Whats it all about?

We're Brad and Jana Collin and this is all about getting back to our roots as the nomadic couple that we became together.

Join us as we begin our adventure by truck from California to Panama.

Welcome to our journey!
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Day Two: Gulf Coast

on of many sights


We had our work cut out for us for the day as we wanted to see the El Tarjin ancient ruins. We were only stopped at 1 of the 4 search points. I chatted up the Federali that searched the truck. He was surprised by the organization and the custom drawers under the bed. We gave the crew of 20 year old military kids with semi automatic guns in there grip, a bottle of water each and jumped back in the car to continue the drive south.

After a nice relaxing lunch we made a new friend sitting in a traffic stop due to construction on Mexico Highway 180. I heard a voice outside the car yell, “Hey bro, where you from in California?” Turns out the guy behind us was from San Diego and wanted to know where we were surfing. He was headed to the infamous Mexican Pipeline; Puerto Escondido. We decided to caravan the rest of the trip through Mexico until we went opposite ways.

Guiterrez Zamora
The caravan travelled into the witching hour of dusk. Unfortunately we couldn’t find our planned destination so we ventured on south another 25km to a city called Guitierrez Zamora. So, we didn’t make it to El Tarjin after all but we did find a “nice” hotel in the middle of town with safe parking. It´s called The Palencia and is in town square. For $39 US you get air conditioning and super secure parking.


Buenos Noches.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

From Cali to Tex Mex



Driving from California to Texas was a test. When they say there is nothing on I-10, they mean it. It is one long and often windy drive.

The drive from California to Austin, TX can be done in as little as 27 hours if driving straight through. With rest stops and sleeping, it took us more like 3 days from Los Angeles to Austin.

The highlights of the drive included Brad's little cousins dressing up in mullet wigs, stumbling across El Dorodo Hot Springs, AKA "the best place to get naked" in Tonopah, AZ and a giant metal bird at a New Mexico rest stop

The lows included watching a line of cars full of families leave a state prison after visiting hours, Coming down with a bad cold and contemplating the idea of having to spend an extra sick day in a motel room that looked like it had been staged for an Alfred Hitchcock thriller.





Facts:

The El Dorado Hot Springs are located seventy-five miles east of Quartzite, leave I-10 at Tonopah--Exit 94;


New Mexico visitor centers have free wi-fi, coffee and tons of tourist information. They don't make rest stops like that in California!


The hill country roads in Texas are actually more lush than California's Gold Country. Wild, eh?