95616

Greetings from Davis. We made it home safely after a 10-hour drive. Total mileage traveled, Cuyutlan to Davis, 2300 miles. Even though it was an uneventful trip it is still exhausting. Now we face having to replace carpet, rehydrate a totally dessicated garden, unpack the car and put all that stuff away, several doctor's appointments, bathroom remodels, etc., we're still very glad to be home.

Bienvenidos a San Diego

We arrived safely in San Diego on Sunday afternoon, after a relatively uneventful trip of 5 days. The roads were clear all the way, not too much doble-remolque traffic -- that's a two-trailer 18-wheeler truck. Wednesday night we stayed in Tepic, Thursday night in Topolobampo (where I got some sort of nasty "tricky tummy" upset), then San Carlos (where the tricky tummy got worse but then finally better), across the border at Nogales -- where we had to surrender our delicious Italian-style salami because it has pork in it and pork is a HUGE no-no to bring across the boder -- and on to the smart destination of Gila Bend. What, you may well ask, is in Gila Bend? Absolutely nothing. Then on to San Diego and the arms of my sister, and daughter Alex and granddaughter Emily. What a delightful surprise to have them there as part of a welcoming committee. On Monday, Caitlin and Mike came to Vic's. We had the full family press, and it was wonderful.

Tomorrow morning we head up to Davis, after dropping Cait at the airport for her flight back to Bozeman. We are eager to get home. There is much to be accomplished in the coming months. First and foremost are my eyes. I see the doctor next week for a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Then there is the issue of replacing the carpet in the living room, ruined because of a pipe leak in one of the bathrooms. If I didn't like this carpet, this would be a perfect opportunity to get rid of something ugly. But what's there is so nice that it's going to be hard to replace it. Then there is the issue of the NEW COMPUTER. Yes, I am going to get a new laptop with the ability to put photos up on my BLOG. There may be some additions to this BLOG, after the fact. Stay tuned. And third, we bought some great bathroom basins in Delores Hidalgo for the two bathrooms. Work on that project will start ASAP. Pictures to follow.

Next message will be from beautiful Davis, CA, 95616.

Adios, Cuyutlan

This will be my last posting from here as we leave early tomorrow. I am at the lcal cybercafe -- the one where I fell down the stairs about a week after we arrived last December. Walking through town I noticed that some of the stalls put up for Semana Santa are still there, much to the delight of the local dogs who are still foraging for tidbits dropped along the way. The local police station is quiet, with only some lowly flunky out in the street watering down the dust. The restaurant con furniture shop run by the charming Doña Marie is closed, but Aberrotes Baby run by the eponymous Baby is alive an bustling. I walked own the malecon on my way here to check things out. This week is what is known here as a puente or bridge week. There are three holidays this week alone: Monday was Labor Day, tomorrow is Las Cruces and Friday is Cinco de Mayo. So instead of breaking it up, they take the whole week off. There are lots of day-trippers in town, and some who closed up their houses only a week ago, at the end of Pasqua are back again for this week. Many people on the beach today, and in the puestos and on the hotel verandas, soaking up the beer and sunshine.

But for us, now is the time to hit the road for home. Fernando and Chouy came over today to bid us safe travel. Last night was the final domino game of the season and my opportunity to bid fine friends good-bye. The fate of the library is still in the balance, but there´s nothing that can be one right now so we can only hope that all the books AND the shelves will be there next December.

Until next week . . .