We are loving this place. The local transplants are amazingly friendly and welcoming and the locals are so nice. We headed down to the meeting Wednesday after putzing around the beach and walking the pups. We spent some time walking through each street to look at the cute little houses and RV conversions that make up Camp de Pesca. We met a couple of other folks at the gathering (Pam and Rob) at the meeting and leaned much more about the camp. There are a lot of full timers and part timers here that really enjoy this town and have added a bunch to the community. One group, Crystal, here dad are here to help with taking care of him after the Canadian social system failed them. Crystal’s mom is here and helps out a bit, but their story is heart felt and really makes us feel grateful.
The group at the meeting today was large, probably 8 or more, and they cannot say anything negative about the place and on many occasions, invited us to move here. The sun started to set behind the buildings, and it grew colder, and the “meeting” was adjourned. Bozo asked if we wanted to get dinner and Kathy mentioned she wanted to try some of the Pizza at Fat Boys. So off we went in his shaggin’ wagon.
We met Jamie Jo and her mom there just by chance. We were discussing a cool sign that we had seen on a house; “be aware of the energy that you bring to this house”, and Jamie Jo piped up and said “that’s my place”. And from there the night took off. Jamie Jo is a recent transplant here from Oregon, but her mom has been here for 40 years, and here parents were here before that. Jamie Jo works at a dog rescue place (Kathy was all in at this point) and told us of how the dog mission has reduced the number of dogs here by taking them to get spayed and neutered, and in many cases getting them adopted out; all the way up to Oregon. Even the dogs on the street are taken care of by this non-profit. It turned out the center has a dog-walking day on Thursdays where you can come and volunteer to walk the pups (again, Kathy was ll in). They also told us of the great music scene in San Felipe and that Jamie and her brother, a violinist, will be playing Saturday night. They convinced us to stay for the event, which also includes a Christmas Parade in the town. Her brother is a great musician and has a free school for kids here as well as up near Ensenada. Wow, this place.
The pizza was good at Fat Boys, and after we all finished chatting, Bozo took us over to Al’s bar, where they were supposed to be doing Karaoke. It turns out they were not, but we had a couple of drinks anyway. Bozo played a dice game with the bartender, where high hand picks the tequila and the low hand pays. Bozo lost I think three times. Needless to say, I drove the shaggin’ wagon and Bozo and Kathy back to the camp that night.
Thursday was a big day for Kathy, though. We packed up Howie and headed in to town to volunteer at the dog rescue. TBH, it was really fun out there and the dogs are at every stage of leash training. We all got a good work out of arms and shoulders, but the pups were really happy to get out of the kennels and walk the desert. We met a couple of other cool people that live in RV parks on the other side of the mountain. Tom and Sarah. Tom bought a place with a 5th wheel, a garage, an outdoor kitchen, and a shady area as well as a place for his travel trailer. He is from Illinois and moved here about 8 years ago. Sarah has a couple of places here; one in town and another south of town. I asked him the process of purchasing and he said it was pretty easy. You lease the spot from the camp owner, but everything above is yours.
Well, I wanted to check out the other side of the mountain; which amounts to about a 10 mile drive in to town. It’s a bit remote out there, but again, another set of communities like Club de Pesca, all with their own flavor. Unfortunately, when we got back to camp, Kathy noted the internet was not working. I knew I hit a tree but didn’t think much of it, but sure enough, the Starlink mount was broken off and the dish was no longer there.. so we mounted Howie back up and headed to the scene. Fortunately, I found it, again (as this is the second time I did this on this trip) and this time it was not broken. I will construct a mount for it soon so that will not happen again.
We managed to get groceries at the store, find a place to get Maggie her haircut, and drained the grey and black water tanks on the camper on the way back home. And we still made the meeting and met a new local, Louis, who is newer here, but loving the camp and its people. We talked a bit about healthcare and how to accomplish this while living here. Louis still has American insurance and goes back and forth to Yuma when needed. Bozo uses local folks, but is on a pension from Canada, and recommended a place for us to assist with billing.
And thinking of the things I am not getting done, I need to get on those. We still need to set up a mail box forwarding service, I still have to install the rear view camera/mirror, and I started on my app but have not made much progress on that. So I am going to post some photos here and publish this.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20251204-san-felipe