March 19 to 25, 2009 ; Yuma, Arizona
Thursday ; Today was a sunny, hot day of running errands and shopping. Our first stop was Fisher Dodge. I had lost a couple of plastic retainer clips from the under hood sound and heat insulation liner on the truck. I thought it prudent to buy four, to have a couple of spares. These plastic retainer clips look like they're worth about 25 cents, but of course I expected them to be a lot more than that at the Dodge dealer. They were $2.56 each at Fisher Dodge ! Later in the afternoon I found essentially the same clips in the Arizona Market Place flea market ... for 25 cents each ! ! ! I will be returning the $2.56 versions to the Dodge dealer. And the 10% restocking charge Fisher Dodge will charge me will cost more than I paid to buy four at Arizona Market Place !
Next stop was Walgreen's, then over to the Post Office to pick up a couple of pieces of mail at General Delivery. Both pieces of mail which should have been here by now were not there ( fume ) ! I've had problems previously with receiving mail at General Delivery in Yuma. Must be some kind of a bottleneck on the way here, perhaps in Phoenix. There's a similar problem receiving mail in Livingston, Texas, where Houston is the bottleneck. After the Post Office we went to Burger King for a quick lunch.
Next stop was Purcell Tire to have the trailer tire inspected for warranty adjustment approval. The manager inspected the trailer tire, phoned Goodyear, and a warranty adjustment allowance was made. The trailer tire was 37% worn, so I had to pay 37% of the cost of a new tire. Seemed fair ! Except that now I have a brand new trailer tire that I don't really need, having bought two new tires in Mexico. I guess it will be a spare spare !
We drove over to RV Connection, one of the two RV parts and supplies dealers that I use here., and bought some, but not all, of the RV parts and supplies we needed. Finally we went to Arizona Market Place, the local, large flea market, and spent the rest of the long, hot afternoon shopping for RV parts and supplies, hardware items, household items, makeup, and fresh produce. By the time the Arizona Market Place closed at 4:00 P.M. we had only wandered around about a third of the flea market. We'll return tomorrow morning.
When we got back to Kofa Ko-op we headed for the swimming pool. The pool was a bit cooler today than yesterday, and a bit more refreshing. After barbecuing supper I spent the evening sitting outside chatting with a neighbour while Joanne watched TV.
Friday ; Today was another long, hot day of shopping errands, temperature in the 90's again. This morning we returned to the Arizona Market Place and resumed shopping from where we left off yesterday. We bought a lot at the flea market today. This is the second last week of the season for the Arizona Market Place, so the vendors are beginning to mark down their prices. We bought a very nice outdoor RV mat / carpet for half price. From there we headed to Arizona RV, another RV parts and supplies dealer. I stopped at the Post Office to check on our forwarded mail again, but the line up was too long. Good thing I didn't wait in line again . I found out by e-mail tonight that ... due to some misunderstanding, or confusion, or something ... our batch of mail has not yet been forwarded from back home !
We stopped for lunch at Rally's, a fast food burger place. I shopped for some auto parts I need at Checker Auto Parts and at Auto Zone. Neither had what I needed. I saw Sam's Music Shop as we drove by, I stopped, and bought a variety of guitar picks for my Chiapas Indian laptop harp, which, by the way, is horribly out of tune from bouncing around over Mexico's roads. I will tune it while we're here, using the clubhouse's piano. Finally, another stop at Wal-Mart, partially because we needed cash, and at Wal-Mart we can pay by Interac, and use their "cash back" function without incurring ATM fees.
Once back at Kofa Ko-op I replaced the missing valve extender on the truck. I picked up a pair of new valve extenders from the park's bargain table. They are motorhome valve extenders, but hopefully they will work on our truck. They are a different design than the motorhome valve extenders I bought in the Rio Grande Valley that didn't work on our truck. I put the remaining three of those on the bargain table. We went to the swimming pool and floated away the rest of the afternoon, until sunset.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot, a long, hard day of work ! WHEW ! I spent the entire day fixing things inside and outside the trailer. Joanne spent the entire day cleaning things inside and outside the trailer. We are making progress getting the truck and trailer cleaned and restored back to some semblance of normal. Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool to float around, cool down, and relax a bit. Afterwards we took Bo for a walk around the dog park. Well ... Joanne walked with Bo around the dog park. I sat on a park bench and waited for them.
Sunday ; Today was sunny, mild, and very windy. We didn't get as much work accomplished today as we had hoped to. Just as we were getting a late start to our day our neighbours Dave and Joy from back home at Riverside RV Park Resort arrived for a visit. We chatted with them from mid-morning until mid-afternoon. After they left we resumed our work on cleaning and repairing. I removed the hub caps, wheel liners, and valve extenders from the truck in preparation for getting new tires tomorrow. And then ... ( sigh ) ... I reinstalled the mud flap that tore off in Mexico. That required the removal and reinstallation of the rear dually tires on one side of the truck. I finished that job just in time for us to go to the regular Sunday ice cream social. Afterwards we watched Amazing Race.
Monday ; Today was sunny and cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon. It was another long, tiring day of running shopping errands.
Our first stop this morning was the Post Office. Once again, the letter I was expecting that had been mailed from Texas about 3 weeks ago was still not here yet. Which means that it probably never will be ! We headed to Sears for new tires for the truck. I'm very pleased with the performance of the original tires on the truck. My goal was to make them last 100,000 kilometres. Today I replaced them, at 116,000 kilometres. We dropped the truck off at Sears, then walked to a variety of stores within a mile in each direction from Sears. Goodwill, Salvation Army, Dollar Tree, Truck Mates, Lowe's, Pep Boys, Fisher Dodge, and Truck Mates a second time before having a terrible lunch at a fast food chain restaurant called Carl's Jr.. We picked up the truck and continued shopping and running errands. Midas, Watch Hospital, 99¢ Store, and finally, Diesel Performance Center. The new Michelin tires are much quieter, and give a much smoother and softer ride than the old Goodyear tires. I thought the bone jarring ride was just because Lanoire is such a big, heavy truck. It was late afternoon by the time we got back home to Kofa Ko-op.
I returned a phone call from my investment broker, and we discussed and decided what investments to sell this month to pay bills. I was working on mounting a new interior thermometer in the trailer when I stupidly broke the little liquid filled glass bulb of the thermometer, spraying red liquid all over my shirt. Joanne did laundry. The red stains did not come out of the shirt. Oh well, another ruined shirt ! I reconciled this month's Canadian dollar MasterCard and U.S. dollar MasterCard statements. It was somewhat difficult, because most of the transactions were made in Mexican pesos, then converted to U.S. dollars, or Canadian dollars. I went through a similar reconciliation process with some Interac withdrawals that were made in Mexican pesos or U.S. dollars from our Canadian dollar bank account.
Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Mexico
Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy in the morning. We spent the day in Los Algodones, Mexico. A few miles west across the Colorado River into California, then a few miles south to Los Algodones. First we went to some pharmacies for price comparisons, then I bought some medications. We walked across town, to the edge of town, and bought some medication for Teddy at the veterinary pharmacy. We did some comparison shopping, then bought cigarettes, Nugs, Coconugs, Creminos, some Cocada de Leche coconut confections, and a couple of bottles of vanilla, a specialty product of Los Algodones. Very high quality, very cheap vanilla. We had a great lunch at a taco restaurant. We had fish tacos and shrimp tacos, which were very uncommon on our trip through mainland Mexico this year but very common on our trip through the Baja peninsula last year. Los Algodones is actually the northeast corner of the state of Baja California.
After lunch we headed to the dentist's office, for Joanne's 2:00 P.M. appointment for a cleaning and examination. When she was finished at the dentist's about an hour later we headed for the line up to cross the border back into the United States. Gee whiz ... the line up to cross the border was an hour and a quarter, and it's late March. I wonder how bad it was in January and February ? ! ? The normal currency used in Los Algodones is U.S. dollars, but I paid for most of today's purchases with our remaining pesos, using up ¾ of what we had left. Back home at Kofa Ko-op Joanne took a long nap while I worked on records keeping and finances. After supper I went to the clubhouse with my Chiapas Indian laptop harp and tuned it using the piano in the clubhouse. It was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. I guess there's a learning curve involved.
Wednesday ; ( moaning and whining ) I have a cold. And an earache. I feel miserable ! I don't think we're going to be ready to leave here Saturday as initially planned. I still have too much work to do before we hit the road again.
This morning I did my regular monthly computer maintenance chores, defragmenting the disk, backing up all my files, etc.. I adjusted the tightness of all the lug nuts on the truck using my new torque wrench, then reinstalled the valve extenders, wheel liners, and hub caps. I installed a new kitchen cupboard latch ... finally. We've had one kitchen cupboard door with a broken latch for the last month or more. We've been keeping the door closed with a bungee cord. Joanne baked cookies for this afternoon's social hour.
I decided that I deserved a nap after lunch. I've been working too hard the last week and a half. After I napped we gave Bo a bath. He certainly was a lot less clean than when he played in the surf on a daily basis. I cleaned and polished my shoes and sandals. We went to the regular Wednesday afternoon "heavy appetizer" social hour. We took Bo for a play session and long walk around the dog park. We watched Survivor, then I made a light supper of Huevos Rancheros. We started watching a televised performance of Shakespeare's King Lear on PBS, but ... ! We both enjoy live theatre, and have always enjoyed live performances of Shakespeare's works, but ... on TV ... we gave up on it after about half an hour.
DSK
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
March 12 to 18, 2009
March 12 to 18, 2009 ; Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico to Yuma, Arizona, U.S.A.
Thursday ; Oh, gee ... we have just realized that spring break is starting. Time to get the hell out of here ! Today was sunny and warm. We slept late, and had a slow, restful start to the day. I walked on the beach and took some photos. I exchanged some books at the RV park’s library. I found two chiggers on Bo. HMPH ... he hasn't had chiggers since Veracruz. Maybe chiggers live where there's grassy sand dunes ? We unhitched Lanoire from Harvey so that we could go into town and explore. With a mud flap and a bed rail protector missing from Lanoire, and a shredded and half missing lower skirt on Harvey, and an enormous amount of road grime on both, they look like some kind of refugee RV rig. We took Bo to the beach for some beach doughnut fetch play. The air and the water were both warmer today than yesterday, so he played longer than yesterday. But still he became cold after awhile and didn't want to play any more. We sat on the beach in the warm sunshine until he was dry, which didn't take long.
After lunch we drove into town. I refilled with diesel. We replenished groceries at Super Ley. We drove around exploring. We parked in "Old Town" and walked along the malecon. That's when we realized that spring break is starting. All the vendors were heavily stocked with printed t-shirts reading "Spring Break 2009 Drinking Team, Rocky Point, Mexico". We wandered over to the fish market. Oh, for crying out loud ! The price of shrimp here was more than double that of anywhere else !
We decided on the way back to our RV park that we wanted to buy some barbecued chicken for supper. We stopped at a place with a sign reading "pollo ( poyo ) asado al carbon ( carrBONE ) por llevar ( yevar )". Literally that translates as "chicken roasted on charcoal for taking". While paying we noticed that one of the side dishes available was "ensalada de sopa fria". HUH ? What the hell is "cold soup salad" ? ? ? I asked the woman, in Spanish, using not quite that phrasing. She went over to the cooler and pulled out a tub. Oh ... macaroni salad ! Okay ... we bought a tub of ensalada de sopa fria to go with our pollo asado al carbon. When we got back to the RV park we rehitched Lanoire to Harvey to prepare for departure back to the United States tomorrow morning.
We have just returned from the beach ( at 6:45 P.M. ) where we went to watch our final Mexican sunset. It was another spectacular one, with a clear sky and a calm sea so that the sun flared as it sat on the water. Joanne complained that she was "freezing". The temperature was 66 degrees ( rolling eyes ). In the evening I posted a weekly update to my blog.
Friday ; Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico to Gila Bend, Arizona, U.S.A.
Nine weeks, nine thousand kilometres / five thousand five hundred miles around the coast line of Mexico ! That's about the distance from Los Angeles to New York City and back ! The Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Sea of Cortez ! Across fifteen Mexican states, from jungles to beaches to desert ! It was quite an adventure ! Farewell, Mexico ! We enjoyed ourselves ( well ... for the most part ) ! Although ... if I never see another ***ing tope ... it'll be too soon ! It was an adventure ... and a country ... of extremes. When Mexico was good, it was SUPERB ! ! ! But when it was bad ... it was HORRIBLE ! ! !
Today was sunny, warm on the Sea of Cortez coast at Puerto Peñasco, hot in the desert at Gila ( Heela ) Bend. This morning when we were ready to depart I wanted to go on the beach with Bo for a final beach doughnut fetch session. Joanne refused to allow it, because she did not want to go "drivey" with a drenched dog on her lap. We departed Puerto Peñasco and headed northeast on Mex 8 to the U.S. border crossing at Sonoyta. When we got to Sonoyta we had to turn south on Mex 2 and drive about 17 miles to the Mexican Migracion office to turn in our tourist visas and vehicle importation documents and have the vehicle importation sticker removed from the truck's windshield. We drove back to Sonoyta to cross into the United States. Within a couple of hundred feet of the American border, we gave away our last CANADA pencil to a little girl. The line up was longer than we expected, but the actual border crossing was as painless as it's ever been. As we drove up to the U.S. Customs & Border Patrol agent's booth, I handed our passports out the window. The agent scanned them as he asked "are you both Canadian citizens ?" I said "yes", he handed the passports back, and said "okay, buddy" as he waved us through. I refrained from pointing out to him that I wasn't his "buddy" !
Once back in the United States we stopped to have a late picnic lunch in Organ Pipe National Park. We contemplated stopping for the night, but it was too early. We decided to continue north on Hwy. 85 to Ajo ( Aho ). Just after we left Organ Pipe National Park I heard a bit of a thump behind me. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw something fall from the front of the trailer's overhang into the truck bed. I stopped to take a look. It was half of the truck bed rail protector. The double sided tape on the front half of the bed rail protector had let go, the front of the bed rail protector lifted up, and it snapped in half. Well, I guess I now know the expected lifespan of 3M double sided tape ! Now the truck has no bed rail protector on one side, and half a bed rail protector on the other. As if it didn't already look enough like a refugee truck ! When we got to Ajo we decided it was still too early to stop for the night, so we continued north on Hwy. 85 until it reached Interstate 8 at Gila Bend. Phoenix is about an hour northwest of Gila Bend. Tucson is a couple of hours southeast. Yuma is a couple of hours west. We stopped for the night in a very nice, full service, very inexpensive RV park. We pulled into a site and while I hooked up the utilities Joanne went to the office to pay. She noticed as she was walking back to our site that ... Gil's and Maria's rig was in the park. HMPH ... small world ! We did not go over to speak with them, nor did they come over to speak with us, if they even noticed we were here.
I reactivated our U.S. cell phone, with its new Yuma based phone number. A few days ago, I got onto Virgin Mobile's website and "moved" us from La Feria, Texas to Yuma, Arizona. We went for a long walk in the desert with Bo. I like the desert, and I'm glad to be back here. Sunny and hot, but with low humidity. I love it ! The Ocotillo ( Okoteeyo ) have large red blooms on top. The Barrel Cacti have beautiful rose like blooms on them. The Creosote bushes are all covered in little yellow blossoms. I did some Mexico trip accounting. This park has free Wi-Fi so I checked e-mail. Joanne sat outside reading a book until the sun set. Watching the sunset on the desert is almost as nice as watching it set on the sea / ocean. And certainly warmer.
Saturday ; Gila Bend to Yuma, Arizona
Today was a perfect “June 18” day in the desert. HEY ... what happened to the price of diesel ? We refilled with diesel at the service station adjacent to the campground this morning as we departed. The price of diesel was half of what it was when we entered the United States five months ago. We headed west on Interstate 8. WOO-HOO ... what a nice road ! Halfway between Gila Bend and Yuma we came to ... WOO-HOO ... Dateland, Arizona. Our favourite place for date shakes. WOO-HOO ... Bo loves date shakes ! WOO-HOO ... the public restroom toilets have seats on them. God Bless America !
About a mile or so from Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park the scent of lemons entered the truck. WOO-HOO ... the lemon groves all around Kofa Ko-op were in bloom ! As soon as Bo smelled the lemons he knew where we were going. WOO-HOO ... Bo’s favourite RV park of the many hundreds he’s been to. Kofa Ko-op has a two acre fenced dog park in the desert. He’s allowed to romp off leash in the park with his buddies, old and new. We checked in and got set up in a site. It’s like coming home to be here ! And some day it will be our winter home. After three years we’re now number 49 on their waiting list for a permanent site.
I thought it was somewhat unusual when a couple of Japanese Zeros flew over at low altitude this afternoon. I suppose the Yuma Air Show today had something to do with that. I found out reading the newspaper ( tomorrow ) that they were part of an "Attack On Pearl Harbour" re-enactment featured in the Air Show.
Late this afternoon Kofa had a “visitor appreciation” potluck dinner. The permanent residents / lot leaseholders provided the food. The visitors / short term renters like us just ate. After supper we went for a walk around the park, and to the dog park, I got online and checked e-mail, downloaded and processed some photos from the camera to the computer, watched a bit of CNN, and read my first newspaper in over two months. Joanne began work on “spring cleaning” the trailer. I wonder where all that sand came from ... Bo ? ! ?
Sunday ; Another beautiful, sunny, very warm day in the desert. This morning we headed out to Arizona Market Place, the local, large flea market, to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables. From there we drove out to The Foothills, the community on the east side of Yuma, to see if the Griers and the Camerons, our neighbours from Riverside RV Park Resort back home, were still here in Yuma. We knew what RV park they were staying in this winter. Well, their rigs were still in the park but neither couple were home. We left notes. Marlene Grier phoned later in the afternoon and we arranged to meet for dinner tomorrow at Famous Dave's Barbecue, our favourite restaurant in Yuma.
This afternoon I disinfected our fresh water tank. I cleaned inside the toilet plumbing with a special water wand cleaning tool. Messy job, but it's got to be done a couple of times a year. Joanne continued cleaning inside the trailer. I removed the broken half of a bed rail protector left on the truck. Hidden underneath it I discovered a dent in the top rear corner of the truck bed rail. The dent wasn't there when I reattached the bed rail protectors a few months ago in the Rio Grande Valley. That means that at some point on the Mexico trip the overhang on the trailer bumped the top corner of the truck bed rail. I guess that happened when the back of the truck was going up over a tope and the front of the trailer was coming down over a tope. Oh, well, it's just another Mexican "war wound" and it will be hidden underneath the bed rail protector when I buy and install new ones. Lanoire certainly isn't a "virgin" truck any more. She's certainly "been around the block" a few times ! And humped over more than a few topes ! HA HA HA ! I spent much of the afternoon washing the truck. I think it was even filthier than last year when we came out of The Baja. We took Bo to the dog park for a play session. HMPH ... at five years of age his stamina sure isn't what it used to be. Hey, Bo, you're middle aged !
At 6:00 P.M. we went to Kofa's regular Sunday ice cream social. And ate so much ice cream we “ruined our dinner” like a couple of kids. Afterwards ... WOO-HOO ... Amazing Race ! I checked e-mail and retrieved middle of the month updated investment data. I exchanged some books at the library.
Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm. We are in errand mode for the next couple of weeks. Today we spent half a day at Wal-Mart replenishing groceries and supplies and ... everything ! I spent half a day shopping for tires for the truck, both by phone and in person, driving to local tire shops. I made my decision where to buy tires for the truck and tomorrow I'll place my order. We played with Bo in the dog park for awhile before heading off for supper at Famous Dave's Barbecue with our neighbours from back home, Terry and Marlene. We had dinner and chatted with Terry and Marlene until very late in the evening.
Tuesday ; St. Patrick's Day
Today was sunny and hot. I spent the morning on the phone. I ordered the truck tires from Sears. I made a series of phone calls back and forth between Goodyear and a local Goodyear dealer to initiate a warranty claim on the one of the trailer tires. I returned a phone call to a member of the Escapee Okanagan Chapter 33 who had phoned and left a message a few days ago regarding the upcoming Spring Rally which Joanne and I are hosting. I phoned our dentist in Los Algodones, Mexico and made an appointment for a dental cleaning and examination for Joanne. I did a phone evaluation survey of our dinner last night at Famous Dave's Barbecue, earning me a free dessert on our next visit. Last night we had a free dessert, earned from a previous visit, and it was large enough that three of us shared it. I got online and paid our hydro bill from back home.
We spent the afternoon washing the trailer. And we didn't finish today ! We washed the front, rear, and one side, leaving one side for tomorrow. Grimy ! We think that the wax we used last time contributed to the problem. The road grime seems to have become embedded in the old, oxidized layer of wax. When we scrub, the grimy wax sort of smears around and becomes a greasy film. I had to remove a large section of moulding underneath the bedroom / front overhang of the trailer. All the screws in the moulding were either stripped or broken right off from twisting and flexing forces. It needs new hardware.
When we became too tired to do any more trailer washing we took Bo for a sunset walk in the dog park. We noticed a newly arrived rig in the park and thought we recognized it. Yes, it was Barry and Jackie, friends from the Escapees Okanagan Chapter 33. We invited them to come over for a visit after supper. For supper tonight I again cooked filete de dorado con gusto Cajun de Daniel. Excellent, as usual ! We'll be disappointed when we finally run out of dorado fillets.
When Barry and Jackie came over Joanne served fresh strawberries with Con Leche ( Leshay ) on them. Con Leche is a Mexican version of sweetened condensed milk, served as a topping on fruits, or filling for pan dulce / pastries. Of course, at our last large grocery store stop in Mexico, Joanne stripped the grocery store's shelves of all their small squeeze bottles of Con Leche. HA HA HA ! We visited and chatted with Barry and Jackie until late in the evening. They are here just for tonight, and are leaving tomorrow morning to begin their slow trek north back to Canada.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot, with a light breeze bringing the strong fragrance of lemon blossoms into the park. The air was filled with migrating Monarch butterflies.
This morning Joanne worked on making a "heavy appetizer" for this afternoon's social hour / heavy appetizer potluck. Twice when we bought pollo asado in Mexico, it came with a stack of 40 small corn tortillas. We prefer wheat flour tortillas to corn tortillas, so we had 80 corn tortillas we didn't particularly want. Joanne cut them into quarters and baked them into tortilla chips today. She also made a cream cheese and broccoli dip to go along with them. I spent the morning doing minor maintenance, as usual. It's amazing that with the number of screws on the trailer that came loose, stripped, sheared, or fell out, that the trailer didn't just fall apart, like something out of a cartoon !
This afternoon we finished washing the trailer. WHEW ! I lubricated all the weatherstripping around the trailer slides with dry silicone lubricant spray. We went to the late afternoon social hour / heavy appetizer potluck. We chatted with a man from Washington, near Seattle, and a couple from Vernon, B.C.. Afterwards we went to the pool to cool down a bit. It was pleasant, but not very cooling. The pool temperature was 94 degrees. The intense desert sunlight heats up the pool. We collected all our unwanted items and took them to the bargain table, a feature found in all Escapee parks. A place to deposit unwanted items and perhaps find wanted items. And as we dropped off all our unwanted items, we did find a couple of wanted items.
DSK
Thursday ; Oh, gee ... we have just realized that spring break is starting. Time to get the hell out of here ! Today was sunny and warm. We slept late, and had a slow, restful start to the day. I walked on the beach and took some photos. I exchanged some books at the RV park’s library. I found two chiggers on Bo. HMPH ... he hasn't had chiggers since Veracruz. Maybe chiggers live where there's grassy sand dunes ? We unhitched Lanoire from Harvey so that we could go into town and explore. With a mud flap and a bed rail protector missing from Lanoire, and a shredded and half missing lower skirt on Harvey, and an enormous amount of road grime on both, they look like some kind of refugee RV rig. We took Bo to the beach for some beach doughnut fetch play. The air and the water were both warmer today than yesterday, so he played longer than yesterday. But still he became cold after awhile and didn't want to play any more. We sat on the beach in the warm sunshine until he was dry, which didn't take long.
After lunch we drove into town. I refilled with diesel. We replenished groceries at Super Ley. We drove around exploring. We parked in "Old Town" and walked along the malecon. That's when we realized that spring break is starting. All the vendors were heavily stocked with printed t-shirts reading "Spring Break 2009 Drinking Team, Rocky Point, Mexico". We wandered over to the fish market. Oh, for crying out loud ! The price of shrimp here was more than double that of anywhere else !
We decided on the way back to our RV park that we wanted to buy some barbecued chicken for supper. We stopped at a place with a sign reading "pollo ( poyo ) asado al carbon ( carrBONE ) por llevar ( yevar )". Literally that translates as "chicken roasted on charcoal for taking". While paying we noticed that one of the side dishes available was "ensalada de sopa fria". HUH ? What the hell is "cold soup salad" ? ? ? I asked the woman, in Spanish, using not quite that phrasing. She went over to the cooler and pulled out a tub. Oh ... macaroni salad ! Okay ... we bought a tub of ensalada de sopa fria to go with our pollo asado al carbon. When we got back to the RV park we rehitched Lanoire to Harvey to prepare for departure back to the United States tomorrow morning.
We have just returned from the beach ( at 6:45 P.M. ) where we went to watch our final Mexican sunset. It was another spectacular one, with a clear sky and a calm sea so that the sun flared as it sat on the water. Joanne complained that she was "freezing". The temperature was 66 degrees ( rolling eyes ). In the evening I posted a weekly update to my blog.
Friday ; Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico to Gila Bend, Arizona, U.S.A.
Nine weeks, nine thousand kilometres / five thousand five hundred miles around the coast line of Mexico ! That's about the distance from Los Angeles to New York City and back ! The Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Sea of Cortez ! Across fifteen Mexican states, from jungles to beaches to desert ! It was quite an adventure ! Farewell, Mexico ! We enjoyed ourselves ( well ... for the most part ) ! Although ... if I never see another ***ing tope ... it'll be too soon ! It was an adventure ... and a country ... of extremes. When Mexico was good, it was SUPERB ! ! ! But when it was bad ... it was HORRIBLE ! ! !
Today was sunny, warm on the Sea of Cortez coast at Puerto Peñasco, hot in the desert at Gila ( Heela ) Bend. This morning when we were ready to depart I wanted to go on the beach with Bo for a final beach doughnut fetch session. Joanne refused to allow it, because she did not want to go "drivey" with a drenched dog on her lap. We departed Puerto Peñasco and headed northeast on Mex 8 to the U.S. border crossing at Sonoyta. When we got to Sonoyta we had to turn south on Mex 2 and drive about 17 miles to the Mexican Migracion office to turn in our tourist visas and vehicle importation documents and have the vehicle importation sticker removed from the truck's windshield. We drove back to Sonoyta to cross into the United States. Within a couple of hundred feet of the American border, we gave away our last CANADA pencil to a little girl. The line up was longer than we expected, but the actual border crossing was as painless as it's ever been. As we drove up to the U.S. Customs & Border Patrol agent's booth, I handed our passports out the window. The agent scanned them as he asked "are you both Canadian citizens ?" I said "yes", he handed the passports back, and said "okay, buddy" as he waved us through. I refrained from pointing out to him that I wasn't his "buddy" !
Once back in the United States we stopped to have a late picnic lunch in Organ Pipe National Park. We contemplated stopping for the night, but it was too early. We decided to continue north on Hwy. 85 to Ajo ( Aho ). Just after we left Organ Pipe National Park I heard a bit of a thump behind me. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw something fall from the front of the trailer's overhang into the truck bed. I stopped to take a look. It was half of the truck bed rail protector. The double sided tape on the front half of the bed rail protector had let go, the front of the bed rail protector lifted up, and it snapped in half. Well, I guess I now know the expected lifespan of 3M double sided tape ! Now the truck has no bed rail protector on one side, and half a bed rail protector on the other. As if it didn't already look enough like a refugee truck ! When we got to Ajo we decided it was still too early to stop for the night, so we continued north on Hwy. 85 until it reached Interstate 8 at Gila Bend. Phoenix is about an hour northwest of Gila Bend. Tucson is a couple of hours southeast. Yuma is a couple of hours west. We stopped for the night in a very nice, full service, very inexpensive RV park. We pulled into a site and while I hooked up the utilities Joanne went to the office to pay. She noticed as she was walking back to our site that ... Gil's and Maria's rig was in the park. HMPH ... small world ! We did not go over to speak with them, nor did they come over to speak with us, if they even noticed we were here.
I reactivated our U.S. cell phone, with its new Yuma based phone number. A few days ago, I got onto Virgin Mobile's website and "moved" us from La Feria, Texas to Yuma, Arizona. We went for a long walk in the desert with Bo. I like the desert, and I'm glad to be back here. Sunny and hot, but with low humidity. I love it ! The Ocotillo ( Okoteeyo ) have large red blooms on top. The Barrel Cacti have beautiful rose like blooms on them. The Creosote bushes are all covered in little yellow blossoms. I did some Mexico trip accounting. This park has free Wi-Fi so I checked e-mail. Joanne sat outside reading a book until the sun set. Watching the sunset on the desert is almost as nice as watching it set on the sea / ocean. And certainly warmer.
Saturday ; Gila Bend to Yuma, Arizona
Today was a perfect “June 18” day in the desert. HEY ... what happened to the price of diesel ? We refilled with diesel at the service station adjacent to the campground this morning as we departed. The price of diesel was half of what it was when we entered the United States five months ago. We headed west on Interstate 8. WOO-HOO ... what a nice road ! Halfway between Gila Bend and Yuma we came to ... WOO-HOO ... Dateland, Arizona. Our favourite place for date shakes. WOO-HOO ... Bo loves date shakes ! WOO-HOO ... the public restroom toilets have seats on them. God Bless America !
About a mile or so from Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park the scent of lemons entered the truck. WOO-HOO ... the lemon groves all around Kofa Ko-op were in bloom ! As soon as Bo smelled the lemons he knew where we were going. WOO-HOO ... Bo’s favourite RV park of the many hundreds he’s been to. Kofa Ko-op has a two acre fenced dog park in the desert. He’s allowed to romp off leash in the park with his buddies, old and new. We checked in and got set up in a site. It’s like coming home to be here ! And some day it will be our winter home. After three years we’re now number 49 on their waiting list for a permanent site.
I thought it was somewhat unusual when a couple of Japanese Zeros flew over at low altitude this afternoon. I suppose the Yuma Air Show today had something to do with that. I found out reading the newspaper ( tomorrow ) that they were part of an "Attack On Pearl Harbour" re-enactment featured in the Air Show.
Late this afternoon Kofa had a “visitor appreciation” potluck dinner. The permanent residents / lot leaseholders provided the food. The visitors / short term renters like us just ate. After supper we went for a walk around the park, and to the dog park, I got online and checked e-mail, downloaded and processed some photos from the camera to the computer, watched a bit of CNN, and read my first newspaper in over two months. Joanne began work on “spring cleaning” the trailer. I wonder where all that sand came from ... Bo ? ! ?
Sunday ; Another beautiful, sunny, very warm day in the desert. This morning we headed out to Arizona Market Place, the local, large flea market, to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables. From there we drove out to The Foothills, the community on the east side of Yuma, to see if the Griers and the Camerons, our neighbours from Riverside RV Park Resort back home, were still here in Yuma. We knew what RV park they were staying in this winter. Well, their rigs were still in the park but neither couple were home. We left notes. Marlene Grier phoned later in the afternoon and we arranged to meet for dinner tomorrow at Famous Dave's Barbecue, our favourite restaurant in Yuma.
This afternoon I disinfected our fresh water tank. I cleaned inside the toilet plumbing with a special water wand cleaning tool. Messy job, but it's got to be done a couple of times a year. Joanne continued cleaning inside the trailer. I removed the broken half of a bed rail protector left on the truck. Hidden underneath it I discovered a dent in the top rear corner of the truck bed rail. The dent wasn't there when I reattached the bed rail protectors a few months ago in the Rio Grande Valley. That means that at some point on the Mexico trip the overhang on the trailer bumped the top corner of the truck bed rail. I guess that happened when the back of the truck was going up over a tope and the front of the trailer was coming down over a tope. Oh, well, it's just another Mexican "war wound" and it will be hidden underneath the bed rail protector when I buy and install new ones. Lanoire certainly isn't a "virgin" truck any more. She's certainly "been around the block" a few times ! And humped over more than a few topes ! HA HA HA ! I spent much of the afternoon washing the truck. I think it was even filthier than last year when we came out of The Baja. We took Bo to the dog park for a play session. HMPH ... at five years of age his stamina sure isn't what it used to be. Hey, Bo, you're middle aged !
At 6:00 P.M. we went to Kofa's regular Sunday ice cream social. And ate so much ice cream we “ruined our dinner” like a couple of kids. Afterwards ... WOO-HOO ... Amazing Race ! I checked e-mail and retrieved middle of the month updated investment data. I exchanged some books at the library.
Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm. We are in errand mode for the next couple of weeks. Today we spent half a day at Wal-Mart replenishing groceries and supplies and ... everything ! I spent half a day shopping for tires for the truck, both by phone and in person, driving to local tire shops. I made my decision where to buy tires for the truck and tomorrow I'll place my order. We played with Bo in the dog park for awhile before heading off for supper at Famous Dave's Barbecue with our neighbours from back home, Terry and Marlene. We had dinner and chatted with Terry and Marlene until very late in the evening.
Tuesday ; St. Patrick's Day
Today was sunny and hot. I spent the morning on the phone. I ordered the truck tires from Sears. I made a series of phone calls back and forth between Goodyear and a local Goodyear dealer to initiate a warranty claim on the one of the trailer tires. I returned a phone call to a member of the Escapee Okanagan Chapter 33 who had phoned and left a message a few days ago regarding the upcoming Spring Rally which Joanne and I are hosting. I phoned our dentist in Los Algodones, Mexico and made an appointment for a dental cleaning and examination for Joanne. I did a phone evaluation survey of our dinner last night at Famous Dave's Barbecue, earning me a free dessert on our next visit. Last night we had a free dessert, earned from a previous visit, and it was large enough that three of us shared it. I got online and paid our hydro bill from back home.
We spent the afternoon washing the trailer. And we didn't finish today ! We washed the front, rear, and one side, leaving one side for tomorrow. Grimy ! We think that the wax we used last time contributed to the problem. The road grime seems to have become embedded in the old, oxidized layer of wax. When we scrub, the grimy wax sort of smears around and becomes a greasy film. I had to remove a large section of moulding underneath the bedroom / front overhang of the trailer. All the screws in the moulding were either stripped or broken right off from twisting and flexing forces. It needs new hardware.
When we became too tired to do any more trailer washing we took Bo for a sunset walk in the dog park. We noticed a newly arrived rig in the park and thought we recognized it. Yes, it was Barry and Jackie, friends from the Escapees Okanagan Chapter 33. We invited them to come over for a visit after supper. For supper tonight I again cooked filete de dorado con gusto Cajun de Daniel. Excellent, as usual ! We'll be disappointed when we finally run out of dorado fillets.
When Barry and Jackie came over Joanne served fresh strawberries with Con Leche ( Leshay ) on them. Con Leche is a Mexican version of sweetened condensed milk, served as a topping on fruits, or filling for pan dulce / pastries. Of course, at our last large grocery store stop in Mexico, Joanne stripped the grocery store's shelves of all their small squeeze bottles of Con Leche. HA HA HA ! We visited and chatted with Barry and Jackie until late in the evening. They are here just for tonight, and are leaving tomorrow morning to begin their slow trek north back to Canada.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot, with a light breeze bringing the strong fragrance of lemon blossoms into the park. The air was filled with migrating Monarch butterflies.
This morning Joanne worked on making a "heavy appetizer" for this afternoon's social hour / heavy appetizer potluck. Twice when we bought pollo asado in Mexico, it came with a stack of 40 small corn tortillas. We prefer wheat flour tortillas to corn tortillas, so we had 80 corn tortillas we didn't particularly want. Joanne cut them into quarters and baked them into tortilla chips today. She also made a cream cheese and broccoli dip to go along with them. I spent the morning doing minor maintenance, as usual. It's amazing that with the number of screws on the trailer that came loose, stripped, sheared, or fell out, that the trailer didn't just fall apart, like something out of a cartoon !
This afternoon we finished washing the trailer. WHEW ! I lubricated all the weatherstripping around the trailer slides with dry silicone lubricant spray. We went to the late afternoon social hour / heavy appetizer potluck. We chatted with a man from Washington, near Seattle, and a couple from Vernon, B.C.. Afterwards we went to the pool to cool down a bit. It was pleasant, but not very cooling. The pool temperature was 94 degrees. The intense desert sunlight heats up the pool. We collected all our unwanted items and took them to the bargain table, a feature found in all Escapee parks. A place to deposit unwanted items and perhaps find wanted items. And as we dropped off all our unwanted items, we did find a couple of wanted items.
DSK
Thursday, March 12, 2009
March 5 to 11, 2009
March 5 to 11, 2009 ; Las Glorias, Sinaloa to Puerto Peñasco, Sonora
Thursday ; Las Glorias, Sinaloa to Playa Huatabampito, Sonora
Today was sunny and hot, until we arrived at Playa Huatabampito, where there was a cool breeze blowing in off the Sea of Cortez. We left Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Resort in Las Glorias and headed back towards the main highway, Mex 15 at Guasave. At the first village we reached after leaving Las Glorias there was a vulcanizadora. I stopped to get the truck tire fixed. Well, if there is one thing the Mexicans know how to do really well, it's fix tires. They make tires last forever. They don't treat them as disposable items like we Norteamericanos / gringos do. The repair took about 15 minutes. And cost cinquenta ( 50 ) pesos / $3.75 ! ! ! And they did an old fashioned vulcanization repair, using heat and pressure to squeeze a melting rubber patch into the puncture from inside the tire. Not a cold glue patch like in the United States and Canada. I don't think they do vulcanization repairs any more in the U.S. and Canada, do they ? The large screw that they pulled out of the tire looked suspiciously familiar. Sure enough, when I looked under the front wheel well, the screw that they had pulled out of the tire matched the screws mounting the mud flap ... and there was one screw missing !
Next door to the vulcanizadora was a school. While I was waiting for the tire to be repaired the children came out for recess. A group of teenaged boys gathered near the fence, and seeing a gringo, practiced their English by shouting "Hey, Mister, give us some candy". Well, at least they didn't ask me to give them money, as Mexican children have done before. I responded to them in Spanish, saying "Sorry, I don't understand, I don't speak English". HA HA HA ... they thought that was very funny !
Bo spent the day sleeping in the truck as we drove. We spend days on the beaches getting rested from the tiring days of driving. Bo spends days of driving getting rested from the tiring days on the beaches. HA HA HA ! As we crossed from the state of Sinaloa into the state of Sonora we were stopped and inspected again at a food inspection station. Again, they were concerned about our fruit. All we had were the little BOnanas, which they allowed us to keep. Our planned destination for today was the inland city of Navojoa, but as we arrived there Joanne thought it was early enough in the day to head west out to a beach campground about 50 km. / 30 miles away. So, once again, we're camped on the beach. We drove out to the little coastal town of Huatabampo, and then a bit beyond to the little beach village of Playa Huatabampito, where we stopped for the night at El Mirador Restaurant, Hotel, & RV Park.
As we drove out to the coast we passed farm fields. Having been raised in Manitoba, I found it very odd to see fields of flax almost ready for harvest ... in early March !
We got set up in a site, then I remounted the repaired tire as the spare underneath the truck. We went for a long walk along the beach. Bo obviously wanted to play in the surf with his beach doughnut, but we thought it was a bit too late in the afternoon to allow him to get soaking wet then covered in sand. Maybe tomorrow, Bo. The El Mirador management was offering a free margarita to the guests of the RV park tonight, so we went to the hotel bar / restaurant where we joined a table of five other gringos from the RV park. There was a total of 15 people in the restaurant. Seven gringos from the RV park, 3 Mexicans, and 5 members of a mariachi band that were performing. We listened to the music briefly, took a few sips of our very strong margaritas, then returned to the trailer to barbecue supper. There was free Wi-Fi, and it reached the trailer, so I got online, retrieved e-mail, and verified an electronic funds transfer from our investment broker to our bank account. Great ... now we have money in the bank again and can withdraw from an ATM. We're almost out of pesos.
Friday ; Playa Huatabampito to San Carlos, Sonora
Today was lightly overcast and warm. It's definitely getting cooler as we drive north each day. This morning before departing I did the 114,000 km. inspection on the truck, and replaced the screw that came out of the mud flap and ended up in the tire. We departed Playa Huatabampito, returned through Huatabampo, where we stopped to replenish groceries at a Ley Supermarket, and headed for the small city of Navojoa where we stopped to refill a water jug at an agua purificado refill place. We headed north on Mex 15 towards Ciudad Obregon. When we came to a split between the "free" road and the toll road, we turned onto the "free" road, but it was in such atrocious condition we turned back after a few miles and returned to the toll road.
We passed from farm lands into desert. Mesquite trees, Cardon and Saguaro cacti with big yellow blooms on top. We drove through Ciudad Obregon, and through Guaymas on our way to San Carlos. We were disappointed in San Carlos.
Our destination was Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos. It's a large park, with full services. Well, except for the non-existent water pressure. Free Wi-Fi and ... American cable TV ! First time we've watched TV since entering Mexico two months ago. We got set up in our site then went to see the beach "across the street". Well, across the street was a high concrete wall with steps leading down to a narrow pebble beach. Not exactly what we were hoping for. Joanne wanted to walk into San Carlos, believing from our guide book description that it was a quaint little seaside town. Well, not really ! It's a small city, nothing unique or special about it. We walked back to the RV park, tired and sore feet. We had planned to spend two nights here, but I think we'll move on tomorrow, and hope that the next place is more appealing.
Saturday ; San Carlos to Bahía Kino, Sonora
Today was sunny and warm, but each day of driving north brings cooler temperatures, especially in the evening. We departed San Carlos this morning heading north on Mex 15. At the intersection with Son 61 ( Sonora state highway 61 ) we refilled with diesel, then headed northwest on Son 61. As we headed deeper into the Sonoran desert the terrain began looking more and more similar to Arizona, which is only a few hundred miles north now. Mesa topped mountains, Palo Verde trees, Cholla, Pitayaha Dulce, and Ocotillo cacti in bloom, orange, lemon, and pecan groves, and roadrunners dashing across the road. BEEP BEEP ! It's interesting that in Mexico the Pitahaya cacti are named for their taste ; Pitahaya Dulce ( Sweet ) and Pitahaya Agria ( Sour ). In the U.S. the same cactus is named for its appearance ; Organ Pipe Cactus.
We turned west on Mex 16 and drove to the town of Bahía Kino / Kino Bay. The "real" town is called Kino Viejo ( Old ), and the long strip along the beach front where all the tourism development is, is called Kino Nuevo ( New ). We found our way to Kino Bay RV Park, one of the extremely few Passport America affiliated RV parks in Mexico. We parked in their front entranceway, had lunch, wandered around the park selecting a site, and wandered down to the lovely beach across the street while we waited for the office to re-open after their two hour lunch break, common in Mexico. After getting set up in a site we unhitched the truck from the trailer so that we can go exploring tomorrow. Joanne went to do laundry ... lots of it ... at the RV park's self service laundromat, a rarity in Mexico. I read and napped. I was tired after driving six of the last seven days. While the park only honours the Passport America rate for two nights, I think we'll stay here for three nights, get well rested, explore the area, and have lots of beach doughnut play time.
We went for a long walk on the beach to watch the sun set. The sand was cool. Just a few days ago the sand was too hot to walk on. I found some pretty conch shells. This was the first beach where I found conch shells.
We will be back in the United States in a week, so we have begun to use up the foods that we will not be able to take across the border. Joanne asked me to cook omelettes tonight to use up our eggs. I'm the designated egg dish cooker in our family. This afternoon a camione de frutas y verduras ( fruits and vegetables truck ) came into the campground. Joanne bought herself some fresh asparagus. I cooked an asparagus, ham, and cheese omelette for her, and a shrimp, zucchini, onion, and cheese omelette for me. Uh-oh ... I'm out of shrimp. Tomorrow we'll go down to the fisherman's dock in Kino Viejo and hopefully I will be able to buy more shrimp.
Sunday ; Today was cloudy and warm. Coldest day in the last two months ! Had to wear long pants ! I spent the morning doing minor maintenance and repairs on the trailer. I reattached a piece of moulding on the outside, and a piece of moulding on the inside. Two months of bouncing, twisting, and flexing on Mexico's roads have taken a toll on Harvey the trailer, resulting in an enormous amount of wear and tear, loose screws, stripped screw holes, etc.. But no major problems, no broken suspension components, no brake problems, no axle problems. Many of the fifth wheel trailers that travel through Mexico experience broken suspension components, ruined brakes, bent or broken axles. With only three more driving days back to the United States, it seems likely that Harvey and Lanoire will both survive Mexico with no serious problems. And it seems likely that Teddy will make it as well. A few months ago, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, we thought Teddy would likely not live long enough to make it through the Mexico trip.
After lunch we drove through Kino Nuevo and into Kino Viejo, down to the waterfront. There were many fishermen selling their catches. Huge shrimp ! Humongous oysters ! Lots of different types of freshly caught fish. I wanted some shrimp. I bought a bag of 17 shrimp, heads off, weighing 800 grams ! By the traditional method of specifying shrimp size, that's 9 to 10 shrimp per pound ! ! ! And that's with the weight of the heads already removed. Shrimp are usually weighed and sold with the heads on. These are the largest shrimp I've ever seen ! We walked out on the long dock and I took some photos. We drove around town, drove through the one RV park in the "old town" to check it out, and stopped to wander around the vendor booths set up around the town square. We drove back into Kino Nuevo and went to the small Seri Indian Museum. Beautiful, large ironwood carvings which the local Seri Indians are noted for. There were many vendors along the dock in Kino Viejo selling small ironwood carvings.
With no sun, it seemed not quite warm enough for an afternoon of romping in the surf. Bo seemed a bit disappointed when we walked on the beach yesterday at sunset. He now believes that beach time must include "beach doughnut" fetching. All day today he seemed to be waiting for beach play time. Maybe tomorrow, Bo. We read and napped instead. A few drops of rain fell for a few minutes.
Monday ; Bahía Kino to Santa Ana, Sonora
I knew as soon as I typed yesterday's journal entry that I shouldn't be counting my chickens before they hatch ! Sure enough, we had a trailer tire explode today, causing extensive damage to the trailer in the process.
We had decided yesterday that if this morning was sunny and hot we would stay in Bahía Kino. If it wasn't sunny and hot we would move on. This morning was cloudy and warm, temperature in the low 70's, about fifteen to twenty degrees cooler than we've had up until a few days ago. We hitched up and left. We stopped in Kino Viejo to buy some pan dulce at the town's small panaderia, and to refill an empty trailer propane tank. We headed west on Son 100 to Hermosillo. It was a bit confusing getting through and around Hermosillo. Lots of road construction with detours, and consequently inadequate road signage. At the best of times Mexico's road signage leaves a lot to be desired. At Hermosillo we stopped at a Pemex, refilled with diesel, and adjusted the air pressure in all the truck and trailer tires. Well, except for the truck tire that is missing its valve extender. I'm left wondering if there's a relationship between the adjustment of the tire pressures and the trailer tire blowout later in the day ? Probably not ... I hope !
From Hermosillo we headed north on Mex 15 once again. The road was in perfect condition. The tire pressures were correct. BLAM ! I felt and heard the trailer tire explode. I looked in the mirror just in time to see fiberglass debris and insulation flying up beside the trailer. I limped along very slowly for a minute or two until there was a ranch entrance road that I was able to pull into. Gee, after all the horrendous road conditions we've experienced in Mexico, why would the tire explode now, on a good road, with correct air pressure ? ! ? ( sigh ) The trailer's lower fiberglass skirt was demolished, the front half blown completely away, the rear half left jagged and ragged. The tire was in shreds, completely self-destructed ! Some electrical wiring underneath the trailer was ripped apart. The fiberglass insulation and waterproof cloth sheeting underneath the wheel well was blown off by the exploding tire. Two metal mounting brackets were twisted and mangled. Some plumbing had become exposed underneath where the waterproof cloth sheeting and fiberglass insulation had been, but the pipes were undamaged. The side moulding joining the trailer's side wall to the lower skirt was damaged. It took me two hours to make a temporary repair to secure the exposed plumbing pipes, cut away remnants of waterproof cloth sheeting, remove the mangled brackets, temporarily repair the side moulding, tape the broken electrical wiring, and finally, change the tire. And the trailer's spare was the damaged tire that sustained a deep cut somewhere back by La Peñita de Jaltemba. So now we have no spare tire, and a badly damaged tire on the trailer.
We continued on to Santa Ana where we stopped for the night in a small, friendly RV park. We got set up in a site, then all the occupants of the park spontaneously gathered around for a chat. One of the couples here is from Oliver, a town very close to our home town of Keremeos. One of the couples is from Quebec. And one of the couples is from New Mexico ... but the man can speak French ! Very unusual for an American to speak French, especially one from as far south as New Mexico.
If we drive straight north from here, we are one day of driving away from Tucson, Arizona, where we should easily be able to buy two new trailer tires. But we really would like to go west, to Puerto Peñasco on the northern tip of the Sea of Cortez for one last beach stop. That would mean we would have three more days of driving until we would reach Yuma, Arizona. It seems awfully risky to try driving for three more days on a cut tire with no spare. Tomorrow morning we’ll drive twelve miles north to the small city of Magdalena and try to buy two new trailer tires there before heading west to Puerto Peñasco. If we can’t find trailer tires in Magdalena, well, then ... ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Santa Ana to Puerto Peñasco, Sonora
Well, on these last few days of our Mexican adventure, the "road casualties" are certainly piling up ! I have just noticed ( at 8:40 P.M. ) that the bed rail protector on one side of the truck is missing. I guess at some point today it was pulled off by wind ( sigh ). The campground we are in tonight is populated by a lot of drunk, loud, obnoxious ... people who are neither Mexican nor Canadian ! After watching the sunset we walked over to the restaurant adjacent to the RV park. It's an upscale restaurant ... with fairly high prices ... listed on the menu in American dollars ! Most of the clientele in the restaurant ... men and women ... were wearing baseball caps while dining ! I guess we're getting close !
Today was sunny and very warm. This morning the friendly, helpful campground owner, who spoke English well, gave me directions to find the two tire dealers in the small city of Magdalena, twelve miles north. The first one was a Michelin dealer, and they were not able to help me. The second one was a Goodyear dealer. The manager spoke a bit of English and was very eager to be helpful ... and sell some tires. My preferred trailer tires are Goodyear Marathon ST ( Special Trailer ). I had been led to believe that ST tires of any brand simply are not available in Mexico. That's also what the Goodyear manager told me. The closest he could come were Goodyear Wrangler LT ( Light Truck ), same load range / weight rating, one size ( 10 mm. ) wider. Under the circumstances, and given my limited options, I thought it prudent to buy two. "P" designated tires for passenger cars are just not strong enough for a heavy fifth wheel trailer, but LT tires for light trucks should be okay ... I hope. I have Goodyear Wrangler tires on Lanoire, and they have been excellent. We negotiated a bit, and I bought two new Wrangler LT tires for the same price as I paid for Marathon ST tires on sale at Camping World in Albuquerque, New Mexico two years ago. Seemed fair and reasonable !
We were planning to backtrack twelve miles to Santa Ana and then head west from there on Mex 2 towards Puerto Peñasco on the Sea of Cortez, our final beach, and final destination in Mexico. But while I was having the tires installed, Joanne figured out on the map how to get to Mex 2 from Magdalena down desert back roads without having to backtrack to Santa Ana, and bypass a toll booth in the process. Well done ! Away we went !
At the town of Altar I saw a ferreteria ( hardware store ). I stopped and purchased a couple of pipe clamps to mount on the two plumbing lines that were ripped loose under the trailer by yesterday's tire blowout. This afternoon we drove through an area of thick Saguaro cactus "forest", not surprising because the area was a couple of hundred miles directly south of Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona. Then we drove through agricultural lands, with vineyards, and fields of asparagus. Then it was an area of thick Pitahaya Dulce cactus "forest", a couple of hundred miles directly south of Organ Pipe National Park in Arizona. We will be returning to the United States near Organ Pipe National Park. We arrived in Puerto Peñasco late in the afternoon, found our way to Playa Bonita RV Park, checked in and set up, then went with Bo to see the beach. WOO-HOO ... Bo thought ... beach doughnut play time ! Sorry, Bo ... too cool and too late in the day. Tomorrow / mañana !
We're a bit disappointed in this, our final beach stop in Mexico. Except for the space occupied by this very large ( and expensive ) RV Park the beach is filled with wall to wall high rise condos. Certainly not at all like the secluded beaches south of Mazatlán. The ( ahem ) neighbours are not quite what we've been accustomed to ( raising eyebrows ). The beach is ... a bit rocky. Puerto Peñasco is known by ( ahem ) many of the people who come here as Rocky Point. There's a large rocky point, of course, and lots of rock "reef" in the sand. We walked along the beach at low tide trying to determine a safe place to play "beach doughnut" where Bo wouldn't be at risk of getting hurt on rocks.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm, although the breeze off the Sea of Cortez was a bit cool. We slept late. We took our last anti-malaria tablets. I hope it's not another case of counting my chickens before they're hatched to assume that we will have made it all the way around the Mexico coast line without contracting malaria.
I spent the morning working on minor repairs. The list of wear and tear repairs to be done on the truck and trailer is huge, even though I try to take care of the simple stuff on a daily basis. Most of what still needs to be done must wait until I can get supplies, at automotive, hardware, and RV supply stores. I reinstalled the chrome trim rings on the trailer wheels with the two new tires. I compared the specifications between the Marathon ST tires and the Wrangler LT tires. HMPH ... the Marathon ST tires actually have a slightly higher weight bearing capacity than the Wrangler LT tires. I guess the priority in the manufacture of ST trailer tires is weight bearing capacity. So even though the LT tires are more "heavy duty", the ST tires can support slightly more weight. Joanne worked on removing the double sided tape left behind when the truck bed rail protector blew off. I installed a couple of pipe clamps on the plumbing lines left exposed by the damage caused by the exploding tire. I reinstalled a couple of sections of baseboard moulding inside the trailer that had been knocked loose by the exploding tire. The force of the tire exploding upwards, underneath the floor and side wall of the trailer, was severe enough to knock off a couple of sections of interior moulding. We have heard of incidents of exploding trailer tires punching right up through the floor of the trailer.
As I had promised Bo, we spent part of the afternoon playing on the beach. Although he did not want to play beach doughnut fetch for very long. I think the water was a bit too cold for him. We sat for awhile on the beach, enjoying the warm sunshine. The sand here is a bit coarse, with tiny ground up fragments of shells. We went back to the trailer, read and napped. At 6:30 P.M. we went back to the beach to watch the sunset, then went for a long walk around the large RV park. Tonight I tried a new way of barbecuing some of my gigantic Bahía Kino shrimp. Well ... Teddy certainly approves of Cajun seasoning on shrimp !
DSK
Thursday ; Las Glorias, Sinaloa to Playa Huatabampito, Sonora
Today was sunny and hot, until we arrived at Playa Huatabampito, where there was a cool breeze blowing in off the Sea of Cortez. We left Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Resort in Las Glorias and headed back towards the main highway, Mex 15 at Guasave. At the first village we reached after leaving Las Glorias there was a vulcanizadora. I stopped to get the truck tire fixed. Well, if there is one thing the Mexicans know how to do really well, it's fix tires. They make tires last forever. They don't treat them as disposable items like we Norteamericanos / gringos do. The repair took about 15 minutes. And cost cinquenta ( 50 ) pesos / $3.75 ! ! ! And they did an old fashioned vulcanization repair, using heat and pressure to squeeze a melting rubber patch into the puncture from inside the tire. Not a cold glue patch like in the United States and Canada. I don't think they do vulcanization repairs any more in the U.S. and Canada, do they ? The large screw that they pulled out of the tire looked suspiciously familiar. Sure enough, when I looked under the front wheel well, the screw that they had pulled out of the tire matched the screws mounting the mud flap ... and there was one screw missing !
Next door to the vulcanizadora was a school. While I was waiting for the tire to be repaired the children came out for recess. A group of teenaged boys gathered near the fence, and seeing a gringo, practiced their English by shouting "Hey, Mister, give us some candy". Well, at least they didn't ask me to give them money, as Mexican children have done before. I responded to them in Spanish, saying "Sorry, I don't understand, I don't speak English". HA HA HA ... they thought that was very funny !
Bo spent the day sleeping in the truck as we drove. We spend days on the beaches getting rested from the tiring days of driving. Bo spends days of driving getting rested from the tiring days on the beaches. HA HA HA ! As we crossed from the state of Sinaloa into the state of Sonora we were stopped and inspected again at a food inspection station. Again, they were concerned about our fruit. All we had were the little BOnanas, which they allowed us to keep. Our planned destination for today was the inland city of Navojoa, but as we arrived there Joanne thought it was early enough in the day to head west out to a beach campground about 50 km. / 30 miles away. So, once again, we're camped on the beach. We drove out to the little coastal town of Huatabampo, and then a bit beyond to the little beach village of Playa Huatabampito, where we stopped for the night at El Mirador Restaurant, Hotel, & RV Park.
As we drove out to the coast we passed farm fields. Having been raised in Manitoba, I found it very odd to see fields of flax almost ready for harvest ... in early March !
We got set up in a site, then I remounted the repaired tire as the spare underneath the truck. We went for a long walk along the beach. Bo obviously wanted to play in the surf with his beach doughnut, but we thought it was a bit too late in the afternoon to allow him to get soaking wet then covered in sand. Maybe tomorrow, Bo. The El Mirador management was offering a free margarita to the guests of the RV park tonight, so we went to the hotel bar / restaurant where we joined a table of five other gringos from the RV park. There was a total of 15 people in the restaurant. Seven gringos from the RV park, 3 Mexicans, and 5 members of a mariachi band that were performing. We listened to the music briefly, took a few sips of our very strong margaritas, then returned to the trailer to barbecue supper. There was free Wi-Fi, and it reached the trailer, so I got online, retrieved e-mail, and verified an electronic funds transfer from our investment broker to our bank account. Great ... now we have money in the bank again and can withdraw from an ATM. We're almost out of pesos.
Friday ; Playa Huatabampito to San Carlos, Sonora
Today was lightly overcast and warm. It's definitely getting cooler as we drive north each day. This morning before departing I did the 114,000 km. inspection on the truck, and replaced the screw that came out of the mud flap and ended up in the tire. We departed Playa Huatabampito, returned through Huatabampo, where we stopped to replenish groceries at a Ley Supermarket, and headed for the small city of Navojoa where we stopped to refill a water jug at an agua purificado refill place. We headed north on Mex 15 towards Ciudad Obregon. When we came to a split between the "free" road and the toll road, we turned onto the "free" road, but it was in such atrocious condition we turned back after a few miles and returned to the toll road.
We passed from farm lands into desert. Mesquite trees, Cardon and Saguaro cacti with big yellow blooms on top. We drove through Ciudad Obregon, and through Guaymas on our way to San Carlos. We were disappointed in San Carlos.
Our destination was Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos. It's a large park, with full services. Well, except for the non-existent water pressure. Free Wi-Fi and ... American cable TV ! First time we've watched TV since entering Mexico two months ago. We got set up in our site then went to see the beach "across the street". Well, across the street was a high concrete wall with steps leading down to a narrow pebble beach. Not exactly what we were hoping for. Joanne wanted to walk into San Carlos, believing from our guide book description that it was a quaint little seaside town. Well, not really ! It's a small city, nothing unique or special about it. We walked back to the RV park, tired and sore feet. We had planned to spend two nights here, but I think we'll move on tomorrow, and hope that the next place is more appealing.
Saturday ; San Carlos to Bahía Kino, Sonora
Today was sunny and warm, but each day of driving north brings cooler temperatures, especially in the evening. We departed San Carlos this morning heading north on Mex 15. At the intersection with Son 61 ( Sonora state highway 61 ) we refilled with diesel, then headed northwest on Son 61. As we headed deeper into the Sonoran desert the terrain began looking more and more similar to Arizona, which is only a few hundred miles north now. Mesa topped mountains, Palo Verde trees, Cholla, Pitayaha Dulce, and Ocotillo cacti in bloom, orange, lemon, and pecan groves, and roadrunners dashing across the road. BEEP BEEP ! It's interesting that in Mexico the Pitahaya cacti are named for their taste ; Pitahaya Dulce ( Sweet ) and Pitahaya Agria ( Sour ). In the U.S. the same cactus is named for its appearance ; Organ Pipe Cactus.
We turned west on Mex 16 and drove to the town of Bahía Kino / Kino Bay. The "real" town is called Kino Viejo ( Old ), and the long strip along the beach front where all the tourism development is, is called Kino Nuevo ( New ). We found our way to Kino Bay RV Park, one of the extremely few Passport America affiliated RV parks in Mexico. We parked in their front entranceway, had lunch, wandered around the park selecting a site, and wandered down to the lovely beach across the street while we waited for the office to re-open after their two hour lunch break, common in Mexico. After getting set up in a site we unhitched the truck from the trailer so that we can go exploring tomorrow. Joanne went to do laundry ... lots of it ... at the RV park's self service laundromat, a rarity in Mexico. I read and napped. I was tired after driving six of the last seven days. While the park only honours the Passport America rate for two nights, I think we'll stay here for three nights, get well rested, explore the area, and have lots of beach doughnut play time.
We went for a long walk on the beach to watch the sun set. The sand was cool. Just a few days ago the sand was too hot to walk on. I found some pretty conch shells. This was the first beach where I found conch shells.
We will be back in the United States in a week, so we have begun to use up the foods that we will not be able to take across the border. Joanne asked me to cook omelettes tonight to use up our eggs. I'm the designated egg dish cooker in our family. This afternoon a camione de frutas y verduras ( fruits and vegetables truck ) came into the campground. Joanne bought herself some fresh asparagus. I cooked an asparagus, ham, and cheese omelette for her, and a shrimp, zucchini, onion, and cheese omelette for me. Uh-oh ... I'm out of shrimp. Tomorrow we'll go down to the fisherman's dock in Kino Viejo and hopefully I will be able to buy more shrimp.
Sunday ; Today was cloudy and warm. Coldest day in the last two months ! Had to wear long pants ! I spent the morning doing minor maintenance and repairs on the trailer. I reattached a piece of moulding on the outside, and a piece of moulding on the inside. Two months of bouncing, twisting, and flexing on Mexico's roads have taken a toll on Harvey the trailer, resulting in an enormous amount of wear and tear, loose screws, stripped screw holes, etc.. But no major problems, no broken suspension components, no brake problems, no axle problems. Many of the fifth wheel trailers that travel through Mexico experience broken suspension components, ruined brakes, bent or broken axles. With only three more driving days back to the United States, it seems likely that Harvey and Lanoire will both survive Mexico with no serious problems. And it seems likely that Teddy will make it as well. A few months ago, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, we thought Teddy would likely not live long enough to make it through the Mexico trip.
After lunch we drove through Kino Nuevo and into Kino Viejo, down to the waterfront. There were many fishermen selling their catches. Huge shrimp ! Humongous oysters ! Lots of different types of freshly caught fish. I wanted some shrimp. I bought a bag of 17 shrimp, heads off, weighing 800 grams ! By the traditional method of specifying shrimp size, that's 9 to 10 shrimp per pound ! ! ! And that's with the weight of the heads already removed. Shrimp are usually weighed and sold with the heads on. These are the largest shrimp I've ever seen ! We walked out on the long dock and I took some photos. We drove around town, drove through the one RV park in the "old town" to check it out, and stopped to wander around the vendor booths set up around the town square. We drove back into Kino Nuevo and went to the small Seri Indian Museum. Beautiful, large ironwood carvings which the local Seri Indians are noted for. There were many vendors along the dock in Kino Viejo selling small ironwood carvings.
With no sun, it seemed not quite warm enough for an afternoon of romping in the surf. Bo seemed a bit disappointed when we walked on the beach yesterday at sunset. He now believes that beach time must include "beach doughnut" fetching. All day today he seemed to be waiting for beach play time. Maybe tomorrow, Bo. We read and napped instead. A few drops of rain fell for a few minutes.
Monday ; Bahía Kino to Santa Ana, Sonora
I knew as soon as I typed yesterday's journal entry that I shouldn't be counting my chickens before they hatch ! Sure enough, we had a trailer tire explode today, causing extensive damage to the trailer in the process.
We had decided yesterday that if this morning was sunny and hot we would stay in Bahía Kino. If it wasn't sunny and hot we would move on. This morning was cloudy and warm, temperature in the low 70's, about fifteen to twenty degrees cooler than we've had up until a few days ago. We hitched up and left. We stopped in Kino Viejo to buy some pan dulce at the town's small panaderia, and to refill an empty trailer propane tank. We headed west on Son 100 to Hermosillo. It was a bit confusing getting through and around Hermosillo. Lots of road construction with detours, and consequently inadequate road signage. At the best of times Mexico's road signage leaves a lot to be desired. At Hermosillo we stopped at a Pemex, refilled with diesel, and adjusted the air pressure in all the truck and trailer tires. Well, except for the truck tire that is missing its valve extender. I'm left wondering if there's a relationship between the adjustment of the tire pressures and the trailer tire blowout later in the day ? Probably not ... I hope !
From Hermosillo we headed north on Mex 15 once again. The road was in perfect condition. The tire pressures were correct. BLAM ! I felt and heard the trailer tire explode. I looked in the mirror just in time to see fiberglass debris and insulation flying up beside the trailer. I limped along very slowly for a minute or two until there was a ranch entrance road that I was able to pull into. Gee, after all the horrendous road conditions we've experienced in Mexico, why would the tire explode now, on a good road, with correct air pressure ? ! ? ( sigh ) The trailer's lower fiberglass skirt was demolished, the front half blown completely away, the rear half left jagged and ragged. The tire was in shreds, completely self-destructed ! Some electrical wiring underneath the trailer was ripped apart. The fiberglass insulation and waterproof cloth sheeting underneath the wheel well was blown off by the exploding tire. Two metal mounting brackets were twisted and mangled. Some plumbing had become exposed underneath where the waterproof cloth sheeting and fiberglass insulation had been, but the pipes were undamaged. The side moulding joining the trailer's side wall to the lower skirt was damaged. It took me two hours to make a temporary repair to secure the exposed plumbing pipes, cut away remnants of waterproof cloth sheeting, remove the mangled brackets, temporarily repair the side moulding, tape the broken electrical wiring, and finally, change the tire. And the trailer's spare was the damaged tire that sustained a deep cut somewhere back by La Peñita de Jaltemba. So now we have no spare tire, and a badly damaged tire on the trailer.
We continued on to Santa Ana where we stopped for the night in a small, friendly RV park. We got set up in a site, then all the occupants of the park spontaneously gathered around for a chat. One of the couples here is from Oliver, a town very close to our home town of Keremeos. One of the couples is from Quebec. And one of the couples is from New Mexico ... but the man can speak French ! Very unusual for an American to speak French, especially one from as far south as New Mexico.
If we drive straight north from here, we are one day of driving away from Tucson, Arizona, where we should easily be able to buy two new trailer tires. But we really would like to go west, to Puerto Peñasco on the northern tip of the Sea of Cortez for one last beach stop. That would mean we would have three more days of driving until we would reach Yuma, Arizona. It seems awfully risky to try driving for three more days on a cut tire with no spare. Tomorrow morning we’ll drive twelve miles north to the small city of Magdalena and try to buy two new trailer tires there before heading west to Puerto Peñasco. If we can’t find trailer tires in Magdalena, well, then ... ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Santa Ana to Puerto Peñasco, Sonora
Well, on these last few days of our Mexican adventure, the "road casualties" are certainly piling up ! I have just noticed ( at 8:40 P.M. ) that the bed rail protector on one side of the truck is missing. I guess at some point today it was pulled off by wind ( sigh ). The campground we are in tonight is populated by a lot of drunk, loud, obnoxious ... people who are neither Mexican nor Canadian ! After watching the sunset we walked over to the restaurant adjacent to the RV park. It's an upscale restaurant ... with fairly high prices ... listed on the menu in American dollars ! Most of the clientele in the restaurant ... men and women ... were wearing baseball caps while dining ! I guess we're getting close !
Today was sunny and very warm. This morning the friendly, helpful campground owner, who spoke English well, gave me directions to find the two tire dealers in the small city of Magdalena, twelve miles north. The first one was a Michelin dealer, and they were not able to help me. The second one was a Goodyear dealer. The manager spoke a bit of English and was very eager to be helpful ... and sell some tires. My preferred trailer tires are Goodyear Marathon ST ( Special Trailer ). I had been led to believe that ST tires of any brand simply are not available in Mexico. That's also what the Goodyear manager told me. The closest he could come were Goodyear Wrangler LT ( Light Truck ), same load range / weight rating, one size ( 10 mm. ) wider. Under the circumstances, and given my limited options, I thought it prudent to buy two. "P" designated tires for passenger cars are just not strong enough for a heavy fifth wheel trailer, but LT tires for light trucks should be okay ... I hope. I have Goodyear Wrangler tires on Lanoire, and they have been excellent. We negotiated a bit, and I bought two new Wrangler LT tires for the same price as I paid for Marathon ST tires on sale at Camping World in Albuquerque, New Mexico two years ago. Seemed fair and reasonable !
We were planning to backtrack twelve miles to Santa Ana and then head west from there on Mex 2 towards Puerto Peñasco on the Sea of Cortez, our final beach, and final destination in Mexico. But while I was having the tires installed, Joanne figured out on the map how to get to Mex 2 from Magdalena down desert back roads without having to backtrack to Santa Ana, and bypass a toll booth in the process. Well done ! Away we went !
At the town of Altar I saw a ferreteria ( hardware store ). I stopped and purchased a couple of pipe clamps to mount on the two plumbing lines that were ripped loose under the trailer by yesterday's tire blowout. This afternoon we drove through an area of thick Saguaro cactus "forest", not surprising because the area was a couple of hundred miles directly south of Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona. Then we drove through agricultural lands, with vineyards, and fields of asparagus. Then it was an area of thick Pitahaya Dulce cactus "forest", a couple of hundred miles directly south of Organ Pipe National Park in Arizona. We will be returning to the United States near Organ Pipe National Park. We arrived in Puerto Peñasco late in the afternoon, found our way to Playa Bonita RV Park, checked in and set up, then went with Bo to see the beach. WOO-HOO ... Bo thought ... beach doughnut play time ! Sorry, Bo ... too cool and too late in the day. Tomorrow / mañana !
We're a bit disappointed in this, our final beach stop in Mexico. Except for the space occupied by this very large ( and expensive ) RV Park the beach is filled with wall to wall high rise condos. Certainly not at all like the secluded beaches south of Mazatlán. The ( ahem ) neighbours are not quite what we've been accustomed to ( raising eyebrows ). The beach is ... a bit rocky. Puerto Peñasco is known by ( ahem ) many of the people who come here as Rocky Point. There's a large rocky point, of course, and lots of rock "reef" in the sand. We walked along the beach at low tide trying to determine a safe place to play "beach doughnut" where Bo wouldn't be at risk of getting hurt on rocks.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm, although the breeze off the Sea of Cortez was a bit cool. We slept late. We took our last anti-malaria tablets. I hope it's not another case of counting my chickens before they're hatched to assume that we will have made it all the way around the Mexico coast line without contracting malaria.
I spent the morning working on minor repairs. The list of wear and tear repairs to be done on the truck and trailer is huge, even though I try to take care of the simple stuff on a daily basis. Most of what still needs to be done must wait until I can get supplies, at automotive, hardware, and RV supply stores. I reinstalled the chrome trim rings on the trailer wheels with the two new tires. I compared the specifications between the Marathon ST tires and the Wrangler LT tires. HMPH ... the Marathon ST tires actually have a slightly higher weight bearing capacity than the Wrangler LT tires. I guess the priority in the manufacture of ST trailer tires is weight bearing capacity. So even though the LT tires are more "heavy duty", the ST tires can support slightly more weight. Joanne worked on removing the double sided tape left behind when the truck bed rail protector blew off. I installed a couple of pipe clamps on the plumbing lines left exposed by the damage caused by the exploding tire. I reinstalled a couple of sections of baseboard moulding inside the trailer that had been knocked loose by the exploding tire. The force of the tire exploding upwards, underneath the floor and side wall of the trailer, was severe enough to knock off a couple of sections of interior moulding. We have heard of incidents of exploding trailer tires punching right up through the floor of the trailer.
As I had promised Bo, we spent part of the afternoon playing on the beach. Although he did not want to play beach doughnut fetch for very long. I think the water was a bit too cold for him. We sat for awhile on the beach, enjoying the warm sunshine. The sand here is a bit coarse, with tiny ground up fragments of shells. We went back to the trailer, read and napped. At 6:30 P.M. we went back to the beach to watch the sunset, then went for a long walk around the large RV park. Tonight I tried a new way of barbecuing some of my gigantic Bahía Kino shrimp. Well ... Teddy certainly approves of Cajun seasoning on shrimp !
DSK
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
February 26 to March 4, 2009
February 26 to March 4, 2009 ; La Peñita de Jaltemba, Nayarit to Las Glorias, Sinaloa
Thursday ; La Peñita de Jaltemba, Nayarit to Teacapán, Sinaloa
WOW ... I think I've finally found the beachside RV resort I've been looking for on this entire trip !
Today was very hot ... but the much lower humidity along the west Pacific coast makes the weather quite pleasant. And the nights are cooler. Today was a long day that started out very poorly but ended superbly ! This morning as we were preparing for departure I noticed a severe cut on one of the trailer tires. About six inches long, very deep, through the tread and into the steel belts underneath. Before leaving the campground I changed the tire, putting on the trailer's brand new spare tire. I hate changing tires ! But much better to change a tire in a campground than have it blow out on the road, probably damaging the trailer's lower fiberglass skirt, as has happened in the past, and have to dangerously change a tire on the side of a road with no shoulders. Hopefully I won't need to use the damaged tire which is now the spare before we get to Yuma, Arizona, where I will buy a new tire.
We had three routes to choose from today to get to where we were going. We could take the toll road through the mountains, a good road, but steep, winding, and expensive. We could take the free road through the mountains, a poor road, also steep and winding. Or we could meander along the coast line, on back roads, passing through many interesting little villages. We chose the coast roads. At the first village we passed through we stopped on the side of the road to buy some interesting looking coconut confections. They are called cocada de leche. They're difficult to describe. They are made of a mixture of coconut and milk or cream, with toasted coconut on top, and a very thin layer underneath of ... we think it's pineapple pulp and sugar. They must be baked in a pan like a cake, then cut into rectangular bars. They're very good. At that roadside stand we also bought a stalk of miniature bananas ... Bonanas ! At another little village we stopped to buy a freshly baked loaf of banana bread ... and a couple of pineapple muffins. Bo thinks that buying food on the side of the road and eating it while we drive is an excellent idea. HA HA HA !
The areas that we drove through today were agricultural, along the low slopes of the mountains. Lots of coffee plantations, tobacco farms, banana plantations, coconut groves, and vegetable crops. After the back roads along the coast we joined Mex 15 heading northwest towards Mazatlán. At Escuinapa we refilled with diesel, then turned south onto the road leading to Teacapán. Our guide book said that there were three campgrounds in the Teacapán area. We were planning to stay at the furthest, the third one. As we passed the first one, it was obviously closed, no longer in business. The third one was ... well ... an all but abandoned dump of a campground. We returned to the second one.
And what a fortuitous decision that was ! Villas Onac RV Park is stupendous ! The campsites are in a long row, backing onto the Pacific Ocean beach. Each site is a concrete pad with full hookups. Free Wi-Fi. Great swimming pool area. Laundromat. Did I mention the beach ? ! ? And cheap ! ! ! It is very unfortunate that our schedule does not permit staying more than a few days. We sorely regret spending a week at Paa Mul near Playa del Carmen. This place is immeasurably better, and at less than half the price ! ! ! In years well into the future, when we are likely to become winter residents of Yuma, Arizona, it might be worth 4 or 5 days of hard driving to come down here from Yuma for part of the winter.
When we pulled in, we parked by the office, then walked in to check out the few available sites. We selected this site, and chatted very briefly with the neighbours. We mentioned that we were pulling into this site, and we were going back to the office to pay and drive the rig over. Obviously, that would only take a few minutes. And it was obvious, and I thought it would be rude to state, that their truck was blocking access to this site. When we returned 5 minutes later with the rig, not only had they not moved their truck, the a******s had gone for a walk on the beach ! ! ! I was livid ! ! ! And remained so until well after they returned 15 or 20 minutes later, commenting that they had just realized as they were walking on the beach that we wouldn't be able to get into this site unless if they moved their truck. **** ! **** ! **** ! ! ! Take a deep breath, Dan !
We got set up in our site just in time to watch the sun set on the ocean behind us. Spectacular !
Friday ; Today was a perfect "June 18" day, weatherwise. It cooled off just enough after dark that I had to put on a shirt, the first time I've put on a shirt in about a month. We spent most of this lovely day on the beach behind our campsite.
There was an electricity problem in the RV park from about 1:30 A.M. until about 9:30 A.M.. Not unusual for Mexico ! The power fluctuated during that time from nothing to about 80 volts, causing problems with our carbon monoxide detector, microwave, and the GFI plug in the bathroom. After being wakened a couple of times by the low voltage problems, I finally went outside and just flipped off the circuit breaker. We started off the day by sitting outside beside the trailer watching pods of dolphins swimming by, frolicking in the surf just a couple of hundred feet offshore. We took Bo for a walk around the campground, then out along the beach. Once on the beach we allowed him to be off leash, as we have frequently on beaches lately. He's been behaving very well off leash ... for the most part. Back at the trailer I searched for a screwdriver of mine that I've lost. I completely emptied the large aluminum storage box in the back of the truck, and didn't find it. I repaired a broken drawer in the bedroom. Too much weight bouncing around in there on Mexico's roads ! I took some photos of the RV park and beach. I took about a dozen books that I have read to be exchanged at the park's book exchange library.
We played on the beach all afternoon. Bo and I found a large crab, and I was able to catch it to take photos. Guiltily I admit that I then let Bo play with it until it was dead. Hey ... he's a Terrier. His instinct tells him to pick things up and shake them until they're dead. We found a doughnut shaped float from a fishing net washed up on the beach. Bo had a great time retrieving it when we tossed it out into the surf. He became bolder and bolder, and we threw it out further and further. With a bit of beach experience he has become fearless about the surf. We kept the float, now known as Bo's beach doughnut. Late in the afternoon while we were sitting in our folding chairs, resting and drying, Bo disappeared behind us for a few minutes. We thought he had decided to walk back to the trailer by himself, as it was right behind us on the edge of the beach. We headed back to the trailer, and found him in the dune grass behind the trailer ... eating a fish ! It looked reasonably fresh, probably caught today by one of our fishing neighbours then discarded as too small, but still ... it was a dead fish ! Coupled with a lot of ingested salt water, it didn't take long for Bo's tummy to be upset ! Saltwater and dead fish ( and maybe a little crab leg or two ) makes for pretty vile dog puke ! Fortunately, it was Joanne's turn to clean it up. HA HA HA ! We sat beside the trailer and watched the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. WOW !
Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot, with a cool breeze coming in off the ocean. We decided to stay here another day, and check out the little village of Teacapán. We met and spent half a day with a very strange old couple from Vancouver, B.C..
We unhitched the truck from the trailer and drove into the nearby village of Teacapán. We refilled a water jug at an agua purificado place. We stopped at three or four aborrotes ( aborROTays ) looking for my brand of cigarettes. I didn't find them and had to settle for a different brand I don't particularly like. Aborrotes are very small, family run "convenience stores". Usually it's just the family's "front room" converted into a tiny store. In many villages, it seems as if every third building is an aborrote. We had been told that the panaderia in the village had fresh pan ( bread ) and bolillos ( boLEEyos / buns ) coming out of the oven every day about 1:30 and were sold out by 2:30. We parked the truck near the town square and went searching for the panaderia. We found it, but it was too early, the bread and buns weren't baked yet. We saw the malecon ( waterfront walkway ) and walked down to take a look. As we returned to the parked truck there was an elderly couple standing by our truck waiting for our return. They had noticed the Escapees decal on the truck. They introduced themselves. They were formerly Escapees. They have a home in Vancouver, and spend the winters in an old trailer in Teacapán. They fly from Vancouver to Mazatlán, then take a bus to Teacapán. They have no vehicle down here for the winter. They had walked into town to use their laptop at an Internet café . They have been retired and travelling since 1993, so I presume they must be about 80 years old. We chatted, and they offered to "show us the sights" and treat us to lunch if we would drive them back to their RV park. Well ... okay ... !
First they took us to the "fishing camp" a couple of miles out of town where all the local fishermen have their boats tied up. There is a two table restaurant there. This couple like the beer and snacks there. The restaurant serves "half size" Corona beers, called Coronitas, of course. And with the beer comes free snacks. Freshly made ceviche ( shrimp salad ), cucumber slices, salsa, and tortilla chips which we watched the woman make by slicing up tortillas and then deep frying them in a large pot of oil on an open fire. Can't get tortilla chips any fresher than that, I guess ! We drank our beer and ate our snacks and chatted. Odd couple ! They pointed out to us the freshly paved one mile stretch of road from the airport to the town, the only decent road in the area, because the President of Mexico had visited the town last week to announce a Fonatur tourism development project for this area. To be completed in fifteen to twenty years ! Good luck with that ! ! ! We returned to town and back to the panaderia. The bread and buns still weren't ready, but the pan dulce ( pastries ) were ready. What the hell ... we bought some pan dulce. HA HA HA ! The old couple wanted to buy a pollo asado ( barbecued chicken ) in town, to have for lunch, so we stopped at the pollo asado stand and they got one. As we drove along the malecon they showed us Loretta Lynn's former beach house. Just a non-descript little house along the beach where somebody somewhat rich and famous can spend some anonymous time in the winter. There seems to be quite a bit of that down here. We drove to their RV park. The restaurant adjacent to their RV park was lively, filled with music by a performing high school band. Although only about half the band members were playing instruments. The other half of the band were all throwing one another into the swimming pool. Everybody seemed to be having fun ! We had lunch sitting outside the couple's old trailer. Very odd, old couple !
We drove back into town to check at the panaderia again. ( sigh ) We were too late. The bread and buns were all sold out. We returned to our RV park, rehitched the truck to the trailer, and spent the rest of the afternoon playing and resting on the beach.
HA HA HA HA HA ... Bo is very funny, playing with his fishing net float / beach doughnut. If I time the throw just right, he rushes out into the surf, grabs the doughnut, and turns back to shore just as an incoming wave hits him, lifting him up onto its crest and body surfing him back to the beach. It's hilarious ! And he's fearless ! If my timing or distance are a bit off, he's grabbing for the doughnut just as a wave crashes over him, tumbling him and rolling him into shore. But he's game, ready for another attempt. He just snorts the saltwater out of his nose and wags his tail. HA HA HA HA HA ! Good dog, Bo ! Gringos from our RV park walking along the beach were stunned that a ( mostly ) Yorkshire Terrier would romp so fearlessly in big surf. As the sun got low in the sky and the air cooled we returned to the trailer for our nightly ritual of watching the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. Tonight we noticed that just as the sun "sat" on the ocean, the bottom flared out making it look like a bright orange ball mounted on a bright orange stand. Stupendous ! ! !
Sunday ; Teacapán to Mazatlán, Sinaloa
Today was another sunny, hot day. Mazatlán was a big disappointment. It wasn't worth the effort. And it certainly wasn't worth the expense.
This morning while I was preparing for departure I kept getting distracted by dolphins swimming by ... and flying fish ! Obviously they don't really fly, but when they leap out of the water, they are moving so fast that they fly through the air for ten or twenty feet before landing in the ocean again.
We drove north on Carreterra ( literally "Carland" ) Escuinapa - Teacapán back to Escuinapa, then north on Mex 15 to Mazatlán. Just on the southern edge of Mazatlán, at the airport, we turned onto the 15 mile road leading to Isla de la Piedra ( Stone Island ). The last 8½ miles was an extremely rough gravel road that took us almost an hour to drive. And finally, at the end, was the little village of Isla de la Piedra, at the end of a peninsula across from Mazatlán Harbour. Joanne selected the campground here as it seemed to be convenient to get to downtown Mazatlán by simply taking a water taxi panga across to Mazatlán Harbour. We checked into Tres Amigos RV Park. Outrageously expensive ! ! ! And nothing to justify it, except perhaps proximity to Mazatlán. The first person we met upon checking into the RV park was a woman from Washington who told us that she loves this place so much they have made a reservation for the next ten winters ! ! ! It's astounding that people can travel this far and be so unaware of what's just around the next corner !
We walked about a mile along the beach to catch a water taxi panga for the short ride across to Mazatlán Harbour. The campground manager had drawn us a map to find our way downtown, to the main square, and the Mercado. We started to walk from the harbour to downtown, a distance of perhaps a couple of miles, but we were tired from our long walk on the beach to catch the water taxi, so when a bus came by we flagged it down and hopped on. We got off the bus at the Mercado ( Market ). We wandered around the Mercado for awhile. It was a disappointment. The Mercado in Veracruz was larger and much more interesting. Many of the merchants in Mazatlán's Mercado weren't even open today. Many more closed at 2:00 P.M.. We walked over to the main town square, sat and rested for awhile, then went looking for an ice cream shop. We had some ice cream while sitting in the main town square, then wandered back to the Mercado for another last look around. I haggled with a few vendors to buy a Carnaval t-shirt, but was unsuccessful. The vendors were unwilling to negotiate their prices, which is ... unheard of in Mexico ! And especially unusual since I was trying to buy a "leftover" t-shirt from Carnaval which ended five days ago. Tired and disappointed we caught a bus back to the Embarcadero ( Harbour ), took a water taxi across to Isla de la Piedra, and walked home along the beach.
The young woman at the water taxi ticket window “made an error” in giving me my change. When I brought the “error” to her attention, I didn’t even get the usual “apology” for “making an error”. She just handed me an additional 10 pesos, and looked annoyed that she had failed to score her “buck a gringo”. That petty “buck a gringo” rip off routine ( and the “error” is always ten pesos ) is getting tiresome !
We sat on the beach and watched the sun set. Then we walked into the RV park's restaurant to check on the live music on Sunday nights advertised on their website. No ... no Sunday night live music ! I am really irritated by a business that is not only very overpriced but also fails to deliver what they advertise. We walked through the little village, then back along the beach in the dark. There was a bar / restaurant along the beach that had live music, but it was a band of out of tune amateurs playing awful Norteño ( Mexican country & western ) music.
Monday ; Mazatlán to Guasave, Sinaloa
Today was sunny and hot. We departed Isla de la Piedra, taking almost an hour to drive back on the 8½ mile section of gravel road. I'm certain that 17 miles of that gravel road was equivalent wear and tear on Harvey ( the trailer ) to 100,000 miles of Interstate travel ! As we were driving on the gravel road there was a vaquero ( cowboy ) driving a herd of about 50 horses down the road toward us. Bo was looking out the side window and didn't see the horses until I came to a stop and the horses began to surround us as they passed by. He went totally ballistic, out of control. Trapped inside a truck, surrounded by horses ... the world is coming to an end ! ! ! After the horses passed, it took Joanne a couple of minutes to get him calmed down and breathing normally again. Bo ... you have to remember to breathe ! You can't just bark until you pass out !
We drove into Mazatlán, refilled with diesel, and replenished groceries at a large Soriana supermarket. That may have been our last opportunity to shop at a big city supermarket, so Joanne did some stocking up of products on our "must buy before leaving Mexico" list. We now have a "must buy before leaving" list for three countries. HA HA HA !
We departed Mazatlán heading north on "free" Mex 15. From Mazatlán north we will be following the coast line of the Sea of Cortez. From Mazatlán north to the American border, a distance of almost 1000 miles, there is a four lane, divided, high speed highway, but it is an expensive toll road. Our guide book said that the stretch from Mazatlán to Culiacán was extremely expensive, and recommended the "free" road. So we drove the "free" road from Mazatlán to Culiacán. Our objective for today was to make it at least as far as Culiacán, hopefully a bit further. When we got to Culiacán it was early enough to keep driving for awhile.
Without explaining why, our guide book recommends taking the toll road north from Culiacán. So that's what we did. But ... it cost a fortune, and we were only on the toll road for an hour and a half ! Two highway tolls, and a bridge toll, for a total of 345 pesos, as much as it would cost for 2 nights in an inexpensive campground. However, the toll road was wonderful. Four lanes, divided, smooth and straight, with shoulders. Proving that Mexicans can indeed build good roads if they want to. It was just like driving on an American Interstate ! On the toll road we had to pass through a food inspection station. We don't know why, we weren't crossing from one state into another. The inspector confiscated three mandarins from us.
It was our plan to stay overnight for free at a Pemex station, to help offset the outrageous expense of the RV park last night. But ... the free stay at a Pemex was more than offset by today's tolls ! We refilled with diesel for the second time today at a Pemex just north of Guasave, and obtained permission to park overnight. This was our third overnight stay at a Pemex, and this one was even more noisy than the Pemex we stayed at near Acapulco. Whew ... Mexicans certainly are noisy !
Tuesday ; Guasave to Las Glorias, Sinaloa
We didn't get much sleep last night at the Pemex. It was very noisy. We were about 300 meters / 1000 feet up the road from a set of vibradores / topecitos ( small speed bumps ) so every tractor trailer that came down the highway downshifted to engage their engine braking right about at the Pemex. This morning at 6:30 A.M. I took Bo for a walk out behind the Pemex's back fence. There was a Policia Municipal truck parked up tight behind the fence, hidden from view, fresh vomit on the ground outside both the passenger's and the driver's doors, two cops sleeping it off in the truck ! ! !
We drove only a short distance today, following back roads from Guasave out to the little beachside village of Las Glorias on the Sea of Cortez coast. We're heading north now, along the Sea of Cortez, and it's getting cooler. The temperatures are a bit lower, and the breezes off the sea are cooler. We arrived by 10:30 and got set up at Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Resort, a seaside campground that had been recommended to us. We spent the rest of the morning on the beach, mostly playing with Bo and his beach doughnut / fishing net float. We hadn't slept much last night, and were very tired, so we spent much of the afternoon napping. We returned to the beach late in the afternoon to watch the sun set, our first sunset on the Sea of Cortez.
After dark, but before I barbecued supper, I went to the hotel's outdoor restaurant, sat in a corner, and used their free Wi-Fi to retrieve e-mail, bank statements, and investment updates. I thought I had retrieved bank statements and investment updates a few days ago and sent them to my printer queue, but something had gone wrong in the process. We were quite surprised to discover that Teddy loooooves barbecued chorizo ( very spicy Mexican chile sausage ) de pavo ( turkey ). After supper I reconciled bank statements and updated investment files. Tonight was the first time in about two months that it was cool enough to inspire me to wear long pants.
Wednesday ; This morning the passenger's side front tire of the truck was flat ( sigh ). I hate changing tires, especially on the truck. But, as was the case with the cut trailer tire a week or so ago, better to have to change a tire in a campground than on the side of the road. The flat tire was the one with the least amount of use, and the one I was planning to keep as the spare when I buy six new truck tires in a couple of weeks in Yuma, Arizona. Tomorrow I'll try to find a vulcanizadora and have it repaired. That shouldn't be difficult. Every third building in every town is an aborrote ( small convenience store ), and every fourth building is a vulcanizadora ( tire repair shop ). There's a huge nail in the tire. Maybe after repair at a vulcanizadora it can still be used as the spare when I buy new tires. I'm glad I decided to delay buying new tires until after this Mexico trip, otherwise I would have ended up with a huge nail in a new tire.
Today was sunny and hot, but with a cool breeze off the Sea of Cortez. Joanne wasn't feeling well today. I trimmed my beard. I changed the truck tire. I took some photos, then downloaded them to the laptop and processed them. After lunch I took Bo for some beach doughnut surf play. I brought my camera, trying to capture a video of Bo playing fetch in the surf. My digital camera doesn't make very good videos. And / or my skills as a videographer leave a lot to be desired. Joanne spent much of today in bed, resting, trying to feel better. After playing in the surf, Bo and I joined her for a nap. Somebody ... or two somebodies ... left a lot of sand on the bed ! When we got up, all three of us returned to the beach for more surf play. Joanne played with Bo while I tried to make a video of it. Not very successfully, I'm afraid. We decided to walk through town. Las Glorias is one street, perhaps a mile long, following the shore line. We walked all the way through town on the street, then came back along the beach, picking up pretty shells on the way. Bo was off leash all the way home. He's become very well behaved while off leash on the beach, romping in the sand and the surf but never getting very far from us. Good dog, Bo !
We watched the sunset, a nightly ritual. We decided to have dinner in the outdoor restaurant that is part of Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Resort. Another lovely Mexican dinner. I had Especial de Sinaloa ( the name of the state we are in ), a seasoned ( con gusto ) Red Snapper fillet baked on a sheet of foil, smothered in a thick layer of onions and a sauce made of mayonnaise, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Joanne ordered Red Snapper fillet but ended up with an entire baked Red Snapper. All the seafood dishes of this restaurant were either ( gigantic ) shrimp or Red Snapper. I guess that's what's caught locally. Today's "buck a gringo" was a 10 peso overcharge "error" on our restaurant bill. I didn't even bother mentioning it, I just reduced the waiter's tip by 10 pesos. There's more than one way to skin a gato.
DSK
Thursday ; La Peñita de Jaltemba, Nayarit to Teacapán, Sinaloa
WOW ... I think I've finally found the beachside RV resort I've been looking for on this entire trip !
Today was very hot ... but the much lower humidity along the west Pacific coast makes the weather quite pleasant. And the nights are cooler. Today was a long day that started out very poorly but ended superbly ! This morning as we were preparing for departure I noticed a severe cut on one of the trailer tires. About six inches long, very deep, through the tread and into the steel belts underneath. Before leaving the campground I changed the tire, putting on the trailer's brand new spare tire. I hate changing tires ! But much better to change a tire in a campground than have it blow out on the road, probably damaging the trailer's lower fiberglass skirt, as has happened in the past, and have to dangerously change a tire on the side of a road with no shoulders. Hopefully I won't need to use the damaged tire which is now the spare before we get to Yuma, Arizona, where I will buy a new tire.
We had three routes to choose from today to get to where we were going. We could take the toll road through the mountains, a good road, but steep, winding, and expensive. We could take the free road through the mountains, a poor road, also steep and winding. Or we could meander along the coast line, on back roads, passing through many interesting little villages. We chose the coast roads. At the first village we passed through we stopped on the side of the road to buy some interesting looking coconut confections. They are called cocada de leche. They're difficult to describe. They are made of a mixture of coconut and milk or cream, with toasted coconut on top, and a very thin layer underneath of ... we think it's pineapple pulp and sugar. They must be baked in a pan like a cake, then cut into rectangular bars. They're very good. At that roadside stand we also bought a stalk of miniature bananas ... Bonanas ! At another little village we stopped to buy a freshly baked loaf of banana bread ... and a couple of pineapple muffins. Bo thinks that buying food on the side of the road and eating it while we drive is an excellent idea. HA HA HA !
The areas that we drove through today were agricultural, along the low slopes of the mountains. Lots of coffee plantations, tobacco farms, banana plantations, coconut groves, and vegetable crops. After the back roads along the coast we joined Mex 15 heading northwest towards Mazatlán. At Escuinapa we refilled with diesel, then turned south onto the road leading to Teacapán. Our guide book said that there were three campgrounds in the Teacapán area. We were planning to stay at the furthest, the third one. As we passed the first one, it was obviously closed, no longer in business. The third one was ... well ... an all but abandoned dump of a campground. We returned to the second one.
And what a fortuitous decision that was ! Villas Onac RV Park is stupendous ! The campsites are in a long row, backing onto the Pacific Ocean beach. Each site is a concrete pad with full hookups. Free Wi-Fi. Great swimming pool area. Laundromat. Did I mention the beach ? ! ? And cheap ! ! ! It is very unfortunate that our schedule does not permit staying more than a few days. We sorely regret spending a week at Paa Mul near Playa del Carmen. This place is immeasurably better, and at less than half the price ! ! ! In years well into the future, when we are likely to become winter residents of Yuma, Arizona, it might be worth 4 or 5 days of hard driving to come down here from Yuma for part of the winter.
When we pulled in, we parked by the office, then walked in to check out the few available sites. We selected this site, and chatted very briefly with the neighbours. We mentioned that we were pulling into this site, and we were going back to the office to pay and drive the rig over. Obviously, that would only take a few minutes. And it was obvious, and I thought it would be rude to state, that their truck was blocking access to this site. When we returned 5 minutes later with the rig, not only had they not moved their truck, the a******s had gone for a walk on the beach ! ! ! I was livid ! ! ! And remained so until well after they returned 15 or 20 minutes later, commenting that they had just realized as they were walking on the beach that we wouldn't be able to get into this site unless if they moved their truck. **** ! **** ! **** ! ! ! Take a deep breath, Dan !
We got set up in our site just in time to watch the sun set on the ocean behind us. Spectacular !
Friday ; Today was a perfect "June 18" day, weatherwise. It cooled off just enough after dark that I had to put on a shirt, the first time I've put on a shirt in about a month. We spent most of this lovely day on the beach behind our campsite.
There was an electricity problem in the RV park from about 1:30 A.M. until about 9:30 A.M.. Not unusual for Mexico ! The power fluctuated during that time from nothing to about 80 volts, causing problems with our carbon monoxide detector, microwave, and the GFI plug in the bathroom. After being wakened a couple of times by the low voltage problems, I finally went outside and just flipped off the circuit breaker. We started off the day by sitting outside beside the trailer watching pods of dolphins swimming by, frolicking in the surf just a couple of hundred feet offshore. We took Bo for a walk around the campground, then out along the beach. Once on the beach we allowed him to be off leash, as we have frequently on beaches lately. He's been behaving very well off leash ... for the most part. Back at the trailer I searched for a screwdriver of mine that I've lost. I completely emptied the large aluminum storage box in the back of the truck, and didn't find it. I repaired a broken drawer in the bedroom. Too much weight bouncing around in there on Mexico's roads ! I took some photos of the RV park and beach. I took about a dozen books that I have read to be exchanged at the park's book exchange library.
We played on the beach all afternoon. Bo and I found a large crab, and I was able to catch it to take photos. Guiltily I admit that I then let Bo play with it until it was dead. Hey ... he's a Terrier. His instinct tells him to pick things up and shake them until they're dead. We found a doughnut shaped float from a fishing net washed up on the beach. Bo had a great time retrieving it when we tossed it out into the surf. He became bolder and bolder, and we threw it out further and further. With a bit of beach experience he has become fearless about the surf. We kept the float, now known as Bo's beach doughnut. Late in the afternoon while we were sitting in our folding chairs, resting and drying, Bo disappeared behind us for a few minutes. We thought he had decided to walk back to the trailer by himself, as it was right behind us on the edge of the beach. We headed back to the trailer, and found him in the dune grass behind the trailer ... eating a fish ! It looked reasonably fresh, probably caught today by one of our fishing neighbours then discarded as too small, but still ... it was a dead fish ! Coupled with a lot of ingested salt water, it didn't take long for Bo's tummy to be upset ! Saltwater and dead fish ( and maybe a little crab leg or two ) makes for pretty vile dog puke ! Fortunately, it was Joanne's turn to clean it up. HA HA HA ! We sat beside the trailer and watched the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. WOW !
Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot, with a cool breeze coming in off the ocean. We decided to stay here another day, and check out the little village of Teacapán. We met and spent half a day with a very strange old couple from Vancouver, B.C..
We unhitched the truck from the trailer and drove into the nearby village of Teacapán. We refilled a water jug at an agua purificado place. We stopped at three or four aborrotes ( aborROTays ) looking for my brand of cigarettes. I didn't find them and had to settle for a different brand I don't particularly like. Aborrotes are very small, family run "convenience stores". Usually it's just the family's "front room" converted into a tiny store. In many villages, it seems as if every third building is an aborrote. We had been told that the panaderia in the village had fresh pan ( bread ) and bolillos ( boLEEyos / buns ) coming out of the oven every day about 1:30 and were sold out by 2:30. We parked the truck near the town square and went searching for the panaderia. We found it, but it was too early, the bread and buns weren't baked yet. We saw the malecon ( waterfront walkway ) and walked down to take a look. As we returned to the parked truck there was an elderly couple standing by our truck waiting for our return. They had noticed the Escapees decal on the truck. They introduced themselves. They were formerly Escapees. They have a home in Vancouver, and spend the winters in an old trailer in Teacapán. They fly from Vancouver to Mazatlán, then take a bus to Teacapán. They have no vehicle down here for the winter. They had walked into town to use their laptop at an Internet café . They have been retired and travelling since 1993, so I presume they must be about 80 years old. We chatted, and they offered to "show us the sights" and treat us to lunch if we would drive them back to their RV park. Well ... okay ... !
First they took us to the "fishing camp" a couple of miles out of town where all the local fishermen have their boats tied up. There is a two table restaurant there. This couple like the beer and snacks there. The restaurant serves "half size" Corona beers, called Coronitas, of course. And with the beer comes free snacks. Freshly made ceviche ( shrimp salad ), cucumber slices, salsa, and tortilla chips which we watched the woman make by slicing up tortillas and then deep frying them in a large pot of oil on an open fire. Can't get tortilla chips any fresher than that, I guess ! We drank our beer and ate our snacks and chatted. Odd couple ! They pointed out to us the freshly paved one mile stretch of road from the airport to the town, the only decent road in the area, because the President of Mexico had visited the town last week to announce a Fonatur tourism development project for this area. To be completed in fifteen to twenty years ! Good luck with that ! ! ! We returned to town and back to the panaderia. The bread and buns still weren't ready, but the pan dulce ( pastries ) were ready. What the hell ... we bought some pan dulce. HA HA HA ! The old couple wanted to buy a pollo asado ( barbecued chicken ) in town, to have for lunch, so we stopped at the pollo asado stand and they got one. As we drove along the malecon they showed us Loretta Lynn's former beach house. Just a non-descript little house along the beach where somebody somewhat rich and famous can spend some anonymous time in the winter. There seems to be quite a bit of that down here. We drove to their RV park. The restaurant adjacent to their RV park was lively, filled with music by a performing high school band. Although only about half the band members were playing instruments. The other half of the band were all throwing one another into the swimming pool. Everybody seemed to be having fun ! We had lunch sitting outside the couple's old trailer. Very odd, old couple !
We drove back into town to check at the panaderia again. ( sigh ) We were too late. The bread and buns were all sold out. We returned to our RV park, rehitched the truck to the trailer, and spent the rest of the afternoon playing and resting on the beach.
HA HA HA HA HA ... Bo is very funny, playing with his fishing net float / beach doughnut. If I time the throw just right, he rushes out into the surf, grabs the doughnut, and turns back to shore just as an incoming wave hits him, lifting him up onto its crest and body surfing him back to the beach. It's hilarious ! And he's fearless ! If my timing or distance are a bit off, he's grabbing for the doughnut just as a wave crashes over him, tumbling him and rolling him into shore. But he's game, ready for another attempt. He just snorts the saltwater out of his nose and wags his tail. HA HA HA HA HA ! Good dog, Bo ! Gringos from our RV park walking along the beach were stunned that a ( mostly ) Yorkshire Terrier would romp so fearlessly in big surf. As the sun got low in the sky and the air cooled we returned to the trailer for our nightly ritual of watching the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. Tonight we noticed that just as the sun "sat" on the ocean, the bottom flared out making it look like a bright orange ball mounted on a bright orange stand. Stupendous ! ! !
Sunday ; Teacapán to Mazatlán, Sinaloa
Today was another sunny, hot day. Mazatlán was a big disappointment. It wasn't worth the effort. And it certainly wasn't worth the expense.
This morning while I was preparing for departure I kept getting distracted by dolphins swimming by ... and flying fish ! Obviously they don't really fly, but when they leap out of the water, they are moving so fast that they fly through the air for ten or twenty feet before landing in the ocean again.
We drove north on Carreterra ( literally "Carland" ) Escuinapa - Teacapán back to Escuinapa, then north on Mex 15 to Mazatlán. Just on the southern edge of Mazatlán, at the airport, we turned onto the 15 mile road leading to Isla de la Piedra ( Stone Island ). The last 8½ miles was an extremely rough gravel road that took us almost an hour to drive. And finally, at the end, was the little village of Isla de la Piedra, at the end of a peninsula across from Mazatlán Harbour. Joanne selected the campground here as it seemed to be convenient to get to downtown Mazatlán by simply taking a water taxi panga across to Mazatlán Harbour. We checked into Tres Amigos RV Park. Outrageously expensive ! ! ! And nothing to justify it, except perhaps proximity to Mazatlán. The first person we met upon checking into the RV park was a woman from Washington who told us that she loves this place so much they have made a reservation for the next ten winters ! ! ! It's astounding that people can travel this far and be so unaware of what's just around the next corner !
We walked about a mile along the beach to catch a water taxi panga for the short ride across to Mazatlán Harbour. The campground manager had drawn us a map to find our way downtown, to the main square, and the Mercado. We started to walk from the harbour to downtown, a distance of perhaps a couple of miles, but we were tired from our long walk on the beach to catch the water taxi, so when a bus came by we flagged it down and hopped on. We got off the bus at the Mercado ( Market ). We wandered around the Mercado for awhile. It was a disappointment. The Mercado in Veracruz was larger and much more interesting. Many of the merchants in Mazatlán's Mercado weren't even open today. Many more closed at 2:00 P.M.. We walked over to the main town square, sat and rested for awhile, then went looking for an ice cream shop. We had some ice cream while sitting in the main town square, then wandered back to the Mercado for another last look around. I haggled with a few vendors to buy a Carnaval t-shirt, but was unsuccessful. The vendors were unwilling to negotiate their prices, which is ... unheard of in Mexico ! And especially unusual since I was trying to buy a "leftover" t-shirt from Carnaval which ended five days ago. Tired and disappointed we caught a bus back to the Embarcadero ( Harbour ), took a water taxi across to Isla de la Piedra, and walked home along the beach.
The young woman at the water taxi ticket window “made an error” in giving me my change. When I brought the “error” to her attention, I didn’t even get the usual “apology” for “making an error”. She just handed me an additional 10 pesos, and looked annoyed that she had failed to score her “buck a gringo”. That petty “buck a gringo” rip off routine ( and the “error” is always ten pesos ) is getting tiresome !
We sat on the beach and watched the sun set. Then we walked into the RV park's restaurant to check on the live music on Sunday nights advertised on their website. No ... no Sunday night live music ! I am really irritated by a business that is not only very overpriced but also fails to deliver what they advertise. We walked through the little village, then back along the beach in the dark. There was a bar / restaurant along the beach that had live music, but it was a band of out of tune amateurs playing awful Norteño ( Mexican country & western ) music.
Monday ; Mazatlán to Guasave, Sinaloa
Today was sunny and hot. We departed Isla de la Piedra, taking almost an hour to drive back on the 8½ mile section of gravel road. I'm certain that 17 miles of that gravel road was equivalent wear and tear on Harvey ( the trailer ) to 100,000 miles of Interstate travel ! As we were driving on the gravel road there was a vaquero ( cowboy ) driving a herd of about 50 horses down the road toward us. Bo was looking out the side window and didn't see the horses until I came to a stop and the horses began to surround us as they passed by. He went totally ballistic, out of control. Trapped inside a truck, surrounded by horses ... the world is coming to an end ! ! ! After the horses passed, it took Joanne a couple of minutes to get him calmed down and breathing normally again. Bo ... you have to remember to breathe ! You can't just bark until you pass out !
We drove into Mazatlán, refilled with diesel, and replenished groceries at a large Soriana supermarket. That may have been our last opportunity to shop at a big city supermarket, so Joanne did some stocking up of products on our "must buy before leaving Mexico" list. We now have a "must buy before leaving" list for three countries. HA HA HA !
We departed Mazatlán heading north on "free" Mex 15. From Mazatlán north we will be following the coast line of the Sea of Cortez. From Mazatlán north to the American border, a distance of almost 1000 miles, there is a four lane, divided, high speed highway, but it is an expensive toll road. Our guide book said that the stretch from Mazatlán to Culiacán was extremely expensive, and recommended the "free" road. So we drove the "free" road from Mazatlán to Culiacán. Our objective for today was to make it at least as far as Culiacán, hopefully a bit further. When we got to Culiacán it was early enough to keep driving for awhile.
Without explaining why, our guide book recommends taking the toll road north from Culiacán. So that's what we did. But ... it cost a fortune, and we were only on the toll road for an hour and a half ! Two highway tolls, and a bridge toll, for a total of 345 pesos, as much as it would cost for 2 nights in an inexpensive campground. However, the toll road was wonderful. Four lanes, divided, smooth and straight, with shoulders. Proving that Mexicans can indeed build good roads if they want to. It was just like driving on an American Interstate ! On the toll road we had to pass through a food inspection station. We don't know why, we weren't crossing from one state into another. The inspector confiscated three mandarins from us.
It was our plan to stay overnight for free at a Pemex station, to help offset the outrageous expense of the RV park last night. But ... the free stay at a Pemex was more than offset by today's tolls ! We refilled with diesel for the second time today at a Pemex just north of Guasave, and obtained permission to park overnight. This was our third overnight stay at a Pemex, and this one was even more noisy than the Pemex we stayed at near Acapulco. Whew ... Mexicans certainly are noisy !
Tuesday ; Guasave to Las Glorias, Sinaloa
We didn't get much sleep last night at the Pemex. It was very noisy. We were about 300 meters / 1000 feet up the road from a set of vibradores / topecitos ( small speed bumps ) so every tractor trailer that came down the highway downshifted to engage their engine braking right about at the Pemex. This morning at 6:30 A.M. I took Bo for a walk out behind the Pemex's back fence. There was a Policia Municipal truck parked up tight behind the fence, hidden from view, fresh vomit on the ground outside both the passenger's and the driver's doors, two cops sleeping it off in the truck ! ! !
We drove only a short distance today, following back roads from Guasave out to the little beachside village of Las Glorias on the Sea of Cortez coast. We're heading north now, along the Sea of Cortez, and it's getting cooler. The temperatures are a bit lower, and the breezes off the sea are cooler. We arrived by 10:30 and got set up at Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Resort, a seaside campground that had been recommended to us. We spent the rest of the morning on the beach, mostly playing with Bo and his beach doughnut / fishing net float. We hadn't slept much last night, and were very tired, so we spent much of the afternoon napping. We returned to the beach late in the afternoon to watch the sun set, our first sunset on the Sea of Cortez.
After dark, but before I barbecued supper, I went to the hotel's outdoor restaurant, sat in a corner, and used their free Wi-Fi to retrieve e-mail, bank statements, and investment updates. I thought I had retrieved bank statements and investment updates a few days ago and sent them to my printer queue, but something had gone wrong in the process. We were quite surprised to discover that Teddy loooooves barbecued chorizo ( very spicy Mexican chile sausage ) de pavo ( turkey ). After supper I reconciled bank statements and updated investment files. Tonight was the first time in about two months that it was cool enough to inspire me to wear long pants.
Wednesday ; This morning the passenger's side front tire of the truck was flat ( sigh ). I hate changing tires, especially on the truck. But, as was the case with the cut trailer tire a week or so ago, better to have to change a tire in a campground than on the side of the road. The flat tire was the one with the least amount of use, and the one I was planning to keep as the spare when I buy six new truck tires in a couple of weeks in Yuma, Arizona. Tomorrow I'll try to find a vulcanizadora and have it repaired. That shouldn't be difficult. Every third building in every town is an aborrote ( small convenience store ), and every fourth building is a vulcanizadora ( tire repair shop ). There's a huge nail in the tire. Maybe after repair at a vulcanizadora it can still be used as the spare when I buy new tires. I'm glad I decided to delay buying new tires until after this Mexico trip, otherwise I would have ended up with a huge nail in a new tire.
Today was sunny and hot, but with a cool breeze off the Sea of Cortez. Joanne wasn't feeling well today. I trimmed my beard. I changed the truck tire. I took some photos, then downloaded them to the laptop and processed them. After lunch I took Bo for some beach doughnut surf play. I brought my camera, trying to capture a video of Bo playing fetch in the surf. My digital camera doesn't make very good videos. And / or my skills as a videographer leave a lot to be desired. Joanne spent much of today in bed, resting, trying to feel better. After playing in the surf, Bo and I joined her for a nap. Somebody ... or two somebodies ... left a lot of sand on the bed ! When we got up, all three of us returned to the beach for more surf play. Joanne played with Bo while I tried to make a video of it. Not very successfully, I'm afraid. We decided to walk through town. Las Glorias is one street, perhaps a mile long, following the shore line. We walked all the way through town on the street, then came back along the beach, picking up pretty shells on the way. Bo was off leash all the way home. He's become very well behaved while off leash on the beach, romping in the sand and the surf but never getting very far from us. Good dog, Bo !
We watched the sunset, a nightly ritual. We decided to have dinner in the outdoor restaurant that is part of Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Resort. Another lovely Mexican dinner. I had Especial de Sinaloa ( the name of the state we are in ), a seasoned ( con gusto ) Red Snapper fillet baked on a sheet of foil, smothered in a thick layer of onions and a sauce made of mayonnaise, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Joanne ordered Red Snapper fillet but ended up with an entire baked Red Snapper. All the seafood dishes of this restaurant were either ( gigantic ) shrimp or Red Snapper. I guess that's what's caught locally. Today's "buck a gringo" was a 10 peso overcharge "error" on our restaurant bill. I didn't even bother mentioning it, I just reduced the waiter's tip by 10 pesos. There's more than one way to skin a gato.
DSK
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