Recent photos, trip reports, comments, accolades, and pointers from our DBTC members…
“Aging is just more Living”
My husband, Roix is eighty and I am eighty-one years old and our motto is “risk is just more life!” Last year we packed our 2005 Tundra truck and cargo trailer with one electric bike, one electric trike; one ATV, one fat bike, one motorcycle and headed south on a three month, five-thousand-mile round trip adventure from Oregon down the Baja peninsula. We crossed the border in Mexicali, California, and drove north ending up in Todos Santos, Mexico.
Our friends thought we were crazy not only because of our ages but because we’re both disabled. I lost my left leg in l974 to cancer after a rodeo accident (which I wrote about in my first book, One Step at a Time, a best-selling autobiographical work on my struggle to walk again.)
Roix was born with less than 40% hearing which didn’t stop him from flying solo across America twice in his l946 Super- Cruiser PA12 airplane which he rebuilt from a “basket case” in the seventies. Today, he has logged over 4,000 hours in various planes – Mooney, Cessna’s and Piper’s. He has taught me to co-pilot which is pretty tricky when you only have one leg.
Throughout our thirty-two years of marriage, we’ve been willing to entertain surprising opportunities and stay open to unexpected possibilities. Too often, people tend to get stuck in ruts and live life’s that are just OK. Okay is safe and comfortable but having the passion to chase dreams and accept challenges is our way of living.
The choices Roix and I have made over the past years, negotiating the hard and soft edges of life, have led us to traveling throughout Central America to building a home with local builders in Costa Rica. We never factored in our ages or our disabilities when we ventured off to third world countries with so little foresight. It was our choice to face the many challenges and, indeed, to continue to find joy in life and to treasure love, health, and adventure.
We are preparing now for our second exploration into Mexico.
Lenor Chappell
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Autumn 2023 La Paz Clinic
This autumn’s clinic lasted 7 days and during that time there was a total of 53 patient visits. 17 artificial limbs were delivered and consisted of 8 above knee prostheses, 9 below knee prostheses (2 patients were bilateral or both legs amputated). Also 5 AFO’s (aka below the knee braces) were delivered along with many patients who came in for repairs – new feet, liners, sleeves, shrinkers, socks, etc.
We already have a waiting list of 28 patients for our next clinic which is to be held in the spring of 2024. We are hoping to coincide the next clinic with the Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024 and close the clinic down for one morning so all of the volunteers can drive down to lands end and observe the 95.1% eclipse, then return to La Paz and see patients that afternoon.
Donations for the clinic are always greatly appreciated. You can send your tax deductible donation to:
Limb Restoration Project a Nonprofit Corporation
c/o Doug Pinkley, CPO
411 12th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122-0000
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“Thanks very much for your help in preparing for our trip to Baja on March 31 through April 6. The trip worked out very well and, as the saying goes, “Once the sands of Baja fall on your shoulders, you can never shake them off.” We did get some blowing sand on our shoulders from the winds of March, but let me send along a few comments on Bocana Adventure where we stayed and Campo Rene which we checked out for possible future RV camping.
Bocana Adenture is well-advertised on the internet and includes about 11 small cabins and a restaurant located along Estero La Bocana lagoon in the town of La Bocana about 12 miles north of Abreojos on the Pacific in Baja Sur. The cabins look across the lagoon to the surf breaking on the ocean side of a long sand spit with a view of the fishing boats coming and going from the mouth of the lagoon located about a half mile away. The boats unload their catches of fish, octopus and lobster (in season) just past the cabins, providing an interesting daily event for visitors. The cabins have showers, toilets, comfortable beds and daily services including fresh ground coffee and bottled water for the coffee maker in the cabin. The restaurant served some of the best seafood we have ever eaten. The manager, Hector, and the staff were a pleasure to be with in all ways.
Bocana Adventure offers the usual coastal Baja sports of fishing, kayaking, etc., but now kite surfing is a major focus. The cabins are rented to one or more kite surfing organizations for extended periods of time, limiting the availability of the cabins for the other purposes. The upside is that kite surfers need wind and with the wind comes blowing sand and poor fishing conditions. The rest of us can go there at other times., While we were there we made a trip to Campo Rene to see what was going on. Campo Rene, located a few miles south of Abreojos on Estero El Coyote, has long been a destination for fishermen and old time Baja adventurers. It closed down awhile ago, was impacted by last year’s hurricane and reopened a few months ago under new management. While Campo Rene is advertising on the internet we were unable to get a coherent contact with them prior to our visit.
Campo Rene includes a restaurant, two furnished palm thatched cabanas which are advertised as airb&b’s, several small brightly painted frame cabins which are presently being refurbished and two RV parking areas which have been impacted by last summer’s hurricane. The restaurant had been recently refurbished and served us excellent margaritas and seafood, equal to what we found at Bocana Adventure. The two thatched cabanas had withstood the hurricane and were in decent rental condition. The small cabins were not ready for rental and were housing some of the staff. It was unclear when they might be available. From an RV perspective, the facility provides clean bathroom/shower facilities and a dump station. The two RV parking areas, one along the lagoon and one along the parking lot, had lost their thatched covered areas and were bleak in terms of camping environment. The cost of camping, whether RV or tent, is $10/person per night or $400 per month for two people. We talked to two fly fishermen who were camped there in RV’s. They said that the fly fishing in the lagoon was excellent. Campo Rene is advertising the same sports as Bocana Adventure but it is unclear whether the are ready yet to provide them. If the restaurant is an example, it appears that Campo Rene may well become a desirable destination, but at present it is a work in progress.”
Jack Laughlin
Rick Hazard’s YouTube Video from his 2023 Baja gray whale experience
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Sunset at Campo Garcia, South Campos San Felipe. Photo by Brian Frick
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Photos by Michael Bauer from his 2022 San Ignacio Gray Whale Trip with Pachico’s Eco Tours
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La Paz Clinic
Well, it’s been about 2 1/2 years since I’ve been to La Paz for our semi-annual clinic due to COVID. Because I’ve been vaxed and boosted I felt pretty safe attending this one, although one of our patients could not keep her second appointment because she came down with COVID. After the clinic I returned to Bahía Asunción to decompress. Once I was sure I was OK with no symptoms, I returned back to the US and will get my second booster just in case. I crossed south at Tecate with my one-ton GMC pickup truck with my 8’ Alaskan camper installed. I must have had about $20K in supplies and used parts for the clinic squirreled away from the prying eyes of Aduana, but had 4 letters from the Rotarians and Mexican government agencies explaining what the stuff was for just in case I was hassled by authorities.
Because we original founders are getting on in years, we’ve found some new blood to carry on with the clinic. Doug and Garth are both certified in Prosthetics and Orthotics and Zenon is a well rounded technician. I arrived at this clinic two days early to clean up and organize. The clinic started full bore on Saturday, April 2nd, and Doug, Garth, and Zenon worked until the middle/latter part of the following week. Brad, Louise, Dr. Bob, and Jim arrived a couple of days before the other group left, so we had a couple of days of overlap to smooth the continuity.
We all worked a total of 11 actual days, and casted/measured, fabricated, fit, delivered, and gait trained 23 patients. Mostly they were below the knee amputees with a few above the knee amputees thrown in along with one hip disarticulation amputee. That’s an average of about 2 prostheses per day, not to mention the number of patients that we saw who didn’t necessarily need a new socket for their prosthesis, but still required adjustments to their current legs by adding padding to accommodate atrophic changes to their residual limb, providing new liners, stump socks, new endoskeletal components when necessary, etc.
In addition we fit a few lower limb orthotic symptoms for some kids with Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, and other congenital and non congenital conditions. I gotta say we all worked our butts off, but one of the highlights of the trip was when a pair of Rotarians took us out on a 64’ boat to enjoy a day on the water. We went to Balandra Beach, had a wonderful lunch and dinner, and got to watch a beautiful sunset (no green flash as Steinbeck described though!).
All in all a great clinic and a wonderful time spent with our amigos in La Paz.The La Balandra Rotary Club sponsors these clinics along with bringing us wonderful authentic Mexican lunches each day.
On my way down, I managed to go out with Shari Bondy on her last day of whale watching for this season (google Whale Magic Tours), and I spent several days both before and after the clinic at our trailer in Bahía Asunción enjoying the local flavor. Don Ramon’s fish and shrimp tacos are some of the best on the peninsula, and the Casita de Hamburguesas has burgers to die for. Mex. 1 was in pretty good shape, with the few usual potholes here and there, although none big enough or deep enough to require their own zip code.
Coming back up Mex. 5 and through La Rumorosa to the Tecate border was uneventful, and crossing on a Thursday at noon was a good choice with only a 20 minute wait time. BUT, when I was second in line to cross, the Mexican authorities turned back a gringo in an older cabover camper in front of me. The border guard said he was turned back due to lack of official paperwork on his camper (not the truck). She asked if I had had a problem when I crossed a month before, but I had no issues. So this is just a heads up for anybody trying to cross with a slide in camper mounted on their pickup.
-Paul Boe
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Check out the photo essay from David Brackney of his recent trip through San Felipe, Bahía San Luis Gonzaga, and Bahía de los Ángeles along Highway Mexico 5.
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“I caught this Dorado by grabbing him by the tail as he was trying to squeeze over a sandbar in shallow water.” -Rich Durant
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“Trip good but on the way back Friday my husband discovered he left his small backpack with all documents, passport, wallet, credit cards, etc at Baja Cactus in El Rosario. I emailed them, called motel, called Mama Espinoza’s where Gerardo was so helpful as he spoke English. He helped to confirm the backpack was indeed at Cactus Motel. I then get a call from Antonio Munoz, who said he managed motel, and that his wife could bring backpack to Tijuana on Sunday where they live and he will then bring it to us on the US side of border. Talk about service! We will definitely give Baja Cactus Motel 5 star plus for service. We picked up backpack from Antonio in Mission Valley. It was like a milagro.” -Andree
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