Ruth and the sunset at the island of Dhiffushi, Maldives.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Spain isn't Canada

Of course every country is unique.  Food, culture, scenery, prices, and languages. There’s something so special about each one.

One thing I find interesting about Spain is how old it is. Of course, every country on earth is old, but the culture is so old. Canada still retains a taste of the wild, of being a new country brought out of timber and mountains by settlers.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Back at the coast to meet up with good friends!

It's certainly warmer down here at the coast, but we feel like we're not really in Spain any more! At this time of year there are more British people here than Spanish people! And most of the signage at the local businesses is in English.

So yesterday we drove down from the hills to the coast. We weren't originally planning on coming down here yet, but there's a cold front coming through and even here at the coast it's going to be a chilly high of 10C (50F) and overcast.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

We cant get enough of this town. I think we could live there!

The reason we hung around another day at Doña Mencía was because we had seen a marked trail that went up into the park behind the village of Zuheros.

So Ruth packed us a lunch, and we drove Louis over to the trailhead at the base of the town.

Monday, January 16, 2017

5 mile hike to a 9th century castle

Before we left Ubeda, there was one thing we wanted to do. And that was to visit the Sinagoga Del Agua. (Synagogue of the Water).

We like history and this one included some Jewish history, with quite a fascinating story. Back in 2007, a property developer had bought a series of buildings in the historic center of Ubeda, and was going to develop them into apartments, shops, and parking.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

A beautiful day exploring Ubeda, Spain.

Yesterday morning's project was to hook up our new inverter.

Louis isn't really really set up for boondocking (wild camping) the way we like to. They have a single marine style deep cycle 12v battery for the house, and of course a normal vehicle battery for the engine.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

First time emptying the tanks...

Everybody knows that the least fun part of the motorhome lifestyle is emptying the holding tanks. Well over here in Europe, it's even less fun! First of all, no campgrounds or aires (we explained yesterday what an aire is) have sewer hookups. And the motorhomes all have cassette style of toilets. So there is no "black" holding tank. Simply a small cassette that removes from the bottom of the toilet via an outside compartment.

We do have a "grey" water holding tank. It's actually larger than I expected, and it's located under the frame at the rear of the motorhome.

Friday, January 13, 2017

Free overnight motorhome parking...what a great concept!

There is a great system of free motorhome parking in Europe. The "Aire" system began in France, and has slowly expanded throughout Europe, and even into the UK.

The word "aire" means area in French. These free motorhome stopovers are called "Aire de Service Camping Cars" in France. Now, they are commonly called "Aires", even though there are different words for them in Germany, and Italy for example.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Boondocking in Spain again...never saw another vehicle the whole time

When we were up at the castle the day  before, we had seen a dam in the distance. So when we woke up yesterday morning, we drove over there thinking there might be a park or something. There wasn't, but there was a level parking area so we stopped there for breakfast.

It was a really pretty dam though!

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

No idea where we'll end up tonight, just the way we like it!

No problems our first night in the motorhome. It doesn't get light until  almost 8:00am here in southern Spain, so we find ourselves sleeping in a little bit. Plus, we don't put any heat on, so it's a little chilly inside the motorhome at that hour as well. Putting the burner on to boil some water warms up this small space pretty easily though.

Speaking of chilly, there was a strong wind when we woke up. And we were heading up into higher altitudes with an expected daytime high of only about 13C (55F).

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Our first night boondocking in Spain!

We moved all of our stuff into Louis the motorhome yesterday morning. Not that we have that much stuff...we actually have very little stuff! One trip for our bags, and then another trip for the food.

Did a walkaround inspection, then hopped in the driver's seat and turned the key. Louis has a 4 cylinder diesel engine, and it fired right up...he was raring to go!