The Family departed Mexico for Colorado Springs in mid-June. Scott drove their overloaded Jeep while Hillary and the girls took the easy way by air. They seemed happy to be leaving behind the difficulties of living in Mexico in exchange for the good life in Colorado. We're confident that having us close by was not one of those difficulites ;-)

Our next task was to get ready for our own trip to America. We loaded up the Blazer with items The Family could not squeeze into their car which included one of Hillary's rescue dogs. Hillary was vigilant right to the end of her time in Mexico finding dogs that needed help. She arranged for training and adoption through a program run by the Colorado prison system and we provided the delivery service. We ended up bonding with this sweet dog but had no way to keep her.

Shortly after arriving in Colorado we flew to Chicago for a weekend with our friends Bill and Bonnie Nurre. The plan was for John to fly on a vintage World War II B-25 aircraft which would have been very cool except for mechanical problems that cancelled the flight.... Oh well, we had a good time anyway. The next weekend we flew to Charlotte to see Nick and Natalie for a planned drive to Charleston, SC. Charming city and lots of fun.

Once back in Colorado Springs we shopped for items that are hard to find in Mexico (read Gilly's Asian spices) and best of all were involved with the Brynn and Callie's activities. Brynn's participation in the City and State swim meets was a big highlight. She made us all proud and John felt like he was back in the days when Nick and Hillary were doing the same thing. Outstanding 3 week stay with The Family.

We departed Colorado Springs in early August headed for Alameda via Sedona, Grand Canyon, the Four Corners, Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. Beautiful drive and everything was perfect except for Vegas which was a little much for us.

Our friends Chuck and Cathy put us up in their lovely Alameda home for 10 days. We spent several days tossing out and consolidating our stored items and in time we'll hopefully get down to nothing. While doing this we caught up with friends and did our best to stay warm.

In mid August we departed the Bay Area for Punta Mita and along the way stayed with our friends Jo and Michael Gilliam in Rancho Mirage where it was plenty warm. Our subsequent trip through Nogales and on down to Punta Mita was uneventful. This despite all the negative news about the dangers of travelling through Mexico.

Two days after arriving at our condo the skies opened up with non-stop rain. Fortunately we had no damage but roads were washed out, bridges collapsed and homes destroyed. The ever resourceful Mexican people have rallied back from most of this.

We've been working to prepare Destiny for the upcoming cruising season. Our ambitious plans (for us) include cruising the Mexican Gold Coast and the Sea of Cortez and then going to southern California for the summer before sailing back to Mexico in November, 2011. We'll let you know how it goes.

Still loving retirment!

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From Mexico to the States and back....

Updated photos of our condo in Mexico

Our condo in Mexico