A lazy break?

Arriving in Lo de Marcos and loving it here straight away, we thought it was time for a break! We had been on the road virtually every day since we left Tasmania in November 2012. The first 'break' in Holland was a mad catch-up with family and friends we hadn't seen for almost 9 years. The second break was with Mike in Montana, but that turned quickly into a service, repair and fabricate week. This break was going to be a proper break. Maybe sort some photos, do a bit of work on the blog… 

Earth-Roamers now also on YouTube...

So what have we been doing the last 6 weeks? As everyone around here will tell you we've been burning the midnight oil! There was a lot more catching up to do than we thought. There were also a lot more photos to sort than we thought… a lot more! Being all 3 keen photographers doesn't help here :-) We still haven't seen all of them! Mike came with the idea to startup a Facebook page too… starting something up always takes a lot of time.

… and on FaceBook

For some reason we have been struggling with equipment that didn't do what it should do too. Laptop chargers refusing to charge, cables that stopped working etc. The strange thing was that all the problems started at the same time… and repaired themselves(!) at the same time too. I love Apple! We also had a minor flooding issue that stopped both laptops due to condensation forming on the inside and this flooding gave us a rather big cleaning job to do as well. The tent was dry but the items in the vestibule were soaked, which included helmets and gloves. Luckily both laptops only needed wrapping in paper towels to soak up the moisture.

When we left for this trip we had no idea the blog would take off as it has done either. We never even thought about setting up a blog at all! I kept a diary and that was about it. So when we started the blog, which was just before the Mexican border, we were also 52 weeks behind in writing in English (as my diary is in Dutch).

Of course the whole 'blog thing' was new for us, so we made mistakes. Plenty of mistakes. Like changing the permissions on a folder with photos from private to public, which caused the blog to crash completely! With both computers running flat-out we managed to get it back up in 6 hours, which was 1 o'clock at night!

We also wrote articles that in the end didn't fit in the existing ones and thus had to be re-written. Mike wanted to do 'some' video editing too, which took forever to do. We don't have the equipment for this with us of course, as all these ideas only arose while on this trip… and we are motorcycles. Mike's video editing suite was the 'palapa' at the Cruz Maria RV Park and a 13 inch laptop. My workspace was under the palm trees using an 11 inch notebook. That the computers didn't crash under the extreme workloads we've put on them is amazing. Thanks Mr Apple…

In short, we didn't have a lazy break. The last weeks we have been working! A big thank you should go to the Cruz Maria RV park. First of all for having us as the only tent campers, but more so for making us feel very welcome and providing us with the best possible place for a break. They gave us a powered spot with a covered seating area and plenty of shade. They also have provided us with the best Wifi internet we've had on the whole trip. Period! Of all the RV parks in Lo de Marcos we feel this is the best we could have wished for. The owners, the atmosphere, the people, the location… it couldn't have been better. As one of the people here put it: 'the place has a heart'.

As we have been 'backdating' our blog to catch up, but keep the posts in the correct chronological order, the new posts haven't always been easy to find. Which is why we've made a list of what we've been working on the last 6 weeks. The arrows in front of each item  is a direct link to the post.

➡ Fabulous Las Vegas

➡ Route 66

➡ Grand Canyon

➡ Vermilion Cliffs

➡ Zion NP-Coral Pink Sand Dunes

➡ Red Canyon to Zion NP

➡ Glen Canyon-Capitol Reef-Bryce

➡ Valley of the Gods/Monument Valley

➡ Mesa Verde National Park

➡ Utah - Canyonlands

➡ Utah - Arches

➡ Utah - Bonneville Salt Flats

➡ Grand Teton to Utah

➡ Yellowstone

➡ Montana - Beartooth Pass

➡ Glacier to Lewistown

➡ Jasper to Glacier

➡ Dawson City to Dawson Creek

➡ Alaska (Part 3)

➡ Alaska (Part 2)

➡ Alaska (Part 1)

➡ Yukon (Part 1)

➡ Canada (Part 1)

➡ Stopover in The Netherlands

➡ New Zealand (Part 3)

➡ New Zealand (Part 2)

➡ New Zealand (Part 1)

➡ Shipping a motorcycle to New Zealand

Mike has been busy too! He has edited 7 movies and placed them on our Youtube channel. You can find them via this blog, just click on the video camera in the right hand column. Below is a list of what he has been working on. The arrows in front of each item is a direct link to the video.

Mike's mobile editing suite in Mexico

➡ Concert for Gail. What happens when RVing 

     musicians have a jam session for Gail's birthday?

➡ Off road in Mexico in a 40 year old Jeep. Patsy and
     Randy, our neighbours, invited Mike to come along,
     of course he took his video camera too!

➡ Las Vegas. Our visit to the city excessiveness!

➡ Valley of the Gods. The name explains it all!

➡ New Years Eve in Mexico. Yes they do have fireworks
     at midnight.

➡ A quick look at 2013. Three minutes from our life
     on the road in 2013.

➡ Canyonlands. Riding down a cliff face road with one
     hand… so you can film with the other!

➡ Lubricating a motorcycle chain with gearbox oil.

Still to follow are posts on Death Valley, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Seguoia, and Joshua Tree, in short: California. But I'm taking a break first… a real break :-)