October 16 - 31, 2002

Wednesday, October 16, 2002                                                    Pátzcuaro, Mexico

We got an early start for our 4-hour drive down to Pátzcuaro (elev. 7131’, pop. 50,000) in the Michoacán area.  We arrived shortly after 1:00 at our lodging, the Hotel Mansión Iturbe B&B, right on the Plaza Grande.  Our room has a nice balcony looking out over the square.  This is a 17^th century building converted nicely into an inn.  We’ll spend two nights here.

We spent the afternoon walking around the historic district of this colonial town.  The buildings in the center of town have been strictly preserved to protect the colonial look.  If the power lines and automobiles were removed, this town would look straight out of history.  Pátzcuaro sits high up on Lake Pátzcuaro and still has a healthy indigenous population of Purépecha Indians speaking the ancient Tarascan language.  Much of Pátzcuaro’s existence and preservation can be credited to Vasco de Quiroga, the first bishop of Michoacán.  He saved the natives from imminent decimation at the hands of Cortés’ lieutenant, Guzman.  He preserved their language and taught them many crafts that could be adapted to the new commercial oriented economy imported from Europe.  His memory is honored throughout the city.

Our room came with complementary coffee service at 3:00 on the front sidewalk and cocktails at 6:00 in the garden.  We took advantage of both of these perks and later ate a fine dinner at a restaurant across the plaza, accompanied by acoustic pop music.

By Christine: Our hotel is really nice again tonight and Joe understates the complimentary services.  For cocktails, they took our order for whatever we wanted and even brought a lovely dish of fresh made chips and guacamole.  It was very enjoyable.  We picked an empty restaurant tonight but really enjoyed our meals.  It is interesting to note that when you order a dinner of meat in Mexico it is almost always smothered in a sauce.  I have really enjoyed the amount of live music and dance that we have seen.

1) This is our hotel in Pátzcuaro and I am standing on our balcony.  2) The view of the Plaza Grande from our balcony.

Thursday, October 17, 2002                                                        Pátzcuaro, Mexico

Christine’s dinner last night again overwhelmed her.  She chose to stay in the room this morning and recover.  Ken, Luma and I took a boat ride across Lake Pátzcuaro to visit the island village of Janitzio.  Janitzio has achieved international celebrity for the candlelight vigil that local residents hold at the cemetery during the nights of November 1^st and 2^nd, their Day of the Dead celebration.  We passed some fishermen utilizing the traditional butterfly net method taught to them by Quiroga.  They catch a delicate small whitefish that is held in high regard locally.  I ate some for dinner last night and found it quite tasty, though too small to satisfy my appetite.  Fortunately, Luma and Christine both had more than they could eat, so I was spared from hunger. 

We finally reached the hill-island of Janitzio.  There were very few tourists there just two weeks before their big Day of the Dead celebration.  Most of the villagers were quite busy making final preparations for the big event, leaving us mostly unharassed as we climbed past the shops to the top of the hill.  Atop the hill stood a 130-foot statue of Morelos, a freedom fighter in the War of Independence.  After Father Hidalgo was captured and executed in 1811, Morelos picked up the torch and led the cause for freedom until he too was captured and executed by the Spanish in 1815.

We returned to Pátzcuaro and regrouped with Christine.  We repeated our enjoyment of the hotels complimentary coffee service and cocktails.  Later we had another quiet dinner together.  Christine had made a mild recovery from this morning, but had put her best face on it.

By Christine: Well I think my body has given up.  I have been going through cycles of diarrhea and then my body feels better so I eat normal again.  Today I am done with eating.  Luckily most restaurants have a good chicken soup on their menu so that will be my staple for the coming days.

1) Lake Pátzcuaro and the island village of Janitzio.  2) Fishermen fishing with butterfly nets.  3) The statue of Morelos.

Friday, October 18, 2002                                                    Mexico City, Mexico

We got an early start back to Mexico City.  We passed near the Mariposa Monarch Butterfly area of Michoacán where millions of monarch butterflies spend their winter.  They migrate from across all of North America and congregate in a few isolated mountain spots in this area.  We’re about a month early to make the arduous trip into the mountains worthwhile, though we could see some early arrivals crossing the highway as we headed east.  It would be interesting to come back here to catch this phenomenon of nature.

We stopped to explore Toluca on our way to Mexico City, but only found heavy traffic congestion and urban chaos.  We crawled out of town and enjoyed a good lunch at a restaurant/museum dedicated to the story of tequila.  I found it quite fascinating.  We fought Friday afternoon traffic as we entered Mexico City.  It took a long time to get back to our hotel near the Cathedral and then return the rental car.  We enjoyed one last dinner out and turned in early to pack for tomorrow’s departure.  We said goodbye to Ken & Luma since they have a very early flight in the morning.

By Christine: Joe and I want to express how much we enjoyed this trip with Ken and Luma.  They are such good friends.  Joe and I understand so much more about Mexico, its culture, and its history because Luma and Ken were willing to answer endless questions, take us to wonderfully historic cities instead of tourist traps, and continuously translate people and signs for us.  Despite the sickness we have enjoyed many meals of traditional Mexican food and this has been a great addition to the trip.  Thank you Ken and Luma.

Lest some of you are scared off from Mexico because of my sickness, I would like to describe the precautions we took and why it is hard to avoid all bacteria.  We only drank bottled water, mineral water, soda, and beer.  We avoided having this liquid put in glasses and we didn't use ice.  We did not eat salads or raw vegetables on our plates.  We tried to choose clean places to eat but we did not eat in only hotel and chain restaurants.  Luma and Ken have traveled with people who only ate in those restaurants and they still got sick.  When a nice restaurant runs out of food they get it from next door and do they really wash all dishes and vegetables and make ice with filtered water?  Mexico simply has different bacteria's.  You should definitely still visit this wonderful country but take the precautions I discuss below on October 21st.

Saturday, October 19, 2002                                                    Apache Junction, AZ

We slept in this morning and took our time preparing to leave.  Neither of us felt especially well and Christine’s persistent condition has left her feeling very weak.  I walked out to run a final errand before we caught a taxi at noon for the airport.  We had no trouble leaving Mexico City and returning to Phoenix.

We checked into a campground east of Phoenix where we had planned to meet up with friends from Tucson: Lynette, Don, and their daughters Maggie and Mary.  We were both very tired and depleted, but we enjoyed a bland (compared to Mexican food) family-style dinner near the campground.  It felt good to finally crawl into our RV bed.

Sunday, October 20, 2002                                                                Tempe, AZ

I slept better than Christine as she continues her Mexican adventure each night with frequent trips to the bathroom.  We climbed into the Shaw's minivan and spent the day exploring the Apache Trail Scenic Byway with them.  This is a spectacular road up into the mountains and canyons northeast of Phoenix.  It was a beautiful day for this trip and we enjoyed our picnic lunch at Apache Lake.  It was a pleasant visit.

After saying goodbye to the Shaws, we drove back into Tempe for the night and worked on laundry and getting organized in the RV.  We had a quiet light dinner and relaxed in the peace of our home.

Monday, October 21, 2002                                                                Gallup, NM

We began our trip back east today.  We drove north to Flagstaff to I-40 and made a right turn for the long drive back from our extended stay out west.  It was a pretty driving day.  Christine and I both enjoyed long quiet periods of silence.  We are both recovering from stomach ailments related to out Mexico trip.

By Christine: Well I wish I had talked to a medical person many days ago.  As of this morning I am very weak from the continuous sickness and very dehydrated.  I talked to a pharmacist this morning to ask if I was doing the right thing by taking Imodium.  No, I was not doing the right thing, as a matter of fact, do not take Imodium to Mexico.  It serves no purpose.  All it did was keep the bacteria in my stomach by stopping the cramps and diarrhea and continue my sickness much longer than normal.  For everyone's knowledge, if you are going to a country such as Mexico the pharmacist told me to take Cipro which is a prescribed antibiotic just in case.  Also, take Pepto-Bismol and  take two servings a day to coat your stomach and fend off the bacteria.

Tuesday, October 22, 2002                                                                Las Vegas, NM

We detoured slightly to meet up with one of my best friends, Dave in Las Vegas, NM.  He had been in Colorado Springs, CO for business and was driving back to the Carolinas.  We camped together and enjoyed some of Christine’s great cooking on a cool windy evening.  Christine is finally starting to feel better, but I had a rough day today.

Wednesday, October 23, 2002                                                    Clinton, OK

We got an early start through the cold fog and rain, beating a headwind across the Texas panhandle into Oklahoma.  It was a dreary day all day so we just kept on driving.  Dave drove along with us and joined us for another night of camping.  Christine baked some pizzas for dinner and we invited Dave and his dog, Comet to sleep inside our warm dry RV tonight, since there weren’t any good spots to pitch a tent.

Thursday, October 24, 2002                                                                Little Rock, AR

Dave woke early and decided to press ahead with an early start to his drive.  We said goodbye and wished him well.  We rose later to heavy rain and continued east through another foggy wet day.  We stopped in Oklahoma City to visit the State Capitol Building.  This is the 25^th state capitol building that we’ve visited on our travels, though we’ve been through every state except Hawaii.  We had already been to most of the states before we started making a point of visiting the capitals.

Our timing of this visit was very good.  The capitol building was constructed between 1914 and 1917.  The original design included a stately dome atop the building, but cost overruns forced the completion of the building without the dome.  Construction on the dome was finally initiated in June of last year, and the work is finished.  Laborers were removing the interior scaffolding during our visit and the grounds were being prepared for a large dedication ceremony that is scheduled for November 16.  This is a very large capitol building with room for most legislative offices in it.  Its opulence is credited to the oil wealth generated during Oklahoma’s wildcat days.  There are many signs honoring the history of Native Americans in the state, including a statue of an Indian atop the newly finished dome.

We pressed on through the windy drizzle into Arkansas and stopped for the night in Little Rock.  At least it was getting a bit warmer.

Friday, October 25, 2002                                                                Birmingham, AL

We woke to more fog and precipitation, but the wind had subsided and the temperatures became much warmer.  We crossed back to the east side of the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee.  We’ve been west of it since June 2^nd.

By Christine: We stopped East of Birmingham, AL tonight.  I created a pretty good Rice/Tuna Casserole and made some Macadamia Nut Butter Cookies with cranberries and white chocolate.

Saturday, October 26, 2002                                                                Alpharetta, GA

We made our way to Atlanta and sought out the Georgia State Capitol Building in downtown Atlanta, but we’re disappointed to find it closed on a Saturday.  We observed a lot of re-construction in progress on the exterior of the building and the dome.  We took our time walking around the capitol grounds reading some of the historical exhibits—most of it pertaining to the Battle of Atlanta during the Civil War (when General Sherman of the Union Forces finally burned Atlanta to the ground).

We took in another Atlanta attraction by visiting the World of Coca Cola Pavilion.  This is one giant Coke commercial disguised as a museum.  It is actually a fun experience to see how Coke has become an integral part of our culture and popular history.  We were impressed that there was a long line to get into the museum.  We ate lunch in the food court at Underground Atlanta.

We returned to the RV and found a large puddle of radiator antifreeze under the RV.  I confirmed that it was coming from the RV, but I couldn’t see where.  I topped off the reservoir and we drove up to visit our friends north of Atlanta.  I stopped at a service station and had a mechanic help me determine the origin of the leak.  I had a punctured hose.  I checked out several of the chain auto parts stores, but none of them carried this custom shaped hose.  The parts department of the Ford dealership was already closed, so it will have to wait until Monday morning. 

We hooked up with Harlan, Anne and their girls, Morgan and Renee.  We always enjoy seeing them whenever we come through Atlanta.  They had a prior engagement planned for dinner, so Christine and I went out on our own.  We ate at the Buckhead Brewery and Grill in their neighborhood.  Christine and I thoroughly enjoyed our beer and meals.  She had an excellent combo serving of venison and quail.  We returned to spend the evening catching up with Harlan and Anne.

Sunday, October 27, 2002                                                                Duluth, GA

After a relaxing morning we topped off the radiator reservoir and headed down the road to visit some other friends in Duluth.  It had been many years since I had seen Roz and Keith, but I was really looking forward to our reunion.  Roz is the sister of one of my close friends, James, and her family is part of some great holiday memories from when I lived in Atlanta fifteen years ago.

Roz is a master of southern hospitality, making me feel so special whenever I’m a guest in her house.  She and Keith invited use over for dinner and to spend the night there.  James joined us along with Keith’s brother, Marshall and his wife, Sindra.  It was an absolutely lovely evening of great conversation and exceptional food.  I even got to see one of Roz and Keith’s daughters, all grown up from the little girl in my memories.  The icing on the cake had nothing to do with cake, but rather with pie.  Roz made an old favorite of mine, a derby pie.  This sweetly reminded me of my recently departed grandmother that regularly baked up this dessert, a derivative of the pecan pie with a layer of chocolate baked within.  I was pleased to learn that the leftover pieces of pie would be going along with us.  Such a great evening!

Monday, October 28, 2002                                                                Lexington, SC

We got an early start this morning.  I made some phone calls to hunt down my replacement radiator hose and finally found it at Ford dealership well south of Atlanta.  We said goodbye to Roz and set out into Atlanta rush hour traffic to remind us of how much we despise the lifestyle that begins each workday with such torture.  I jumped through a few hoops at the dealership to get the correct hose, but I was finally underway.

We drove east on I-20 toward South Carolina and kept a lunch appointment with our hiking friend Jenny and Brooster.  Jenny finished her PCT hike a month ago today.  We hadn’t seen the two of them since we were last in Oregon, when Brooster had come out to visit Jenny for a couple weeks.  They both looked good and were back taking care of horses at Reynolds Plantation.  We had a pleasant visit with them over a lunch of raw food.  Jenny has decided to re-up in the Raw Food diet that Brooster has sustained for almost four years.  The diet truly becomes a lifestyle, and it has seen several books published on it in recent years.  Christine and I find the diet fascinating, but too difficult to keep.  We said goodbye to our friends and drove on to a campsite just west of Columbia, SC.

Tuesday, October 29, 2002                                                                Little River, SC

We woke to another dreary rainy day, but I had to replace the leaky radiator hose in the RV.  It took me a couple hours to perform this small task due to the confined space in which the hose is installed, and the tightness of the connections.  I finally prevailed.  We cleaned up and then drove into Columbia to visit the South Carolina State House.

The current State House is South Carolina’s third.  It was built from 1855-1907.  It is a grand building on beautifully landscaped grounds.  The building is simple in function with the two legislative chambers and the Governor’s Office.  All legislative offices are in a separate building.  I was impressed with the dark elegance of the building’s interior.  This building was in the news frequently in recent years during the debate over the flying of the Confederate flag from atop the capitol’s dome.  The outcry for a change finally won out.  The Confederate flag now flies from a dedicated flagpole on the grounds next to a monument to those who died in the Civil War.  It seems to me to be a much more appropriate location to honor that period of the state’s history.

We left Columbia and drove to visit our retired friends near Myrtle Beach.  Nancy and Wick are doing very well.  We all went out for pizza and came back to play a few games of euchre. 

The South Carolina State Capitol.

Wednesday, October 30, 2002                                                    Little River, SC

It’s another overcast day.  We enjoyed a laid back morning and then set out in the RV to do a few things in the Myrtle Beach area.  Christine shopped for tonight’s dinner that she would cook.  Later we visited the art gallery where Nancy teaches classes and has some of her work displayed.  Dinner was great and we ended the evening with a few more games of euchre.

Thursday, October 31, 2002                                                                Charlotte, NC

It’s a nicer day today.  We packed up and said goodbye to Nancy.  Wick came along with us for the ride back to Charlotte, where he was picking up a new car.  We hooked up with Ken and Luma in Charlotte and moved into their house for the next two nights.  We enjoyed painting our faces for our evening of handing out candy.  Halloween traffic was moderate, and we all had a great time.  We are just so comfortable with Ken & Luma.

Halloween was always fun in our old neighborhood.  1) Christine, Joe, Luma, and Ken enjoyed some face painting for the candy festivities.  2) Old neighbors and friends Lena, Amanda, and Olivia.  3) One of the old neighbors Carl really enjoys Halloween.