Road Trip to Todos Santos

You may recall that we’ve spent a fair amount of time hangin’ around with Tom and Barb aboard S/V Ellie while here in Mexico. What you may not know is that we knew them back in San Diego as well. Their daughter, Molly, and son-in-law, Adam, lived aboard S/V Betty Jean in the same marina as us, and we all became great friends. We learned about each others lives and families and had substantive conversations deep into the night about a wide variety of topics. This is a family we hope to know forever because we adore them, and they’re just fun to be around.

A few years ago while still in San Diego, Tom and Barb had a naming party for their beautiful Ericson 30, now known as Ellie, where we met one of Tom’s sisters, Nan, who Tom raves about constantly. The love and respect he has for Nan oozes out of him – it’s the sweetest thing. Fast forward to May 2017 in Mexico, Tom and Barb were taking off to visit Molly and Adam in New Mexico (where Nan also lives) to join in the preparations for the arrival of the first grandbaby. Very exciting. At the same time, Nan was on her way to Todos Santos, which is a mere 53 miles from La Paz where we happened to be, to house-, donkey-, and cat-sit for some long-time expat friends of hers who had relocated to Todos some 25 years ago. Adam, in all of his wisdom, connected Nan with the three of us (Rand, Ry, Jody) via email and suggested we meet up, and so we did! He is brilliant, that Adam.

We invited ourselves to Nan’s friend’s house, rented a little car (Rand drove for the first time in 5 months), and blasted down to Todos for a quick visit. Nan’s friends have a beautiful home on 15 acres, complete with guest rooms outside by the pool (which didn’t have any water in it because it was still “too cold” to swim), a lovely deck above the guest rooms where Ry could deploy the drone, various fruit orchards, three donkeys, and a 23-year-old cat named Cheetah (she doesn’t move like a cheetah anymore, but 23?! Seriously.). And it was a stone’s throw from the great Pacific in all her roiling glory.

We took a lovely stroll on the beach, tried to find the home/owner of three dogs that decided to adopt us during said stroll, did our walkabout/drive-about town and discovered it’s a perfect place for expat and local artists, enjoyed homemade meals, a little TV, and a big ol’ bed. We did have a bit of a scare one afternoon when we returned from town. Nan decided we should get back to the house to check on the cat and feed the donkeys. So, we get back to the house, Cheetah is curled up in her bed, but the donkeys are nowhere to be seen – and it was well past feeding time. They should have been waiting for the car to come down the drive, braying and HUNGRY. Oh crap. Now, you must understand that these donkeys are beloved pets. They’ve been part of the family for years, kinda like the cat, so when we thought they’d escaped, we all got a bit panicky, and jumped into action.

Nan and Jody cruised the property, Rand combed the neighborhood in the car asking anyone who was out and about whether or not they’d seen three donkeys wandering around, and Ry? Well, of course, Ry deployed the drone. After about 30-40 minutes, Nan and Jody and Randy had struck out, but Ry? Well, Ry spied the donkeys – still on the property! Hurray for the drone! That thing is damn handy when looking for lost donkeys! To celebrate, Nan ran out to the store and picked up some tequila. It was a happy ending to a super happy visit. We’re so glad Adam made the suggestion and we acted on it. Nan is another one we plan to know forever.