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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!

But we weren't going far. First stop was the big grocery store to buy some supplies. We don't have a very big refrigerator, so it will take some experience before we know just how much stocking up we can do.

Dia supermarket have a store brand lager that's quite drinkable...and it's only €0.65 ($0.94 CAD, $0.73 USD) per litre. That's the equivalent of about $8.00 CAD ($6.00 USD) for 24 regular Canadian sized beer. Yes, I did the math correctly!

And then it was finally time to hit the road. I had looked up a Regional Park in the Sierra Espuña mountain range. They don't have any actual Caravan camping here, but it looked like you could boondock in the parking areas. It should be pretty quiet up there at this time of year. Pretty busy during the summer, I would expect.

We drove through a lot of agriculture areas heading inland from the coast.

Orange trees? There were certainly lots of full grown ones.

Cabbage we think!

Not sure! Artichokes maybe?

Scenery along the way.

Nice highway.

So far, we would say that the roads are in overall better condition compared to most of the countries we have traveled in. Although on one of the motorways, the roadside rest stop was a disaster. All the trash bins were full and overflowing and trash strewn everywhere. Shame that they would install these rest stops and then not be able to keep them up. We don't get it.

A big tope. Not sure if they use the Mexican word here for speed bump.

Heading towards the park. Not much traffic around.

Our spot for the night.
GPS 37.820389, -1.582881

It's a sixth sense of some kind, knowing where you can and can't get away with parking overnight. But we both knew right away that we'd be fine here. The only thing that bothered us is that there might be somewhere better just a little further up the road. But it was already getting a bit late in the day so we just stayed put.

We're heading up the that mountain today!

Ruth, making our first one pot dinner in Louis the motorhome.

It'll take a bit of getting used to, because we don't have the use of an oven. We use the oven a lot in Sherman, often because cooking dinner also means a source of heat in the evening. But we'll just make do with what we've got of course. Might mean some repetitive meals, but that's okay. We've got a pressure cooker to use as well, so we'll have to figure out how to make like a pot roast or something.

First dinner in Louis!

Slept fine, and this morning we're off to explore the park. Hoping to get our hiking legs back in shape today!

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Deal of the Day today on vitamins and supplements. If you use any of these items, it might be time to stock up...






35 comments:

  1. Couldn't help but notice how "Louis" even has storage in the door. It's all about efficiency.

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    1. I think for the most part the manufacturer has made the most of all the usable space there is in this RV. I think the only thing they could change is putting a shelf up in a few of the cupboards to make even extra space.

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  2. Enjoy the adventure, and dinner looks great. We have a 36 foot motorhome and I have never used the oven, do not expect that I will...lol. I have a few times tried to follow someone and read a blog, but could not do it. You on the other hand have me hooked.

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    1. Dinner was delicious, we even have leftovers for another night. :-)

      We use our oven a lot in our motorhome, I do a fair bit of baking in it plus we don't have a mircowave.

      I am glad that we have you hooked. ;-) I hope you enjoy our adventures.

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  3. Must be nice not to have to hurry to get somewhere!

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    1. It is very nice just to relax and go at our own pace. We need to be in the Malaga area by January 18th or so and really that isn't too far away so there is no real rush. :-)

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  4. Wow, GPS says -1.582881! Hard to believe most of Spain is actually west of London, but it is.

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  5. Nice pictures of country side...dinner looks good. I love one pot dinners.

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    1. Wait until you see some pictures of the scenery in our next post. What a beautiful area we are in right now.

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  6. A great first day! Let the adventure begin!

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    1. If yesterday and today are any indication, we are going to have a great adventure! :-)

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  7. Just lovely, the RV, the roads, your first overnight and a great dinner. I think Spain is good to be a perfect vacation.

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    1. So far this RVing in Spain is living up to our expections! It is going to be a fabulous two months. :-)

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  8. You are off to a great start! It will take some getting used to a smaller motorhome though.

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    1. Actually we are not having a problem at all with the small size but we are having to get used to how some of the systems run differently. Some seem to make sense but others not so much.

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  9. Are those pine trees that you're parked under?

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    1. Yes, they are some type of pine tree, possible aleppo!

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  10. Weather looks good for driving. Interesting sights along the way. You both must be used to driving in foreign countries. Looking forward to your hiking adventures. Are you not concerned being the only one in the campground for safety sake?

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    1. The weather was great for driving as well as hiking. Kevin is certainly becoming quite familiar with the driving in different countries. Actually Spain is pretty good, especially after driving in Chisinau, Moldova! The most difficult was in Namibia and South Africa because the driving is on the other side of the road and the vehicle was a standard so the stick shift was on the other side as well but after a few days Kevin got comfortable with it.

      No we are concerned about being the only ones around but of course when we boondock like above we want to make sure we feel comfortable with the area and we did.

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  11. Now that's the way we love to travel, reminds me of our Class B that we used for 7 years back in the 90's, now enjoy the countryside.

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    1. We like the backpacking that we have done in other countries but we agree RVing is the only way to go!

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  12. Home sweet home! Nice that you don't have to worry about where you're going to sleep at night. Food looks delish! We had something like that for dinner with venison Hamburg added. Looks yummy!!!

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    1. Yep, he's our home for the next two months and we think that we will do just fine. I is actually nice to unpack our bags and know that they won't have to be packed again for another two months. :-)

      Dinner was delicious, but your venison hamburg meat sound good too.

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  13. Your kitchen in Louis is about the size of mine in the Oliver. It takes some adjusting but totally doable. We bought a Breville, induction cooktop and an Insta Pot pressure cooker. I can cook most anything and I don't have to haul around so much. I even bought the stainless Magma stackable pots and pans. It's all about space!
    Looks like you all found a great spot for your first night in Louis.
    Have fun!!

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    1. Believe it or not but Louis has more counter space for food prep than Sherman does! Louis has a counter that swings up so it gives me lots more space. In Sherman we made a cutting board to fit over one of the sinks, and that is my only prep area.

      Because we mostly boondock we have to be careful with our electricity so those induction cooktops and Insta Pots won't work for us but a regular pressure cooker would. Those stackable pots and pans would work great in this small area, I wish we had a set here.

      We had a wonderfully quite night last night.

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    2. Happy Trails the Breville you purchased is it the Control Freak? and does it run on 110v or 220v?

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  14. I know Ruth's cooking and you'll be fine without an oven :) Your first supper looks fantastic.

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    1. Thank you Chris! Hope you are enjoying our countryside pictures. You wanted some and you are getting them.

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  15. Let the adventure begin, always amazed at how much countryside is available in the old countries.

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    1. You would be amazed at how much empty land there is here in Spain and we are enjoying as much of it as we can.

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  16. Would love to do this. Will be following your adventure with great interest.
    Sorry, I missed your post last summer - how did you find this motorhome exchange. Online? An RV exchange website? Thanks so much.

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    1. We would highly recommend RVing in Europe. The options are endless here.

      We our doing our RV exchange because a mutual friend set us up with this other couple who they knew wanted to RV in Canada. There are websites out there for this type of thing though. Try googling "motorhome exchange" or "motorhome swap" and I am sure lots of sites will come up for you.

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