Jerry and Paula Gale: Tales of Fun, Funny, and Fantastico |
| Jerry and Paula Gale | Tuesday, 29 September, 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jerry and Paula Gale share their new south of the border adventures, good times with the mOOners, and a funny encounter with Octo Man in underpants...  We regularly request updates from the folks we've interviewed in Truck Camper Magazine. Most of the time, we get a few pictures and a paragraph or two catching us up on the past few months of truck camping. That's not what we get from Jerry and Paula Gale. Jerry and Paula Gale sent us a five page story with over a dozen photographs. As we read their travelogue, we again marveled at the wonderful truck camping lifestyle the Gales have discovered. Their story is full of old friends, scenic beauty, cultural riches, and the kind of freedom only the open road can offer. They're an inspiration.
Tales of Fun, Funny, and Fantastico By: Jerry and Paula Gale Our truck camping adventures, since returning from Mexico in April 2008, have been varied. Early last summer we spent some time at Graves Island Provincial Park, on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, with friends who own a Class C. The days there were spent playing Blongo (ladder golf), ring toss, eating great food, chatting, and enjoying nightly campfires. In mid-July, we were very excited to have friends from the Northeast truck camper group, of which we are members, come to Nova Scotia to visit for a week. Jayne and Rob are from Massachusetts and had never been to Nova Scotia. After spending a few days at our house and going on a few day trips, we headed out with the campers to do some sight-seeing in the city of Halifax, along the South Shore of Nova Scotia (a favorite area of ours) and the Annapolis Valley. Some of the pictures taken on that journey were submitted to last year’s TCM calendar contest. We had a super time truck-camping with Jayne and Rob. Our big fall truck-camping trip last year was to the Northeast Truck Camper Rally in North Hudson, New York, in mid-September. We enjoyed a wonderful turnout, super weather, and lots of fun, as we always do with that great group of people. After the rally, we headed to the Adirondacks to spend a night at the home of our truck camper friends, Elizabeth and Dick, who had just been our wagon masters in North Hudson. We were joined there by Dave, another of our Northeast buddies. After saying goodbye to those good folks, we headed back to Nova Scotia with a few stops along the way in New Hampshire and Maine. Following our September trip, the camper made a few journeys to the homes of some of our Nova Scotia friends. We thoroughly enjoy the fact that we can take our bed and belongings along with us when we go visiting. It makes it so comfortable for us and takes some of the burden off of our hosts.
In early November, the camper was winterized, covered and put to rest for a few short weeks. After a wonderful family Christmas at our house, decorations were hastily packed away and on December 30, 2008, the truck camper and its happy owners were back on the road headed to Mexico! Oh happy day! On December 31, we left Bangor, Maine bright and early, stopping for lunch with Northeast truck camper friends Anne and Joe in Durham, Maine before heading to Jayne and Rob’s in Massachusetts for New Year’s Eve. We encountered a major snowstorm on our way to their house and driving was extremely slow and tricky. But the good-old truck and camper (with the help of a very capable driver) handled well. It was with great relief that we pulled the rig into Jayne and Rob’s driveway, where we camped beside fellow Northeast truck camper members, Cathie and Mike, also from Massachusetts, who braved the storm to come for the New Year’s gathering. It was a chilly -25 F that night, but we were toasty in the camper with the furnace running pretty much non-stop! Needless to say, thoughts of the warmth in Mexico were swirling in our heads!
We crossed into Mexico on January 7, 2009, and in three days reached our destination of Roca Azul campground in Jocotepec, on the shores of Laguna de Chapala. It was here that we had made plans the previous year to meet our friends from California, Kris and Ken (aka "the mOOners"). The readers may recall that last year’s interview included pictures of the four of us by our truck campers (see picture above). We spent one month in this location, where Kris and Ken acted as excellent tour guides, showing us many of the major attractions in that area. It is a super location for day-trips and, although we just scratched the surface, after one month, it was time to head west and explore some new territory and spend time on the coast. Kris and Ken were also ready to get their rig on the road again. So on February 8th, four happy campers and one cute little Westie headed to the coast. Our truck-camping days spent on the beaches in Mexico were truly beyond incredible. We spent sixteen glorious days and nights on a small beach in the state of Jalisco. There were five rigs camped on the small stretch of beach and four of them were truck campers; two pop-ups, and our two rigs. We knew we were going to like our camping neighbors! Our days here included, great morning walks and hikes, multiple swims throughout the day, bike-rides, surf fishing (Ken and Jerry), Blongo games, fun times with the Mexican children, snorkeling, delicious meals, shopping from the veggie, water, and ice-cream trucks and beach vendors, fabulous sunsets, bird-watching and great chats with great folks. This was dry-camping at its finest! We were fortunate that there was a restaurant with washrooms adjacent to the camping area where our tanks could be emptied bucket by bucket. Fortunately, there were also showers located there. We had packed our freezers before leaving Jocotepec, so we were all set for the meat, chicken, and seafood that was readily available in the area, along with other miscellaneous supplies. Next, we headed to the booming beach town of Melaque, where many Americans and Canadians spend their winters. We had been to Melaque the previous winter and really enjoyed it. We hoped that Kris and Ken would, as well. After doing most of our own cooking on the remote beach, it was rather nice to check out a few of the great eating establishments in Melaque and take in some of the activities there. After restocking some necessities and getting laundry up-to-date, it was time to continue south along the coast to a beach town we absolutely loved the previous winter, on the shores of the state of Michoacan. We were excited, too, to reconnect with a Mexican family we had enjoyed so much in 2008. After spending only one night together here, we had to say a fond farewell to our special friends and traveling companions, Kris, Ken, and Duffie, as they were heading back to California. Continued adventures with them are already in the planning stages for 2010. We can’t wait!
We stayed in this paradise for just over two weeks. We were once again dry-camping, with washroom and shower facilities right outside our camper door. Perfect! Because of the size of our rig, we are able to camp right on our friends’ land, where we walked right onto the beach, under a large palapa to the ocean. Our pictures will show our beach side set-up of table, chairs, hammocks, and lounge chairs, overlooking the scenic bay. It’s a taste of heaven! Our days here were spent walking, biking, swimming, reading, taking afternoon siestas in our hammocks, playing with the children, and having fun with our Mexican friends. The veggie and water trucks pulled up to our camper several times a week, along with vendors of all kinds. One can even buy furniture right off the truck! A favorite night-time activity was walking the beach to look for nesting black sea turtles. More on this later… Mid-March, after sad goodbyes to our amigos, we headed back to Jocotepec to regroup and begin our travels east. We left there to spend some time in two of our favorite Colonial cities, Patzcuaro and San Miguel de Allende, where we enjoyed the festivals, shopping, Mexican cuisine, music and people. These cities were discussed in last year’s TCM interview. After crossing the border into the United States on April 1, we stayed in Texas at a favorite campground near the border for several days before continuing on to Nashville. Campgrounds along the way included WalMarts and Flying J’s. In Nashville, we were surprised to see Marnie and Clive, from Prince Edward Island, pull in beside us in their newly purchased Citation truck camper. They were at the tail end of their first winter get-a-way. The next day, Jayne and Rob from Massachusetts joined us for a few days of fun in Nashville before we left to caravan to the Mid-Atlantic Truck Camper Rally in Sanford, Virginia.
We are fortunate that the Mid-Atlantic Rally coincides with our return trip from Mexico. It works in perfectly with our travel plans. We had another great time at the rally, reconnecting with old friends and meeting some nice, new folks, as well. It was good to see both of you there, although hiding behind things still did not discourage Gordon from finding us with his video camera! After the rally, a group traveled to Assateague Island to spend a night before heading home. It was a wild, wet, and windy time. However, we still managed to have a few last laughs and chats with friends. From Assateague, we made our way north, sad to know that our travels were coming to an end for a while. Our life and travels in the truck camper are so precious to us in every way. It is the perfect home away-from-home and the perfect way to travel, in our humble opinion.
Funny Happenings The funny thing that happened first took place at the Roca Azul campground in Jocotepec. Roca is a very large facility, with tennis and basketball courts, a huge soccer field, a recreation centre, a sauna and bath-house and three swimming pools, to name just a few amenities. The large pool has a wide, level, concrete border surrounding it, which we used many mornings for our walks. We were soon joined by some unusual walking companions, as you can see in the pictures. The duck and cat were the best of friends and were pretty much inseparable. We were very honored to have them join us in our laps around the pool. Another funny happening at Roca Azul was time spent with Terri and Mike Church, authors of Traveler’s Guide to Mexican Camping. This very comprehensive and detailed camping guide is like a bible to most Mexican RV travelers. The Church’s also happen to have a truck camper, and many amusing stories about camping and truck campers were shared during their visit. For anyone interested, a new edition of their book will be available this fall. One fine morning, while sitting outside the campers on the beach in Jalisco, gazing out to sea with our coffees, we noticed a pair of pink flippers surface and then disappear repeatedly near the rocky shoreline. We weren’t sure where this person came from, as we had not seen anyone go into the water from our beach. Well, the next thing we knew, there was a local coming out of the water in his white Hanes undies, and with two or three octopus (pulpo) in one hand and a pair of pink flippers in the other. He advised us that he sells the octopus for $20. He was quite a character, to say the least. This moment was luckily captured in a picture. We mentioned the black sea turtles, previously. We journeyed down the beach several nights to watch the female turtles come out of the ocean and make their way up onto the beach to begin laying their eggs. It is incredible to watch their determination, strength, focus, and beauty. One morning we awoke to find little tracks all around our camper. During the night, baby sea turtles had hatched and were busy making their way to the ocean. Our Mexican friend, Chon, happened to see them and knew we had spent hours on the beach hoping for such an opportunity. He collected quite a number of them and surprised us with them in the morning. They are just adorable and what a thrill to be able to hold one! At our beach campsite in Michoacan, we were most often the only campers. A few Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans joined us for a night or two, but we were pretty used to camping solo. As we were going to bed one night, one carload of tenters arrived from the city of Guadalajara. We heard people chatting and laughing off and on throughout the night and assumed it was them, however, when we awoke the next morning, there were tents EVERYWHERE! We came to learn that it was a long weekend in the state of Michoacan, so many young adults and families headed to the beach for fun in the surf and sun. Our last day and night here were very memorable as we shared laughs, music, food and a few tours of the camper with great Mexican folks and roughly thirty tents.
We thoroughly enjoy our summers in Nova Scotia and often entertain family and friends at our home throughout the summer months. This means that our truck camper does not see too much time on the road. We took in a very well-known music festival in Canso, Nova Scotia the first week of July, which features local, national and international talent. The truck camper was perfect for this event! From there, we continued our travels to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where we will journied along the Cabot Trail, one of Canada’s most scenic and popular travel routes. Of course, we are always hopeful that a truck camper friend will pull into our driveway for a visit during the summer months. The great thing about the camper is that we can be ready to take off in a day, so a few other camping trips are not out of the question. Next Up For the Gales And, finally, last, but certainly not least, to end the 2009 camping season, the camper will be hitting the road on December 26th for Mexico, once again. Fantastico!
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