Day of the Dead

We're back to our normal winter life in sunny (HOT) Mazatlan.  It's November so lots of family and friends are in town.  Last night we went to Centro to celebrate Dia de los Muertos in the Macado (town square).  Thousands of people show-up for a great parade and entertainment.  We had a nice dinner and then the party started.

Dancing in the square.

Hundred of locals and expats painted up.

Elaborate costumes for the parade. 

Twirling fire in the crowd.  It's Mexico after all.

More dancing dead.

And dancing dead soldiers. 

Fifteen foot tall dancing skeletons joined the parade.

This skeleton swam through the parade.

My brother Dave found a dead bride.

It's another great beginning to a winter of fun in paradise.  Tomorrow night we will be back in Centro to do the First Friday Art Walk.  27 studios will be open to tour and wander through.

Life is good.

Why Did We Change Motorhomes?

Our new-to-us Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40 PDT - 3 Slides
330 HP Cummins Diesel with an Allison Transmission

So the question to answer today is, "Why did we buy another motorhome?"  Was it "RV envy"?  Did we need a bigger motorhome?  Was the LaPalma giving us problems?  Was it just time for a change after owning the gasser for 6 years?  Was I tired of owning a sea foam green RV?  Was it because my brother-in-law bought a 40' diesel pusher?  Was it because I had done all the improvements that I could do to the LaPalma?

There was no one answer to why I wanted to change.  I thought that it was time to own a big boy coach.  Here's how my thought process worked.

Our faithful old Monaco LaPalma 34 SBD
It sold a couple days after we traded it in on the Endeavor.

Six years ago we bought the Monaco LaPalma 34' SBD with two slides and a Ford V-10 gas engine.  It had 48,000 miles on it.  This year we passed 78,000 miles.  That's 5,000 mile per year during the time we owned it.  It was a great RV and we spent close to $16,000.00 repairing, improving and maintaining it during those 6 years. The depreciation on the motorhome during that time was another $16,000.00.

Our cost of ownership was $32,000.00.  That comes down to $444.44 per month over those 6 years.

Now 32 grand sounds like a lot of money but compared to owning the home on Raft Island it's a bargain.  My property taxes and insurance on that house were higher than my monthly cost of owning and maintaining an RV.

The LaPalma was a starter RV for us.  We didn't know if our dreams of traveling and being vagabonds was really something we would like and want to do for many years.  As we start our fifth Winter we are nearing the midway point of our 10 year plan.  We still love our traveling lifestyle.

A question I asked myself was, "Is the LaPalma going to last another 5-6 years and would we still be happy with it after 100,000 miles?  Was it time to start over with another low mileage motorhome?

The new-to-us Endeavor has 28,400 miles on it and it should be our last RV up until we are too old to travel this way.  I didn't want to get down the road 2 or 3 years and be faced with the decision whether it was worth changing RV's for the last few years of our travels.  I don't want the RV dictating that it is time to retire from our planned 10 year goal.

The most important feature is my 'old man recliner'.

So for me it was a long range plan to get an RV that would get us through those coming years.

We loved owning the LaPalma.  It was a part of our successful plan.  Hopefully the Endeavor will take us into our 70's when it will be time to hang up our traveling shoes.

Life is good.

Eva the Wonderdog seems to like her new motorhome.

Banff Gondola - Up, Up & Away

Friday morning we headed up the mountain that overlooks the Township of Banff.  It was time to ride the gondola to the top.  The view was great and there was very little forest fire smoke in the area.

Terri did the stair climb to the top of the summit by herself.  It only took her 12 minutes to reach the top.  You go girl!!!

After all that stair climbing (by Terri) we were hungry for lunch.  We had a very good lunch with an amazing view.

The girl earned her beer.

Celebrating Canada's National Parks 150 anniversary.

It was another very nice day.... life is good.

Alberta, Canada - Banff & Jasper National Parks

We are in Banff and Jasper National Parks for the next 7 days.  We are enjoying the mild temperatures and a lack of forest fire smoke.  The Canadian Rockies are stunning to say the least and even though this is a busy time of the year the parks are so big it still seems like the wild.

I'll jump right in and show you photos from our first two days.

Bow Lake on our first days drive up to Jasper.

We're going to  go walk on a glacier.

The only way up to the glacier is in this monster truck.

800 feet of ice underneath Terri.

Looking up the glacier.

Next we went to see the view from the Skywalk.  It is a glass bridge hanging out over a canyon.  It takes a little faith in engineers to walk out there.

The canyon 2,500 feet below a piece of glass.

Looking down at our toes through the glass.  It did not shatter.  Good.

The next morning Terri and I went on a hike to a waterfall in Johnston Canyon.  The colors of the creek that runs through the rocks is amazing.

The lower falls in Johnston Canyon.

The first few days here have been great.  We are really enjoying traveling with Terri's brother and sister-in-law, Shan and Beth.  Preparing and eating meals together is fun.  And the nightly board games make us all laugh.

Shan and Beth on the glacier.

And as all good Canadians would say, "Life is good, Eh."

Canada Trip - First Half

Bison up close.

We're having fun on our Summer trip to Alberta, Canada.  After two weeks we made it to Banff National Park two days ago.  Along the way we went to the Good Guys Hot Rod show in Puyallup before heading to Glacier National Park for a week.

Terri and her brother's 40 Chevy Hot Rod.

We stopped in Spokane so that Shan could put his Hot Rod in storage.  We will be returning in a few weeks to pick it up to attend the Spokane Good Guys show.

Glacier National Park.

We enjoyed a great campground at the entrance to West Glacier.  It was the perfect site for our next five days.

Our wheels for touring.

Last time we were in Glacier we used our Honda to travel over the Road to the Sun, this time we went in class aboard this 1936 touring coach.  The top rolled back allowing a great view as we traveled my favorite road in America.

Terri's toes in the river, as usual.

Next up for us was whitewater rafting down the middle fork of the Flathead River.  It was a blast and Shan came close to falling out of the raft in one rapid.  I pulled two ladies back in that went out in a big rapid.  It was a fun and beautiful day.

More to come as I get the time, too busy playing to write.

As always..... life is good.

FOUR

Our Happy Little Home.
This spring we had a 12'x40' RV pad with 6'x12' porch and sidewalk put into the Tammi & Robby's backyard.
Tammi and Terri have been adding flowers and fencing.

July 1st was the completion of our fourth year of retirement and our fourth year as vagabonds.  We are back in Tacoma enjoying a rest before we begin our Summer travels to Canada.

As we begin year five we can look back and see how we have changed in our lifestyle.  The biggest change has been our extended travels beyond Mexico and RV'ing.  We keep adding to the countries we want to see.  Next spring we have plans to go to Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam.  We have covered 16 countries in the last year and a half.

RV'ing has also changed for us.  Each year we have traveled less miles.  We travel less miles on our driving days and tend to stay longer at each location.  We are trying to learn to pace ourselves, but I keep overdoing my physical limits.  Yes, aging is also changing my personal limits and that is hard to accept.  My Rheumatoid Arthritis has been kicking my butt.

When we began, we hoped to get 10 years of travel and being vagabonds in before hanging up our fulltime traveling shoes.  We still hope for 10 years but I am starting to see the need to pace myself.  66 years old is still not old age but it begins to set more limitations.

We need to develope our "go slower" skills.  Is it O.K. to take more down days?  Could I lose a few pounds and get in better shape?  Can I actually not overplan our travels?  Maybe I need a few more sitting around hobbies?

It will be interesting to see what year five looks like.

In keeping with the "Four" theme, have you noticed that I have written over 400 blog posts and have had over 44,000 page views.  Thanks for reading and commenting.

Life is good.

Our 90 Day Limit???

I've reached the end.  At least for a few weeks.  Time to rest.

Last Spring when we were touring Europe we woke up one morning and said, "We're done." The next day we were on a plane flying toward home.  We had been gone for 90 days.

A couple of days ago we looked at each other and said the same thing, "We're done."  Once again it had been 90 days.  It was time to settle down for a few weeks before we start our Summer travels.  We need a vacation from our vagabond lifestyle.

So we are heading back to Tacoma and should arrive before the end of June.

The next few weeks were supposed to have been spent hiking and seeing the Grand Tetons.  The Tetons will have to wait until another time.  It's time to kick back and be lazy.

To family and friends:  We would love to see as many of you as we can while we are in the Pacific Northwest.  Call us.  We will be around from June 29th through July 27th.

Our Summer plans include Glacier National Park and Banff/ Jasper National Parks in Alberta, Canada.  These travels begin July 27th and end near the last week of August.