Vroom Droom Adventures

Our time in Chirivel, Spain has drawn to a close. The past few weeks have been spent preparing for our next adventure in SAM; this time without a home base. Herman did a few small repairs and built in a shelf to hold a new camping stove for outdoor cooking when the weather improves. We also purchased a small camping table along with two folding chairs and puzzled a way to store those in the camper.  For my 55th birthday, we were completely alone with 100 kph winds. We had planned on heading to an archaeology museum in the next town, but it was closed. Spain is back in lock down and this time everything except essential businesses are closed. Instead, we went outside for one walk and filmed tumbleweeds speeding by. We had to turn back because it was really too windy to be out....we played a couple of games, made a tiny chocolate cake and Herman even agreed to dance with me for 10 minutes with a Bollywood video dance clip! We try to keep smiling, even when missing the ...

We hit the road for a week to explore the Costa del Sol. It was exciting to finally see some of the places Herman's parents have been visiting during winter for the past 15+ years. We were lucky to travel before the current increased lock down that is back on in all the regions around Spain. Everything except essential businesses are closed again due to Covid 19. It felt like a huge risk to have dinner out  the night before all the restaurants were in mandatory closure.  It was our first public indoor dining since we began this trip. The occasion was special as we dined with a friend we had not seen for 28 years - thankfully two weeks later, we all remain in good health. Guadix, La Alcazaba (11th century Moor defensive building) and Catedral de Guadix at sunrise  A couple of entries that missed the Polarsteps album: San Pedro: Awoke to a fresh morning after rainstorms last night. Thankfully it wasn’t too cold because we are still working on hooking up the Spanish format...

  Fuente in Guadalest We decided to try out a new app which was recommended by Herman's sister Marian. It is called Polarsteps and turns out to be really cool. Here is a link to the short trip with commentary done using this app while we were on the road. What is great is you can choose to allow folks to see where you are as you travel using gps so it does not eat up phone memory as long as you do this offline. Another neat feature is that you can easily create and order a photo book of your trip directly from the app. Check out our full story 'A Small Loop in Valencia, Spain' at  https://www.polarsteps.com/Eli zabethVroom/3869097-a-small- loop-in-andalusia?s=058EFDB8- C752-4559-AC6B-A2F7DFAC4822 These photos are some that missed the Polarsteps album. They were taken at a road stop in a canyon called El Pou Clar.  The Pou Clar is the most important fluvial site of Ontinyent and it is home to many fish and is very scenic. The source of the Clariano River and has created na...

  We woke up to a grey and lightly snowing morning. After sticking around the house in Chirivel, Spain the past two weeks, we are ready for a new adventure. We have been asked by several friends what we do to fill our days... When we are not travelling it is amazing how fast the day goes, we have settled into a nice routine: Tea and reading Light breakfast Yoga (we notice we have less flexibility as we get older and for the first time in our lives are doing yoga on a daily basis)*  Tea/Coffee while working on retirement planning, financial planning, communication or studying Spanish Lunch House odd jobs: cleaning, maintenance and repairs Run or bicycle or 3-5 mile walk (switch off every other day in general) Relax for an hour - play a game or read or catch up online Cook/dinner/dishes Read/Game/Online communication or blog update Watch a movie (if it is not already too late) We set out on our journey around 11:30 am with a plan to drive around 3.5 hours to a town called Benaha...

  Cúllar is a traditional Andalusian town of around 5,500 inhabitants and is around 890 m above sea level.  We arrived at the garage at 10:00 in the morning. There was some ice on the roads and a light dusting of snow on the surrounding Sierra de Ocre mountains. The mechanic took a look at the disconnected exhaust system while eating part of a sandwich; after several minutes of humming and thinking, he said he could do the repair today by welding it back in place. This was great news because ordering the replacement exhaust for a '93 Mercedes Sprinter would have taken several days to a week and cost at least 100 euros. We understood that SAM would not be repaired until around 2 pm and that it would cost around 80 euros. This meant we had between 4-6 hours to explore the area.  After a cup of tea in SAM, we bundled up warmly and took our mountain bikes and headed out to explore  Cúllar .  A lane lined with cyprus trees on the way to the Moorish  Torre del Al...