Woohoo, November is here! Gorgeous weather is here, events are here, and this month is going to be super busy and so much fun: Get ready for concerts, the Bike Rally, charity events, live music, the Charanga Derby, Mermaid’s Market and all kinds of daily and weekly events hosted by local businesses. My Uncle Pat is coming for a few weeks around Thanksgiving so expect to see him out and about “working” with Mario after he finishes up his “Uncle ‘do’s” at the ranchito. And my bestie, Heather, and her hubby Kevin are coming from Southern California, bringing their Harley down for a week to attend the 20th Anniversary Rocky Point Bike Rally, so I’m super excited about that.

Our Mexican and Canadian friends should be able to cross our land border on the 8th and I’m sure they’re very happy to see family and friends that they haven’t seen in almost two years and merchants that have suffered greatly during Covid will be happy to have their business once again. As of this writing, I haven’t heard or read anything about how CBP plans to handle the additional “checks” that will be required for Mexican Nationals and Canadians, so I would warn everyone to allow even more time to get across our border. It’s a new process for everyone and should prove to be very interesting. It will be fantastic when our border goes back to its normal closing time at midnight, but for now it STILL closes at 8PM!! If you don’t want to deal with border traffic or driving, remember that Head Out Shuttle gets to the head of the line and they pick you up and drop you off – easy peasy.

A friendly reminder that you are not allowed to bring firearms or ammunition into Mexico so please sweep your vehicles before you come down to Puerto Peñasco. If by chance you are on your way down and have forgotten that you have a firearm (or ammo) in your vehicle, the WhyNot Travel Store in Why, AZ offers gun storage – so stop there and store it until you’re on your way home. It’s right on your way whether you’re coming from Phoenix or Tucson. You don’t even want an empty shell casing in your vehicle, so please be very mindful of your ammo, firearms and spent shells if you frequent the ranges or carry in the U.S. and travel down to Rocky Point.

At a recent dinner with friends, I learned something new – apparently Aduana has the ability to scan the bar codes on packages you’re importing and get the value of the item on their smart phones. For years they have been checking prices on the internet if your stated value seems fishy, but scanning? Hmmm. Lots of times people don’t have receipts or like to fudge on price to save on import taxes – so just a warning – they’re getting pretty fancy at our border. You don’t want to end up being fined and/or your items and vehicle confiscated.

Some of you old-timers will remember Rodger and Jeanette Clifton from their many generous contributions to the city, as well as their fantastic parties and multiple businesses. Newbies will recognize their names from a local road that bears their name. They were a great couple who made huge contributions to the city and were genuinely great people. Jeanette passed away in May of this year (Rodger passed away a few years ago) and her kids held a wonderful Memorial in her honor at Mare Blu Ristorante last month. It was so nice to see a lot of faces I haven’t seen in years. The Clifton kids and Julio, Sr. and Julio Jr. did a fantastic job on the party and honoring her and letting us all get together to remember what great times we all had with Jeanette. There aren’t a whole lot of us “old-timers” left so I’m very interested in documenting people’s stories – fun, serious, historical, whatever…I think we should call it The Gringo Chronicles. At Jeanette’s Memorial I was talking to Charlie Salem about the good old days and the time that Joe Curley high-centered his brand-new Cadillac on the railroad tracks, bailed out and a train came by and totaled the vehicle. I’m pretty sure it’s a federal offense, so Curley left town for a while – just crazy shenanigans like that that used to go on – as well as businesses that used to be around, parties we all went to and the people we used to hang out with. If you’re interested in contributing, let us know or send in your memory or story. We’ll print what we can (lots of shenanigans in those days) and maybe we can do a time capsule or something like that – I’m open to ideas. I have tons of photos and am going back through every issue of the Rocky Point Times since 1990, so I should have lots of good material to jog all of our memories.

I would like to welcome a new contributing writer to our awesome crew – Dr. Sally Downey who is an active member of the Puerto Peñasco Rotary Club. She has been a Rotarian for 27 years and served as president of the Mesa, Arizona Rotary Club. I just met her last month at the Rotary “End Polio Now” Charity Dinner held at Playa Bonita Resort. (I actually had no idea polio was still around – thought it had been eradicated for the most part.) Her first article is in this edition, and she is looking forward to keeping you abreast of what’s happening with our local Rotary Club and hopes to get you involved.

On a sad note, WhyLee Coyote was hit and killed last month. For those of you who don’t know, WhyLee was the “resident” wild coyote who was always hanging around the WhyNot Travel Store. Lots of people never get to see coyotes so it was always cool to see him hanging around. Yes, people did feed him and, no you’re not supposed to feed wild animals – no lecturing here – we’ll leave that up to the social media trolls. Well, WhyLee is gone, but he was quickly replaced by a very fluffy and healthy Whyatt Earp. These guys have no concept of traffic – in fact the day before he was hit, I stopped in the middle of the road to let him cross – he was clueless – I think he even gave me the side-eye. I imagine Whyatt Earp is just as clueless – or soon will be – so please remember to slow down when going through Why and remember that Whyatt Earp is a WILD animal even though he’s fluffy and cute.

I’d like to wish my friends Vi Jaren and Ed Waters a very happy (belated) Anniversary. We did have a wonderful sunset dinner at MOO last month to celebrate. Both are big supporters, lovers and long-time visitors of Rocky Point and Ed has something very cool in the works with a local charitable organization – or something he would really like to do. Now I’ve just committed him haha. I’m not at liberty to divulge, but I hope it comes to fruition, and I know you all will enjoy it. By the way, along with his long list of accomplishments, Ed is an award-winning songwriter and Vi is an awesome ICU nurse.

We are all very excited for the 20th Anniversary of the Rocky Point Rally which starts on the 11th! Woohoo! I am predicting a huge turnout. They have changed up the event areas this year to include the Shrimp Plaza (Plaza del Camarón) and the Mirador area and, of course, Old Port will be packed as will Calle 13. We’ve included all events that we know of, as of this writing, but check social media for updates and you’ll always be able to grab info. once you’re down here…I’m assuming more events and activities will be added all over town in the next couple of weeks. And please, please, everyone be very careful.

If you’re here on the 18th, head over to Manny’s in El Mirador for the Women and Children’s Benefit Breakfast which starts at 9:30AM – mimosa and bloody mary specials (woohoo) as well as live music, door prizes, raffles, and a live auction. Tickets are $25 – check out the ad in this issue.

The Crane by Luca at Islas del Mar has been open serving breakfast and lunch if you weren’t aware. (Yes, our Chef Luca, owner of Pane e Vino.) He has now added dinner on Friday and Saturday from 5PM to 9PM so I’m looking forward to trying that out. Again, no eats this month – the paper is full – but it’s coming! And Mark P (Marco n Amigos) says in this month’s article, “…if you would like a bar review of your favorite watering hole for the RPTimes, just shoot me an email at mpaliscak@amerifirst.us”…so that is very cool!

Everyone is talking about supply chain problems in the U.S. so get stuff off your holiday shopping list when you come down to Rocky Point. I’m not seeing any supply chain problems down here…and that is not an invitation to come down and buy all of our toilet paper (eyeroll emoji), but it is an invitation to get your hands on lots of unique gifts. Take a stroll down Rodeo Drive and through Old Port and you’ll find something for everyone. A great gift for Rocky Point fans is the new 2022 Tide Calendar which will be available on November 15th at Plaza Fabiola on Rodeo Drive and at our office as well.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and remember, if you don’t feel like cooking, be sure to hit up your favorite restaurant to see if they are offering turkey dinner – and make reservations since Rocky Point is so busy these days!! See you at the beach and around town.