February has arrived, the weather is fantastic, but where are all our visitors? The town is still pretty empty unfortunately. The weekends have picked up a bit, but it seems we’re a lot slower than normal – especially considering this fantastic-O clime!…come on down! I actually broke my own rule and traveled south on a Friday afternoon and was sad to see there was very little traffic crossing the border. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very relaxing drive, but Rocky Point needs you! Maybe y’all are just saving your energy for next month and Peñasco will have a super Spring Break and Semana Santa and we’ll start to get back to normal. Fingers crossed.
During our “down” time I’ve been going back through our archives and transferring everything from old media formats to the cloud. Our roof had collapsed so many times from rain, at our old office off Calle 13, that we lost tons of photos and material but I’m salvaging what’s left. Between the rain, 30+ years, moving, and my dog(s), it’s been a challenge – CD readers don’t take kindly to teeth marks (mostly done by the spoiled brat in last month’s issue – my other Danes just ate mattresses, blinds, tables and walls – you know, the normal stuff)! I haven’t even touched the old zip drives and floppy’s not to mention the thousands of photos on film and backlog of old laptops plus an external drive and video cameras…eek! Whatever we’ve lost, luckily, we still have at least 1 copy of every single issue we’ve ever published. So that’s my 2024 project – archiving stuff from back before the time of computers…hopefully I’ll be able to get it all up on our new website (that will come along eventually). Can I send this stuff off to be scanned and given back in Word and JPEGs?…someone please let me know before I start typing 😊
I’ve actually been archiving off and on (mostly off) since last year but have sped up my efforts because I’ve realized how much people really don’t know about Peñasco and how much great information we’ve published over the years that is still relevant today. (Funny how Peñasco has changed in so many ways yet stayed the same.) I saw a random question posted on social media not too long ago and said to myself, geeze, we’ve covered those 100 times, how do they not know?!! I know, not everyone reads our physical paper so this year we’ve set out to do a lot of online work so that The Rocky Point Times and all of its fabulous information will be discovered and searchable back to its inception in 1990. Once completed, we’ll have so much fun old stuff – old ads and photos and my Mom’s editing where she would literally correct typos with an ink pen and send the flats off to the printer – like just write in an e where there was an i. Makes me giggle now, but back then I could’ve murdered her. So be expecting some old articles, photos and tidbits.
All of that to say that we have some great archives. Cholla Charli’s article on JJ’s made me realize, yet again, what an awesome life I’ve had here in Mexico and how much I’ve seen – the great people I’ve known and the fantastic experiences I’ve had. More than half my life now I’ve lived in Puerto Peñasco…never thought I’d be in one place for more than a few years let alone half my life! Just goes to show what an awesome place we call home. There are so many great and charitable people that new people should know – present and past – like Joe Anacleto and John Fowler (JJ’s) – found some great old photos of them – and Rodger and Jeanette Clifton (RIP) just to name a couple. When newbies drive around town they’ll know who these statues are and who the streets are named after and what they contributed. I just saw mention about T-Shirt Bob on the OBSC website – if you have one of his old cartoon maps, you’re golden – they were the best! I’m actually excited to bring Lonesome Lui back to print and introduce the old to the new – as well as Hale O’Malley, Moon Mullins, Bo Wixted, The Old Fisherman – boy, we’ve had such a great run and continue to have so many awesome contributing writers. I found some photos from when the movie Babel was filmed here – Gael Garcia Bernal and Elle Fanning and OMG! I have a couple of fantastic photos of some locals who were extras. I’ll probably throw one up on Facebook before publishing in March. So many great memories!
I’m a bit nostalgic this month and hoping every “new” person discovering this fine city comes to appreciate its beauty, uniqueness and even its quirks. This paper has survived the peso devaluation, a couple market crashes, blockades, strikes, storms, covid and the border being shut down just to name a few and we’re still standing. And we’re not the only ones – there are many local businesses that have done whatever it takes to keep their employees employed, their business going and help their community through the ups and downs in between it all. So, thank you to all of you who support those businesses and continue to visit us whether you have to drive a few more hours to get here or get sprayed with gosh knows what chemicals to enter the city and get splashed with hand sanitizer every time you turn around (that sucked!). And thank you to everyone who still picks us up and now visits us online and on the socials. One day the bug will bite you and you won’t be ablet to stay away.
Apologies to our Ajo and Why peeps that didn’t get your January papers. The edition arrived early (imagine that!) before the border opened back up and we delivered them all locally. I honestly didn’t think the border would open, so I didn’t take any north before they were gone. Will make sure I keep my truck stocked at all times from now on!
Hope you all have a great February, and the weather stays fab…see you at the beach!
