“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle, that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” ~ John Steinbeck
Team Lozano
Our departure date for Oaxaca has become something of a moving target. We were meant to be gone over a week ago, but you know how these things go.
First we had to finish out our contracts, then we were waiting on my driver’s license renewal, then…I won’t bore you with all the details-but it got painful. And not because we’re not in a beautiful place, surrounded by friends and family we adore. But because we know it’s always going to be a little bittersweet to say goodbye.
And for all my enthusiasm of driving south to our next destination, I haven’t had the time nor gumption to put together much of a plan.
Here’s what we’ve got so far:
Day One: Leave Plumas County, and make a stop in the Biggest Little City in the World (commonly referred to as Reno.) We need to buy a few camping essentials, such as a solar shower. The plan is to get in and out as quickly as possible, then sleep in Tonopah, Nevada.
Day Two: Drive 5 to 6 hours, with a stop for lunch or a walk at the Hoover Dam, drive a little further and find a place to sleep for the night. (we want to keep this pace the whole trip. Ever spent more than 5 or 6 hours in a car with no air conditioning and a family of four??? We’re cool, but not that cool.)
Day Three: Drive to Green Valley, and stage to cross the border early the next morning.
Day Four: Cross the border and make it to San Carlos. They have LOTS of uber great deals on boats there, though we aren’t looking to buy anything until we have reached Oaxaca and gotten settled, it’s still fun to look.
Day Five: Start enjoying our road trip, and take our time as we make our way down to our final destination.
And that’s it’s folks. That’s the extent of our plan. Any can’t miss favorites, or recommendations you want to share, we’ll take ’em.
We’ll drive Hwy 15 the rest of the way down (we think.)
I guess I feel like we have laptops, cell phones and maps, and we’ll be checking the traveler’s forums and state department page to make sure we’re not going anyplace we shouldn’t be.
It’s actually rather exciting to not have much of an agenda, and be able decide that morning how far, or what direction we’ll take. We are trying to make it to Oaxaca by somewhat early August, but that still leaves a few spacious weeks to ramble along.
Here’s a few pics of the bus, it’s looking pretty ready for an adventure, wouldn’t you say?
Candlelight for the perfect nighttime ambiance.
Seriously, the nighttime sky in Plumas County is pretty magical.
