A Long Drive

Sunset Rock

After the frigid north the weather becomes amenable to camping. Adventures thereof. (Map this!)

Camping is a win-win situation for me because you get to stay in beautiful places for little or no cost. It hearkens back to our primitive nomadic roots where a simple shelter, warm fire, and star-studded sky were more than sufficient to spend a night. Most of my days I am divorced from the outdoors where the schedule is ruled by the cycles of nature, that of the sunrise and sunset, that of the tides and the moon. Spending a night outdoors reminds me that finally everything is ruled by nature and its immutable laws.

Our first night outside on the long drive was spent on a tranquil and secluded portion of the Pacific coast in the state of Michoacan at a campground with excellent amenities such as flush toilets, showers, and a restaurant that served simple meals centered around fresh caught fish and lobster. The Pacific lobsters are tasty but overall those from Maine are superior due to their enormous claws, which their Pacific cousins lack. Simplicity of cuisine, simplicity of lodging, and a beautiful place.

Camping along the Pacific Coast

Given the experience of the previous night, we eagerly took the turnoff for Turtle camp, hoping to see sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach. This second camp turned out to be what one would term ‘interesting’. The adjective rustic can be applied to the amenities where the alfresco toilet required one to thrust a hand into the moss covered tank to operate the flush. The fisherman who was hosting us proceeded to get drunk and started rambling on and on in a Spanish we could not understand. He was a nice confused drunk, not a mean nasty one, but after a while his monologue started to get tedious.

When it came time to see the turtles it came to light that turtle season is May-September and I decided not to accompany the good natured boozer on his ATV run on the beach at night. We repaired to a shack used by the researchers for the night. In the morning we found that we had company in the shack – snoring away in a hammock next to us was the fisherman, sleeping off his hangover.