By this Author: divatmotoros

After 14 months spent with the kids 24 hours a day we much needed a break. Luckily the grandparents were willing to visit us in Mexico again and agreed to watch for the kids for a week! So we started planning a getaway and we picked our favourite location in Canada: British Columbia and more specifically Vernon.

The trip was relatively easy: a two hour bus ride from Puebla to Mexico City, a direct flight to Vancouver and then a scenic drive to Vernon (about 5 hours). We spent a day in Vancouver after arriving and then headed off to Vernon.

In Vernon we visited the Okanagan Lake and enjoyed hiking in the surrounding hills with nice views. Also visited Kelowna.

We also drove to explore some nature nearby at Revelstoke, where we have hiked to two waterfalls. First we checked Moses Falls a bit North of town.

Then after a "classic" Tim Horton's lunch with donuts and a "double-double with an espresso shot" we went to Begbie Falls a bit South of town. The falls were about 2,5 kms from the parking spot we stopped but it was a beautiful autumn walk across the forest, some remote camping spots and the huge shoal of fish at the bottom of the falls was really spectacular.

After the beautiful excursions we got a great farewell with a full rainbow seen from the car and a beautiful sunset from the airplane. Will return for sure to this beautiful and friendly corner of Canada.

We selected this place based on its proximity to the border and it was a pleasant positive surprise. Could have spent more than one night. It had beautiful views to the surrounding mountains, a nice pool and playground and a laundry. The facilities were excellent and very clean, well maintained.

Wanted to stop at a Mountain Valley Lodge & RV Park in Rodeo, a small town enroute bit we did not fit in. but Next door a roadside place looked very much run down and was permanently closed. Asked a man walking with a dog and he said it was not ok to spend the night there, but there was another RV patk nearby, Rusty's, about 6 miles down the road. So we went there.

The office was already closed and an elderly couple helped us to park at the dry camping area, which was fine for us. After setting up the trailer we checked the mini bird-zoo.

In the morning while I packed the trailer the kids had a chance to feed the birds with the help of the owner and they even petted the little animals.

After visiting the White Sands National Park we drove a bit to the North to Alamogordo to check The Museum of Space History.

It had some outdoor exhibits like a fighter jet and a scale model of a rocker launchpad amd several full sized rockets. The building was a 5 story block shaped modern building and the elevator was already nicely themed, as taking us to a launchpad. We started on the top floow and ascended slowly walking with the kids.

The two favourites were the display demonstrating the sounds and vibrations of several rocket launches, and the photo wall where the kids could dress up as real NASA spacemen.

First we stopped for the night near the Holloman Air Force Base, as we noticed a public access area next to Holloman Lake. The entrance was a small gate with a sharp turn right after it but we managed to fit in with the trailer.

Next morning we have visited the White Sands National Park and we kept it short in the extreme heat (39C or 102F). The landscape looked as of ot snowed, the white sand is made of gypsum, quiite an unique sight. Due to its color it was surprisingly not too hot, despite the burning sunshine.

After a few minutes of walking across the dunes we all wanted to get back to the car and cool off. Our next stop was a nearby space museum!

After the Bisbee Mine Tour we stopped by at Lowell, which has an abandoned street with fuel stations, shops, vintage cars and even Greyhound buses from the 40ies to the 70ies.

The once booming small town of Lowell was almost completely demolished, while other buildings were moved when the Levander pit mine started to grow. The mining company either paid the market value of the buildings or moved them. Even the now historic route 80 had to be rebuilt on a new route to let the pit grow. So the success of the mine was the graveyard of the small town and other, neighbouring towns boomed in contrast.

A fragment of Lowell’s commercial district was saved along Erie Street. In fact, it was more than “saved,” the quarter-mile road was preserved and improved to cultivate a vintage peak of an earlier time. For years, business owners, locals, and other enthusiastic individuals have banded together to create a distinctive outdoor museum that showcases the decades of the 1940s through the early 1970s.

Then we had another low train bridge to handle, last time was worse for sure!

The mountain promised a bit cooler weather with its altitude on a "Father's day" excursion. The drive was already quite scenic and after we parked the car we hiked the loop which was about 3,5 km (~2 miles).

We have seen a large board explaining that the elevation of the mountain (9157 feet or 2791 m) has the same effect on the flora and the fauna as travelling 1600 miles North to Banff, Canada. It actually really looked quite similar on the top and it was a scenic loop indeed.

After enjoying great company and the KOA amenities we drove South East to a small town famous for its abandoned mines. The Queen Mine Tour was a perfect midday stopover and while the dog and our smallest kid was excluded I enjoyed the tour with the two older kids a lot.

First we got flashlights and helmets, then we had to hop on a tiny, narrow bench woth wheels (aka the train). Our slow journey underground started with a bell ringing and the driver had to open the large door to enter the mine. After about ten minutes we stopped and climbed on 47 steps to a large underground "room". The tour guide (a retired miner) explained how they worked in the beginning (only two persons working at a time, 12 hpurs a day and the room we saw was excavated in three years!)

We learned how a wooden structure (a box) was built and used to protect the miners and to enable paralell worl for more miners. Then we traveled further into the mountain with the small train and at the next stop we learned how they used mules to move the 1 ton wagons to the surface. The mules could pull 4 wagons and they were good enough in math, as they refused to move if they heard the 5th wagon being connected by chains. It was told that after 5 years of service in the dark mine the mules were taken to a dark stable and sunlight was introduced to them gradually, over months to protect their eyesight.

Later we learned more how they used dinamite and carbonite to speed up mining, and the shocking closure which happened in the 70ies when the price of copper collapsed overnight.

After the tour we continued to the Levander Pit, which is a huge, abandoned open pit mine nearby. It covers an area of 300 acres and is 900 feet deep.

We have visited many KOA sites before, mostly Journeys (which are the most basic, roadside stopovers) and some Holidays (which are better equipped). We always wondered how much better a Resort is, which is the best category within the network.

We entered Arizona in an extremely hot period, top temperatures reaching 100 F abd above. So the pool and the other facilities were more than welcomed. I was quite surprised how big structures were erected in this campsite to provide shade for the largest RVs (and generating electricity by the solar panels on the roof).

The game room with a pool billiard table was Avel's favourite, we played every single day of our stay. Bori was more amazed in the arts amd craft room which also included a rock climbing wall (both kid loved that). The top attraction was the small pond with a lot of foah amd some turtles, we went to feed them every day using the small, coin operated machine to get food for them. They also enjoyed the small train ride too, which they already tested before in Desert Hot Springs.

The best part of this stay was that we accidentally met a fellow traveller family from Denmark who we met briefly in La Paz. What are the chances that about a month later we both pulled into the same campground? Yet it happened and we had a great chat with them one evening. They were about to close their year long journey for now and planned their return trip home, with some sadness but enjoying their last few days on the road.

We recharged in the great pool for a few days and filled up our tech stock at a nearby Camping World. We got some toilet chemicals hard to get in Mexico and some other small things too. I did some maintenance on the trailer with little luck. We ordered a soft start device for the AC to make it work from a generator too. It is a small box easing the starting peak load of the AC and the promise was to let the AC work using our 2500 watt generator. Well, the theory is one thing, but in practice we learned that despite the 200 USD spent (and the 2 hours installation on the burning hot roof dealing with the desert sun) the generator still stalls when we switch on the AC. Will need to give a call to the company to find out what is wrong.

After the long and tiring border crossing we wanted to stop fairly close so we picked a Harvest Host location in Yuma, about 120 kms from Mexicali. After a quick online confirmation of the booking we almost forgot about it and it was quite late in the afternoon when I tried to call the golf course for directions and to "check in". Due to the heat it had odd opening hours from 6:00-10:00 so noone answered our call.

We arrived and picked our location a bir further away from the entrance, there was a huge and emty parking lot. The kids were running around the trailer after the long hours in the car and we were all very much looking forward to have a good night sleep. The sunset was beautiful and although there were some early morning noises of machines starting and cars arriving we had a good sleep.

In the morning I had an online meeting with an ex-colleague to reconnect and as we started to speak a car pulled next to me (sitting in my car to let the family sleep a bit more). An elderly, classic American gentleman questioned me: "What's going on here?" I stepped out of my car and explained that we spent the night here with Harvest Host and we planned to leave in about an hour or so. He looked at me confused and said he was the owner of the golf club but had no idea of HH nor we staying there. He left and I had an uncomfortable feeling but later on a worker came to us in a golf cart and chatted, apologising for the early morning noises and wished us great travels.