Ok - here we go! While it has been a few weeks or so, we haven't really moved that much - we went from El Cajon just a little north to Wildomar where we put on our new shocks

and found out that one, even with some grinding,

just didn't fit.

Dang it. But the other two did (rear and car) and that was great. We also patched up a few other things...


wondered at Hannigan's engineering (they swear it's supposed to look like that, but I'm still not so sure)

saw some movie thing...

fixed some more stuff


maybe just played around a little bit

and then went over to the beach for Christmas eve.


and spent Christmas day ...

somewhere they maybe put too much detail into their work

at least two of us seem to be having a good time


After that we headed back east and just had to stop by Joshua Tree again

(we also went to the Salton Sea, but I have no way to share the smell with you, and I'm assuming you don't want ot see pictures of lots of dead tilapia)
and then we got to spend some more time with our friends in Arizona - Eddy was glad to find the tree still up

I was glad to find a new, correct shock waiting for us

I was also glad to find a mostly local ebay seller with an exhaust. I'm pretty sure our cat was coming apart as we developed a nasty rattle.

Jeremiah and I picked up a few more bits from the local BMW parts shop

somebody finally got to go swimming (though I think he was just trying to reach a ball while playing fetch with the dogs)

On New Year's Eve we went on a great ride to Bartlett Lake, which is exactly not what I think of as being near Phoenix and was fantastically beautiful freshly washed by the recent rains

...which I would have more pictures of if I could operate my Sena cam better...
and then we decided to go to Mexico after all. Someone suggested we remove the center/sidestand to increase clearance for topes, and that turned out to be a great idea. I don't think we've scraped my new fancy skidplate yet, but we would have slammed the stands down numerous times by now (two days in).

We also finished out new tires for the rear and trailer (note: I couldn't even get that trailer tire on with zip ties, and I didn't even try the rear)

And so then there is Mexico. We are on the way to Barra de Navidad, and have been enjoying the local advertising

and really enjoying the people.

We are in Los Mochis this morning and planning to be in Mazatlan tonight and tomorrow night as well.
Happy New Year!
josh