B2C3

B2C3: Beer Butt Chicken Carving Competition

Terry and Jim entered the kitchen first.  They carefully scrutinized the 3 birds, intent on selecting the best chicken for the carving competition.  David was left with the reject bird but was remarkably unruffled by the turn of events.  The 3 competitors grabbed their recently-sharpened knives and bent to their work.  There was no time limit on the event, no official judges and no rules, the winner to be determined by audience acclaim.

 

The initial cuts.

Left to right: David, Jim, Terry

The audience cheered them on, snapping pictures, offering words of encouragement and the occasional jeering comment.  It became clear early on, that, despite getting their chicken of choice, Terry and Jim weren't in the same league as David, who displayed unparalleled expertise.  David finished with a flair and help up his hands, showing not even the slightest smear of chicken grease.  The crowd went wild!

 

Nearly done, the platter piled high.

There was no ruling on 2nd and 3rd placeholders.  That being the case, I, the self-appointed referee, hereby declare for the record that Terry and Jim tied for runner-up.  No doubt the two of them will be honing up their skills for next year's event.

Our home in LHC was the venue for the B2C3, an impromptu event, inspired by my own lack of carving skill.  Truth is, I'm a real butcher!  Initially, I was going to ask for one volunteer but there were 3 birds, so why not 3 carvers?  My sincere thanks to Terry, Jim and David for stepping up to the plate and taking me off the hook.  They're fun guys and good sports.  We all enjoyed watching them do their thing.  BTW, the birds were the entrée for a potluck hosted by Trish and I yesterday.

Havasu Springs Dining

Overview: It got off to a bad start and went steadily downhill from there. 

Our server came to the table, 'Can I start you out with a beverage?'  Trish and Holly chose margaritas, Ron ordered iced tea, I asked what kind of microbrews they had.  The waiter didn't have a clue on microbrews, didn't even know what they were.  He motioned over another server who wasn't much help either.  I finally went into the bar myself, checked the selection, no microbrews, the typical dozen brands of mass-produced swill that all taste the same, settled for a Newcastle brown ale, which, as brown ales go, was second rate.  Strike 1.

The place wasn't busy when we arrived, maybe a dozen customers.  Our server took our food orders but forgot to bring us the standard bread basket.  Some 20 minutes after we arrived, another wait-staff person happened by, noticed we didn't have the basket, and finally took care of it.  Strike 2.

20 minutes later, our server stopped by, asked if we'd like dessert.  Wow!  This guy's really on top of things, sharp as a marble, has a great future in food service!  Strike 3.  You're out!

We informed him that our food had yet to be served and asked him to check on it, which he did, 'It's not ready yet.'  I suspect he forgot to submit the order at all.  The food finally arrived several minutes later, along with the lame excuse, 'Sorry for the delay.  They're especially busy in the kitchen tonight.'  Bullshit!  It wasn't busy at all when we ordered.  Strike 4 and counting.

Meanwhile, the water girl comes by and fills Ron's tea glass with water, ignores his water glass and slops water all over the table.  Strike 5!

'How's your food?'  I asked.  Trish liked hers, Ron and Holly not so much.  My salad was fine but the fish was overly fishy, overpowering the blackened Cajun seasoning, which takes some doing.  Strike 6.  You're out again!

I'm a beer snob, no doubt about it, but I'm not that picky about food.  The previous 2 times Trish and I had dinner at Havasu Springs, the food and service were okay, and we really enjoyed the view of the lake, mountains and marina.  This time we enjoyed the view but the rest of it, (terrible service, lousy beer selection, marginal food) was hugely disappointing - especially so because we wanted to take our house guests, Ron and Holly, somewhere special their last night here.

If you're considering dining at Havasu Springs, consider some more.  We'll not be returning.

For you non-locals: Havasu Springs is a resort at the south end of Lake Havasu, near Parker Dam.  As noted above, it's in a beautiful setting; it has condos, a marina, par-3 golf, a RV park and last - and most definitely least - a restaurant/bar.

Nailed & Treed

Nailed
When we arrived at the El Centro RV Park, I discovered a nail in one of the RV tires.  Actually, I had noticed the tire was low before we left Mexico.  The slide room was extended out when I noticed it, extended 42" over the low tire.  I didn't want to limbo underneath the slide room and crawl around in the dirt to inspect the tire - told myself I'd check it later.  You know what happened, of course: I forgot.  If I don't write it down when I think of it, odds are it's gone.  Oh sure, it may come to mind again some day, after the need for timely action has long since passed.

Trish did her thing, got online, found a couple tire shops nearby.  She called Discount Tire, the outfit we use in LHC, was told 'come on down' and off we went.  I'm impressed with Discount Tire: they're quick, knowledgeable, courteous and have comfortable waiting areas.  The El Centro shop had the tire fixed in an hour and didn't charge us a penny.  Don't know if that's because I'm a repeat customer or just their regular thing.  Anyway, I recommend them.

Treed
Crossing the border at Mexicali, Mexico took us 1.5 hours.  There were 2 long lines of waiting vehicles about a half mile long.  Signage directed RVs to the right lane, which is next to an island strip of bushes and mature trees, with branches extending over the road.  5W trailers are 12' high and higher, and one needs to be constantly vigilant to avoid damaging the rooftop A/C, vents and antennas.  But, there's no avoiding getting whacked when you're forced into a single lane with low clearance issues.

So, we got whacked: a plumbing vent cap was completely knocked off.  Not a big deal, a cheap part that's easy to replace.  It's irritating though, that RVs owners have no choice but to be put in harm's way.  Welcome to Mexico.

I've traveled internationally a lot, and always upon returning to the USA, I've been checked out by the customs and immigration people - as is everyone.  Not this time, however.  The Mexican border people did it all, no USA officials were involved or even seen.  I have no problem with that; I just found it surprising.

San Felipe II

Our second day in SF, we drove to Puertocitos, a small village several miles south.  En route, we stopped at Rancho Percebu, a beach resort/campground that has a restaurant/bar which was highly recommended by a friend in LHC.  The road into Percebu was 1.5 miles of washboard, max speed 15 MPH.  The place was deserted, nobody in the campground, restaurant closed, whoopee, the hell with it, drove back down the washboard road to the highway. 

We planned to have lunch at either Percebu or Puertocitos, so we continued on to the village.  It was as advertised, a small village.  Very small: one garage/hardware store, one restaurant, a police station, a few ramshackle homes near the highway, a few slightly less ramshackle homes along the beach.  And, guess what - the restaurant was closed.  We stopped at the police station and asked if there was another restaurant nearby: nope, game over, return to campground and raid the fridge.

On day 3, the guys golfed, the gals lunched in SF.  The golf course is part of a large upscale development with many nice homes and condos.  The course itself is spread out more than most.  Power carts were included in the $20 fee we paid for 9 holes, as was a small bucket of balls for the driving range. 

We had campfires every night, along with s’mores, stories, jokes and assorted lies.  We’ve also played Mexican Train, Phase 10 and Polish Golf.  We bought our own party and a fine party it was.  San Felipe has a great beach but is otherwise unremarkable; overall, hardly worth visiting.  Next year, we’ll return to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) on the other side of the Gulf of California, which has a lot more to offer. 

Now, we're back in the US, staying at Sunbeam Lake RV Park in El Centro, CA.  It's a great campground with many amenities, including a pool, spa and Pickleball.  It took us 1.5 hours of waiting in line to get across the border, a major pain in the ass.  We head back to LHC today. 

 

 

 

 

San Felipe

Rear view of our the 3 rigs at sunrise.

Our Baja Camping Book says of Villa Marina Campground, ‘This is the nicest and most modern campground south of San Felipe.’  There is no similar comment about any campground north of town, so one assumes this is as good as it gets.  I don’t doubt the book; it’s thorough and current.  Thing is, ‘the nicest’ isn’t all that nice.

Front view of our 3 rigs, with view decks above

Same as above; we're in the middle of this row.

David & Elaine watching sunrise.

We are a mini-convoy of 3 rigs: Terry & Lisa who summer in CO, David & Elaine who summer in WA, and us - who summer anywhere we darn well please.  Our summer home has wheels!

Sunrise view of the front RV row, taken from the beach at low tide.

There are 3 parallel rows of RV sites and we’re in the center row so our view of the water is blocked by the RVs in the first row – which is full of long termers and not available to traveling trailer trash such as ourselves.  Our spaces have upper decks where you can see the beach to the north and south, but not directly in front.  Not great but better than nothing. 

We selected this campground because we wanted hookups, thinking full hookups (electric, water, sewer) trumped view.  Turns out the connections are at the wrong end of the site.  We were able to connect to electric but not sewer; the water connection is reachable but, wishing to avoid Montezuma’s Revenge, aka The Baja Quick Step, we’re only using the water in our holding tanks.