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North & Central America
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North & Central America

This is the first part of our adventures travelling around the world. This trip is in our Toyota 76 series LandCruiser. Read more
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  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Clam chowder

    November 11, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Clam Chowder seems to be popular in Monterey (as it is in San Francisco and a few other places). But Laura and I have both never had a Clam chowder in a bread bowl, so we knew that's what we'd be eating once we got to Monterey.
    It turns out we picked the fanciest restaurant on the wharf and ended up picking the cheapest thing. They even brought over their little dessert tray at the end to try and sell us one and Laura got a rose 🌹 with the bill.

    A bit different to our usual dinner of cooking on an un level camp site.    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Elephant Seal vista

    November 12, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    What a chaotic day. We got up, went to the butterflies and then went to buy a new lens for the camera.

    We then bought lunch and food to cook dinner. Drove to a toll road (17 mile drive?), ate our lunch and I went to test out the new lens. After setting it up on the camera, it didn't work!

    So we turned around and drove 20 minutes back in the wrong way to the camera shop to exchange the lens (they were great. If you're ever around the area and need camera gear, go to Greens cameras)

    Thankfully the new lens now works for the Elephant Seals (however none of the photos are on my phone to share. I'll update some in the future)    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Camp #34 - Hearst San Simeon

    November 12, 2022 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    We got to our camp spot, went to the camp host to buy some fire wood, turns out they shut at 5:30 and we got there at 5:27. Just in time.

    Bought a bundle of wet wood. It really didn't burn well.

    Cleaned seagull poop off the solar panels in the morning.

    It was a really cold night. It got down to 1c, we didn't expect this from California!    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Camp #37 - Leo Carrillo

    November 15, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We rocked up here and I fitted the roof bars I ran around town looking for today.

    Then we headed out, came back. Played some cards. The wind started to pick up, so we called it after one game. I cooked dinner.

    Although during the night, the wind really picked up and we had to shut half the tent.    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler
    1

    Surfboard shopping

    November 16, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Yesterday we went to a "Catch surf" shop to look at getting some surfboards. But they were between $450-500each for a 9ft board.
    As we had to go through LA the next day, I suggested we didn't get them yet as there was another Catch Surf store after LA and I didn't want to risk getting them stolen.

    On the way back to camp from the store, Laura found someone who had closed up their surf shop on Facebook market place and we managed to negotiate two baorss for $550. It meant changing up the order of our day and driving away from the next day's camp site to pick them up, and then arriving at our campsite late to setup, but for the savings it was well worth it.

    Christian who we picked them up from was really helpful, gave us loads of great tips, from housing prices in the area, to how to setup the boards and strap them onto our tent so we wouldn't lose them before even getting them into the water.    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler
    1

    Camp #38 - Dana point

    November 16, 2022 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    We stayed here for two nights. Got in late from LA with the Surfboards. Setup and went to bed.

    We had a homeless woman in the spot next to us shouting random things at any hour.

    Oh and the surfboards came with a poster. So I replaced the tea towel we had with the surf poster.Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    AutoGlass repair, AutoGlass replace

    November 17, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    A couple of days ago we were parked up and then Laura found a small crack in the windscreen. So we are here to get the crack filled in before we need to replace it. As this truck isn't sold in the US, I think finding a replacement windscreen glass will be hard, so I'm glad it can be filled in.Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Camp #39 - campland on the bay

    November 18, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Campland on the Bay... What a terrible campsite and our last one in America!
    This campsite cost $170 for 2 nights and we were essentially in a car park with a bench/table.

    It's a big camp site, on the Bay with a beach, arcade, laundry room, gym, pool, etc. It's a bit like a haven holiday park featuring the cast of shameless.

    On the Saturday we went out for a morning surf and left some fire wood under our picnic table. When we got back, the wood had been taken!

    Waking up (hungover) on the Sunday, one of our neighbours had started their generator at 6:58am... When it's quiet time until 8am. I had to knock on their RV to tell them to switch it off as it was rediclously loud and ruined the peace.

    We left pretty quickly after.    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Bracknell to Baja on a single service.

    November 21, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Time for a service! Although all we had was the brakes looked at and freshened up and the oil changed. No fuel filter or oil filter changing. Because nobody (not even Toyota) can get the filters as the landcruiser just isn't sold in America, especially not diesels!

    I'll have to order the filters and get them shipped to Mexico somewhere and get them changed out. But at least we have fresh oil after around 9,000 miles of driving. Although again, finding 10w40 fully synthetic was costly as all they could get hold of was Mobil1. But it's done. Let's move into Mexico and get the rest done.    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Trying to leave Mexico

    November 22, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    So I didn't listen to Laura and drove straight past the little hut we needed to stop at leaving the USA to get our visitor visas for Mexico and the temporary import permit (TIP) for the truck... So being illegal immigrants not on Trump's side of the wall. We span around and queued up to get back into the USA to re-enter Mexico, legally.Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    A late lunch in Puerto Nuevo

    November 22, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    A load of people we've met over the past couple of weeks had recommended that we visit Peurto Nuevo for a sea food lunch. Driving into the village, it was full of restaurants with people stood outside trying to wave you into a parking spot for their restaurant.

    We ended up driving around the village a couple of times, trying to find parking that wasn't associated with one restaurant to walk and see where we wanted to eat. Turns out I had parked outside a restaurant and we were ushered in. It did not disappoint at all. Laura accidentally ordered way to many tacos (a lot of places you order just one, this place brings you 3 per an order, so Laura tried to order 2 tacos and ended up with 6, don't worry, I helped her finish it)

    I had a lobster burrito and we set off for our evening stop!    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Capital O, Hotel Rose, Ensenada

    November 22, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    A lot of people recommended staying in Ensenada for our first night after crossing into Mexico. Just cross in and don't stop, avoid Tijuana as there's a fair bit of crime there. So we did exactly that. The only trouble was, the secure parking at the hotel had a 2.75m height restriction and with the two surfboards we were too tall. So had to remove one and carry that into the room before driving into the parking space.Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler
    1

    Camp... Bothy?

    November 24, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    We rocked up to a spot that people mentioned you could camp at. But due to the high winds we decided to grab a room here.

    Unfortunately the was a light which stopped working as the sun went down. No toilet paper in the bathroom. Oh and the restaurant was shut...
    So we brought a stove in, cooked up some MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) and sat with our lanterns on.

    For some reason the WiFi continues to work hours after the lights stopped. But there's no electricity to charge our phones.

    The wind shall pass and tomorrow we will continue our journey
    800 pesos. Certainly ripped off with gringo prices.    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Camp #41 - Campo Archelon

    November 25, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We pulled up to a camp site at a reasonable time for once.
    We walked around and found our spot, I let some air out of the tires to drive on down to the beach and we got to try out the levelling blocks we got just before leaving America. In America we've been spoiled with level spaces. But we guessed Mexico wouldn't be like this. We weren't incorrect 😂

    What a beautiful spot though. $20 for the space right next to the Sea of Cortez

    The plan was to stay here for a night, but we ended up staying for 3. Their cafe was good and they had starlink Internet, so we could make video calls back home.    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Camp #42 - El Padrino

    November 28, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    200 pesos a night. A quiet little camp ground who did our washing for another 200 pesos?

    The camp ground was a short walk away from the town of San Ignacio, which had a few restaurants and was really nice. However we didn't need to stay here more than a night to see everything.Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Camp #43 - Playa Santispac

    November 29, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We were surrounded by people who claim to live in Canada but seem to live down here (snow birds) seems like this is where all the Canadians come for winter.
    200 pesos for the night.
    A couple of bars/restaurants and some toilets with big buckets of water outside that you can fill up a small bucket to use as a flush.
    A nice spot overlooking the water, but a lot of people here.    Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Camp #44 - Romanita RV park

    November 30, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Crammed into a little field! Hopefully we sleep well here before heading down to La Paz
    250 pesos a night in Loreto.
    Loreto was a nice little town.
    This camp site wasn't the best. Working flushing toilets and a warm shower which was nice. However there was a group who were really loud until 12 (Baja midnight is actually 10pm, so that's late)Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Swimming with Whale Sharks

    December 2, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    One of Laura's dreams was to swim with Whale Sharks (neither Whales or Sharks) which we got to do in La Paz.

    It was a great experience. We were in a group of 5 who went out, got to swim with the Whale sharks a couple of times before going snorkeling around a reef, seeing some sea lions and then having lunch on the beach.Read more

  • LandCruiser CoupleNorth & Central AmericaTraveler

    Camp #45 - Tango Azul

    December 4, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Tango Azul. A pricer Campground at $35/night. (700 pesos) But it has flushing toilets that you're allowed to flush toilet paper down, a big palapa in the middle of the site with a 6 ring stove and oven, kettle, microwave, etc. So it's a great spot for making dinner and chatting to other camp guests. As well as nice warm showers and a pool to use.

    Turns out La Ventana is super windy during the day (great for Kiteboarding) but not so good for cooking. Laura spent 30 minutes trying to boil pasta (with water that was boiled in the kettle) and it just turned into a gloopy mush.    Read more

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