California Dreamin'

The last three weeks have been pretty full on and as Mark has already commented, little or no phone or data signals. It was quite refreshing.

From the red rocks of Arches and Moab, we took the scenic byway 12 to Escalante. Before we got to Escalante, we decided to unhook the car prior to driving along the Razorback ridge, as with a 12% grade, lots of sharp turns and drops on both sides of the road, we didn’t want to fry the brakes again.  The views were fantastic.

From Escalante, we parked Badger and took the car for a drive along Hell’s Backbone. The road was built in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps in order to link the towns of Boulder and Escalante. The bridge spanning Death’s Hollow has an 800ft drop and that stretch of the road was known as the “Poison Road” . The original bridge was replaced in 1960 (which can still be seen underneath) and again in 2005 to make it wider and stronger.

Onward to Red Canyon and more red rocks

Then down to Grand Canyon North Rim. The photos just can’t capture the scale of such an amazing place

We had a couple of visitors to our campsite the next morning

Then we found the Reynolds family and it was great to catch up. After a few days at the Grand Canyon, we passed through Las Vegas, Mojave, then on to Yosemite, where we swapped red rocks for grey ones, and spent more quality time with Lee, Lisa and the kids.

We then went on to Sequoia National Park. The campground was an interesting one and we were the biggest vehicle there, especially as most sites were occupied by tents. Our site wasn’t completely level, so Badger had both wheels on the drivers side clear of the ground by at least 4 inches

The migrating tarantulas at dusk had me hiding in the bus a few times until I got the all clear from Mark

The drive up from the campground (in the foothills) was an interesting one, with many hairpin bends (switch backs), 10mph signs and not many barriers. Again, the views were fantastic

and there were lots of big trees

and a couple of bears just off the walking trails, more interested in their lunch than us

From Sequoia, we headed down to Lake Casitas which was about 20 miles inland from Ventura on the coast. I won't comment anymore as Mark has already blogged about our time there, but we did enjoy catching up with friends.

We're now in Santa Maria for just over a week. Wine tasting, whale watching, missions and a few other things are on our list, so watch this space.

Farewell the Reynolds

I've been a bit remiss with my blogging for the last couple of weeks, partly as we've been out in the sticks with poor connectivity, and partly because we've been chasing round with this guy and his family.

We've been planning this for months and we finally gravitated together at the Grand Canyon north rim, then again in Vegas, Yosemite (pictured above waiting for sunset overlooking half dome), Santa Barbara and last time down in Laguna Beach Tuesday and last night. Unfortunately all good things come to an end, and they're now at LAX waiting for their flight home.

Its been great sharing this time with them - it is a lonely life on the road as you mostly only make passing acquaintances for an evening or two, so to get some quality time with old friends is special. And the odd (read last) bottle of Niagara wine always helps...

Safe flight guys, thanks for coming out and here's hoping for a repeat match in 2017....

Tijuana baby! For all the wrong reasons...

‎So it's been an interesting couple of days. Driving down to see the Reynolds clan and Xav and Reka at the beach on tuesday, I decided to have a mint and an old gold cap chose to fall out of one of my teeth. Bugger. Knowing what US dentists charge that was not going to be my first choice. Besides, if you pay an American dentist so much money all they do with it is travel round the world shooting lions, so I'm not going to sponsor that.

But this is the closest we are getting to mexico this trip.... Quick bit of internet research‎, couple of phone calls to their US phone service and we are booked for tijuana next morning.  Afternoon on the beach, nice dinner to watch sunset with nothing too chewy, and then jumped in the car for the 90 minute drive to next to the border. Night in a cheap travel lodge and walked across into Mexico after breakfast...

Clinic was about a 40 minute walk from the border crossing, got there at 10:30 and had just picked up my book in the waiting room and I was in the chair. ‎Yes they can do a full crown in a day. Bad news, enough of the tooth has come away with the old filling to expose the nerve, so I need a root canal treatment. They did all the crown prep work, took the mouldings then walked me down the corridor to a neighbouring practise who specialise in root canals. 90 minutes in their chair and I can go for lunch, crown will be ready at 4:00...

3:30 and I'm back from lunch, and the crown is back from the lab downstairs and ready to fit...another hour in the chair and i'm in a taxi back to the border, $500 for the Crown, another $300 for the root canal and fifty for some prescription painkillers and antibiotics. No hassles walking back into the US, picked up the car and made it back up to the Reynolds in time to join them for dinner again.

I'm very impressed, even more so than I was in Canada. Both dentists were very clean, well equipped, spoke good English and above all did a very professional and pain free job. They even checked out the other tooth that has been giving me a bit of grief and confirmed that the canadian partial crown is not damaged. It's just the tooth jarred ‎and shifted in its socket a little, and they shaved it down a bit so it's no longer hitting. Even today I'm not in any pain from the root canal and everything feels back to normal.

I dare say it would have been the same price in canada or the uk, it's just the us where medical treatment is so ridiculously overpriced, but when your options are limited it is definitely a choice...if something else happens and it's cost effective to fly down I would definitely do it again.

Now, does anyone know if cash4gold buy used body parts...