I awoke this morning to the sound of a bird singing. I couldn't remember which bird made that sound, and when I went outside, he had gone. I started the day by sweeping the patio, setting up the outside table and chairs, sweeping and mopping the RV floor, putting the water jug outside. R hung clothesline at both ends of our palapa - dual purpose line. We can dry towels on them or hang whatever - towels, rugs - as sunshades. Then he went to the office and registered us for a week here. We were going to change sites, but this morning we decided that we're in pretty good shape right here at #30, so here we will stay.

While I worked around the rig, R went off to have his shower. He spoke to S, who was our closest neighbour last year. He also saw Freeway, the cat we befriended - she was sort of a time-share cat. We had to give her back when we left, but we had great fun with her.

When we had showered and finished setting up, S dropped over for a cup of coffee. The queen's Annus Horribilis had nothing on S's past year. When we last saw her, she and her husband were leaving Kino early because her back was giving her a lot of trouble. It still is. Then her husband was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. The cancer was successfully removed, but it left so much scar tissue that he hasn't been able to eat since last May. S has to feed him some sort of formula through a tube that projects from his stomach. She is taking meds for the pain in her knee. She needs a knee replacement, but doesn't dare get it because then she won't be able to look after her husband. Meanwhile, their 39-year old son died of a heart attack in October, leaving a wife and three children. Then, in December, S's younger sister died suddenly. S said to me, "You shouldn't have to bury your children. That's a big mistake in God's plan." Then, eyes turned skyward, she said "I'm sorry to question you, but..." She said she's here in Kino hiding from God. I bit my tongue so hard, it hurt. They have put their trailer here up for sale, so this 27th year in Kino will presumably be their last.

After S left I checked my e-mail, found I had a letter from one of my sisters filling in some details of our mother's life before I was born. It occurs to me that this mini-biography is going to be a harder, more painful job than I thought.

I walked over to L's house and, as I feared, she has gone to Hermosillo. The grandchild hasn't been born yet, but daughter has a doctor's appointment today, and we all await word.

I've taken a brief walk on the beach, gone to the store for bread, spent some time gazing at the palm trees. Now I'm sitting out on the patio to write, because R has been using the kitchen table to hold his great big gigantic dinosaur of a word processor. He's starting work on a book that he has been planning for some time. Hooray! On the other hand, I say "has been using" because suddenly he's not there any longer. Somebody just came by and invited him to go play bocce. They needed a fourth - so off he went. I said I would go cheer him on when I finished here. I am so glad that he brought his machine and is starting to write. It's been too long.

Home at last - in Kino Bay RV Park.

We left Ajo, AZ at 9 o'clock this morning, and we didn't stop for anything except business at the border and more business at the real border 26 kms farther down the road. When we crossed the official border, the guard asked us where we were going and we told him we were going basically everywhere in Mexico, so he told us to get our vehicle permit and visas at the check point 26 kms down the highway, and he waved us on our way.

When we got to the place the guard had described, another guard pulled us aside and told us to go to the immigration office. There, a very nice officer took one look at me and asked whether I spoke a little Spanish. Well, sort of. Good, then I might be able to help him. My job was to help him explain to a couple of Canadians why their cell phone wasn't working. They were trying to sort out a document problem, and their cell phone was like the one I used to have. Once across the Mexican border, it went into limbo and refused to come out. Eventually these folks, who were from Red Deer, Alberta, managed to set in motion the business of having their documents faxed down from Canada. It was a team effort.

Once that was taken care of, the same man took our information, gave us our visas, and sent us next door to get the vehicle permit. That involved waiting in line, being told by another man that we needed photocopies of the vehicle registration plus R's driving licence and passport - which we could obtain at the restaurant on the other side of the highway. We walked over there and waited while the lady behind the counter finished cooking and serving someone's lunch. Then she made the requisite copies and we walked back across the road, where a young lady sat down at her computer and entered all the information we gave her, took our $49.50 U.S., and gave us our Mexican vehicle registration. That didn't take care of the $22 each for our 6-month visas, so I asked her to take that money too, lest we forget. She did that, and she duly stamped our visas to prove we had paid for them. All this took over an hour - but the vehicle registration is good for 10 years.

The rest of the trip was unremarkable, if long. We quickly reacquainted ourselves with the Mexican road signs (Slow down – fasten your seat belt – don’t drive when you’re tired - don’t throw garbage - don’t molest the signs – picky, picky, picky!) The Sonoran Desert is as stunning as always, Hermosillo is no fun at all to drive through, and because of the delay at the immigration office, we drove straight into the setting sun again when we turned right at Hermosillo and headed for Bahia Kino. What was wonderful was that we actually knew where we were going, so that when the sun finally set, driving down the Kino road in the dark wasn’t a problem. Actually, it was a dream. The last time we were here, that road was under construction and it was a nightmarish trip. This time, we had a brand-new road with reflectors to guide us. Piece of cake. The office was closed when we got here, so we have pulled into any old spot for the night. In the morning we will go register and tell them where we really want to park. Already, one of the neighbours has come over to say he remembers us and to pass on some of the park gossip.

January 9, 2007

Ajo, AZ. We drove from Kingman today after stopping in at K-Mart for some supplies. We arrived here in Ajo at 5 pm, marked our spot (#5 in the RV park behind La Siesta Motel - the same place we stayed last year), and drove to the local IGA, where we bought a roasted chicken for dinner. It's now not long after 6 pm, and we've already wolfed half the chicken - plus cole slaw and zucchini and corn. R is outside, trying to figure out how to connect the television cable when there are two male fittings. I'm inside the RV, drinking my green tea with jasmine, grumbling a little because there is no wi-fi here (how soon we become spoiled). Never mind. I'll do what I did in Nevada - post to Word for the next two nights, then copy the postings into my blog. I know there is wi-fi in Bahía Kino, and we will be there on the 11th.

The palette changed again today, growing more golden as we got closer to Phoenix. Then we turned south at Surprise, AZ. The first surprise was that the freeway exit came and went so fast, I missed it and had to turn around at the next intersection. The second surprise was that the pale desert was interrupted by fields of cabbage and maybe spinach- something very green, in any event. It was a bit of a shock. Things went back to normal soon, though, and we noticed that there was a real desert sky - sharp, clear blue with stripes of high cirrus cloud. There was one cloud that was larger than the rest, and it sported a rainbow - not a big arc, just a kind of wash on the cloud itself. Joshua trees by the hundreds appeared beside the highway, then palo verde and cholla, organ pipe cactus and saguaro, and I knew we had finally found our way to the desert. Just south of Gila Bend a new colour appeared. Do you remember the crayon called "burnt sienna"? Whoever decided to put that colour in the Crayola box had been to Gila Bend. There is a short, tough grass that grows in clumps along the roadside there, and it's just that shade. While I was looking at the burnt sienna and smelling crayons, I saw a Marian shrine at the side of the road, decorated with a shining silver garland and red Christmas ornaments.

It was a pleasure to arrive in Ajo and know exactly where we wanted to stay. It was a kind of homecoming, only briefly spoiled by the "No Vacancy" sign taped to the motel's office door. I went in anyway and asked whether there were any vacancies in the RV park, and there were. Two of them, and we only needed one! Phew.

January 10, 2007

Robin found a splitter this morning, so Fox News invaded the RV, announcing disasters and discussing the O'Donnell/Trump feud in excited voices. The weather channel showed pictures of wind damage on Whidbey Island, WA, making me worry about near and dear ones. Look after yourselves, folks.

It would be mean of me to mention the weather here, wouldn't it?

One of our neighbours at the park came over and re-introduced himself. He was here last year, vacationing more or less on the same schedule. He comes from Surrey, B.C. That just added to the sense of homecoming.

R bought the Mexican car insurance this morning, so we're all set to cross the border tomorrow. We have visions of Bahía Kino dancing in our heads. Meanwhile, there's that long bike ride from the library back to the park. I have to get into training for my tortilla runs in Kino.