeze blowing, but the past three days, Friday through Sunday, were hot, so hot that when I was inside the RV, sitting at my laptop, I hung a cold washcloth over the back of my neck, and occasionally took it and wiped it across my face. Between two and seven o’clock, it was hottest, so each of those three days, about five I would go to the bathhouse and take a cold shower (it really wasn’t all that cold, and actually felt very refreshing), then I’d dry off and just go sit on the shady side of my RV and read. It is so quiet back here where I am in the back of the park. It’s really quite pleasant. I have a pretty comfortable chair, with arms, so I line it with a heavy beach towel and prop my legs on a stool I brought here with me. I usually have a cold drink nearby and a book in one hand and fly swatter in the other. There have been no flies to speak of, until the past week. They’re beginning to gather now, because it’s getting close to the rainy season. In fact, last week we had a pretty good rain, though it only rained for a few minutes, but even yesterday it clouded up and thundered with lightning, but only for about thirty minutes, then passed over without raining. That was just after dark, and, of course, the minute the first thunder clap sounded, I heard the two big dogs scratching at the door. I got up and went and looked and even before I heard them scratch, I knew they’d be there. They love to come inside and that’s only the second time they’ve been inside the RV since I’ve been here this time…I came down on the sixth of May. The first time was when it rained last week, of course.
When they hear that first thunder clap, that’s their cue to crawl out from under the RV or out of their doghouses and come stand by the door. They know I’m a softy and will let them in. They’re both so old and I feel the least I can do is pamper them in the few remaining months they have left to live. They still get around alright, but they walk pretty slowly and when they get ready to lie down, they’re both very tentative, like it hurts them to fold their legs under them. If anyone knows if it would be alright to mix like half an aspirin into their food each day, write and tell me. It seems I heard you can do that for arthritic dogs. Funny thing, though, when I open the door to the RV and call them in, they shoot up those three steps like puppies! I guess they are that eager. I don’t know if they are really all that afraid of the rain and clashes and flashes in the sky, or if they just use that as an excuse to be in here with me and the little dogs. But, like I say, I don’t care, because I don’t expect to have them with me very much longer. They are both more than eleven years old, could even be fourteen or fifteen, though big breed dogs seldom live past twelve or thirteen years. I got both of them from animal shelters, and don’t know how old they were at the time. It’s Duster, the big black dog, and Sasha, the yellow terrier, that I’m talking about.
This morning I got up and made biscuits, gravy and scrambled eggs for breakfast, pretty tasty. I prefer buttermilk biscuits, but since I didn’t have buttermilk, I used baking soda and half and half, plus flour, salt, sugar, butter and a liberal sprinkling of dried thyme and dried rosemary. I like herb biscuits and they did rise very nicely. I chilled the dough for about an hour in the frig before rolling them out, then baked them in my little infrawave oven. I made enough to have four or five meals, and just keep them in plastic baggies in the frig. Sometimes, I have even frozen them, then just take them out as I want to use them. It all depends on how many I make and how often I expect to use them.
Last week, I made a big casserole of macaroni and cheese, made with sharp cheddar cheese and lots of milk/cheese sauce. Throughout the macaroni I cut up onions, bell pepper, and bits of Virginia ham, about a half pound. Then I even added about a cup of frozen peas. I made a big fifteen-inch loaf of garlic bread, spread it with butter, roasted garlic, pesto and grated Parmesan, wrapped it in foil and took everything to my landlady for their family dinner that night. I had told her the day before I was going to bring dinner for them the next night and asked her if the kids liked macaroni and cheese. She’d told me, oh yes, they were not picky eaters and always liked everything I took to them. I also fixed a big green salad, so that was their entire meal. I told her how to fix everything, because the casserole dish and the bread was too big to fit into my little oven. But, I made smaller portions for myself, and have one more meal of the macaroni left. I prepared hers in a big aluminum, disposable pan, and after I had the macaroni in the pan I layered the top with freshly-sliced tomatoes, salted them, then spread about ¾ cup more of shredded cheese, and topped the whole thing with a nice layer of Panko crumbs that I’d sautéed in butter. I took it all to her about five o’clock and she lit her oven right while I was there. The next day I saw her husband and asked how they liked what I’d brought. He said when he and the two bigger boys had gone in the house about five forty-five, they could smell it baking, and he said they all just loved it. Toward the end of this week, I’m going to take them a big pot of spaghetti. She sends things back to me all the time, too, so I’m glad to do that for them. They don’t get to go out that often with four kids, so I know it’s a real treat for them. She always thanks me profusely, and so do the kids and her husband when they see me out about the park. Anyway, Christy told me later they made two meals off the macaroni. I always try to take enough for two meals, each time I take anything to them.
I’ve only been in town in Cuauhtemoc twice since I got here a month ago. I had a lot of stuff on hand here already and brought three cold chests of food with me from home, plus I can find almost anything I need within a couple of kilometers, but I’m about out of food for the big dogs and I like to get that at Wal-Mart. Both times I was in town before, I ate at the new Appleby’s restaurant that just opened close to Wal-Mart. In fact, the first time I stopped by there, when I noticed they were open, I was speaking with the man who was over here from Applebys in Chihuahua, for two weeks to train the staff, and I asked him how long they’d been open. He said, “Today,” and I asked him, “You mean today is your first day open?” and he said yes, so that was pretty neat to be there on opening day. I had known for about a year they’d have an Applebys near Wal-Mart, but didn’t know where it would be or when it would open. They built it while I was back in Tombstone this spring. They have such good food, and I’ve always enjoyed eating there--never had a bad meal. Now, if they would just open a Macaroni Grill. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
I plan to take Duster to a vet in town who said he would groom him for me, so I’ll stop be there today and see if I can catch him in. He’s the same vet that came out here to the RV to give all five dogs their shots last February, and fill out the forms so I could take them back into the U.S. He speaks pretty good English. I’m also going to have him cut Duster’s toenails and clean his teeth. I think I’ll just have most of the matted hair shaved off him, because he’s so old and he hates to be groomed. He’s in bad shape and that’s why I don’t want to mess with him. He stays in under the RV during the day, when it’s hot. In fact, so does Sasha. It’s about twenty-two inches from the ground to the underside of the RV, so they have plenty of room, and I have a couple of big textured mats under there that they like to lie on. I got them at Costco, before I came down here last year. They’re about three feet by five, so they’re big enough that, for the past three hot days, I’ve given serious thought to crawling under there with them! I have an extra hose, about 25’ that runs off my water line that I use to wash things down with, and to give the dogs fresh water, and to water my tomatoes and herbs. The last three days, the water trapped in those hoses as they laid on the ground got so hot that I couldn’t put my hands under it until it ran out and turned cool again.
They’re draining the pond right behind my RV. They have a pump that is pumping the water out and putting it into the next lake over, behind the power plant, but fresh water is coming into the lake from one corner, so maybe they’re just re-circulating it. They didn’t do that last year, though; maybe it’s just something they do every couple or three years, to keep it from getting stagnant. I’ve been meaning to ask my landlord about it, but keep forgetting. They’ve been draining it now for about five days. I’m going to try to send a few more pictures with this update. If not, I’ll send them along separately. I took them about a week ago. I really love the one taken of the back of the plant, across the lake. If you look closely, you can see my RV in some of the pics taken across the lake, toward the RV park. If you can enlarge the pictures on your screen, you can see it better. My landlord’s house and buildings are beyond and behind my RV from the shots across the lake, but you can see how empty the park is and how much privacy I have.
I just love it here. The only downside, is that I get rather starved for communication. I talk to the people, occasionally, who own the park, but they have their own busy lives, so I just spend most of my time alone. It’s one reason why I like having the dogs here. I don’t feel so alone with them, and they’re a lot of company, especially the little ones inside. I still read a lot. I’ve finished five or six books since I came down here. Right now, I’m reading The Winds of War, by Herman Wouk. He’s the same author who wrote The Caine Mutiny, which was made into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart as Captain Quigley. The Winds of War is about the events leading up to and during the Second World War that took place between 1939 and 1941. I had read it before, but it’s been twenty five or thirty years ago. It came out in 1971, and there was a mini-series on TV about it, starring Robert Mitchum. I remember watching it. Wouk wrote a follow up novel about the remainder of the war years, called War and Remembrance. I also have it with me, and will read it next. I also watch movies, mostly while I’m eating alone here. Right now, I’m watching Gone With the Wind, for the umpteenth time. I know I’ve seen that movie, over the years, at least fifteen or twenty times, and I love to reread Margaret Mitchell’s book at least once every five years or so. It’s made more money, proportionate to what money was worth at the time, than any movie ever made, and I never tire of watching it. Since I’ve been here, I’ve also watched The Last Samurai, and Gladiator. I don’t watch a lot of movies, but have about thirty DVDs with me. I may look into getting a satellite receiver. My landlord gave me a satellite dish that some RVer left here last year, so all I need is the receiver box. I can subscribe to Sky Satellite here for about $12 to $15 a month and they have a lot of English programming, I’m told. I’m going to look into it the next time I go to town.
Two Days Later
I met a really nice couple that have been here in the park for about a week. They have the strangest looking RV, and I’d noticed it and wondered about it. They’re parked up near the bathhouse, and so last night, I had gone up there for my ritual cold shower about five and when I came out the whole family happened to be outside their RV, so I stopped and asked, “Are you folks here from the states?” They said, “No, they were from France.” It was a couple in their forties, I’d say, and they had a teenage daughter, about sixteen or seventeen, named Audrey, and a son, who I found out is fourteen. His name is Titouan. The father is Andre and the mother is Catherine. I didn’t find out their last name. They all spoke good enough English to converse with me, and the young daughter spoke very good English.
Anyway, their RV was built high off the ground, and was just a little longer than mine. On the outside they have three huge tires mounted up on the RV, as spares, and the truck itself has four of the same tires, thick and big. They have a ladder, about seven steps, to get up in their RV, though it rests on the ground, to form steps. I started asking them questions, and found out they’ve been traveling for seven years, and have been all over Europe, first, then all over Asia, Africa and South America. They were in I forget how many countries in Asia, about twenty or thirty, and they’ve been in twenty-five countries in Africa, and in every country in South America and in Central America. The father asked me if I knew where the bus station was in Cuauhtemoc, because they had to take a cab to the bus station this morning, a bus to Chihuahua, and another cab to the airport in Chihuahua. They were leaving their RV here for five weeks while they flew home to France so the two kids could take tests to qualify for credits to graduate. The mother and father are home schooling them, and I also found out they’re all vegetarians. Anyway, to make a long story short, I offered to drive them to the airport in Chihuahua today. They were to get a plane out of there at 12:15 to Mexico City, where they’d have a five-hour layover, then a plane from Mexico City to Paris. When they got to Paris they would get a cab to stay with relatives. They used to own a business in France, which I assume was very successful, because they sold their home and business seven years ago and have traveled all over the world. They will fly back here on July 20, arriving in Chihuahua at 7:20 in the evening, so I told them I’d be at the airport to pick them up. I had to empty my car and trunk…they had a lot of luggage, going for five weeks, and then to make room in the car for them to sit. They were overjoyed. They don’t have a car, so to get groceries, they do that before they get to an RV park. They told me that a lot of the places they traveled didn’t even know what an RV park was, but their rig is custom-built so it is totally-self contained. It carries eighty gallons of water, and fifty gallons of gas. The mother speaks fluent German, and of course they all speak French, and the teenage girl speaks also speaks fluent Spanish and English.
They must be pretty wealthy, because it costs a lot to travel, plus at each country’s border they have to buy travel permits for their vehicle and for each person in the family. The girl rode up front with me on the way to Chihuahua today, since she speaks good English, and she translated for the family, what they didn’t understand themselves. She told me the worst country to travel in was India. When they get back here to the park in July, they said they’d show me a lot of stuff they’ve collected along the way, plus some of the pictures they’ve taken. They paid my toll on the toll road to Chihuahua and gave me enough money to pay the toll on the way back. They also bought me a tank of gas. They were overwhelmingly grateful when I offered to take them to the airport. I picked them up at eight this morning and we were at the airport by ten. It’s twelve midnight, as I’m writing this, so if they are still on schedule, they’re somewhere over the Atlantic now, nearing Europe. They were really an interesting family. They gave me a picture of their RV, which they call ANAUTICA which incorporates all four of their name initials. The girl, Audrey told me they had collected a coin of each denomination from each country they had visited. I talked with them for about fifteen minutes last night then all the way to Chihuahua, but I’m really looking forward to getting to know them better when they come back. They’re planning to stay here for about a week, and then from here they are still planning to go to the Baja, to Alaska, all through Canada and all through the U.S. I told them they would love traveling in the U.S., because the roads are so well-marked. And, I told them when they’re in L.A. to watch carefully for exits on the freeways and interstates, because if they miss an exit it can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour to get back to the exit they missed, since one freeway or interstate feeds into the next, and into the next. They’re planning to travel all throughout the U.S., then go home to France. They said they’d have to buy a home when they got to France, but I have their email address, which is simply:
anautica@anautica.com. When they come back, I want to get some pictures of them. In fact, before I send out this update, I’ll try to take a picture of their RV and include it with the pictures I send. They jacked up the front of their RV while they’re gone for five weeks, since the rainy season is just about ready to start here, and they said water will drain off their rig better with it slightly slanted. I suppose after they come back, I’ll have more to say about them, but they told me when they get home, if I’m ever in France to come stay with them. Of course, I don’t expect to be going back to Europe, not as much as it costs to travel nowadays. When I got out of the car with them at the airport, to unload their luggage from my trunk, they all hugged and kissed me, and took pictures. Then I took a picture of the family, with the name of the airport in the background. Such a nice family.
Before we left this morning, they brought me some stuff from their frig, and I packed up a plastic box, with four cupcakes, four pastry cookies, some small carrots in little cellophane packs, some peanut butter and cheese crackers and about twenty pieces of wrapped candy--little miniature candy bars. They were so grateful. I told them, it was something to eat on the flight. I put the box in a plastic bag so it’d be easy to carry.
Well, I’m getting sleepy, so I’m going to sign off. I’m planning to go online tomorrow, so will get this sent out then. Witold will update my blog with this newsletter, so you can check it out there at:
www.mexicoscanyoncountry.blogspot.com When that family gets back here to the park, I’m going to tell them how to set up a blog, in case they’re interested in doing that too. I’m so glad I stopped to talk with them last night. You can meet some really interesting people in RV parks, and in marinas, or while traveling. I plan to stay in contact with them by email. They have a computer they travel with, of course. I gave them my email addresses and also my cell phone number here in Mexico. When they get back, I’ll give them my phone number in Tombstone, and if they come through Arizona while I’m there, I want them to come and stay a few days with me. I have plenty of room, and there’s so much to see of the old west environment around Tombstone, Bisbee, Douglas and Benson, and there’s a lot to see in Tucson. I’ll tell them they can take my car and travel around the area, and I may go with them some days. When they get ready to leave for France, they plan to come back to Mexico and ship out from here. Audrey told me when they cross oceans, they take a ship that they can just drive their rig onto. They told me what that kind of ship is called, but I forget. It’s an ocean-going vessel though, not just a ferry. They’ll ship their rig back from Mexico. They told me they came to South America from Africa and started out at Buenos Airies, and were in every country in South America. What an adventure. They told me they have felt very safe, everywhere they’ve traveled. Oh yes, and they’ve been all over the Middle East, too. I told the parents that’s the best education kids can possibly have. The mother teaches them math and grammar in French and German, and the father teaches them history, chemistry, biology, and several other things. They tried to tell me the kind of business they had in France, the one they sold, but I couldn’t understand what it was. Audrey didn’t know any other way to describe it, but she called it something like “Feema, or Fima.” If anyone knows what that might be, write and let me know. They must have spent probably close to a million dollars by now, traveling for seven years, and they are planning to buy a home when they return to France. They live in the southern part of Brittany.
Well, I’m going to sign off and sorry for making this so long, but I wanted to tell you all about this French family. They are interesting people, for sure. What neat thing to do, to travel on five continents and visit every country on each one. They told me they even went to Somalia and Iran, as well as Columbia in South America. They said that people have been friendly and have helped them everywhere they’ve traveled. They carry spare parts for the RV and the father and son know how to do all kinds of repair.
Write to me and tell me what’s happening in your lives.