Chapter 19: Our Adventure into Mexico

First let me say our trip to San Felipe on the Baja in Mexico was amazing. The food was yummy, weather was great, traveling with Chapter 8 was fun, and everyone we met was very nice: no bad hombres where we were!

Now let me back up…

“Chapter 8” is a subgroup within the RV network Escapees. This group travels to Mexico by caravan once a year and we had signed up to join them many months prior. There were 60 campers in total and we all met at the Yuma Fairgrounds in early February for three days to meet, re-organize, purchase Mexican RV insurance, and finalize plans for our 10 day trip.

Ralph letting Eliza drive

We had the good fortune of also getting to travel with Kevin’s grandparents Ralph and Lorraine who brought their own RV over to Yuma from Alabama. Eloise was excited to see them for sure!

Once the big group was all packed up and prepped, we divided into smaller caravans of 8-10 rigs. We were assigned to group #4: ‘Rainbow’. We utilized CB radios and followed each other from Yuma, crossed the US-Mexico border, and down to San Felipe Mexico. In total the drive took us 6 hours (which included a few wrong turns!)

View from our porch on the beach

Our parking spot was boondocking on the beach and it was amazing. The beach was clean and the weather was nice. Unfortunately Kevin did have to work the majority of our time there but we will be back some day.

Eloise had fun playing with Grammy Lorraine and Grampy Ralph too and I was thankful for a few hours break from Eliza each day.  Eloise truly enjoyed camping right on the beach and loved the company of all the other people we were camped near too. Of course, as the only young child on the trip (beside Eliza) she was soaking in all the extra attention from the adults. We all had a nice time together.

While we primarily stayed and enjoyed making sand castles and flying kites on the beach, we did venture out to see some local sights. A few highlights:

• One fun side trip: Kevin and Ralph were invited  at the last minute to tag along on a 4×4 trip out to towards the mountains. They stopped at a desert shack, out in the middle of nowhere (with no electricity), where a local man sold cold beer from his very humble abode. It was a unique experience for sure!
• One day we decided to take our truck out and walk around the town of San Felipe. We did a little window shopping, bought Eloise a new Elsa dress-up dress from a kids princess dress store, and had a nice lunch out.
  

  Town of San Felipe

  

  Eloise modeling her new dress that Daddy bought for her

• A few times we enjoyed the pool at El Dorado Ranch (a complex next door where we had passes to use their facilities) 

It should be noted that Chapter 8 is not a tour group and relies on volunteers to accomplish each aspect of this trip. The mission of Chapter 8 is also charity work in Mexico however due to work obligations and the girls we were unable to truly participate in this beyond donating and participating in the charity auction fundraiser. Next time. The good people of Chapter 8 truly worked hard to help us ‘newbies’ all feel welcome and they also organized several dinner outings at local restaurants which were fun and delicious.

Chapter 8 Group Meeting with our fearless leader Cynthia

I’ll admit, I had some reservations driving our camper into Mexico however it was primarily a seamless trip and our good experience with Chapter 8 assuaged any fears that I had. We all met many new friends and look forward to meeting them again at next years rally in Ensenada Mexico!

Enjoying margaritas with the leaders of Group ‘Rainbow:’ Jackie and Koz

Special thanks to…

• Jackie and Koz for doing their best with navigating the drive down and then later for taking Ralph and Lorraine out dancing!
• Randy for help parking our big rig
• ‘Rainbow’ for the bubbles and the sand dollars
• Carol for the fun times with “Tank” the turtle
• Lorraine and Ralph for entertaining Eloise and Eliza
• Cynthia and Chapter 8 for the matching Mexican ponchos for the girls