The rest of our epic Baja driving trip...

This was such an amazing trip, with so many things to write, that I almost can't even start this blog because I don't know where to begin...

So, to avoid blog-writer-paralysis, I'll keep this relatively short and simple.

There wasn't gas available in Baja at the time of our last blog post, and we spent a day in San Felipe with Hal's family, hanging out and waiting to see if gas would arrive.

Thankfully the trucks started moving and we were able to get gas before we headed further south.

We had a wonderful visit in San Felipe with Pops and Robin-they were wonderful hosts and Robin even homemade a pumpkin pie for Hal's bday, his favorite!

We left San Felipe and took two days to drive south, through Loreto, to our destination, the uber fancy and awesome Villa del Palmar, Loreto.

On our first night, we stopped a little south of Guerrero Negro at the Ojo de Liebre lagoon. $10 got you a sweet spot right on the beach, with a little palapa. No facilities, so it was a spit bath that night, but boy were the views worth it!

The next day we cruised through the great little towns of San Ignacio and Santa Rosalia. We stopped in both to explore, definitely good places to check out.

We made it to the resort in the evening, definitely wouldn't recommend driving at night in Baja, just because the roads are so narrow and pitted.

We spent the next five days relaxing and exploring with our wonderful friends, Cheryl and Rhonda.

Hal and I had never been to a resort that nice, and it was such a treat! There were even five miles of maintained hiking trails right outside our room, which was an unexpected and welcome surprise.

We got to go on a snorkeling trip, which turned into a dolphin watching trip, so neat!

After that much pampering and fancy hot tubs and room service, it was a bit hard for me to get back in the van and continue driving north, back toward home, but these views helped...

We stopped in Mulege on the return journey, a cool little oasis town where the Rio Mulege joins the Sea of Cortez. We even managed to get the van stuck in the soft sand!

It was on a side street in Mulege where Zoey "found" us. We were walking back to the van and this tiny puppy popped out of the bushes and started following us. We looked her over, no collar, covered in thousands of fleas and ticks, and decided we should rescue her. 

So Hal ran around and managed to find flea and tick dog shampoo and we loaded Zoey into the van and gave her a flea bath with our camelbak on the side of the road.

And now we have two dogs, oh goodness!

We visited a great vet in San Felipe and got Zoey a dewormer and more flea and tick control.

Then the dogs sat on our laps as we drove back across the border into the US, no problems.

75 total hours spent driving, covering over 3,600 miles.

We would highly recommend this trip to anyone, especially if you can take two weeks to do it.

I wish we could have had one or two more days to break up the driving, but regardless it was a wonderful vacation/adventure.

We have tons more info on the towns, road conditions, where to stay, etc, so please comment or email us and we will happily share with you!

Thanks for reading and adios!

Sheila's Maiden Voyage...Part 1

Baja Bound! Happy 2017 to our readers, thank you all for continuing to follow our adventures!
It just took me the better part of an hour to connect this iPhone to my wireless keyboard, only to realize that the Blogger app spontaneously closed every time I hit the space bar or delete button...
So let's give this a try...I'm about ready to throw all this out the window somewhere in southern Arizona!

Baja is a LONG way away! In non-characteristic style we woke up yesterday at 5am (yes you read that correctly) and got on our way. Within the first four hours of driving, we saw three of these...

 

This is because there were 80+ mph gusts of wind yesterday, all day. Felt like Sheila was out at sea in  a hurricane...

We stopped at one of these overturned semis so Hal could check on the driver. Too bad the median we pulled into was hiding a secret mud bog and poor Sheila sunk in up to her running boards. Thankfully handy Hal had a towstrap and we coaxed a fellow driver with cookies to tow us out.

Good start to the trip, nice and safe...

A few hours later we hit the eye of the hurricanes, see below...,

So all in all, a pretty nice day to start an international trip...!

Stay tuned as we cross the border into Baja, where there is currently no gas available...

Seriously, there isn't any available gas, and yet wer're still heading that way...

We'll let you know how it goes! Wish us luck!

Sheila Phase II

The build has been progressing faster than I expected. We have used Sheila multiple times in excursions from motoing in Montrose to frolicking in Wyoming. 

In this edition I will show the things that make it feel comfortable like the kitchen, bed, dinette, floor. I have installed much more of the infrastructure that I will tell you about in the next post. 

Sorry it has been so long but this is a huge project that I would not recommend unless you have tons of time and a little bit of money to throw at it.  

All in all I figure we will have spent $34,000 for the van, about $9,000 more for the parts, tools, solar, water, set up, and all of the other things needed to pull this off. 

$43,000 for a fully outfitted RV and daily driver. 

Not bad considering we almost dropped close to $80,000 on a new Winnebago Travato or some similarly outfitted rig. 

Of the RVs we were considering, Travato and Zion by Road Trek, the Sheila model is way better; and for less than half the cost. 

Not to mention the coolness of doing it ourselves. This way we get just what we want and nothing that we don't. 

The Fantastic Fan filled the hole.

Overhead storage that now has Formica covering. Soon to follow, cabinet doors.

Close up.

Both sides complete and ready for Formica.

Formica covered. 

Yup. I cut a huge ass hole in Sheila.

We filled it with this custom window from CR Laurence. $500.00 from DK Hardware - save on shipping by picking it up in Denver. 

Flooring complete with a little insulation for a quiet ride and to keep the heat in. 

Pylwood flooring... 

Subfloor soon to have two different surfaces installed and ripped out due to sucking. 

Getting more insulation and side paneling. 

First floor looks good but was not. Always use a single piece of flooring otherwise you risk expansion and contraction problems, especially bad in a vehicle with extreme heat and cold differences. 

33 gallon fresh water tank for use in the shower and sink to come. 

Safety goggles are a must. Shown here is the table I debated for weeks. Glad I pulled the trigger on this Lagun stowable table mount. It folds away discreetly and is very stable and infinitely adjustable. It came from the boat world, like all of the quality built RV stuff.  

This is the kitchen that is built around the electrical hub. I will show that in a different post. 

Delta helping, as usual.  

Drawers for the induction cooktop and utensils. This will have Formica covering as well. 

Delta is testing the strength of the build. 

Cushions were sewn by yours truly with assistance from Rita and lots of great tips from Jackie Pike. 

Zippers were a must so the covers can last the entire 12 months that I will keep the van before I change my mind and buy something else...!!!

The bed/dinette. It is very comfortable to sleep on. We will see about sitting on it during our upcoming Baja road trip!