Jackson's Journeys

November 24, Villahermoso to Ocozocoautla and San Cristobal

2011-12-25T15:42:00.000-08:00

24 November.

I forgot to mention in our previous post that in Villahermosa at three AM we were awakened by a drumming on the roof. Another tropical downpour; the folding chairs and our pot of herbs were out there in the open! Art dashed out wearing a pair of shorts and his Tilley hat (fortunately we don't have a photo) to release the safety straps and put the awning out!

The rain continued on and off for a while but by the time we were awakened by the dogs welcoming the workmen's arrival at 6:30 the rain had stopped. By breakfast the sun was shining down from a beautiful blue sky with just a few fluffy white clouds.

The ground was pretty wet around the rig but we hadn't sunk in much as the the satellite dish still has a lock on the signal. We watched the Morning News on Global BC, feeling fortunate not having to live through the forecast weather back home. :)

We lurched down the potholed road to the highway and by 10:00 we were heading due west on 180D, the toll road towards Vera Cruz. Some 130 kilometers and an hour and a half later we turned sharply south east towards Ocozocoautla (near Tuxtla Gutierrez) in the state of Chiapas.

A short while before we reached the turn we watched as the sky ahead of us darkened. Just few kilometers before we reached the intersection the sky blackened, a few large drops of rain fell, then it was like driving under a waterfall! Such a torrent! Fortunately the new road was taking us away from the storm and before long the rain tapered off and things cleared up quite nicely.

This was the long way around as far as distance was concerned but was probably the fasted route over mostly long straight road up through the mountains, not too steep or bad curves. Note the trucks ahead of us—one passing the other-- on a curve at the top of the upgrade! Not uncommon down here!

At 1:00 PM we took advantage of the parking area at the toll booth and took a 40 minute lunch and doggy walk break. We reached the end of the toll road and the last toll plaza an hour later and on the outskirts of Ocozocoautla stopped for fuel and to check with a local bus driver about our turn as there had been some highway changes since we were last here.

At 3:20 we were at the gate of "Hogar Infantile" an orphanage for school age children that has a few spaces for RVs! We are not allowed to pay to stay! Donations are made through a non profit association in the USA.

We disconnected the jeep and scoped out the entrance. There was a big dip at the road edge, we were probably going to drag the trailer hitch going over it. Several young boys, probably about 8 years old were there to open the gate and direct us through the sheep pasture to the RV pads.

We also met Alice, or Alicia as she is known here, a young university graduate from England who was here as a volunteer. Her degree is in languages and she speaks fluent Spanish though when pressed she admitted that it had taken a while to get used to the local dialect!

We stayed a couple of days here and took the Jeep east to the beautiful city of San Cristobal de las Casas. There is no reliable place to stay there and we did want to visit it again.

Next morning we set off in the jeep, Gillian's turn to drive and Art's to navigate. We had a relatively short drive, but going, it would be all up hill. We took the toll road rather than the libre. This snapshot of our GPS screen will explain why; the magenta line is the toll road, the libre is in yellow.

Traffic was relatively light but we were almost continually going up, the trucks were grinding up hill in bottom gear for many kilometers at a stretch. Yes we did overtake this truck here.

Approaching Tuxtla the highway descended a long hill, traffic still light in volume (though heavy in weight!) until we arrived in town and that was a different story all together!

We knew where we wanted to go, we had been here before, we even had it in the GPS. BUT. As we turned off the toll road into the city we were met by a policeman preventing us from making the left turn we needed. Eventually we found our way around the closed street and approached Centro from the side.

Here too the police had closed he road we needed to turn right onto and directed us straight ahead. To shorten this story up a little, let's just say we went around, and back, and around etc mostly at less than a walking pace. Sorry about the over exposed photo but the sun was right in front. You can see the state of some of the streets we were driving on.

The GPS magenta line is the way we wanted to go. The Flag shows the destination we had entered (a Chedraui grocery store) which was very near the former campground that we wanted to check out. The problem was, the left turn shown is not allowed! We had to make a right and start over!

Here we gave up and widened our circle and eventually arrived in the centro historico. This is what we really wanted to see. We thought we would find somewhere to park the jeep, have lunch and stoll around the area, maybe take in the market or whatever.

It ended up being "whatever". There was nowhere to park, restaurants few and far between and we couldn't have parked in any case! So we just inched along, traffic unbelievably busy. We later realised that there had been a parade or somesuch in centro which is why all the streets into centro had been closed.

However we crawled along, certainly got close to the market stalls but couldn't stop to browse! Eventually we drove a large U shaped route then knowing where we were, drove to the Chedraui where we bought a couple of empanadas from the the "deli" which we ate in the jeep before returning to the rig.

At least the parade was over and the road back was mostly downhill so it didn't take as long returning.

Back in the Hogar, we went looking forAlice. We rememberd that she had said that of all the culture shock, what she missed most was a good cup of tea. She hadn't had one in months! The problem wasn't so much that she couldn't find tea bags, but fresh milk was not available in the town, and sterilised milk, or canned milk just didn't cut it!

We found her giving a piano lesson to one of the children so left a message with another student that we were looking for her. When she arrived a short while later, we asked her if she would like a cup of tea. She responded with a heartfelt "Oh yes please!"

From Ocozocouatla we will make one long days run to the Pacific Coast to Bahia Huatulco. We know we can do it in a day because several years ago we found ourselves overshooting our planned stop and so continued on arriving just at dusk!

Nov 22 Westward Ho! Calderitas to Villahermosa

2011-12-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

From here on we would be really just heading to Zihuatanejo, our winter home. We would make a few stops but most would be just stopovers for the night.

We left Yax Ha Resort in Calderitas at 10:00 AM, the staff ready with a long forked pole to raise the telephone, internet and cablevision wires so we could safely pass beneath! On the way out we remembered to take this photo of an hotel/restaurant that we had seen yesterday on the way to Chetumal for groceries.

Half an hour later, already through the city we were halted at a military check point and waved through after a few questions.

At 11:30 we were stopped again, this time for about 10 minutes by customs who had a pretty thorough look around then waved us on. 15 or 20 minutes, just across the Campeche border we were stopped a third time, again the military for a little over 10 minutes.

The highway continued mostly straight, a few low hills, lots of lush green vegetation. a few villages, not much of anything.

One thing we have noticed here and for that matter throughout Mexico is the somewhat anachronistic mixture of old concrete and brick houses, sometimes incomplete, topped off with a satellite TV dish. Most (though not all) of these small homes were in very good repair and brightly painted.

At 1:50 we arrived at the impressively named “Centro para Concervación de la Vida Silvestre” – Centre for the Conservation of Wild Life – a few kilometers east of the city of Escárcega.

This is a private rancho, who's young owner had dedicated a large part of his property to be kept wild. It is home to deer and peccaries, racoons among others, none of which we saw, though the dogs were quite interested in what might be in the surrounding forest.

The only animal life we saw were a couple of horses who apparently spent the night with us. Trekker was again quite interested—we think that he had never seen a horse lying down before! He seemed happier when it stood up!

There are cold water showers in rather primitive enclosures and a sewer dump station.

Interestingly the garbage and recycling was very well organised, separate containers for Organic, Plastic, Glass and Metal.

The owner plans to bring water and electricity and perhaps a sewer drain to a few sites. At the moment there are no sites laid out, there are a few water taps here and there but the connections are much smaller than standard! There is also 120Volts at who knows what amperage available in a small shed.

The road in and out though could do with a little work. It was a bit tight in places, the approach to the inner gate and 90 degree turn was partially blocked by a stack of 4x4 posts. The owners little wood shop was just off the lane. The turkeys, chickens and peacocks managed to keep out of our way. In all though it was quite a pleasant stay.

We had a decision to make before we set off today: Continue to Villahermosa and backtrack westwards from there towards Miatitlan before taking the newish toll road to Oczocoautla OR turn south just before Villahermosa for Palenque (which we had visited before and wouldn't mind seeing again) and take the mountain road to San Cristobal del las Casas which we had seen before and wanted to see again.

The road from Palenque is narrow and very steep and twisty with nowhere to pull off for a rest. Also at times there are road block that can cause long delays. The final point against is that the only RV Park in San Cristobal has reportedly closed and we didn't really want to park overnight in a shopping centre or leave the RV there while we toured the city.

In the end, the decision was easy:

We were on the road again by 9:20 next morning, enroute to Villahermosa . We had no sooner turned onto the highway when we noticed some sort of delay up ahead and and realised that it was another check point. This time the police were not too interested in us and waved us on, though Art did ask the the herd of cattle ahead of us had all the right papers. He got a laugh from one of the officers who assured us that they did! Since we were already stopped outside the large Pemex we took the opportunity to make a quick fuel stop before carrying on.

That was about the highlight of today's drive. A couple of cheap tolls totaling under ten dollars, a half hour lunch stop along the roadside about 1:00 PM and then were through Villahermosa and arrived at El Recreativo El Gordo y San Pancho by 3:00 PM.

We were greeted by Capitán again, delighted to meet his old buddy Trekker. We dragged an extension cord through the office window as we did last time and topped up the water tank and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon

We woke in the morning as the brick makers were back at it! After breakfast Art took his camera over and asked if he could take some photos. He chatted with the two workmen for a few minutes. These guys work from 6:30 AM until dusk, about 5:30 PM and make thousands of bricks a day.

First, several 5 gallon buckets of sand are carried over to and tipped into the cement mixer. Cement and water are added, the mixed concrete poured onto the concrete floor.

From here it is shoveled and packed into steel molds and vibrated in short bursts. Then the molds are raised leaving the bricks standing on edge on a large wooden tray which they then carry off to the stack to dry for a day.

18-21 November, Piste to Paa Mul and Yax Ha on the Caribbean Coast

2011-12-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Dried out, we left Piste at 9:20, destination Paa Mul RV Park, just south of Playa del Carmen on the Caribbean.

Within a few minutes we were on the toll road eastbound having paid 161 pesos for the first section. Half an hour later we stopped at a rest area, the only fuel before Cancun, several hours away. While Art supervised the fueling Gillian walked a short way to the Italian Coffee Company to fill up our travel mugs and on the way back stopped at another shop for a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.

Another hour and we paid the last toll on this highway, this time 618 pesos, roughly 60 dollars including the first payment. At least the road was in good condition.

We were a bit disappointed in Paa Mul. We had heard good things about this park, which is full of permanent installations built by snowbirds who return year after year. The site we were given was in a state: the sewer connection was almost too high to use, and was just an almost horizontal drain pipe that had few branches off it one of which Art noted when checking it out, was open at the other side of our rig! Good thing he hadn't tried to use it!

Most of the sites, particularly the year round ones were in pretty good shape, obviously built and maintained by the regular tenants. The restaurant bar, pool and beach looked to be fine but we soon decided that we would not stay the two nights we had paid for and would leave in the morning. It was expensive and internet available only by the month for an extra fee . Fortunately we were able to get the second days rent refunded.

We decided to try the restaurant for dinner and were not disappointed with our meal. We hesitated about ordering a full bottle of wine until the waiter pointed out that what we didn't finish we could take with us. Since we were almost out of white wine in the motorhome we ordered a bottle.

Dinner done we had just over half a bottle left and were about to call for the bill when the owner came over to chat, wine glass in hand. He asked if he could sit and of course we said yes, and asked if the food and service was good. He sat chatting with us for a while and whenever his wine glass was empty he simply refilled it from our bottle without so much as a word or glance! He eventually finished our wine and left and so did we, more than a little annoyed.

Next morning after breakfast while Gillian took the dogs for their walk Art fired up the rig, retracted the slides and retracted the jacks. Or rather tried to retract the jacks! On investigation Art could hear the relay clicking but nothing was happening. He dug out the manuals, followed the instructions, still nothing.

A search of the campground found someone who knew something of the HWH hydraulic systems and agreed to come over and have a look.

After poking about, checking this and that, we both agreed that a release valve somewhere was stuck. Since the jacks retract under spring power once the hydraulic pressure is released, we elected to crack the lines at the manifold and release the fluid into a bucket. This done, the jacks began to retract. Thanks Cecil!

Half an hour to clean up and dispose of the waste fluid (poured into a clear plastic water bottle and left beside the garbage can) we hooked up and hit the road at 10:50. Next stop, Yax Ha Resort and Trailer Park near Chetumal. This is as far south as we would be going on this coast, just a few kilometers from Belize.

Actually, next stop was at a Chedraui, which we noticed had room to park right along side the highway. Half an hour here and we were southbound again, larder restocked. The large divided highway soon reverted to the basic two lane-two way road but was in quite reasonable condition.

The four lane highway which runs from Cancun to Tulum was very busy with heavy truck, bus and car traffic. Past Tulum the road narrowed to single lane each way and was suprisingly quiet and in quite good shape.

And yet another stop, this time for lunch at about 1:30 along the side of the road. Entering Chetumal we found that once again progress had changed the roads so they didn't match the driving directions we were following. There was a new overpass which meant that the turns were different but we figured it out with out too much trouble. Our route took us through the City of Chetumal but we found our turn north to Calderitas and the Yax Ha Resort where we arrived at the resort at 4:45 almost with out incident.

We stopped on the roadside to unhook the jeep while Gillian walked ahead to check on the exact location of the park entrance. It was just ahead as shown on the GPS. Art drove up slowly, watching the overhead wires which looked like they would clear and slowly entered the gates. He was being waved on by one of the staff who suddenly shouted and signaled him to stop. One of the overhead wires had become snagged on a bungy cord securing our spare satellite dish. They weren't power lines, so one of the staff climbed on to the roof to clear it.

The ground here looked wet but we were assured by the owner that the place we chose was firm enough. A few plywood blocks under the tires to level us (no jacks, remember?) the slides were out, the electric power and internet worked fine, and we were just a few feet from the Caribbean Sea! In fact we were probably closer in vertical distance than horizontal! Trekker was delighted with his first swim in a new ocean.

We had power at the site but water would involve a hose stretched across the grass to fill the tank, the sewer drain meant a move of a few hundred feet to dump the tanks. No big deal, we were safe and comfortable and warm and happy!

We did have a smile when we glanced at the GPS on the dashboard!

When extending the slides on arrival Art noticed a substantial hydraulic fluid leak at one of the fittings. Close inspection showed a piece of tubing not connected. A few messy minutes with a wrench and we tried again. Art could see two more smaller leaks—one from a valve head which Cecil had noted had a badly damaged o-ring, another from further back which was very difficult to see exact where it was coming from, so we ignored these leaks and put the slides out.

We decided to stay through the weekend to see if there might be a hydraulic mechanic available on Monday. Not that parts would likely be available to repair the jack problem but hopefully the leaks could be fixed.

This is a very nice park and has great potential. We had a nice lunch in the restaurant, enjoyed the pool and of course Trekker loved the ocean swims.

At first glance we thought that the security was a little over the top, but then realised that the cannons were just plastic!

Parked next to us were a Swiss couple traveling the Americas in a camper and across the way was an Australian couple doing the same, this time in a Land Rover with a large tent on the roof. Wish we had a picture, it was a great rig for traveling in undeveloped areas.

Sunday morning Carlos came over to see what was going on with our hydraulics. He soon found and fixed the leaks—one missing O-ring, one opened connection (the other end of the tube Art had first tightened)— but it still needs new relief valve. Art asked Carlos what he did for a living, was he a hydraulics engineer? Stranger things have happened. No, we was a Naval Architect but had previously worked as a marine engineer so knew more than just a bit about hydraulics!

Art had previously heard Carlos speaking Spanish and thought he spoke awfully good Spanish for an Aussie—he is actually Spanish, his name really is Carlos, not Charles or Charlie! Couldn't tell from his accent, sounded like an Aussie to us Canucks!

So now we don't need the hydraulic mechanic—parts likely not to be available in Mexico anyway, we'll make do with leveling blocks until then. Especially when you consider that we have an entire hydraulic unit at home, the one that failed last year in the Yukon and had replaced. The pump motor on the old unit was repaired in Mexico last year. The relief valve should be a very easy change over. One other problem that Carlos noted is that there appears to be a spring missing from one of the return valves. That too should be an easy fix. Wait and see!

Sunday afternoon the skies darkened and then opened--another tropical down pour! we hoped that the rain wouldn't soften the sod under us too much!

Monday the weather was much better. We took the jeep into Chetumal on a grocery run and found signs flooding everywhere. At one point half the road was washed out, we were down to one lane alternating, with deep chasms on both sides. Unfortunately we had left the camera in the motorhome.

We spent some time on the free wireless internet, made use of the extra day to do get some laundry done—washers and dryers are available, staff does to for you at a reasonable price with some notice.

Gillian did some hand washing, hung it in a nearby palapa to dry in the breeze. Then the breeze turned into gusty winds and suddenly a rescue mission was called for! Gillian caught a couple of items just before they would have blown into the bay!

Meanwhile we decided to stick with our plans and move on on Tueday. We are very comfortable here, it is really a pretty spot. No sandy beach, but certainly nice enough.

The owner is hoping for the caravans to return and has spoken with a couple of the caravan companies. He has installed a large water softening system and was in the progress of running water to all the sites. He was very interested in talking with us about suggestions for improving the park. We mentioned water, sewer and power at each or at least some sites; if he is looking for long term snowbirds that will have to be a priority. People won't want to move every week to dump holding tanks.

We'll leave here in the morning.

Chichen Itzá 17 November

2011-12-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

This morning we were rolling by 9:30, guessing a few hours to the town of Piste, just off the toll road the runs to Cancun. Here we hoped the RV Park was still operating as we did want to have a wander around the famous Chichen Itzá ruins. Gillian had seen them with her brother years before when we had flown to Playa del Carmen but Art had stayed in the room sick.

The trip was uneventful thankfully and we found the Stardust Motel and parked in front on the street while Gillian went in search of staff and information. She was told that she had to inquire next door as the hotel didn't own the RV Park any more. She didn't have much luck but within a few moments a man appeared asking if we were looking for the Trailer Park.

He already had the chain off the gate and waved us in to a large grassy and mostly shaded field. Art got out to check the sites and to decide on the best one. The caretaker told us that the sites along one wall had no electric connections. In fact all the site were fitted with 120 Volt 15 Amp outlets but they had all been wired for 220 Volts! 220 was painted on all the pedestals as a warning!

It was suggested that Art park the rig in front of the washrooms where there was a 120 Volt connection available. This site also had the most shade! The voltage problem turned out to be a moot point anyway since the 120 had no ground connection and the rig won't accept that!

However we got parked, leveled, awning slides out and had a bite of lunch, then off to the riuns. We opened the convertible roof on the jeep and also changed the plastic windows for the open mesh ones to keep the dogs cool

On arrival we were surprised to find a shady parking space and after a short chat with some American tourists, one of whom loved Gillian's jeep, we left the dogs behind and entered the ruins.

We paid our entry fee, which we thought quite reasonable, then further in we discovered that we had to pay another fee to enter the ruins themselves!

Several times during the afternoon we felt raindrops, apparently from a clear blue sky. Note the raindrops on the camera lense. There were a few small dark clouds quite a distance away, the rain must have been blown sideways by a pretty good breeze. We should have noted that.

We enjoyed wandering around, reading bits of the history and society and taking photos. Throughout the grounds were locals selling everything from imported cheap junk souvenirs to beautiful locally handmade crafts.

A few hours later we had had enough, almost "ruined out" so we returned to the Trailer Park. Gillian took the dogs out for a bit of exercise, throwing the ball for Trekker since park was almost completely enclosed she felt is safe enough to let him run a bit off leash.

Later as we relaxed inside, the dogs out on the grass on their lines, Gillian hear a noise and said "is that rain?" and before Art could reply we both agreed that yes indeed it was rain, which in an instant became a downpour accompanied by strong gusty winds. Fortunately the trees and surrounding walls protected us from the worst of the wind. Suddenly we both realised that the roof on the jeep was open, so dashed out to close it and and the roll up the windows. There was no way that we were going to stay out in that deluge in order to put the plastic rear windows back in, we'd just have to hope we could dry it out soon!

Once the roof was closed Art partially retracted the awning to reduce the risk of wind damage. The water running off the awning in the photo was not just a one time dumping of collected rain, this went on for some time!

A short time later the wind gusts were gone, the rain was gone and the sun came out. There was still a breeze blowing so we opened all the doors of the jeep to help dry things out, and put the plastic windows back in ready for towing in the morning.

Mérida 15-16 November

2011-12-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

We left Uxmal at 10:30 and turned north. An easy drive, not much traffic in the towns along the way except the ever-present Coca Cola trucks and the small three wheeled motorcycle taxis.

Before long we crossed the state border into Yucatan. and very quickly were following the periferico (ringroad) around the city.

Carefully watching the Guia Roji, Churchs' directions and the GPS we were sure we would have no trouble finding the centrally located RV Park. At the last minute we realised that the intersection we had been so carefully watching for was now an overpass and we had just missed the exit we needed! We took the exit for the north coast; we're now on the right road but going in the wrong direction! A kilometer or perhaps less we found a retorno (legal U-turn) and backtracked. As we passed under the perifrico, the exit we should have taken now joining this street on our right we were back where we should have been.

Churchs' book noted that if the new entrance from the Liverpool mall was complete, access would be easy from there. As we waited for the traffic light at that intersection we noticed a small wooden sign with an arrow pointing to a narrow gate on our immediate right. The light changed, traffic began to move and so we turned right, alongside the Liverpool.

The new entrance hadn't even been started! Now we were alongside a shopping centre on the wrong side of the traffic light. As usual in Mexico, and in many big cities, returning the few hundred meters wasn't quite that simple; We did manage to turn around without disconnecting the jeep, a bonus, but were again north bound on the divided street looking for the same retorno we had just used!

This time around we made the right angle turn and crawled slowly along the track into the RV Park. In spite of all, we arrived at the Rainbow RV Park in Mérida at noon. At least we supposed it was the Rainbow RV Park. There were no signs saying so, but it was in the right place.

There was one other rig here, a small trailer and van with Ontario Plates that we thought we recognised from Saltillo, our first stop in Mexico this trip.

We quickly had the jeep disconnected, the motor home parked and leveled, slides out power, water and sewer connected, the Satellite dish up and dogs walked--it was time for lunch!

We had planned to spend two nights here as there was a possibility of internet (which we could never get to work) and Merida was reportedly a beautiful city. The rest of the day we lazed around, visited with William and Robert who were of course the people we had met in Saltillo some weeks before and Art went shopping for water and a few groceries, a trip that almost deserves a post on its own:

The Chedraui, the store he set off for, he didn't find, noticing the sign as he drove by it, but spotted another supermarket just across the street, so of course took the next retorno. Except this led him into a lane with a barrier not allowing him into the right lane until he had passed the one open entrance. There was another further along but it was blocked off due to construction!

Deciding that perhaps there was a side entrance he turned right at the end of the block. No such luck. Well, nothing for it but to turn right again and go around the block. He was soon in a residential area with very narrow streets and tight 90 degree corners. However he eventually made the required third right turn, in spite of the many one way streets and eventually found himself in the far right lane approaching the shopping centre. Being careful not to turn into the drive out lane of a fast food place, he took the next right and found himself alongside the mall parking lot with a high curb between them! Not to worry, ahead he notice cars exiting the lot onto the street ahead so he carried on. To find it an Exit Only! Fortunately, this was a two way street and he was able to make a U-turn utilizing a couple of small driveways and back on the main street, found the mall entrance.

By time he was done and north bound again for the RV Park traffic had built up and the sun was beginning to set. Good thing he had had a couple of practice runs at the returno north of the periferico because that is were he was going again, arriving back at the motorhome just as darkness fell.

Next morning we put the dogs in the jeep and went into Centro. William had given us a good tip for finding the centre of town using the Garmin Mexico map on the GPS: Just select CITY (in this case Mérida) as the destination and press GO. It takes you right to the Zocalo (Town Square) usually in the centre of tow, near the Cathedral, frequently a market, just where we wanted to to be.

And it worked perfectly, though the route seemed to be round about, it was seemingly the best way in. Finding a parking space was difficult, and spent some time driving around in circles (well squares or rectangles to be accurate) but eventually we found a space in a private lot where we arranged to have the car washed as well.

First on the agenda; we found a restaurant opposite the Zocalo and settled in for lunch. Trekker was quite interested in Gillian's. The dogs as usual got a lot of attention. A couple of Japanese girls working in the city to learn Spanish stopped to admire the dogs, we found it amusing to chat with them in Spanish!

After a great meal we spent some more time wandering around on foot with the dogs, taking a few photos and just being tourists.

A couple of places made us feel right at home!

The GPS took us back to the motorhome in almost a straight line! We realised that traffic congestion had mandated one way streets, and finding streets wide enough had determined the in bound route. Along the way we stopped at the Chedraui for something that had been forgotten on yesterday's trip and arrived home once again via the by now well known retorno and again at dusk.

Tomorrow a short drive to the small town of Piste, near the famous Chichen Itzá ruins.

Isla Aguada to Uxmal 14 November

2011-12-02T12:44:00.001-08:00

Though yesterday was simply a travel day, we did enjoy our evening stop. Today we actually had a destination in mind; a couple of ruins to see.

We were on the road at 9:30, driving along the narrow spit, water on both sides, very flat but still scenic and we were able to make good time.

We soon realised though that we were in insect country as we began another bug collection on the windshield. Eventually we had to pull off the road so Art could do a bit of "de-bugging". Here are the Before, During and After pics.

Watching carefully for our turn off the highway, wary of missing it, we managed to turn too soon and found ourselves on a very narrow local road. There was no way we were going to carry on so there was nothing else but disconnecting the jeep, turning both vehicles around and reconnecting. Back on the highway, in less than a kilometer, we found the correct road, well signed for the Edzná Ruins.

The parking area was completely shaded yet breezy so we took the opportunity to have a bit of lunch before proceeding to the entrance. These are early Maya Ruins, some restoration has been done but much has be left as found.

Returning to the rig we took the dogs out for a nature break then hit the road again for Uxmal, another Maya ruin, perhaps a bit better known, where we planned to stay the night.

We noticed in several villages along the way many houses built with the same rounded corners as found in the Edzná ruins.

Pigs and chickens, cows, sheep, donkeys and horses were frequent road hazards. For some reason, in one town the dogs were safely on the sidewalk--must be siesta time!

Driving through this town we caught up to these very long slow moving heavily laden double semi trailers. Then there was a large piece of coming the other way, fortunately the street was quite wide where we met. This was going to slow us down a bit!

As we left town behind the road straightened out a bit and eventually there was enough room to pass the nearest, then the second. Several miles later the first truck pulled off the road and we were rolling along a nice smooth and straight highway.

No wrong turns this time, a pleasant drive on reasonable road, 2 1/2 hours after leaving Edzná we arrived at Uxmal.

There is a very nice hotel and restaurant right next to the ruins. We were allowed to park in a large grassy field for a fee. . . 131 pesos for the night about 10 dollars.

The hotel is very tastefully done. The restaurant open at the front and sides, the hotel is only 2 floors story, more like a high end motel set tastefully in the grounds. Don't know if the carriage out side is a reproduction or restored, we guess the former as it was in very nice condition.

We quite enjoyed the musicians, both the mariachis and the marimba players but Art thought they needed more practice as they seemed a little rusty.

We had arrived in lots of time to take in the evening lighted show in the ruins. Art was quite annoyed to find when we got in that there was no easy access to the seating for the show--it involved climbing three steep flights of stone stairs so he returned to the motorhome. No luck in getting a refund on the way out though at least our tickets were good for a half price entry for the next day.

Next morning we had breakfast in the restaurant then spent an hour or so walking the ruins. Here are a few photos we took during our stroll, the Uxmal hyperlink above has lots of better ones.

Back to the motorhome where Gillian took the dogs out for a stroll while Art connected the jeep and got us ready to roll for the short drive north to Mérida, in the state of Yucatan.

13 November Villahermosa to Isla Aguada

2011-12-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

9:15 we departed the RV Park, a quick stop a few minutes later for fuel and we continued on south and east. Another two hours and we crossed into the state of Campeche--a new state for us! Here we were subject to an inspection--pork and chicken are not permitted to cross into the Yucatan. The area is clear of various swine and poultry diseases and the are trying to keep it that way.

We were taking the scenic coast road, part of it along a sandy spit and narrow islands joined by a couple of toll bridges. Many of the villages here were just a foot or two above the high tide level. Easy to visualise hurricane devastation.

Along this route we came across several anachronistic vistas such as this one. Concrete/brick house, three satellite dishes!

This turned out to be a short and easy driving day, arriving at the RV park just before 2:00PM.

A beautiful and scenic location, we enjoyed the afternoon, though there was no way we would be able to tune in the Starchoice satellite signal!

In the bar we chatted with a man from Brazil who was visiting with his wife and toddler; this is a kid who has a real head start in languages: Father is Brazilian (Portugese) mother is Mexican (Spanish) mother-in-law is Chinese (Mandarin) and both parents speak English. The little one is being raised with all four languages!

We also enjoyed an excellent meal here.

Later a family from Germany arrived. We met them in the morning and had a good chat. Their oldest son was quite interested in the hook-up procedure and was very quick in understanding what was involved.

Their RV was something to behold: the pic tells it all except that it was also a 4WD! Note that they sleep in tents on the roof!

They have traveled the Americas from Honduras to Alaska.

11 & 12 November; Villahermosa

2011-12-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

We had a relaxing morning, taking a stroll around the grounds. Trekker, and to a lesser degree Tia, happy with the company of a delightful puppy called Capitán. Trekker had found someone that he could boss around yet who was still willing to play! He is a delightful, friendly puppy, we were all quite taken with him. If he hadn't had a good home and a loving little boy to play soccer with we could easily found ourselves with three dogs!

There were also a couple of strange objects more or less abandoned under the trees! We can only guess that they had been used for kids to play in.

Yesterday afternoon and again this morning we had heard a strange noise, sort of a grinding sound that lasted just a second then repeated several times. This morning we discovered what it was; they were in the process of making concrete blocks, the noise was a vibrating machine that shook the forms that had been filled with the wet mix.

We had decided to spend an extra night here in order to take in the Parque Museo La Venta. We took a taxi as we had no idea what parking would be like or if we would be able to find a shady spot to park in. The RV park called a taxi for us which arrived in half an hour (20 minutes after promised) the dogs not happy to be left behind.

La Venta is the town to the north were the Olmec ruins and their stone carving were found. The museum contains many genuine artifacts from there as well as copies of many items. The Olmec are the oldest known people of the Americas, long before the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas. They are well knows for their large stone carvings and in particular huge stone heads. One fascinating aspect of these carvings is that much of the stone is not native and was transported from many hundreds of miles away without the use of draft animals or the wheel.

Gillian was quite curious about what this old fellow found so fascinating up there!

The park is also a zoo of native and non native species of fauna and flora. The cinnamon tree was much larger than we had supposed.

Some of the animals appeared quite content, others, such as the black panther, not so much. The ocelot paced his cage for a while then curled up for a nap right by the fence in front of us.

There was also a coatamundi who had free range of the place. He was quite shy except when at the snack bar!

We were able to enter and walk around inside a large netted area containing free flying birds.

One bird spent all time we were there perched on the wall watching the workman on the other side of the fence!

Art was ready for a rest so while Gillian went on to see the rest of the zoo, he searched out the snack bar where he relaxed over a barely adequate cup of coffee. After a short while he was approached by four young people who asked him if he would look over their English homework. He agreed and began to read a page of English dialogue, much of which made no sense at all!

After explaining that some of it had him quite puzzled, one of the students turned the paper over—there was the Spanish version! Now it became quite obvious what happened. They had used a computer program to do the translation! As an example of the pitfalls this can lead to, the Spanish word “si” means “yes” in English. It can also mean “if”!

Art spent some time with them explaining each phrase and usage and they all had an enjoyable time sharing the difficulties entailed in learning another language.

When we had toured enough we went out to the street to flag a taxi and stop for groceries on the way home. This is the worst time we have had in Mexico trying to get a taxi! Most of them just carried on by, those that stopped already had passengers and wouldn't turn around to go the way we need to go. A short walk took us to a pedestrian overpass (with seemingly a few hundred stairs!) which we used to cross the divided street.

On the other side we had no luck at all. After inquiring of some passers-by we decided to walk to the grocery store, which was just past the second traffic light. What we didn't realise was, that didn't mean two blocks. Before we got to this light we had crossed a couple of over passes, in all the walk being about a kilometer and a half! And Art was already tired from walking around the museo!

Shopping done, we went out to find a taxi. Usually in Mexico you are barely out of the door when you are accosted “Taxi? Taxi?”. Not here. There was an employee who controlled the line up, assigning a cab only after the driver had agreed to accept the destination, and even then, the arriving taxi frequently had a passenger or two already on board. Sharing cabs seems to be the norm here. While waiting a young man on his own showed up and greeted Art with a shy smile—one of the teens from the language lesson! Being on his own he quickly found a taxi and was gone. It took us about another 20 minutes before we found a driver willing to take us so far out of town!

Catamaco and the drive to Villahermosa

2011-11-11T17:24:00.000-08:00

We planned on two nights here in Catamaco, the 9^th being Gillian's birthday.

For Gillian's birthday, other than a cheeky card from Art, we also went out for dinner.Gene also told us that there would be a party birthday party for a friend of his going on the night of the 9^th until who knows when and we would be welcome to attend. When we told him that it was Gillian's birthday too, he said that we must attend.

After breakfast Art did a couple of loads of laundry which took a while as the water pressure was so low the machine took forever to fill! Other than that we had a quiet day, Gillian catching up on her magazine and Art blogging, e-mailing etc.

That evening we did go out for and early dinner at La Ola (The Wave) in town. The restaurant is on the lakeside, with was also a nice garden leading to the lake where several fishing boats were moored. Inside the false ceiling was quite unusual and beautiful, it was of woven wooden material of some sort.

Recommended by Gene, (Owned by relatives—did he have a choice?) it turned out fine with some reservation. We had eaten here a few years ago, and remembered good food.

The only down side to our meal was that we followed the comments of Mike and Terry Church, in their “Travelers Guide to Mexican Camping” which said “ you must try the “togologos” a local speciality.

We did ask the waiter what they were and he confirmed our guess that they were snails. Well we both like escargot, though to be truthfull Gillian appreciates them more than Art, so we each asked for an appie order of togologos.

For our main course we ordered “Vuelve la Vida” (return or restore life) which was a medley of all seafood served cold in a huge brandy style goblet. Quite nice but you guessed it, more togologos!

For drinks Gillian ordered a Negro Modelo and Art a margarita. Or two.

The togologos arrived, done as a ceviche. Ceviche is not one of Art's favourite but he was OK with it. Until he tried to eat one. Gillian had the same response.

Togologos will not be written up in the Michelin Guide. Perhaps in the Michelin Catalogue. Not so much as tough as hard. Some of these little things the fork wouldn't penetrate!

The place is quite pleasant and the staff friendly and helpful. Our waiter knew about the party back at the RV Park and was surprise that we weren't there.

We also met an English couple with their Mexican friend, on their third visit to Mexico and had a nice chat.

Back at the RV Park we turned the TV on to catch the last 15 minutes of the 5 O'clock CHEK TV News from Victoria, ( remember the 2 hour time zone difference) feed the dogs and go across to join the local party.

More food and drink we visited and chatted for a few hours then we returned to the RV none the worse for wear, we planned to leave in the morning for Villahermosa.

Gillian soon retired but Art was determined to complete the last blog entry but Google was being difficult and having problems uploading pictures. He persevered until 1:30 AM (shortly after the music stopped!) then gave up and went to bed.

Shortly after 1:00 AM there was a sudden hard shower, and a gust or two of wind. Just after going to bed he heard rain on the roof once again.

Just after dawn Art was awakened by the wind which was buffeting the awning and shaking the rig. The only advantage of an electric awning is that he didn't have to go outside to retract it! Just a push of a button did the trick then back to bed.

7:30 AM Art gave up on any hope of continued sleep, the wind howling around ended that. We soon decided that there was no real need to push on down the road, we would stay a third night. We could take the opportunity to do more laundry! Sheets and towels. Two loads took most of the day! Gillian occupied herself with a bit of house cleaning.

A river flowed past the campground into the very close Laguna Catamaco. Here we watched divers collecting the infamous togolgos from the river, some them in the fairly strong current.

November 11

The wind had died down, it was time to go. The night before Art had filled the fresh water tanks but left the holding tanks, for morning. After breakfast that was taken care of, satellite dish stowed, power disconnected and we were ready to go.

On the road about 10:00 AM we set off south. As we headed out of town past the lake the wind returned and it began to rain. This route we had taken some years ago, but only remembered bits of it.

There were many small towns and villages along this road with population ranging from a few hundred (mostly children from the looks of things) to eight thousand or so. The rain eased off just in time for this photo of a town church.

Much of this road had been seriously damaged by the summer (rainy season) floods. We crossed several areas where the road had obviously been recently repaired and several were repairs were still in progress. We were not terribly excited about one temporary steel bridge about a foot wider than our track and no guard rails! Somehow we got across with out falling into the river.

We eventually reached the toll road heading southeast, but only after a couple of U-turns! Mexican road signs leave a little to be desired. Obviously the way to the toll road was not part of what we remembered!

The toll road was in disgusting shape for the first 20 or 30 kilometres, then on and off for another 50 or so then things began to improve as road repairs were under way. The last half of the drive the highway was in good shape.

Unfortunately the rain and cloud hid much of the true beauty of one to the bridges along the way. Further along one of the toll booths was almost completely flooded as the rain continued.

Approaching Villahermosa we began to try to recall and visualise the approach. We remembered that we had to take a returno and that it had been difficult to see the entrance but we remembered also that we had found it. That was a few years ago! A couple of extra returnos later we were on the muddy potholed dirt road to the balneario.

A young lady directed us to a less waterlogged placed to park, assuring us that it was firmer than the other areas. After a bit of manoeuvering to find a level spot (so we wouldn't have to put too much weight on the jacks) we were eventually parked, jacks down with wooden pads under the jacks and slides out A couple of young men had strung an extension cord out to us as apparently none of the electrical outlets on the posts worked!

Once connected to an very undersized cable Art set the satellite dish to searching out the satellite. It seemed to find it OK but when we later went to watch the news the the receiver had lost the satellite signal. It would appear that the rig had settled into the soggy sod! Re-setting the dish, all was fine.

We were also told (when we asked) that internet was available but only “close”. Surprisingly enough we were able to connect using the laptop at the dinette, hence an up to the minute ( or evening) blog post.

Cholula to Catamaco, a long and "interesting" drive.

2011-11-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 8th November

By 9:40 we were rolling towards the 150D. Looking for our exit Art spied the small 150D sign and hit the brakes. Not quick enough! We overshot the exit/entrance ramp by several metres! Our options here were limited: 1) carry on north along the periferico and hope that we could find a retorno, 2)disconnect the jeep and reverse each vehicle, enter the ramp, stop and reconnect and continue—this option screamed for a run-in with the police—or, 3) just back up the 3 or 4 meters and turn onto the on ramp. This last option is against all cautions in the towed vehicle manual since it can force the front wheels hard over in the wrong direction and cause them to skid sideways, straining or even damaging the suspension and or steering.

Art opted for Door Number 3 and with Gillian closely watching the road sign beside us on the right to let him know the instant we were clear of it he inched the rig backwards focused on the front end of the jeep in the backup camera. Just as Gillian said that we were clear Art notice the rear of the jeep drifting to the right. We just needed a few more feet! Art turned the wheel very slightly and move back a little more, put the wheel hard over and drove onto the ramp. So far so good. Time will tell if there was any damage. (Several days later all seems well, the jeep handles just like it always did.)

Slow and heavy traffic around Puebla but it eventually diminished and we were eastbound once again. Still not sure of our final destination for tonight, we will decide as we approach the southeast running 145D. Do we cross it and stop on the coast just south of Veracruz or do we follow the 150 south then cut into Catamaco, a much nicer a park, and much closer to Villahermosa?

Just out of Puebla was farming country, lots of cornfields, the dried stalks heaped in loose piles or stacked in stooks in the fields. We supposed they would be used as cattle feed.

We came across a very long stretch of highway of newly poured concrete, the west bound lane having been dug up was in the process of being rebuilt. Also some interesting traffic on this freeway!

This highway too crossed some spectacularly rugged countryside. Huge vertical canyons covered essentially in jungle. We came across a long down hill section, the signs warning trucks of an 8 kilometre down grade. After several kilometres at least we came across an identical sign! There were also several tunnels. Fortunately most of the steep hills were down grades--our fuel use was pretty economical! The sign reads "Check brakes, 8 kilometre down grade".

One "runaway" lane looked no better than staying on the road should a truck loose its brakes; the very short fairly flat lane of deep soft gravel ended in a precipice. A long way to fall if the truck didn't stop!

Though there were a few corners to navigate as shown on the GPS screen it was in pretty good shape and we made reasonable time. Catamaco was looking better, or at least do-able, as we rolled on.

We reached the 145D at about 1:00PM, the GPS said we would reach Catamaco at 3:30, as well as I can remember. Even allowing an hour for lunch and possibly fuel, though we still had just over half a tank.

Now we had another decision to make; Which route to Catamaco? The red road from Cosamaloapan, or a bit further along the 145d and take the straighter and slightly shorter yellow road?

At Cosamaloapan we pulled it the rest area at the toll booth and had our lunch and walked the dogs a bit. Since there was a Pemex right next door we took the opportunity to top up the diesel.

We were off again 50 minutes after stopping, decision made, 36 kilometers to our exit onto the yellow road which we would follow to for 45 kilometers to Santiago Tuxtla on the 180 with only 28 kilometres between there and our destination for the night. Our only concern was the possibilities of low bridges or very narrow streets and turns in a village along the way.

A bit further down the road we noticed some large concrete structures obviously built to be part of an overpass. The curious thing is, there is no cross road to connect to it! Also the dirt and grime indicated that they had been built some years ago.

As we approached our turn we were heartened to see a large dump truck then a semi-trailer crossing the overpass in the direction we would be taking. Gillian was warning Art that at the end of the ramp we had a hard left. Art noted the road merging in from the left but did not think it was our turn as it was a hairpin and possibly too tight.

The decision was taken out of our hands by a cowboy on horseback carrying a large pole with a red flag on the end which he was using as a traffic direction tool as well as for herding cattle. Yes cattle. There were several horsemen moving along side and around a group of cows steers and young bulls that seemed determined to go anywhere but where the riders wanted. Most were in the brush at the side of the road, but a few were obstinately kept heading towards us and the freeway exit ramp we had just travelled!

Art proceeded slowly the right side of the road ahead and a couple of hundred meters along we were clear of the cattle and there was a wide area where we could turn around. Art made a U-turn and pulled up behind the cattle. Here another cowboy with red flag was controlling the back of the herd. He indicated that he wanted us to just stay behind and not to pass.

We waited for a while watching the goings-on with great interest and no little amusement. It soon became apparent that the cattle were being moved, probably just changing grazing fields. They were being herded up and over the overpass to the other side of the freeway. It was a very entertaining 15 or 20 minute delay.

But that was just the beginning! Once we got clear we ran into a very poor section of road, potholes several feet across and up to 6 inches deep. In some places efforts had been made to fill the worst with dirt. At a couple of points the edge of the road had completely fallen away, 5 to 10 feet down. Somewhere along here we came across 4 or 5 very young boys, probably not over 10 years old, with shovels, filling in the holes. We called them over and gave them a handful of pesos.

We wished that we had noted the time that we started down this road, but we did time the last 10 kilometers; 24 minutes. I'll even do the math: average speed of 25 kilometers per hour. That was probably about right for the whole 45Km. One minor incident along the way--a cupboard came open and several items hit the counter and the floor, including a tetra box of soup that somehow remained intact!

As we entered Santiago de Tuxtla at the junction with the 180 we were pleasantly surprised with the picturesque little town. The roads weren't any better until we turned onto the highway.

The last 28 Km along the 180 we did much better and though traffic was slow and fairly heavy eventually we reached the RV Park. We stopped on the street while Gillian opened the second gate and as we drove through we were met by Gene, the owner who recommended the best spot.

We unhooked and parked, jacks down, slides out, power connected and satellite dish set up and then it was dark.

Tolls today: 1140 pesos, just under 100 bucks.

Tequisquiapan to Cholula (near Puebla) via Arco del Norte

2011-11-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

9:40 Monday morning we left the balneario, having to continue east a kilometer or so to the Retorno or U-turn lane to cross the highway divider and head west again to the quota.

In the middle of Del Rio we had a fairly long wait as a slow moving train crawled across the highway. Once the train had passed we had a red light to wait for then continued on. The signage to the highway though minimal was clear and soon we were southbound towards Mexico City.

Not that we wanted to go there, but we had to proceed in that direction for about 75 kilometers on the 57D to the new Arco del Norte around the Mexico City area to the east and on to Cholula near Puebla. It is no wonder that it took so many years to complete, much of the terrain was very steep and rugged, the area being volcanic and covered with lush vegetation, which would give way for a short intermission fairly flat land. Unfortunately the cloud cover prevented good viewing of the two famous and legendary volcanos to the south, Iztaccihuatl and Popocatépetl.

Eventually we had successfully bypassed the dreadded Mexico City and approached the end of the Arco del Norte where we paid a toll of 470 pesos. We thought that this freeway would join into the major east-west toll road to and from Mexico City. The Guia Roji certainly indicated that but on leaving the toll booth we found ourselves traveling over 3 or 4 kilometers of absolutely terrible road surface to the 150D to Puebla and points east. 8 minutes later we paid another 135 peso toll and shortly after that we spied our exit for Cholula and easily found our way to Las Americas Trailer Park. We were parked and setup by 2:10 PM.

After lunch Gillian asked the park manager for directions to the cathedral, which had been built on the top of some extensive pyramid ruins and which we had missed on previous visits. She was told 4 blocks straight along the street so she set off on foot. 4 blocks along there was no sign of anything so she asked again, and was told again, 4 blocks down the street. Soon she could see the spires and 4 blocks later she arrived.

She then began looking for the entrance to the tunnel to the pyramid ruins and came across the exit. Again she asked for directions and was told that the exit was the entrance. As she walked in she was faced by a solitary guard who told her that this was the exit only and she had to go around to the enterance. Eventually she found the entrance. She was turned away because the tunel had been closed for two years due to a tunnel collapse!

She made do with what she could see from ground level, took some photos and returned to the motorhome about an hour and a half after setting off. Trekker and Tia were somewhat put out with her taking such a walk without them!

Next morning after a hasty breakfast Art jumped into the jeep and drove the three or four blocks to the supermarket to pick up a few items; orange juice, bread, milk and to visit the ATM to replenish our pesos. He returned without the water! Not desperate yet but will need some tomorrow for sure.

Tequisquiapan

2011-11-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

Leaving our site we snuck past the green elephant and pulled up to the pumps at the attached Pemex to fuel both motorhome and jeep then hooked up, a procedure that seemed to fascinate the attendant. We were on the highway at 10:25, heading north to avoid the city traffic.

We were a little taken aback by the sign at the Pemex station. We didn't realise that the Aztecs had Pemex stations in the year 880!

Less than 15 Km north of the Trailer Park there is a new toll bypass, mandatory for heavy trucks enroute to Mexico City. Since Queretaro was 15 kilometres south of us anyway it seemed logical. We remembered the trip through town some years ago, and judging by the increase in traffic, it was a decision well made. Although the on-ramps and exits are still being worked on it was a relaxing and easy drive.

Approaching Del Rio, our turnoff point, we pulled over for a navigation discussion, and continued on down the freeway for a few more kilometers to the Tequis exit. (I won't say who was right and who was wrong because this is being written on her birthday.)

Following the instructions in Church and Church we made it through town and about 10 kilometers further on came upon the sign for the balneario.

This waterpark has lots of space for camping and is a very popular summer vacation spot for Mexican families, though there was only one tent there when we arrived. They began packing up mid afternoon to return to Mexico City, about three hours away by car.

Once parked and leveled and the power hooked up we had a quick bite of lunch and set off in the jeep to explore the town. We were looking for centro and hoping a few shops would be open even though it was Sunday. This is a well known Fire Opal centre and Gillian was hoping. . . after all, tomorrow would be her birthday! On the way in we spotted these wonderful drawings on the overhead.

The entrance to the main part of town looked promising but we couldn't find centro! At least the shops. Lots of houses and a few bars. One-way streets kept taking us out of town!

After two such attempts we gave up and headed for the Sunday Market which we had noticed on the main road into Tequisquiapan.

We even found a place to park right by a gap in the fence for easy access to the market. The market is obviously very new. Clean, modern, stalls which lock up at night. Wonderful basketwork, for which the area is well known besides Fire Opals.

We wandered the stalls and had a good look around but avoided temptation and made no purchases, though some items were very beautiful and the workmanship excellent, transporting them home would have been difficult. The opals would have been harder to resist. In any case, we returned to the RV Park pesos intact. Staying another day was tempting.

We had parked right in front of the speakers which had been playing loud Mexican music since our arrival, though thankfully not Rap! We returned to find all quiet and peaceful. In fact the place looked like a cemetery with concrete blocks which marked each space (and contained the electrical outlets) like rows of headstones. In the photo you can just make out the motorhome at the far end of the field. Even the jeep was lonely, parked outside of the locked campground for the night.

6:PM to the minute the power to the coach dropped off as the incoming voltage reached the high cut off point, probably when they switched pool pumps off. Meanwhile batteries were fully charged so we weren't concerned.

Later at TV News time we'll put the inverter on. 5 O'clock CHEK news from home at 7 O'clock will be the norm now until mid March! From here on we will be making good use of the digital recorder on our Shaw Direct Satellite receiver to make up for the 2 hour time difference.

Power was on and off through the evening but the inverter got us through until bed time which wasn't late as we planned for a fairly long run to Cholula next day.

Dolores Hidalgo and the tiles -- and a language lesson

2011-11-09T11:52:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember reading of our attempt last year to buy a bathroom hand painted telavera hand basin and matching counter top tiles made to fit around the edge. For those that missed the saga here is a brief recap of the last year's events and for all, an update on the missing tiles.

We had visited many pottery places over the previous couple of years looking for a small oval telavera hand basin for the downstairs bathroom. Dolores Hidalgo is a major centre of telavera and other types of pottery. Here we had found many we liked but Gillian was unable to find one that matched the colour scheme she had in mind.

Last November she brought a turquoise hand towel along. Whatever we bought had to go with that colour. Eventually, in one shop, Gillian found one design that would do. Not exactly the colours she wanted, but it would do fine. The four matching tiles, each with a corner cut to fit around the bowl, were not available for the smaller basin we wanted, only the larger.

We discussed the possibility of having “azulejos” (Spanish for tiles) painted to match and was assured it could be done, in a few days, maybe a week. Or two. After some thought and more discussion we paid for the basin, paid a deposit on the azulejos and said that we would return in the spring to pick them up, and that we would phone a week or two before we arrived.

Jump to last March. We had a bilingual friend call the shop on our behalf so that there we would be no misunderstanding. We were assured that they had the order and that it would be ready for us to pick up.

When we arrived at the RV Park in Guanajuato, an hour and a half or so drive to the west of Dolores, we called to say that we would be there to pick them up the next day, Saturday. We were told that Sunday would be better. Hmmmm.

We arrived on Sunday, Art stayed with the dogs in the car as we had had to park on a back street, while Gillian went in to fetch the tiles. This time the artist himself was in the shop but no one had told the him we were coming. They weren't ready, in fact hadn't even been started. They finally agreed to have them shipped to Puerto Vallarta, where we planned to stay several days and could stretch it out to a week if necessary. Well it was, and more.

We visited Estafeta (the courier) several times, tracking number in hand to be told “mañana” and finally “lunes” (Monday). Monday came but the tiles didn't, although Art was able to see on the web site that they had been put on the truck for local delivery. Strange, in that we didn't have a local address and were to pick them up at the Estafeta office!

Tuesday morning we left PV, now a little short of time so concerned that our return home might be a little rushed. No more than 15 minutes north of the PV Campground our cell phone rang. The agent was happy to announce that the shipment had been located—in San Luis Potosi!

He was told that we were on our way home, our visas were about to expire and we could not wait. He was to send the tiles back to the shop in Dolores Hidalgo. He offered to ship them to us in Canada but we declined as the duty and import brokerage fees would have been several times more than the value of the tiles. We then contacted the shop and said that we would either pick them up ourselves or have them shipped to us in Zihuatanejo when we returned in November 2011.

Which is now. So the saga continued:

Dolores Hidalgo is about an hour and a half to the west from the Trailer Park we were in, just north of Queretaro. Saturday noon we set off hoping to pick up our tiles. The photo also shows Guanajuato further to the west from where we had started this search. The pins shop the approximate location of the RV parks.

The young lady in the shop was able to find our original invoice without trouble, it was with a list of orders to be completed or picked up, right at the front desk! However she had no idea where the tiles might be, and “La Senora” was in the bank. Knowing Mexican banking procedures we knew we had time for lunch so ambled down the street looking for some place at least adequate.

Meals in the many little restaurants in many towns range from excellent to inedible, with mediocre and frequently over cooked being common. We found one place called “Capitan Trucha” (Captain Trout), went in and sat down. The place was shabby but clean enough, even liquid hand soap in the bathroom though there were no paper towels. Browsing through the menu we realised that although it was seafood restaurant, trout wasn't on the menu!

We ordered mojarra, a medium sized fish often cooked whole. Art ordered the "Española" and Gillian the "Veracruzana", similar, just a few differences in the sauces' ingredients. Our meals came and both were superb; the greens crisp and fresh and the french fries worth of a good English Fish & Chip shop. The fish were perfectly cooked, moist and and delicate but not falling apart and the respective sauces flavourful yet didn't overpower the fish. Amongst the best we have had in Mexico. Being whole fish they were of course full of bones but we managed not to choke on any of them!We did ask for an empty plate as a place to put the heads and skeletons!

We had parked the jeep next to the shop so of course we were greeted by the dogs as we approached, glad to see us back and seemingly forgiving us for wandering off without them.

The mesh you see in the photo is a modification we had done to the convertible top to help keep the dogs cool. We bought an extra set of windows and had Tommy's Upholstery in Victoria cut the clear plastic out and stitch in some nylon garden netting that we provided. The rear window was similarly treated. They are easily changed back and forth, plastic ones are in place when towing or cooling is not needed.

Inside the shop, La Senora, Magnolia by name, was back. We explained to her the story and she seemed to remember. She went into the back of the shop and returned with a big smile on her face and a box of tiles. Attached to the outside of the box were two 4 inch square painted times; samples of the content of the box. She was so proud that she had found our order!

Except that it wasn't what we wanted!

A complex discussion ensued which include an important language lesson. What we had ordered were “azulejos” which we knew meant “tiles". What we wanted was a set of four large tiles that set in a square had an oval opening into which fit the sink. These special tiles are apparently not called “azulejos”, but “esquadras”. Oh!

More discussion and thought followed, a phone call from Magnolia to her boss, another 200 pesos changed hands and our new esquadras will be shipped to us in Zihuatanejo in early December. We hope.

On the way back to the Trailer Park in Queretaro we stopped at the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende for a few groceries.

At the Trailer Park we found that we were no longer alone; a French Canadian couple in a camper had arrived. Their sixteen year old dog Canelle took an instant liking to Tia and romped like a puppy. Trekker was a different story. Her response to his exuberance was a baring of teeth and a snarl. When ever she saw him after that she ran at him barking!

Electrical power here too was a problem, the voltage frequently rising above 130volts. Art had set the high voltage cut of at the top of the range but still it would cut off during the evening and over night. Leaving the inverter on meant that we were able to keep the satellite and TV on without interruption, as long as we remembered to turn it off before bed!

By about 9:30 we were both falling asleep so we switched off whatever it was we had been watching (Yes--we remembered the inverter!) and called it a night.

Tomorrow a short run to Tequisquiapan.

Mexquitic to Queretero

2011-11-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

We started well, returning the way we came to San Luis Potosi then at the same point that we had left the periferico from the north, we turned south to continue another 180 degrees around the centre of the city. Some forms of traffic was better suited to the conditions than others

The road condition was terrible--not as bad as the north part, but pretty bad. To make things worse, we missed our turnoff! Rather than try to find a way to turnaround in the heavy traffic we decided to carry on and take the exit for Rio Verde and from there take the toll road south to join the highway to Queretaro. Fortunately we are fairly familiar with the general geography of the area!

Further down the highway we noted a vehicle checkpoint set us for north bound traffic. This was taken from about a kilometer from the checkpoint. We were very glad we were southbound!

The approach to Queretaro was much changed from the last time we came through here, some five or six years ago. A new interchange is being built north of town, almost finished now, serving a new bypass for trucks enroute to Mexico City. Since this is only about 8 kilometers north of the trailer park we'll probably take this route south rather than fight the Queretaro traffic.

Also as we approached the trailer park we kept a good lookout for the changes to the overpass there which we had to use as a U turn route to the park. Thanks to Church and Church (the authors of A Traveler's Guide to Mexican Camping, we made the turn, only because we knew it had to be there. There was no sign, and the exit was hidden by overgrown brush until we were on top of it. These two photos were taken seconds apart.

We stopped in the office and checked in for two days--360 pesos for two nights, including wifi. While Gillian was in the office Art began disconnecting the jeep, then we drove around and into park area. It was healthy looking green grass, the dogs were going to be quite happy here. As Art drove onto the grass the motorhome slowed noticeably. A few feet further on he stopped to get out to check which would be the best site, water, power, sewer connections etc. He noticed that the rig had sunk into the wet (soggy) grass about 6 inches!

We did get backed in, though not without leaving ruts in the sod! Getting the rig level proved a bit of a problem, the jacks certainly would need pads underneath, the question being, would they be enough. After a lot of fiddling around we were as level as we would get, power and water connected. When we left two mornings later (when the photo was taken) the damage didn't look quite as bad.

We had an easy afternoon, catching up on internet while we could,though it was pretty slow. Tomorrow we were heading to Dolores Hidalgo in search of the tiles to go around the basin we had purchased the previous year.

Saltillo to Mexquitic near San Luis Potosi

2011-11-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday Nov 3rd

Saltillo to Mexquitic (near San Luis Potosi)

Exhausted from our tour yesterday (and there hadn't even been a wine tasting!) we had been early to bed without beginning to pack up in preparation for our departure this morning. Art was up shortly after seven and Gillian not far behind.

After breakfast the breaking camp procedure was going well and surprisingly enough it was beginning to look like we would be on our way by nine. Until the last chore prior to hooking up the jeep—dumping the holding tanks, normally just a five or ten minute job.

Due to the placement of the sewer dump site—over a curb and behind the rig Art decided to move the motorhome alongside several spaces and he would be able to us the short 5' hose without dragging out the 15 footer and the 5 foot extension.

All went as planned until he pulled the lever to dump the black tank. As the stuff ran out the hose and down the drain Art heard the gurgling sound increasing in pitch—this meant that the sewage was rising in the drain. He was able to close the valve in time to prevent a messy and smelly spill.

After waiting several minutes the level went down enough to dump a little more. This went on, and on, and on. Eventually the black tank was empty. Now for the gray water—the waste from the shower, bathroom basin and kitchen sink. There was a lot more volume to dispose of! Art let several batches to flow at a high rate to clear any solids and sludge from the bottom of the tank then closed the valve and reopened it to just a trickle, so that the drain was able to keep up.

This was going to take a while! Finally Art decided to take a short cut: The black tank never gets completely filled, so raising the discharge hose above the level of the the waste tanks he opened both valves so the gray water would flow into the black tank. When the water stopped flowing he knew (or at least hoped) that each tank had half the remaining waste. Closing the black tank valve he drained the hose and returned to the slow draining of the gray tank. After a bit more of that Art decided that enough was enough, closed the valve and began to clean the hose and pack things up.

Meanwhile Gillian had told one of the gardeners that the drain was blocked and was assured that he would advise maintenance. Before Art was done maintenance showed up in the form of a three man crew equipped with a garden hose, a toilet plunger and one pair of rubber gloves!

Within a few minutes the jeep was hooked up and we were ready to go. As we pulled out of the parking area (at 9:40) the workers were bringing in a fire hose! It was almost tempting to stay and watch the proceedings.

We have been through Saltillo and around the ring road several times so had no trouble finding our way, though the exit to San Luis Potosi was new to us. We usually went further around a to the Zacatecas exit.

Some time later as we were approaching the ramp to the Quota (toll road) we noticed two police vehicles (pickup trucks) parked in an open gravel area along side, the officers chatting. As we went past Art saw them pull into the road behind us. Their lights were flashing, though this is common when they are just driving in traffic but Art moved over to the shoulder and they pulled along side and waved us over Art stopped and an officer approached the drivers window as the other pickup pulled in as well. Art, speaking only English said good morning, is there a problem. The officer said that we had been exceeding the "limite de velocidad". Art said it is 60, no? Which the officer confirmed. Art insisted that he was not going faster that that, and the driver asked for his drivers license. As he got up out of the drivers seat to reach for his wallet he said to Gillian to get the phone and call Jesus.

As Art offered the officer his license he told the officer that he didn't speak very much Spanish and that he was phoning his friend to help him understand. The officer immediately refused the license and wave us on saying no, no you go, I no speak English, you go, is OK! They all got in their vehicles and drove away.

Art put his license back in his wallet and we hit the road again, while Gillian called Jesus to let him know what happened. He asked Gillian to descrive the pickup—we had made note of it's number, and Gillian had noted the Municipality name on the truck. Jesus said that we would call the city and report what was probably an extortion attempt, what is called here La Mordida, or The Little Bite. Jesus told her that he knew the city clerk, who had been a student of his! Nothing like a Mexican cell phone and a Mexican friend!

The rest of the trip was uneventful, the terrain primarily flat dry dessert with some farming. Further down the highway we were puzzled as to why the road had a 80 Km/H speed limit posted when it was as wide and in as good or better condition as other sections posted at speeds of up to 110. It wasn't until we had passed several small herds of goats, a couple herds of cows several horses and donkeys, and once a mixed group of all of the above, grazing sometimes unattended in the median or on the verges of a two lane divided highway, that we began to see that there might be logic behind it after all!

After a bit we began to encounter a few hills, some with steep but short passes through then we were back on level ground. Though much of the road was in pretty good shape a lot was pretty bad. In many cases even the 80 Km/H limit was pushing it with things rattling around and the motorhome vibrating on the rough surface. Trekker was not impressed.

We stopped at a Pemex for fuel, ourselves as well the rig, and after taking on 2,000 pesos worth of diesel we parked on the side of the station to make sandwiches and walk the dogs. Here we noted and Art investigated an old tanker truck on display. The licence plates were dated 53-54.

The approach to San Luis Potosi led to even worse road condition especially once we got onto the north perifico. The speed limit was between 40 and 60 Km/H but we were hard pressed to maintain 40. We found our way without difficulty and soon turned off for the RV Park.

It too was where we expected it to be but the access was pretty tight. We parked on the street, blocking half the lane, to unhook the jeep and entered the park separately, Art in the motorhome first. Dead ahead was the lighthouse with the driveway going around it, which he followed to the right. Behind the lighthouse, the view blocked by the lighthouse, was a broken down water truck blocking the road! Thanks to the short wheel base and the sharp front wheel cut of the Freightliner chassis Art was able to do a 13 point turn and drive out the way he came!

The owner's wife came out to meet us and told us we could park anywhere we liked so we backed in to a handy spot and we were soon settled in except for the electric. There were outlets connected with two wires but there was no ground connection, and the inverter checks incoming A.C. and if it doesn't like what it sees it won't let it into the coach. Ah well, we have the generator.

Pedro, the owner showed up in the morning; He had used a large bare wire as the neutral, a heavy black as the hot (standard North American practice) but the ground had just been cut off where if fed the system. Art showed him the problem which he seemed to understand and said we would correct it. Art didn't mention the seriously undersized wire feed.

Saltillo

2011-11-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well it is now tomorrow's tomorrow and we a have internet of a sort. So far.

We woke next morning, made coffee and tea and fed the dogs. While waiting for for our friends to arrive we watched the Global BC TV News, tidied up a bit and struggled with the painfully slow internet.

Time passed and still they did not show. Eventually they arrived about an hour after we had expected them but we eventually realised what had happened: While Texas ( in the same time zone as central and eastern Mexico) would not revert to Standard Time until this coming Sunday, Mexico put the clocks back last week.

Art rode with Jesus and Marta with Gillian followed in the jeep. We had been to this French restaurant with them before but could not remember exactly where it was. We will now be able to find it on our own as it it right on the periferico and next to a large supermarket.

After a wonder breakfast--Art and Jesus went with a typical regional dish of scrambled eggs and dried beef which was wonderful. Gillian went with scrambled egg and croisant combination. We had a great time visiting but it was soon time to part: us for some grocery shopping and Jesus had some reports to finish for work. Art teased that he had to fake his expense account but Jesus assured us that they check every peso claimed!

They led us to the supermarket which though almost next door had divided highways in our path. It would have been tricky to describe how to drive there. We said our good byes, decided to stay another day and Jesus said he would call in the morning when he knew what the day would bring him. He did suggest that we visit a "near by" winery--the oldest in the new world, opened in 1597.

Back to the Trailer Park we put the groceries away, spent some frustrating time trying to work on the blog and eventually gave up and turned the satellite system on.

Next morning during breakfast Jesus called to say that he had just received word from his office that they had another project and would be unable to see us today but recommended again the winery and had actually telephoned the manager, whom he knew, and asked him to expect us! We invited Marta to join us, she was able to get some free time and arrived an hour or so later.

We all piled into the jeep and off we went. We hadn't actually checked to see how far away it was, Jesus said maybe an hour, Marta an hour and a half. It was actually closer to two hours on a good highway, much of it a toll road.

Early explorers in the Sierra Madre Occidental, instead of finding the gold, silver or gems they were searching for, found water--at an elevation of 5000 feet--in a large shallow valley fed with underground rivers and springs and a native grape variety. Here a winery was established using these native grapes, and these vines we later spread through out the Americas.

Casa Madera is located on this historical site where wine has been produced for over 400 years.

When we arrived we were met by Maximiliano, the manager, who hailed from Argentina. We didn't have to be told--his accent gave him away! A friendly, smiling man he took on a tour of the grounds and around the vineyards.

We were then handed over to Joe, or Jose, a fluently bilingual young man who took us on most interesting tour of the winery. The tall tanks are 100,000 litre fermentation tanks, there are 11 of them. These are the older ones but still in use when required.

There is even some older stuff here--that is no longer used, and of course, much more modern equipment.

Here are some more pics, in no particular order.

We did get a tiny taste of a couple of their brandies, a few drops from a dip stick. One recently put in the barrel was a bit rough, another about six years older was much smoother.

After a couple of hours we left for lunch, though not without stopping at the shop for some wine and bottle of brandy. Maximilliano had recommended a place in Parras (Vineyard) for lunch which we found by following his directions. We had our lunch in a beautiful courtyard then left for home.

Unfortunately, we didn't have directions as to how to get out of town, and even with the GPS's assistance it was a bit round about!

Eventually we were back on the road to Saltillo. We arrived back at the trailer park well after dark and very tired.

We didn't bother with dinner, tried to watch some TV then went bed before 9:00 PM.

October 30th--Last night in the USA, and on to Mexico.

2011-11-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Started later than hoped, as we would have a one hour time zone change in Texas. We weren't on the road until 9:45 under sunny skies.

Today we continued down the Pecos Valley all the way to the Rio Grande and the Mexican Border. The Pecos Valley is a very wide mostly flat valley, much like yesterday's drive.

Again we followed highway 285 for most of the day to Sanderson then the 90 to Del Rio and finally parallel with the Rio Grande to Eagle Pass.

The wind stayed with us--pushing us along nicely. For most of the trip we were able to maintain 100 Km/H (60 MPH) (road surface permitting) without burning too much fuel.

This photo taken four hours after the previous one!

Approaching Del Rio we went through the Amistad National Recreation Area, a large sprawling lake formed by the Amistad Dam which provides flood control and hydroelectric power to Mexico and the United States. The bonus is a watery recreation area in an otherwise very dry area.

We arrived at the Eagle Pass Walmart, received permission to stay the night and after watching the news (the five o'clock news from home now comes on at seven thanks to the time zone change.

For dinner we walked several blocks up the road to Chili's. Our American waitress is married to a Mexican and lives across the border in Piedras Negras. She walks at least two miles to work and back. She and her husband (and two little ones) are hoping to immigrate to Vancouver and have just begun to investigate the requirements.

Halloween Morning--on our way to Mexico

to be continued!

Well I spent a good hour writing the next post and the internet quit and I lost it all!

I'll re-write it on Open Office, post the text then add the photos one at a time. Now if I had just done that the first time. . . . .

Well on and off trying to post for another hour or so the rest will come perhaps tomorrow.

Here is the first part:

Waking up more or less on time we had a hurried breakfast, packed up, walked the dogs---somehow that all took an hour and a half!

We had been trying to decide whether we should fuel up here or in Mexico. Since diesel here was quite cheap as such things go ($3.659/US gallon) Art made the executive decision. We were full of diesel and moving by 8:40. Same time as last year!

We were pretty sure we could remember the route to the truck crossing and set off full of confidence: “ does this look familiar?” “I think I remember this corner” etc etc etc.

We made the right turn and in a block or two we found our way blocked by a stationary train across the road. After a few minutes the train began to move. A few box cars crossed in front of us then the train stopped again. Several minutes later we decided to follow the example of the rest of the traffic and turn right. A couple of blocks later we turned left, one block later we turned left again and found ourselves on the street we remembered as one that led to the International Bridge across the Rio Grande into Mexico.

$9.50 US and a few moments later we were in Mexico and at the Mexican Border crossing. We knew from past experience at this crossing that we were not permitted into the commercial truck area which at first look seemed the only area wide enough for us—last year we had to disconnect the tow car, back up, reconnect and pull into the very narrow car lanes but at the last minute a hard left avoided those and we parked in front of the office.

We found a couple of agents who inspected the storage bins and had a quick look inside the motorhome. Art had told them that we had some culinary herbs in a planter and that we weren't sure if they were permitted or not. The agent had a good look, inspecting each plant carefully and finally allowed them and wished us “Buen viaje” (good trip).

Driving along the edge of the town of Piedras Negras we were keeping a close eye out for a particular OXXO (sort of a Mexican 7/11) in order to put time on our Mexican cell phones. We passed a few where parking was difficult and were beginning to think we had missed it when we spotted the store and pulled off onto a wide dirt space near by.

There are several easy ways to add time to a cell phone in Mexico. One is at most convenience stores and grocery stores. Here you give the cashier the amount you want to put on your phone, tell her which carrier, and your cell phone number. She enters the info on her till and before your can leave, the cell phone beeps with a text message giving you the current balance! Another easy way is at most ATMs. Once you insert the card, from the menu you select “Buy cell phone time” select the carrier, the amount of time wanted and press the button. Again, almost before you can turn away your phone beeps with a text message and your account is debited!

Communications secured we carried on, next stop a second check point; immigration, temporary vehicle import permit and a second customs check. It is very common in Mexico that this second check point be 20 so kilometers from the actual border. On this route it was somewhat further.

Our first crossing here we thought we had missed the stop! We had been told that it was at kilometer 50 or 51. The problem was that the first Km markers we saw were in the 200s and going down! Then suddenly we were in the 20's and also decreasing! As Km 1 went by at the south turn off for the city of Allende we rounded a curve to see Km 51 and the checkpoint on the right.

This year there were no other RVs in the parking area and very few cars. Inside there was no one around. Documents in hand Art knocked on the window of the immigration office. We were quickly and courteously dealt but a major problem reared its head: we required copies of the main page of our passports ,the jeep registration and Gillian's driving license. This year there was no local copy office which had been there in previous years! The agent kindly made the copies on his office machine and we went across to the next office to pay for our visas and to get the temporary vehicle import permit for the jeep. The motorhome didn't need one as it already has a ten year permit issued three years ago.

Back out in the parking area Art attached the required hologram to the windshield while Gillian took the dogs for a walk and bathroom break.

Next was the gauntlet of yet another customs check. We entered the Nothing to Declare lane as we had been instructed in the office but an armed officer directed us to the Declare lane. However there was no way that we could make the 90 degree right turn at the exit of that lane. Eventually the officer recognised the problem and removed several traffic cones and directed us ahead and into a checkpoint area.

Here we were inspected by a search dog who only took exception to the barking of Trekker and Tia! One of the officers came in and had a quick look around, including the freezer compartment of the fridge, and he too wished us “Buen Viaje” and waved us on with a smile.

Now well on our way on at first fairly rough roads which soon improved, the terrain was much like that on the US side for the past few days so for the most part able to keep to the speed limits, which varied from 90 to 100 Km/H. We had eaten breakfast in Eagle Pass but along the way we each munched on an apple and a banana so weren't too pressed for a lunch stop.

There were quite a few places to pull off, complete with litter barrels, but we bypassed them all, even our usual one which had a nicely placed shade tree. We hoped this year to hold out for a small rest area that we had notice each previous trip which looked worth a stop.

We found the place as we remembered in the Sierra La Gavia, a short steep mountain ridge thrust up in the middle of the desert. The rest area is called “Fuente Ojo de Agua". Fuente means fountain and Ojo de Agua translates literally as Eye of Water but means a spring. There was a lot of greenery concentrated in a small area but we were unable to see any free standing water.

The photos don't really do justice to the colours and textures of the rocks, they were really quite imposing especially standing at the base of the large cut and looking up--almost dizzying.

I'll post a few more photos if the internet speed improves. At the moment it is taking anywhere from three to ten minutes for each pic to upload! (Later note: Near Queretaro, posted these last three in under ten minutes. Guess that's as fast as we can expect!)

Back on the road again in about an hour and a half we arrived at the Hotel Imperial del Norte in Saltillo which has a small RV park in the back. Nice place to walk the dogs, clean and dry with lots of greenery all around. Tia was happy to take her siesta in the sun.

There is water, power and sewer drain though not exactly at each site. The water pressure is extremely low, the 15 amp outlets provide a reasonable voltage (though it cuts off occasionally) and the sewer outlets are in concrete enclosures with walls a foot off the ground. The lines marking the spaces have been repainted, providing fewer but wider spaces more suitable for modern rigs. We now have room for the slides to go out and still leave room to extend the awning at least a few feet.

Art learned a lesson today: The exhaust from the diesel is a little sooty while the engine in warming up. We use a "Tow Defender" to help protect the tow car from dirt and dust. It consists mainly of a square of fabric that stretches between the back of the motorhome and the front of the tow car. (I'll try to find a picture of the set up and add it later.) When we are parked with the jeep at an angle one side of the tow defender hangs down. Turning to the left, the fabric hangs down in front of the tailpipe, so close that we have to be careful not to melt it. (We are on our second fabric!).

We had parked last tight with a slight turn to the right. Note Art's jeans after rolling up and storing the tow defender on our arrival in Saltillo. Good thing he wasn't wearing his black jeans of the first sign of the problem would have been black sooty marks on everything he touched--like the pale cream vinyl upholstery!

Believe it or not we watched a makeshift cricket game going on behind us! We had the same surprise last year: An Indian company has a contract to teach computer technology here. Most of the young men were on 18 month contracts. One who Art spoke to said that his 18 months would be up in a few weeks and he would soon know if he would be allowed to do another term.

We phoned our friends Jesus and Marta and arranged to meet tomorrow for brunch, had a lovely prawn dinner (thanks Jason!) and went to bed.

South from Albuquerque

2011-10-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

Waking about 8:00 AM to a little frost on the jeep, not as bad as yesterday.

After breakfast for us and the dogs Gillian set off to pick up the winter's supply of Trekker's food. Art finished packing up the rig and planting the herbs in a container we had bought yesterday. The timing was perfect; Art finished his chores just as Gillian returned.

We were on the road about 11:15 enroute we hoped for Carlsburg, the home of the famous caverns which we had seen before. This time it would be just for the night. And as it turned out, laundry and internet!

The trip was uneventful--Roswell notwithstanding, where we stopped for fuel. $3.719 a gallon. We should be good now until Mexico, where we expect about 80 cents a litre!

As we were approaching Roswell Trekker kept a sharp lookout for aliens!

Did I say uneventful? Boring would be closer. Several hundred miles of more or less flat. These two photos were taken 2 1/2 hours apart!

The good news is that we descended about 2500 feet from Albuquerque with a tail wind! Better than 10 mpg for the day!

As Art was starting dinner he heard another ham radio station on the air. He answered the call and had a very short chat with a local ham looking for a signal report after setting up a new antenna. When they finished their conversation, another station called him--a ham in the next site in the RV Park!

The rest of the night we passed on the internet looking up options for Mexico, e-mail and the blog, and watching a couple of favourite Brittish TV series--"Heartbeat" and "Frost".

If we get going earlier enough in the morning we may make Eagle Pass, Texas--our crossing point for Mexico. We'll overnight in the Walmart and cross as early as we can get rolling.

Bluff to Albuquerque

2011-10-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Departing Bluff in rain and cloud we had finally decided to head to Albuquerque and perhaps visit Santa Fe by car. The trip wasn't too exciting, the low cloud and light rain had essentially taken out the view. Even the spectacular Ship Rock was no where to be seen, even though yesterday we had seen it from near Bluff, some 50 miles away! I'll post an old pic of the rock later if I can find it.It won't be on this laptop, there are on a memory stick somewhere!

We drove south just into Arizona then west to New Mexico and finally roughly south west to Albuquerque. Along the way we found fuel at a small Native owned station and store, at $3.759 per US gallon, just under $1.00 a litre. We later discovered that New Mexico has the cheapest fuel in the USA. We also spotted one place in Albuquerque with diesel at 3.629 per gallon.

Looking for a place to stay for the night we soon realised that having the Woodall's RV guide on the laptop might save weight and space, but having the laptop stored under the dinette made looking for things while driving a bit difficult. So punching "Walmart" into the GPS we found a place to park. In the morning we would search out a campground.

Across the street from Walmart was a Chili's restaurant, one of our favourite chain restaurants. When Gillian asked tentatively "Do you want to go to Chili's tonight Art promptly replied "Sure!". The alternative of course being a) a disappointed wife or b) having to cook himself! We had a great dinner and returned to the rig and went to bed.

In the morning we dug out the laptop and searched out a campground near the north end of town--closer to Santa Fe and some friends we planned to visit. Last night we had called our friends Ken and Cathy (whom we had met years ago in Zacatecas, Mexico) and arranged to meet the next day.

Once settled in the Balloon Fiesta RV Park we called them, they came over to pick us up and we went off with them for a wonderful lunch at a traditional New Mexico restaurant. The food was as wonderful as the ambiance. We have never had a more succulent burrito!

We were then taken to the Coronado State Park, a wonderfully recreated (on the same grounds) ancient native settlement. We were fortunate to be able to enter a recreated (in 1940!) Kiva.

A Kiva is a (mostly) underground building, access (as for all of their buildings) from the roof via a ladder. A kiva in a building solely for the use of men. Women were only permitted to enter in order to bring food or drink and were never permitted to spend the night. Before the "equal rites" people out there take offense, this was only fair, as the women owned the houses and men who had been thrown out of the house need a place to spend the night! Unfortunately photographs of the murals or of the interior of the kiva were not permitted.

They did have a good way of keeping people on the paved paths.

On the way home Cathy spotted a nursery. We had mentioned earlier that we hoped to find some culinary herbs to replace the planter that we had left home. We got some free basil (possibly damaged by the cold but may recover), parsley, tarragon, oregano, sage, marjoram, thyme and mint, all in 2" pots.

Back at the motorhome Art had a decision to make--investigate a battery problem or watch the news from home with a glass in hand. For once he made the right choice and tackled the batteries.

It is impossible to check the specific gravity in all four batteries without removing the first two from the tray--the cables aren't long enough allow the tray to be pulled all the way out. But: On inspection Art noticed one connection was very corroded. He removed all the cables to the front 2 batteries, checked the SG--all readings were good--and cleaned all the cables and terminals.

One end of one cable was so covered with corrosion that it was surprising that any electrons had been able to fight their way through. He began scraping with a knife but some of it was so hard the knife had almost no effect. Art sprayed the end with terminal cleaner, let it set for 5 minutes and was then able to scrape off the softened material. It required 2 repeats to remove all the corrosion! He reassembled the battery bank, washed up, changed out of his "battery maintenance" clothes and had a drink while watching the later news.

It seemed to have sorted the problem, but the test will be the next "off grid" night.

Next morning Art looked out the bedroom window to see the black top of the jeep mostly white! No, not the S word, it was the F word. A very heavy Frost. Not surprisingly the furnace had come on quite regularly during the night!

Art woke up quite sore--probably from climbing the ladder out of the kiva--and didn't really feel like trekking up to Santa Fe. Since we would be paying for internet on a 24 hour basis we waited a bit to log on so we would have a short time at least before leaving next morning. When we checked the e-mails, there was one from Cathy inviting us to lunch at their place! They have a beautiful passive solar adobe house at the base of a mountain which sports a cable car to the summit. We decided that we would do Santa Fe and Taos, another year.

After lunch the four of us set off and took the "flight" to the top. The trip was about 14 minutes each way, spectacular scenery all around, below and above. Ken, who had hiked and climbed this area years ago, provided very interesting commentary.

One canyon (photo to come I hope) was called TWA Canyon for decades. Just after the cable car went into service Ken was going up with some visiting friends. As Ken pointed out TWA Canyon his friend had a surprising reaction.

The canyon was so named after a terrible air crash many years before. A TWA airliner had entered the clouds after takeoff from Albuquerque. This particular aircraft had two compasses, one set on each side of the aircraft. In this case one had an error and the pilot had to guess which one was correct. He guessed wrong. At the last minute he saw mountain in front of him and turned the aircraft to the left. As it happens, this was his second wrong guess and the aircraft hit the face of the canyon and all on board were killed. To this day there are still pieces of aluminum to be found at the bottom of the canyon. Has he turned the other way there was a good chance that he would have made it.

Ken's friend had been booked on this flight but the desk clerk in his hotel forgot the wake up call and he missed the plane.

We passed a short time on the top, the ladies going for a hike and Art and Ken sat chatting in the sun. The view was spectacular, though a bit hazy in the distance. Ken said that on a clear day you could see 6o miles to the west.

On the way home we stopped in for a bit of shopping, groceries (red wine, white wine, vermouth and milk) and planter and potting soil for the herbs we had purchased yesterday.

Tired after the days activities we settles for a few leftovers for dinner, watched "New Tricks" on the TV (during which Art worked on the blog) and went to bed. Moving on somewhere in a southerly direction tomorrow. The next time we can be reasonably sure of internet will be in Saltillo, Mexico, in a few days.

Moab and Bluff

2011-10-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

October 22

An easy day today: 3/4 of a mile after getting back on the I 70 we took the exit for Moab. Hardly got up to cruising speed! And only 40 or so miles to go.

A nice flat road in reasonable condition at first then we began to descend, winding our way through beautiful rock formations. Most of the the traffic consisted of 4X4s of some description or other, or vehicles towing trailers carrying quads and dirt bikes. We have never seen so many Jeeps in one place!

Entering the town we began watching for an RV Park. We had been here before, in quite a nice park. However in Zihuatanejo last year we met a man who owned an RV Park in Moab which was just to the north of the one we knew. As we approached, we passed one, saying, “No. that wasn't it.” then we spied the Sliprock RV Park and Art exclaimed “That's it” and we pulled in.

The two people behind the counter were dealing with other customers, the man leaving to check something out for one of them. Then it was our turn. While Gillian was taking care of the paperwork Art asked the young lady if the owner was in Mexico last year and was told yes, that was the man who had just gone out. Art thought he had looked familiar!

When he returned Art asked him if we had perhaps met in Zihuatanejo last season and his response was “Yes! I thought you looked familiar!” Mathew is taking his old bus to Cancun this year, leaving in ten days. We may see him on the road as we too are visiting the Yucatan peninsula this year.

Mathew told us that they are almost overwhelmed; He had laid off most of the staff two weeks ago as the season came to an end. This weekend however they had 90% occupancy due to the combination of two unforeseen things: 1) a very warm and sunny week, and 2) Teachers on a two day “professional day” resulting in a 4 day weekend for school kids. Time to hit the desert and the rocks!

Parked and level, slides out. Under and between a few big trees, satellite reception looked like it might be iffy. Art pushed the buttons and a few minutes we had a signal. Now we can watch the weather reports from home and smile smugly.

We spent the day trying to get the internet to work, catching up with the bank accounts and bills, then trying to figure out how to get our e-mail address book from Thunderbird into Shaw Webmail, then trying to figure out how Shaw Webmail deals with e-mail address groups. Not intuitive at all. Still working on it!

During this process we discovered that many e-mail addresses that we used when traveling were only on the Telus webmail address book which is now non-existent! Hopefully we can find them through friends. Or this blog! If you expected to hear from us and haven't, please send us an e-mail!

Then a trip though town, just having a look around and doing a bit of grocery shopping. Just a bit? Over $100.00! And to make matters worse the Canadian dollar is still half a cent below the American dollar, which means about 5 cents on the dollar by the time the Bank takes their cut.

Back at the rig to continue e-mails and to work on the blog. Of course now was the time for the internet to go out again. Access: Local Only! So to Open Office to write the draft there and will copy and past when the internet opens up again.

Of course by now it's evening, all the explorers are back and on the internet. When it is up it is very slow. Hopefully during the day tomorrow it will be faster and more reliable.

Smoke alarm just went off. Dinner must be just about ready.

Dinner done, lamb steak (no, not burnt!) Art carried on with the blog while watching Heartbeat on the Knowledge Network. Bonus: An old episode but somehow one we hadn't seen before. This was followed by “Frost”, one that Art had seen but Gillian hadn't (probably due to a dog class of some sort!)

So late to bed tonight, but we weren't going anywhere tomorrow.

9:40 Sunday morning we woke up! Guess we needed the sleep. After breakfast, during which we watched the news from home, Art spent the rest of the morning (and well into the afternoon!) on the internet working on the e-mail webmail address book.

He had finally figured out how to import the address book from Thunderbird but it seemed at first to not be working. After three attempts he discovered that it had in fact imported everything three times! The error messages that had been coming up appeared to have been related to only one or two addresses! It took a lot of time to delete the duplicates and triplicates! While at it we deleted many unused addresses. If we deleted yours inadvertently and you are not getting e-mails from us please let us know.

Later in the day we went into town to take Gillian's jeep through the carwash. Somewhere at home she had parked the car under a tree resulting in small dark blue almost black stains all over the hood and front fenders. The wash made almost no difference but did remove the residue of the bug and tar remover we had used and had to be rinsed off.

Then to the Moab Brewery for lunch and a local micro brew. We each chose their Scorpion Ale, a highly hopped brew which went well with Art's Jack Daniels Burger and Gillian enjoyed hers with Veggie Wrap with humus and blue cheese. The bill came in at under $25.00

On the way back to the campground we stopped off for look around the well set out and informative Visitors Center. Interesting fact: Utah requires operators of ATVs to have an ATV operator's permit or license. If your jurisdiction has such a program it is accepted here. If not, you have to get a permit here before heading to the hills in your ATV. We didn't look into the requirements since we don't have an ATV.

Back in the motorhome Art went back to the computer—Access: Local Only. So he lay down on the couch for a nap while Gillian got out the liquid wax and went to work on the spots on HER jeep!

The RV Park pretty much emptied out today, very quiet this evening. If the internet connection was up it would probably be quite quick!

Tomorrow, the town of Bluff, a few hours drive to the south. We have stayed there before and should have reliable internet connection there.

Monday, October 24

In the morning we tried the internet again; still :Local Only. Gillian went up to the office to find another camper with the same problem. He then went into the office ask for a reset of the modem. Gillian had the dogs and couldn't take them inside.

Some time later Art walked up to see if anything could be done. There he met a couple from Saltair BC, about 4 miles from where he grew up! They too were having problems. Just then the young lady from the office came out and indicating a man sitting at a picnic table, said that she had reset the modem and that he was using the wireless.

Art chatted with the couple for a few minutes and returned to the rig to find Gillian reading the e-mail! We took care of some urgent business via e-mail and Skype then began packing up.

As we drove began to take notice of fuel prices as we would need to take on some diesel somewhere in the next 500 kilometers or so. The price of diesel at one station was 4.199 per US gallon--higher than some in California. A bit further on we saw that in most places prices were nearer or under $4.00.

We have been in this area several times and have many photos so picture taking was minimal, but here are a few just to add come colour to the blog.

We stopped for a few minutes in Blanding, just a short distance north of Bluff, to buy a few groceries that we had forgotten. Bluff doesn't really have a grocery store. Here Art made a sandwich for himself using the last of his ham and a fresh bagel from the store. Gillian had the remains of her wrap and salad from yesterday, which we ate on the road.

We found the Cadillac Ranch RV park with ease, having stayed here several times. The dogs love it: ducks, emus, a donkey, a small fishing pond that Trekker did not unfortunately get to swim in.

The rest of the day was spent just lazing around, Gillian with a book, sitting on a bench by the fishing pond and Art updating the blog then taking his siesta. The day drew to a close with a beautiful sunset behind the hills to the west.

For dinner Gillian made a pasta sauce, some of which will be turned into chili later. For the pasta itself we defrosted some pasta dough that Art had made at home and he kneaded, rolled and cut fresh fettuccine. The rolling and cutting was aided by some homemade red wine which later made a good accompaniment to the dinner.

We woke in the wee small hours to the patter of raindrops on the roof and the sound of the wind rattling the awning. Art got up, pushed the button to retract it and went back to bed.

In the morning we woke to cloudy skies and not a sign of the overnight shower--the wet had completely evaporated. The only sign of the rain was tiny water spots in the dust on the Jeep.

After a leisurely breakfast Gillian walked the dogs while Art tackled several day's accumulation of dead bugs on the windshield and the front of the coach. While at it he gave all the other windows a quick swipe as well. After the dog walk Gillian went back to work on HER jeep.

In the afternoon we went sight seeing in the jeep around areas we had seen before. Dry rocky country, a few horses and a few sheep was all we saw in the way of farming or ranching. Every once in a while we would come across a house alone in the middle of nowhere.

Our goal was Hovenweep ruins. Along the way we stopped at Hatch Trading Post, a rather picturesque place. . . at least on the outside. Inside it was more or less a small general store with one cooler full of beer, another full of soft drinks ( a good selection though), an assortment of snack foods and canned goods and a small but nice selection of native made jewelry and pottery.

At Hovenweep we walked about a bit, Gillian taking the dogs on one of the concrete paths, keeping a sharp eye out for rattlesnakes, there being a warning sign posted in the Visitors Center. We had been here a few years ago but had come from Cortez, Colorado.

Looking at the landscape it is hard to believe that the people who lived here essentially practiced "dry farming" that is without irrigation, relying only on rainfall, although they did apparently have a few small irrigated terraces.

We continued on the road, more or less doing a loop, back to the road to Bluff. Clouds began to form around us, there was a light sprinkle of rain and lightning strikes between ground and cloud--not too close fortunately.

Returning to Bluff we pulled into Twin Rock Cafe for a late lunch that will probably be dinner! Great food there again. The two spires on the left are known as the "Navajo Twins"

Leaving Twin Rocks we passed by Bluff Fort which which had been in the early stages of renovation when we were here three years ago. We notice the open sign was still up so we looked in. The lady in the info center called her husband on his cell phone to ask him to keep the cabins open for us.

We began touring the grounds just as the rain began. But without rain you can't have rainbows.

We were amazed with the progress made in the last three years. Besides preserving original structures they are well into recreating the old fort, building replicas of the original settlers' cabins and blacksmith shop and wagons. Also just being started, to be finished next year is the stone Co-Op Store.

Back at the motorhome Gillian took the dogs for a quick walk around the duck pond then loaded them and the laundry to go to the laundromat half a mile up the road. The dogs will complete their evening walk while Gillian waits for the machines to finishing going round.

The rains returned along with a little thunder and lightning so we spent the evening deciding which of the 99 photos should go in the blog, reading and watching TV.

Tomorrow we move on into New Mexico, either Santa Fe or Albuquerque. We want to visit both, not sure yet which we'll do first.

Nevada

2011-10-22T22:32:00.001-07:00

In the morning we confirmed our thoughts of driving across Nevada on Highway 50, known as the “Loneliest Road in America” and set off at 9:50. Part of this road was the route of the old Pony Express. Gillian found it worth a smile as we encountered a US Postal Service van then a UPS truck on the same road.

We made excellent progress, though keeping our speed to 55 0r 60 MPH in order to see what mileage we could get (about 10 US MPG) over the distance.

About half way across we began to run into mountain ranges: Grind up hill, sometimes for miles, then down again, then miles of flatland at the bottom and back up hill to do it all over again.

The town of Austin looked to be an interesting place, we almost regret not stopping. We were a bit pushed for time as this was one long road. In retrospect we should have stopped. As we approached town we got behind a huge hay truck grinding up about 6 miles of hill!

At the top of the hill the truck pulled over. Soon we were going back down the other side which led us to a very long straight stretch. Almost time for a nap.

The scenery was interesting, the variety making the drive easy. Good thing too as we arrived at the Silver Slag RV Park in Eureka Nevada at 5:30 PM after 771 kilometers and almost 9 hours of driving.

Nevada to Utah

Friday, October 21 we departed minutes before 9:00 AM. It had been a very cold night but was warming fast in the sun. Even the heavy 50Amp power cord had warmed enough to be fairly easy to coil back into the bin.

We were heading into what might be another long day. Moab, Utah, was where we planned to spend a couple of days in an RV Park doing laundry, catching up on e-mails, banking and the blog. Moab however is a loooooong drive from here. Not sure we want to too many more of those. Not really planning to reach Moab today, we'll just see how close we get and so have a short run tomorrow.

Still long hills, though not quite so much, and lots of long relatively flat country. Geology lessons continued as the many soil and rock layers were exposed. (Click the photo to enlarge it then use the Back Arrow to return to the blog)

110 miles later we crossed into Utah. Just before the border we stopped for fuel, then for lunch at Summit Pass at 6280 feet. From here we continued on the 50 until it met I 15 which we followed north for 10 miles or so where the 50 cuts off to the south-west for a while to the join the I 70; 126 more miles to the exit for highway 191 which we would follow to Moab then later our route to Bluff.

The road was for the first part slow curves and gentle hills. We were sure we had taken this stretch before but nothing was familiar. It was 100 miles later when we came across the exit for Highway 6. that the lights came on: the last time we followed I 70 to Moab we had come from Provo, Utah, and taken the 6 to the I 70.

The road atlas showed three Rest Areas on the I 70, the “Next Exit” mentioned several Rest Areas and View Areas at near the same locations. The GPS notified us of upcoming View Areas. We planned to stop for a break for the dogs at one of these Rest Areas but it wasn't there!

The geology was changing as we entered mesa and canyon country that Utah is famous for and that we love so much.

About 80 miles before our turnoff for Moab we pulled into a View Area at Mile 104 for a stretch and some photos then carried on, thinking that we would probably stop for the night at the next one 20 or 30 miles further along I 70.

We found the next area as advertised but as we pulled in a sign directed Trucks to the left, the truck parking was only a wide loop just off the freeway. Cars were directed to the right where a narrow road wined up the hill between the rocks. Discretion being the better part etc etc we pulled back onto the road and carried on. Hoping that the next and last Rest Area would be where the atlas and the book said it would be, otherwise it might be a night drive to Moab!

With the sun almost at the horizon we were getting close. We were now, and had been for some time, in the midst of starkly beautiful geological formation for which Utah is famous and that we love so much. They looked so much different in the evening light. We weren't even put off by the highway sign.

Shortly after descending this cut, At 7:00 PM, at Mile Marker 180, we found our Rest Area. Not only recognizing it as where we had spent the night some years before, we also parked in the same space up alongside the bank where we could put the slide out with out risking passing traffic.

We got out for a stretch, the dogs as well, took some more photos (the motorhome pic was taken the next morning), set up the satellite, watched the news, had dinner and went to bed. 691 kilometers today. Tomorrow, Moab.

California

2011-10-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

October 19

We were on the road at 10:00 under sunny skies. Another beautiful day, the California highways so far in much better condition than what we had encountered in the past. Over the Siskyiou Pass into California we stopped at the rest area opposite Weed Airport about 12:40 for a 40 minute lunch break.

A short distance down the road Mount Shasta was spectacular as we approached. Just past the city of Mount Shasta we turned off the I 5 onto Highway 89 through and over the mountains to Susanville. Again a wonderfully relaxing and beautiful drive, and gain a good road. California must have found some road maintenance money somewhere.

Entering Susanville we spied an IGA (grocery store) so Art turned off the highway and parked in a conveniently placed wide area alongside the road opposite the store. Here Art was able to resolve the problem of the whisky shortage. A Speyside single malt for the price of a Ballentine's at home!

A little further down the road the GPS was telling us that Walmart, where we planned to stay the night, was approaching on the left. GPS told us that Walmart was the large vacant lot as we passed by! As we began to reassess our options we drove past the new Walmart around the corner and on the right!

Entering the parking area we were pleasantly surprised to find some parking areas signed “RV Parking”. Only a few small problems: the spaces were too small, they were taken up by cars, and required a very tight almost identical turn to access! However we parked alongside another motorhome across the regular parking spaces, checked in at the store and settled in for the night. This was one of the very few times we haven't had to buy fuel in California.

About 6:00 PM all the cars parked in the RV spaces departed. In the morning we found another vehicle parked there. Taking up two RV spaces, enough room for 4 cars.

To Grant's Pass

2011-10-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

Monday, Roadmaster.

6:00 AM we were awakened by Art's cell phone. Just time for a wash, coffee for Gillian and a pot of tea for Art, walk the dogs. . . on the road at 6:35.

We had been wondering how we were going to find the place as we didn't seem to have saved the location in the GPS but at the last minute Gillian found their address which we put into the GPS and we were away. On the road Art realised that we could have used the “recently found” function of the GPS as we had stopped in there in August. Ah well.

We arrived at the dot of 7:AM and were met by one of the techs. Art explained the problems: Brake lights on the jeep didn't come on while towing, the indicator light on the motorhome dash which should glow red when brakes were applied didn't work either. Also our tow bar was getting quite stiff one one side. We had tried to clean out the crud and probably road tar accumulated in Alaska with no luck. Roadmaster offers free servicing for their tow bars so that was a no-brainer.

The “Tow Defender”, a fabric arrangement that goes between the back of the motorhome and the front of the Jeep to keep rocks and gravel at bay, needed to be re-assembled. We had purchased a new piece of fabric after we had carelessly melted a corner of the previous piece on the hot exhaust pipe! Brother Bill and Art had tried to set it up some weeks earlier without success, the diagrams downloaded from the internet notwithstanding. Turns out that there was a new model!

Art had previously been on the phone with Roadmaster Tech Support for quite some time trying to sort out the brake light problem. The tech on the other end of the phone was stumped after Art had done all the voltage tests suggested and seemed about to send us to a local dealer to get it sorted. Art had then said that we would be coming south in October and would stop in at their plant in Vancouver WN on our way.

They spent the better part of a day messing about with the Jeep. The indicator light on the motorhome dash was traced to a not quite perfect install in the Jeep—a wire had come loose. Then connect the Jeep to the motorhome with the newly serviced tow bar and get to work on the reassembly of the “Tow Defender”. This turned out to be a bigger problem than expected—it was a tiny bit ( an inch or so) too short and was therefore far too tight. They finally pulled a new connector bracket from stock, painted it and all was well. That's the good part about going to the manufacturer!

They now said we were good to go. A final check before we paid the bill: everything connected, Art started the motorhome, stepped on the brakes. . . . no brake lights on the jeep! Brake lights on the motorhome worked fine. Back to square one. The tech went off and returned with whom we assumed was a supervisor. Art again explained: The tow vehicle brake lights do not work on the Jeep, nor on our previous tow car (the Chevy Tracker) nor on our boat trailer. The problem HAS to be in the motorhome. The supervisor slid under the rig with a test light and in a few minutes returned to say that the “box” (combiner) on the motorhome that combines the signal lights to the brake lights was not working. (The motorhome uses separate lights for turn signals and brakes while the Jeep uses the same bulb. The combiner makes the connection.) This is what Art had been saying all along! The problem had to be with the common element—the motorhome!

A quick check with their parts department located the required part and a few minutes to install it. Another ten minutes to pay the bill and we were on our way by 12:30. We were charged 2 hours labour which we thought fair all things considered.

About 10:30 AM Art had called Henderson's Line Up (A truck and RV Suspension specialist) in Grants Pass Oregon to see if by chance they had an opening on Tuesday or Wednesday. We already had an appointment for Thursday. We were told that we could come in Tuesday morning so changed our appointment.

Tuesday, Henderson's Line Up

We arrive at the shop at 6:00 PM to find Robert Henderson waiting for us. We were shown where to park and plug into the 30 Amp RV outlet, given a folder full of local information and told that he would see us in the morning.

We had a quiet night, watched the TV news from home and episodes of “New Tricks” and “Silk” thanks to our Starchoice (Shaw Direct) satellite connection and went to bed. The heat pump didn't come on until 6:00AM! Much warmer here. Things are looking up!

Again we slept in! We were expected at 8:00 AM but didn't wake up until ten to! By about 8:30 Gillian had the dogs in the Jeep and Art and the tech were out on the 15mile road trip diagnosis, the tech driving and Art riding shotgun. Marked sway and porpoising was noticed, (our main complaints). The rig also tended to pull to the right.

Back at the shop the rig was weighed at each corner. Then a thorough visual inspection below and tires were also inspected. The only mechanical defect found was a worn bell crank which was replaced. This took care of the play in the steering we had been noticing.

To fix the porpoising and sway Koni Shocks were recommended. Also a steering stabilizer was recommended (Art had been thinking about this for years!) After all the work was done, the final bit was a test drive.

Art noticed a big change in handling, the motorhome was no longer pulling to the right. . . it was pulling to the left! The tech got out and climbed underneath with his fine adjustment tools, including a large hammer. Ahh! That's better!

There was just enough money left out of Octobers' pension to have paid for our breakfast.

At Henderson's we had met another couple and after all was done here we all set off to the County RV Park, Art detouring via Fred Meyer's for fuel ($3.959 per US Gallon!) and Gillian via a Feed and Pet Food lot to get a large bag of grain free dog food for Trekker. $22.00 per night, but no internet or TV. Not a big loss.

By 5:30 we were parked along side our new friends, level, slides out and power connected. The many trees made satellite reception unlikely, we didn't even try. Once the dogs had been walked we each grabbed a drink and wandered next door for a pleasant hour or so visiting again with Tom and Mary Anne.

Back in the rig, dogs were fed, followed by ourselves, Art did a bit of blog prep using Open Office on the laptop to be posted when we again had internet access.

Dinner and dishes done by 9:00PM we took ourselves and books to bed. Daytime temperatures by the way in the high 70's. Happy, Happy, Happy!

Tomorrow, California: the land of poor highways, expensive fuel and cheap liquor. Fine by us, the diesel tank is full and Art's whisky bottle is empty :)

On our way once again

2011-10-18T13:31:00.002-07:00

Sunday, Oct 16th

We had planned to set off around 7:00 AM in order to get the the Black Ball Ferry terminal in plenty of time to get the tickets and go across the street for a leisurely breakfast and still be back in the terminal by the nine o'clock deadline for customs etc. And of course to feed and walk the dogs before 10:30 AM sailing for Port Angeles.

We woke to clear skies, a promise of a sunny day and the realization that it was already 7:10 AM!

Following a very hasty shower Art was out the door to get the engine started, slides in (left out from packing yesterday) jacks lowered and the A.C. cord disconnected and stored in the bin. Once the air pressure had built enough to have filled the air suspension Art was ready to go. The Jeep was parked in front of it but Gillian arrived in the nick of time and moved it around the corner and he was free to go.

Our next door neighbours from each side appeared in time to say good bye and to wish us well. Art managed to save a couple of minutes by asking Jason if he would mind moving the leveling blocks off to the side of the driveway sometime and pulled out at 7:50, almost an hour behind schedule.

Followers of our blog will not find this surprising--we always seem to be starting off later than planned!

The drive to and through town was uneventful, Art arriving at the ferry terminal about half a hour later.

At the toll booth Art bought the tickets, for Gillian and the jeep as well, and went across the street to see if breakfast was going to be possible. As he walked down the sidewalk he saw Gillian arrive so once seated he ordered a coffee for himself and an orange juice for her.

She soon came in and sat down and had a look at the menu, we both realizing by this time that breakfast was going to be "to go". The waitress finally came back, Gillian had her travel mug filled with coffee , we each ordered a breakfast bagel to go and she returned to the compound to feed and walk the dogs.

Art managed to get back with a minute to spare! Don't know how fussy they are about being there to the minute but we didn't want to get on anyone's bad side!

Finally the ferry arrived and unloaded, all the paper work and checks done we boarded the MV Coho for a very pleasant crossing on a beautiful day.

On the Port Angeles side Art admitted to having some tomatoes, so was sent off to park on the street (facing the wrong way!) to await inspection by the "aggie guy"--tomatoes are now on the banned items list!

Gillian soon arrived to see what he was waiting for (as he was scoffing down a few of our home grown cherry tomatoes) then set off for Safeway to buy the items we couldn't transport across the border.

The inspector was soon knocking on the door, his arrival loudly announced by Trekker and Tia.

He came into the rig, Art listed what he could remember having, and opened the fridge for the inspector to inspect. Turns out that lamb is banned too, unless it comes from the United States or New Zealand. So much for the 2 lamb shanks that had be destined for the slow cooker!

The slow cooker makes a tasty meal easy while traveling: The ingredients go into the pot, the pot goes into the small sink with a towel for padding, plug it in, turn on the inverter and while we drive dinner cooks.

At Safeway Art filled the rig with diesel, at $4.19/US Gallon minus the Safeway card discount of 3 cents a gallon. Just under $1.00 per liter at a guess.

1:30 PM and we were on the road for real, hoping for a lunch break at the Tides Restaurant near Hoodsport. A beautiful sunny day made for an interesting and relaxing drive, traffic was light as there was almost no commercial traffic, it being Sunday

Lunch at the Tides; fish sandwich for Gillian and Oyster Burger for Art, and a couple of clam chowder to go. Dogs had a stretch and we were off again.

South of Olympia we pulled into a rest area to change drivers as Art was getting sleepy. A few rest areas later we changed back, arriving at our planned stop for the night at the rest area at mile 13 on the I-5. Tomorrow would be only a 20 minute drive to Roadmaster.

Dinner tonight was of course the clam chowder that we had brought from The Tides, followed by a very picante picadillo that had come from home since the lamb shanks were missing. A strange combination so even the white wine and dark chocolate for dessert didn't seem out of place! Funny what you can enjoy when you are hungry!

Early to bed as we had to be at Roadmaster in Vancouver, Washington at 7:00AM. This would be a good night to set an alarm!

October--Getting ready to go!

2011-10-18T13:31:00.001-07:00

September Catch-up

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August Catch-up

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July Catch-up

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June catch-up

2011-10-18T13:29:00.002-07:00

May catch-up

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April catch-up

2011-10-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

There has been a long period of silence as I am sure you of aware! I am posting monthly blocks which I may (or may not!) fill in as I find the time or inspiration.

North from Los Angeles, to the Oregon border.

2011-04-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 9th. (Thought I better put day/date in here--I'm getting confused as to what day it is!) Left El Chorro (The Stream) RV Park and pushed on northward for all of 20 minutes before we spied a small grocery store with easy access and lots of room to park; in we went--we needed a few things. Forty minutes!!!! later we were back on the road taking in the scenery.

A few miles down the road we came across a sign: "Highway 1 closed 88 miles ahead. Big Sur open". While we pondered the effect this would have on our planned route we passed a connection to Highway 101. We soon realised that there were NO OTHER connections before the closure. It took several more miles to find a place to turn around and eventually we were climbing the hills on route 46 towards Paso Robles on the 101.

An hour after that we pulled into a rest area on the 101 for a pee break and a snack, another 30 minutes. An hour and a half later it was time for lunch.

We had heard years ago, planning our first motorhome trip to San Francisco, that RV's weren't permitted over the Golden Gate bridge and into downtown San Francisco. We had parked our old motorhome at the ferry parking lot in Larkspur and taken the boat across.

Thinking that this would still be the case we planned a go around route. We turned off the 101 to the 680, 780 and a few other freeways to the 37 around the top of San Pedro Bay and back to the 101 at Novato, well north of San Francisco. It was a long way. In retrospect it might have been "fun" taking the 101 all the way through. We later Googled it and found no information about restrictions. Ah well.

The geography at Novato was interesting. Here a river meets the ocean with large sandbars for much of the interface with sea on one side and river, marsh and lagoons on the other, which later gave way to farm land.

We were in need of fuel again and eventually came across a service station offering diesel (they were few and far between) and with the aid of a friendly local found an easy way back to the highway. The price was a little less than the last fuel stop, only $4.45 per gallon.

Well north of San Francisco we stopped for the night at the Sonora County Fairgrounds. The RV Park here is part of the Passport America system, of which we are members, so our $30.00, 50 Amp full hook up, free wireless campground cost us only $15.00! We connected the electric only, we had lots of water and lots of space in the waste tanks. Probably take care of those at the next stop.

It was a cold night. Extra blanket, jammies and socks for Art! He was happy that only the electric cord had to be coiled and put away in the morning--though it was stiff as a stick!

It was here that Art realised that the battery on the tracker was getting quite low. He put the voltmeter into the cigarette lighter outlet to read a very low 12.1 volts. (12.2 is considered half charged.) The battery had been running the air compressor for the "Brake Buddy" our auxiliary braking system for the car while being towed. It had also been running one of the map lights behind the rear view mirror for who knows how long--Art just noticed it was on!

Remember the body man in Mexico saying about the hood of the car: "Don't open it!"? Well he had to in order to connect the battery charger! The good news was twofold--the battery charged up just fine and he was able, with Gillian's help, able to close the hood again.

Sunday, April 10th

We were on the road at 9:00, stopped for a 15 minute break at 11:00 and again for lunch at 12:40 when we took time to heat up some soup and make a mug of coffee for Art to sip on during the drive. We also turned on the gas furnace to heat the place up.

We had been using the dash heater to try to direct a little warm air at his feet, when Art detected the smell of engine coolant emanating from the vents so shut the heat off. At this stop he had a look and sure enough there was a small amount of liquid dripping from the heater unit! Hopefully this will wait until we get home!

On the maintenance topic, we heard on the TV News from home the other night that Grayline West, the tour bus company in Victoria that we used to do all our motorhome mechanical service, had closed! This is terrible news. They have been a superb shop, service was excellent and relatively inexpensive. And of course they were very familiar with rear engine diesel motorhomes. They had a fully equipped shop, including air conditioning service and paint and body work and hoists that would lift a 40 foot bus.

In the middle of the afternoon we realised that we had missed four things while shopping yesterday; oatmeal, tea, vegetables and Calgonite (to use to clean the holding tanks). We pulled in to a shopping center and Gillian went in to take care of it. She returned a short while with two of them ( and a few other things) saying "What were the four things we needed?--They didn't have any Calgonite." Art started with "Oatmeal . . . " and was interrupted with "I'll be right back" and off she went. Still it was only a half hour stop and Art got a bit of a nap!

The road now headed into the hills.There were some steep uphill grinds, then down and back up again and so on and so on. After a couple of hours of this we pulled off for a minute to check the coolant level. All was well so we carried on, leaving California with no regrets and entered Oregon. One more step on the way home. We arrived at Gold Beach, our stop for the night, about 6:30.

It was cold and breezy and he was tired so Art decided to not do the draining and refilling of tanks tonight but wait until morning, it wouldn't get any worse. Ha!

Then it began to rain, the wind is increasing (though not so bad as the other night) as we watch TV, have drink and make and eat our dinner.

As we get ready for bed the rain is still pouring down.

Our destination tomorrow is near Boiler Bay State park, where we will stay a night or two with our friends Steve and Nancy. We first met them several years ago in the El Manglar RV Park in Zihuatanejo and have kept in touch ever since. Always a fun and interesting couple we were looking forward to the visit.

May add a few pictures later.

Yuma to LA via San Diego

2011-04-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

We left the hot days and cool nights of the Arizona desert, with San Diego a little less than 200 miles to the west. We were disappointed that two of the three rest areas along I 8 were closed.

Along the flat dessert country we were getting excellent mileage for such a heavy rig, over 11 mpg (US gallon of course). A beautiful sunny day with no wind made for a very easy and relaxing drive, allowing Gillian to play with and get used to the new GPS. We didn't like the display but at first weren't able to discover how to change it.

As time passed we could see the wall of mountains ahead with clouds billowing up behind them. Before we reached them we came across a highway sign giving the elevation: Sea level! We had forgotten that much of the area we had been driving through was actually below sea level.

We began to climb, a couple of times reaching 4000 feet. As always the rig handling the hills well.

These mountains were very different from any we have seen before--essentially huge piles of rocks and boulders. On the downhill side of the mountain we found a wide almost flat place on the road where we pulled off for 40 minutes for an early lunch and to let the dogs out for a few minutes.

We followed I 8 into San Diego then turned north on the I 805 to the I 5 then somewhere along there we cut over to the South Coast Highway, through some of the smaller beachfront communities.

At one point this route dead-ended into a hotel complex! Trying to extricate ourselves from this we found ourselves approaching the main gates of Camp Pendleton Marine Base! We managed to pull into a Visitor Parking area and were approached by a young, uniformed, armed marine. He quickly, succinctly and politely directed us though the parking lot to the entrance to the I 5!

We proceeded north along the I 5 until just south of Greater Los Angeles where we turned off to follow the Pacific Coastal Highway, also known as Highway 1. We had more luck with this one.

This highway hugs the shore of the Pacific Ocean and along the way we passed many State Beaches. Most we later realised allowed overnight RV Parking. Some even had services!

Meanwhile the skies had clouded over and a few drops of rain began to fall but we still enjoyed the drive. As we approached Newport Beach we decided that we had driven far enough. Gillian had been checking the books and had found a place in Huntington Beach, just off the highway.

We spotted it as we turned, but the entrance was on the other side of a double solid line and a left turn lane! We went straight on, around a block or two in a housing estate and approached from the opposite direction.

We were in and settled in no time and while Gillian took the dogs for a much needed stroll Art got us plugged in and the satellite up and running well in time for the 5 o'clock news. It was a little pricey, $52.00 but the wireless was free!

Just as Gillian got back with the dogs the skies opened! The wind, which had been pushing us for a while really began to howl, the rig rocking on their stabilizers and the satellite dish rattling on the roof.

Meanwhile, with the last of his whisky close at hand Art was working on the blog. Then the TV went off and the internet quit. The power had gone off! Gee, Wind, Rain and a Power Failure. . . just like home! Can hardly wait! At least the wind was blowing the smoke from the industrial plant next door away from the park!

The inverter got the TV back, but of course no internet.

Next morning we pulled out of the park at 9:20, north again on the Pacific Coastal Highway. We followed this route right through LA. Much of the architecture part of the city is still in the 50's and 60's. Brought back memories of the Beach Boys' hits!

Past or through Long Beach, Signal Hill, Redondo Beach, Marina del Rey, Santa Monica, all places we have read about or seen in TV shows and movies we stopped for fuel in Malibu. The Mexican diesel was running out!

Our fuel mileage was suffering--from the hills east of San Diego and the continuous headwinds encountered since. It is surprising how much force winds can generate. Our fuel use went from over 11 mpg to under 8 mpg! With $4.49 per gallon being common in California this could be expensive!

Then just south of Ventura Highway 1, the Pacific Coastal Highway, ended, putting us back on the 101. Just past Santa Barbara, at three PM, very hungry and tired we made a 30 minute lunch stop at a rest area then pushed on for another hour and forty minutes to El Charo RV Park, a San Luis Obisbo County Park with full services if required (we did) and an off leash dog park which the dogs loved of course. No wireless though. A beautiful natural park, $32.00, plus $7.00 for the dogs!

Here we dumped the waste water and topped up the fresh. Gillian took the dogs for a great walk/play in the fenced off leash dog park. Happy puppies.

From the Mexico/US Border

2011-04-06T19:59:00.001-07:00

Away from the border at 6:20, fifteen minutes behind, we arrived at Ajo Heights RV Park shortly after 7:00. The owner was a little testy about our after hours arrival but when Art said fine, we'll just carry on down the road to the next one, he settled down a bit and became quite chatty.

When we said we didn't need the cable TV info he said "Oh, you have Shaw satellite?" (formerly Starchoice) to which we said yes. He asked if we wanted to buy a small Shaw receiver as he had ordered one and discovered that it it wouldn't receive the HD signals. This unit was identical to the small won that we had bought for the bedroom TV only to find that when the automatic dish was installed on the roof the third feed wasn't connected! We kept it as a spare then loaned it to a neighbour in Zihuatanejo. We'll get it back when they return to the island in June. We thought about it for a while then decided that we would be interested in a spare for a good price. In the morning Gillian responded to his offer of $75.00 (They are $99.00 in Canada) with $50.00 and the deal was done. Now we have to route the cable for the bedroom TV or we will have two spares!

Once we were parked and level, slides and dish extended, water and sewer connections done and tanks drained, etc. etc. Art entered the rig just after Gillian had returned from walking the dogs to find his whisky bottle ready on the galley counter. What a nice wife!

Next morning we had a leisurely start, departing at 9:30 for Yuma. On the way we called the RV shop about the Norcold (fridge) recall) and confirmed our appointment. We arrived at a park just across the freeway from Al's RV Service at noon, set up, went to the RV shop to check in, shopped at Fry's (grocery story) next door, the pet store on the other side and returned to the park.

Prices here are pretty high--$40.00 per night. They have a pool and laundry but the minimum for the laundry is $5.00!!!! Only wanting to do two loads and line dry them, Gillian opted to to a small hand wash. The big things can wait.

Internet too was expensive: $6.00 for 24 hours!. Art broke out our high gain antenna and went looking for a free one! No such luck, but was able to connect to the Flying J pay system for less that $5.00 for the 24 hours. He waited until 8:00PM to connect to make the most of tomorrow.

Just about sunset we wandered over to the pool and spent almost an hour or so lounging around and chatting with other RVers, mostly Canadian. Back at the rig we had dinner, (Lamb!!!--hard to find in Mexico), watched a bit of TV while Art pecked away on the blog for a short while before calling it a night and going to bed.

Wednesday we again had a leisurely morning, washing the windshield on the motorhome and scrubbing the asphalt and oil off the tow bar and the front of the tracker--souvenirs of Mexican road repaving. The service tech from Al's RV arrived as promised before noon and soon had the modification done to the Norcold fridge as per the recall notice--temperature sensor and small board that will shut the fridge off should the cooling unit boiler dangerously overheat. Done and gone by noon. Now we can relax.

Except the ice maker isn't working! Time for a break from the blog while we go and tend to that.

Ha! just plugged with frost etc--don't use it in Mexico. Now to dump the first load of ice, drain the old Mexican water and fill the tank again. Luxuries!

We were also planning our trip for tomorrow. We had thought to go north to Quartzite then west on I 10 around the north end of Los Angeles to Santa Barbara then north following the coast. Gillian said "You know, we are on the I 8, and San Diego is less that 200 miles away. . . ." Well she's the navigator. But. And it is a big "but" (will sister the English major forgive that grammatical construction) our GPS had quit. Off to the stores looking for a replacement. A few hours and two hundred bucks we had one that will serve. (Garmin 1450T) Not our first choice but the best available today.

Well that will have to do for now--Internet account runs out in 10 minutes and we have some bank stuff to deal with.

Maz to the border

2011-04-05T22:22:00.001-07:00

We actually did get away from Mazatlan at a good hour, hitting the road at 7:00 AM! We did have a long day ahead of us! As soon as the dogs were walked and the rig ready we were rolling--waiting for nothing except a cup of coffee for Gillian to keep the navigator awake!

Due to the construction and traffic pattern changes going on in Mazatlan we retraced our inbound path via the north beaches to the cuota. At the first toll booth we pulled off to the side to feed the dogs and ourselves, a 45 minute stop.

On the road again at 8:15 we rolled through the toll booths (this was going to be an expensive toll day) we arrived at La Pilarica, a Pemex and truck stop in Los Mochis, roughly half way to Maz.

Refueled here, walked the dogs and Art had a very short lie down and we were rolling an hour later, at 1:45PM. During our stop Gillian had filled a travel mug with coffee to help keep Art awake on the drive.

Along the way on essentially straight flat good roads Art set the cruise control to various speeds and watched the effect of speed and fuel use. This was easy to do using our VMSps to monitor fuel use over the past 10 miles. At 80 Km/h (50 mph) we used 11.7 mpg (US gallons of course) Bringing the speed up closer to the speed limit our fuel use deteriorated to 10.4 mpg at 100 Km/h (61 mph). The speed limit for much of the route was 110 Km/h but we pretty well limited our speed to 100.

The tolls for the second half of the trip were slightly less than the first but still not cheap. Toll for the day totaled 1,538 pesos, about $125.00.

We beat sundown by very little if any, arriving at the Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos at 7:00 PM

We set up the satellite system, Gillian cooked dinner, we had a drink and Art went to bed as soon as he was fed! It had been a very long day!

We had called our friends Joe and Christine (whom we had first met in Zihuatanejo some five years ago) and arranged to meet them next morning for breakfast at the Marina Restaurant.

They arrived about 10:AM and we set off in their car for a very nice breakfast--Three of us opted for their Tortilla Espagnola (Spanish Omelet) in effect a fritata. Very nice. Gillian and I had to ask three times for our orange juice (fresh squeezed from fresh, sweet oranges) which when they finally arrived the waiter apologised profusely and said that there would be no charge for the juice. So we left him a good tip instead!

Joe and Christine then took us to a different marina, near where the former El Mariador RV park was located, to show us Joe's new boat--so we went off for a few hours fishing. No keepers, but Art caught two barracuda and Gillian and Christine hooked one each. All were released. We had been hoping for some dorado but. . . . .

They dropped us off back at the RV park so we could rescue the dogs from the rig and Art could take a nap and rest up after such a stressful day.

In the early evening we drove to their house for another visit and dinner, another wonderful time. Sad to be leaving tomorrow.

On the way back Art pulled into a Pemex to fill up the car and while there decided to check the oil, as we hadn't checked it for some time. The oil was fine, and he closed the hood. Or at least partially! The hinge on the driver's side bent instead of retracting! Close inspection showed that it had partially cracked, allowing the thin part left to bend!

Nothing to be done tonight, so much for an early start in the morning.

At least we had time for a good breakfast! A little after 8:00 AM Art went looking for a welder or autobody shop. No body shops in San Carlos, but he did locate a welder who would open at 9:00. Thinking about it Art felt that a body shop would be a better bet so he drove the 10 or 15 kilometers into Guymas. Asking at a Pemex, he discovered that one of the attendants had a brother who had a body shop!

A phone call was made, the man showed up very quickly and said that it was an easy repair: Remove the wipers, the plastic trim then the hinge. Weld and reinforce the break, paint and replace. More time than we really wanted to spend.

Art asked him if we could get the front latch to hold would it be safe to drive at highway speeds with the bent hinge and he assured me it would be. First the bodyman went over to the garbage barrel and returned with an empty oil container. He dribble a few drops in the front latch (which was a bit stiff) and a bit more on the broken hinge, Then we slowly closed the hood while Art pulled the front of the hood to the left and down, the bodyman pushed down on the hood above the hinge. With a click and a thump the hood was closed. Art was told "Don't open it!"

Art gave him 200 pesos for his time and expertise and returned to the RV and we were hooked up and on the way at 10:15. Who said you can't get things done in a hurry in Mexico?!

Before we left we realised that we had spent a significant portion of our pesos--barely enough for fuel, let alone another emergency or our return in the fall. We also hadn't taken a picture of AbqL the Traveling Rock in San Carlos so Gillian set out take care of those small chores while Art was running around San Carlos and Guymas trying to get the car fixed.

The mountains, or more properly hills or rock formations in the photo are known locally as "Las Tetas de Cabra" We'll let you look up the translation yourselves. These rock formations are the first sign that we are nearing San Carlos. El Mirador, the campground that we used to stay in here was located just on the other side. They hid the morning sun.

Looking back at the log book we found that a few years ago going this route we had left San Carlos at 8:45 (delayed by a black water hose incident if I remember correctly) and had arrived in Ajo Arizona at 7:00 PM. We had taken an hour and twenty minute fuel and Lunch break at a stop called Benjamin Hill-which we always refer to as "Benny Hill". Also that year the road from Santa Ana to Sonoyta was being rebuilt, the first half, as far as Caborca, was to be a toll road.

Hoping to minimise fuel and lunch stops, and knowing from the internet that the toll road was finished, we thought we'd make up most if not all of the lost time.

We had an unplanned 15 minute delay about 1:30 at a check point where the military check the rig inside and out for drugs, guns, etc. The soldier outside with Art asked if we had any books in English and Spanish, or if we had a small flashlight to give him. No on both accounts. Inside, the soldier asked Gillian for a beer. When she said "Not when you are working" he replied that he would drink it inside! Again, a no!

A short time later we stopped for a quick lunch at "Benny Hill" and were on the road at 2:08:PM.
Two years ago we had left our lunch stop at 1:40. We had knocked off an hour. So far so good.

Turning on to highway 2 at Santa Ana we found the new toll road to be in excellent condition and made good time--keeping to the speed limit for two reasons--fuel use and we didn't want a ticket at this time! We arrived at the vehicle import and immigration post at Km226 where we handed in our "tourist cards" and canceled 6 month car permit. The motorhome (along with trailers and boats) are allowed a 10 year permit so there was nothing to do there. Checking the log book, we were 5 minutes behind.

Since we were close now the the US Border we decided to take on some more Mexican diesel. At 9.09 pesos (77 cents)per liter it was likely to be a better deal than in the USA where we had heard it ran about $4.00 per US gallon, roughly a dollar a gallon more. In Sonoyta, the Mexican side of the border, we filled up--228 liters for 2072 pesos. Distance driven since last fill: 944 kilometers. From Los Mochis to here, 9.7 mpg (US gallon) and 11.7 to the Imperial gallon. The tank holds 90 US gallons (340 liters) so we have a pretty good range!

At the US Border there were no problems at all--The agent asked us a few questions; On your way back to Canada? Are you both Canadian Citizens? Where in Canada are you from? How long were you in Mexico? Do you have much in food stuffs? Fridge pretty much empty? Fruit? Veg? meat? Very friendly yet efficient.

He asked us it wait a few minutes as they wanted to do a training session with the search dog only on the outside of the vehicles. As the dog and handler approached Trekker and Tia sounded off of course to the amusement of the agent. The when they were right beside the open driver's window the handler gave the dog the "Find it" command and off went Trekker, nose to the floor, looking for what might have been dropped! We was quite put out that there was no treat of food to be found!

March 15 2011, Z to Maz

2011-03-30T10:35:00.004-07:00

17 March Zihuatanejo to Patzcuaro

Our time was up, we were due to leave on the 15th but decided to hang on one more day! By the evening of the 16th every thing was packed away ready for an early start in the morning. Edmundo, the RV Park owner, stopped by with a final gift for Art. He is very proud of his award! Now we have to find somewhere in the rig to display it!

Earlier in the year he had presented Art with some T shirts sporting the RV Park logo on the front and "Almost Staff" printed on the back. He wears them proudly!

But. . . that night Art became very ill, sick from both ends, not to be too descriptive. We decided to postpone our departure. For most of the day he slept and by morning he was fine. Something he ate probably, but it's hard to tell--we had both eaten the same things all day and Gillian was fine. So far.

On the morning of the 17th we made our departure. This trip should have been from Zihuatanejo to Guanajato but we got a bit delayed on the toll road just before the turnoff to Patzcuaro and Morelia!

The temperature gauge began to climb rapidly--as in seconds. The Turn Engine Off light was on--RED, not a good sign. The VMSpc computer was showing a temperature riding as fast as Gillian could read the numbers ". . . 245 250 255 260. . ." By that time we were on the shoulder, on a corner, with the engine switched off.

A highways line painting crew stopped for a moment and laid out some safety cones. The crew boss figured perhaps the thermostat. Shortly after that the Green Angels happened by. These are government sponsored mechanics driving one ton trucks on the lookout for stranded motorists such as us. They had a look but the best they could suggest that since we were so close to the large city of Uruapan we take the tow car to find a diesel mechanic, for whom they gave us directions.

Meanwhile the engine had cooled off a bit so Art started the engine and moved slowly forward. We only moved a few hundred meters before the temperature gauge rose alarmingly but at least we were no longer on the curve. In this area it is common for slow vehicles, trucks in particular, to crawl up the hills using the shoulders and overtaking traffic would straddle the centre line, double or not! We broke open our unused box of reflecting safety triangles and set them out behind the rig. The third and furthest, he set up just around the corned to give the trucks enough notice that the shoulder was blocked ahead.

Art eventually found the recommended mechanic and brought him out to the rig. He crawled underneath and in seconds was back out with a broken serpentine belt in his hand! Back to town for tools and a belt.

Back at the rig, the mechanic soon discovered that he needed a half inch drive ratchet to tighten the tensioner. No, we didn't have one either. Back to town for the them. Returning to the rig he soon had the new belt on and tightened. Almost. It was slightly too big!

Back to the shop. This time he suggested that he would come out in his truck with a helper and that he would have to shop around for another belt. Art managed to miss a turn on his way back to the rig, realising his mistake when he recognised the truck parts shop where we had purchased the first belt!

Eventually he found the way out of town and back to the rig. The mechanic and his helper arrived shortly after and the repair was made in minutes. He had us start the engine and run at high idle for a few minutes while he lay on the road below watching for any problems. All was well.

The bill was more than expected, but cheaper than it would have been at home. Besides having to pay for three belts the labour was a little high by local standards. By some stroke of luck, our mechanic had worked for a bus company in California for many years and had worked on Prevost and MCI buses. When Art had first spoken with the mechanic on the phone he had been asked what engine? When Art said a Cummins 5.9 liter he immediately wanted to know if it was the ISB or ISC version. Art was starting to think that this guy just might know what he was doing!

The bill? 1500 pesos for the three belts (the one unused one he said he couldn't return!) and 3000 pesos for their time and the truck. 4500 in total, less than $400.00

Not to mention the over 100 kilometers that Art put on the Tracker running back and forth!

In the photo are the mechanics after the repairs were made--7 hours after shutting down the rig! We were four or five hours from Guanajuato. It would be Patzcuaro tonight. Fortunately we knew the route well and so weren't worried.

As we reconnected the car the mechanics helper went back to collect the safety triangles. He returned with two. He went back to get the one around the corner but couldn't find it. Art started to go look so he went off again, this time returning with the mangled remains! A truck had driven over it!

19 March Guanajuato, Delores Hidalgo and the Azulejos

After a relatively early arrival in the RV Park located just to the south of Guanajuato we phoned the shop in Delores Hidalgo to confirm that our order was ready and that we would be there in an hour or so to pick up the tiles. The response was not what we had hoped for. Not really surprised to hear that they were not done! After some mumbling the young lady said that she would phone us back.

A short time later she called to say that the tiles would be ready on Sunday or Monday. Art said that we would be there Sunday afternoon.

Since the day was shot, we sat back, played with the dogs, had a drink. . . .

The photo of the rig in the park was taken on Sunday from the road side on our way to Delores Hidalgo using most of the 26X Zoom on the camera.

Saturday drove the car into downtown Guanajuato for a few groceries. We have driven in this very confusing town many times and were sure we knew the way to the grocery store but soon found ourselves in a tunnel that we knew wasn't on the way. In the tunnel we took the first left. (Yes, the tunnels of Guanajuato have intersections and forks. They have parking lots too! I told you it was confusing!) Soon we were above ground in front of the main market, only one block from the grocery store.

Shopping done we returned to the rig to relax. Here is a shot of what we bought for 189 pesos (about $15.00) Not looking forward to the sticker shock we will suffer when we return NOB!

Sunday we set of on the stark dry but still scenic southern route to Delores Hidalgo, about an hour and a half away. This small town is a center of telavera pottery manufacturing and we were off to pick up the counter top tiles formed and painted to match a bathroom basin that we had already picked out and paid for last November when we ordered the tiles.

The town was heaving with traffic and people. There wasn't a shaded parking spot to be seen on the main street but on a dirt cross street we found a place under a large leafy tree. Art elected to stay in the car with the dogs while Gillian went of to see about the tiles.

Fortunately he had his trusty Sony Reader with him and passed the time with it in one hand and a Spanish-English dictionary close to the other as he followed the adventures of Milo Talon in a Spanish translation of a Louis L'Amour western novel! The heat, aridity and dust of that back street matched that being described in the story, set in Texas in the 1870s

Some time later Gillian returned saying "Well you would have been proud of me! I flashed my eyes and stamped my foot. . . . . " She had arrived in the shop and spoken there with a gentlemen we had not seen before. He was the artisan who should have painted the tiles. He said that he hadn't got the message and that the tiles were not painted and would not be ready until Monday or Tuesday!

We had already agreed that if the tiles weren't ready we didn't want to hang around waiting X number of days for them to be done. We were already a little behind schedule, planning on getting some work done on the rig in Mazatlan and also in the USA. Gillian got the shop owner to agree to ship the tiles, at his cost, to us in Puerto Vallarta where we planned to spend a couple of days visiting friends. However in retrospect. . . . . .

So, gathering up the sink,we headed back to Guanajuato again, this time taking the northern mountainous route that would take us through the city. You won't want the sound, it's just road and wind noise, but hang on. No comment as to who is driving but I believe Art was operating the camera!

And here are a few still pics of Guanajuato with AbqL, the Traveling Rock:

to be done:

21 March 2011 Guanajuato to Villa Corona

Shortly after 9:00AM we left Bugamvillas RV Park, enroute to a the small town of Villa Corona, which is a little south of Guadalajara. We had done this route before and remembered two towns that were particularly difficult to navigate due to narrow streets and lack of signage. The 2011 edition of the Guia Roji, the Mexican Road Atlas, did show significant improvement on the first part so we were somewhat optimistic.

The first part of the trip was on either toll roads or very good libres so we were making pretty good time until we hit the end of the good road and were back on the rough stuff. At one point Art had to brake suddenly for an unexpected tope, which he hit fairly hard in spite of the hard braking and a cupboard door opened--and out came a bag of flour which split when it hit the floor!

While Gillian dealt with the flour Art went to check for other damage; there was lot of stuff in the bathroom sink that belonged in the cupboard above it, but that was a semi common occurrence and of no concern. He peeked into the bedroom hanging closet then closed the door again. Gillian would find that later!

Surprisingly the route through La Piedad de Cabadas was much better than the first time through. We only missed one sign and were able to make a U turn within a block and carry on

Soon we were on the 15D, the toll road from Mexico City that ran to Guadalajara and all the way north to Nogales. We followed it only for a few miles but would be rejoining it further north in Tepic. (see map below)

Once off the 15D and heading west on the road north of Lake Chapala we stopped in Ocotlan, the first reasonably sized town with nice wide streets and room to park. It was time for our lunch break and to give Trekker a chance to relax after all the traumatic bumping and rolling. Last trip through here the main street was completely dug up. Nice to see it finished.

While relaxing we spotted a horse drawn cart, the local equivalent of the "rag and bone man", or recycler. While we watched, a small truck pulled in front of the horse and stopped. A couple of young men jumped out and began handing plastic garbage of who knows what to the youngsters on the cart. Poor horse appeared to be hauling quite a load!

In the map photo, one pointer shows where we entered the 15D, the next where we left it, taking the yellow road to Ocotlan (our lunch stop). From there we proceeded west along the red road for some 50 kilometers then turned south to Chapala. Through Chapala and a significant distance beyond to the west along the lake the traffic was horrendous. It was the last time too. This year was worse as it was the last day of the long weekend celebrating the first day of spring. The road was good, just slow so we idled along until we got to Jocotepec, marked by the third pointer. The last pointer shows Villa Corona, our day's target.

Jocotepec. Well. We remembered the last time we came through, the streets were narrow, but this year! Words were spoken. As we entered town we were faced with a large sign saying Guadalaraja and a left pointing arrow. Another sign said "Vehiculos de Carga Pesado Obligatorio" (heavy commercial traffic obligatory) So left we went. There was a bus just ahead which we noticed turning right. There were no further signs so at that intersection we had good look and notice a large temporary sign a couple of blocks up that seemed to say something about a detour. So right we went. We arrived at the town square to find the large sign was indeed a detour sign, pointing to the right for Guadalajara. So right we went. A bit further on we came across yet another traffic sign sending all traffic right yet again. So how's your geometry? Can you visualise our route yet? Another couple of blocks down very narrow streets found us east bound at the intersection where we had been west bound and had turned left. We were now aiming down the highway back towards Lake Chapala!

Art made an immediate right down the same road but this time carried on a bit further. Then we came to a T junction. No signs. Well, it should be right, so right we went. Slowly cruising along we notice a fairly wide road going right again, but had just gone through the intersection when we realised that maybe we should have turned here! Just then we noticed a gentleman sitting on a bench in the park to our left: "Por favor senor, la carretera por Guadalajara?" He pointed to the street beside us! With the traffic, the park, and parked cars there was no way we could back up to make the turn. El senor seemed to realise that as well as he grinned and shook his head and pointed straight ahead and said " a la derecha, la secunda calle" (right at the second street.) Well we hoped so because in two blocks the street we were on became a goat track!

Turning the corner we just looked at each other and laughed. The locals were looking at us in amazement! We managed to get through without losing any more paint and at the end of a very long block was a wide road and a sign: Guadalajara Left. YEAH!

But did it get better? Not a lot! The main highway was under construction!

Eventually we were moving towards the three highway junction where we would make our turn south onto highway 80. As we progressed we suddenly realised/remembered that there was no left turn where we needed one. Not just not allowed, there wasn't one. We were on a divided highway. Then we remembered that we had to make a "retorno" -- U turn, and back track!

A short while later we arrived at Villa Corona and found the RV Park,which is located in the back of Chumulco water park and hot springs. Remember I mentioned the 21st weekend? TRAFFIC? We managed to get inside the grounds, found the office where they told us to take any vacant space. However the entrance to the RV Park was so crowded with vehicles that we couldn't get in. We headed down the back weaving around out bound cars trying to exit via the entrance lane and boondocked alongside the soccer field amongst Mexican families picnicking on the grass.

A security guard came by and suggested that we move into the RV Park when everyone had gone. It would be dark by then and we didn't want the bother. We were fine where we were. In fact four or five years ago we had parked in the same area as the RV spaces had all been taken.

It was about 5:30 by the time we were parked, level, slides out, the Starchoice dish searching for a satellite and Art was looking for his whisky bottle.

Tomorrow we would cross the Sierra Madres Occidental to Puerto Vallarta, a route new to us. Maybe an early start? Don't hold your breath!

Villa Corona to Puerto Vallarta
Coming soon

Tuesday morning we were out of Chamulco by 9:10, not bad! Our route was to be highway 70 which we have never taken and have heard various stories. The last few people we spoke to about this drive said that it was very scenic, hilly and steep but not too bad.

The options were to turn northeast again and take the new bypass around Guadalajara and then either turn west to the this same highway or continue north and join the 15D to near Tepic and through Compostela. We had done Tepic to Compostela to Puerto Vallarta south bound a couple of years ago.

We could also continue west on the 80 and turn north on the yellow road, joining the 70 near Ameca. That was our final decision. We would give the southern route a try!

We reached Ameca in only an hour and a quarter, looking promising. We made a quick stop for photographic evidence of AbqL's having been here as well as at this end of "La Ruta Turistica".

It was a very scenic drive, though a little up and down and around! Like a baby version of the Espinaza del Diablo route from Durango to Mazatlan. Our maximum elevation was around 6300 feet.

At 1:00 PM we stopped in the town of Mascota for lunch, finding a place to park well off the street alongside a commercial agricultural feed store.

Two hours after leaving the lunch stop we were back on the flat, and stopped for fuel in Ixtapa (Jalisco) and an hour after leaving the Pemex, we arrived at Puerto Vallarta Trailer Park at twenty to five.

Tomorrow we will look up our friends Melchor and Marta as well as Bill and Anita, two couples we have known for over 20 years. Our first trip to Mexico was due to encouragement from Bill, who with his wife have operated Casa Anita since the 60's! While there we met Melchor, from whom we took our first Spanish lessons. We also met his girlfriend Marta, now his wife and have watched their children grow from babies to young adults. Melchor now operates his own language school. We have taken level 2 and 3 there and found the method used to be the best and most effective we have seen.

22 - 29 March-- A week in Puerto Vallarta

It wasn't meant to be a week, but hey, it's Mexico.

Today we got a phone call from the tile shop in Delores Hidalgo giving us the tracking number for our tiles which had just been shipped. We could expect them tomorrow or more likely Thursday.

We wandered up the street to Melchor's school and popped in during a break. Good thing we know his schedule! We chatted for a while then left him to his students having made arrangements to go out for dinner with the family.

Yesi, their daughter is attending university in Morelia but son Alex was able to join us as did a visiting student from the United States. Alex is now 17, a fine young man who plans to study computer science when he finishes high school this year. Art took great delight in pointing out that the first time we went out to dinner together Alex was less than a year old and spent dinner sleeping in Art's arms!

Next day we just hung around the RV Park, though Gillian did take a load of laundry down the block. It will be ready tomorrow. During the afternoon we noticed some activity in the park, several people, including Gaby (the Park manager) her staff and kids all looking up into the trees. Art grabbed the camera and went out to see what he could "shoot".

The cause of all the excitement was a pair of chacalacas, a very noisy bird (they sound like their name) that was very common around El Manglar in Zihuatanejo. The birds followed each other around the trees, occasionally stopping for a cuddle before wandering again from branch to branch. After a lot of effort and staring up vertically into the trees Art managed a couple of adequate snaps.

Note that you can click a picture to enlarge it. To return to the blog page use the back arrow at the top left of the screen.

Thursday we went into Estafeta, the local courier company, to collect our tiles. After the young lady studied the computer screen then went into the back, she returned to the screen, studied it a bit more, looked a little confused, then told Art they would be here tomorrow, Friday, at 1:00PM. Art was a little annoyed but what can you do?

Friday afternoon around 2:00 PM Art returned to Estafeta. Fortunately is was reasonably close by. The young lady checked the computer, went to the back then returned to tell him Monday! Art was livid and everyone in the line was aware of it! Looks like we're not leaving Saturday!

Bill had invited us to join a group Friday evening at a new nearby sports bar for their rib night. We were the second couple to arrive and had been chatting a few minutes when another couple arrived. The lady looked familiar but we couldn't place her. She introduced herself as Anita's sister! The resemblance was striking, hence the familiar look. She and her husband, both in their 80's had just immigrated to Puerto Vallarta from Montreal!

Bill and Anita and the rest of the group soon arrived--they had been watching a Canucks hockey game!--and the party got under way.

The food was excellent, the company better. The only "low point" was the bill: 2 rib dinners, a bottle of wine, one margarita and two beer. 500 pesos. A touch over $40.00! And we had enough left over for dinner the next night! While chatting we realised that we would still be here on Sunday and asked Bill if the Sheraton Hotel still did their Sunday Brunch.

Bill replied that it was indeed, and that we should join the Casa Anita table. He told us that we should not pay at the door like everyone else, just tell the staff we were with Casa Anita.

Saturday we walked the malecon (sea walk) and looked at the sculptures. We took a photo or two of AbqL for the record as well.

Something new this trip--on going ever-changing sand sculptures, the artists competing for tips! From whimsical to traditional the artistic craftsmanship was superb!

Sunday at 10 we got a ring side seat with the mariachi band right behind us! We had done one of these brunches before and remembered it will in spite of the unlimited "Champagne" the waiters were constantly offering.

I'll let a few more pictures speak here:

And a few of Art falling off his diet wagon. There were a couple of plates not photographed! He has been very proud of the results of his recent lipid profile results...he could stay off his cholesterol meds! Not for long at this rate!

The music was wonderful. Bill was invited up to sing! This happens regularly. Bill is well known and well liked all over PV and he has a good voice as well. Not bad for the wrong side of 70.

Monday -- looking again for the tiles.

Monday afternoon Art returned to Estafeta. Same performance as on the previous visits but this time the young lady returned with the manager. The manager apologized and said they would look for them. Art explained that we were in Mexico on tourist visas and had to leave the country soon, we couldn't hang around waiting. He left our e-mail and Mexican phone number, told the manager that we had to leave in the morning and returned to the rig.

Here he sent a detailed e-mail to the shop owner explaining the problem and saying that we would keep in touch, but in any case would return to Mexico in the fall and have him ship the tiles to us via DHL, a very reliable courier here as well as in Canada. We sent a cc of the email to the Estafeta manager as well.

As as aside, over the nine months of this long trip we have had our first class mail forwarded to us via DHL; twice to Whitehorse, once to Halifax, once to San Antonio and twice to Zihuatanejo. All arrived in a timely fashion.

29 March, Puerto Vallarta to Mazatlan

Up "early" today, hoping for an early start which of course didn't happen! Does it ever? Not a lot to do, most things had been put away the night before. All that remained were the water hose and step stool that we couldn't get back in the bin until the slides were retracted, and of course Art had forgotten to check tires so that had to be done first.

Straightening up after checking the last tire, the left front, he whacked his head on the corner of the still extended dining room slide. He entered the rig holding his head and muttering while blood ran down his face and neck onto his good Sailfest 2011 T shirt! Into the bathroom to run water over his head and neck, holding tissues on the cut until the blood stooped. Next was to run the bloody stains under cold water, then the shirt was left wet on the shower floor as we had no time to spend giving it a proper wash.

Engine started, slides brought in, jacks retracted and water hose put away, all that remained was to pull our of our site and hook up the car. All this went fine by 9:30 we left the Puerto Vallarta Trailer Park for our run to Mazatlan.

In past trips we have always taken the "red" and "yellow" road turning off the 200 at Las Varas and going through San Blas and Villa Hidalgo before returning to the 15D, north-south toll road. This detour saves a long up hill grind through Comopostela to Tepic and also avoids a few tolls.

This year we had received reliable information that parts of our favourite route was in very bad shape, with a mile of so of potholes in one section and overhanging branches in much of the rest. Unfortunately this would mean that we would miss the tiny village of Mantanchen, famous for it's banana bread!

Another factor in our decision was that Trekker really doesn't like bumpy roads! He gets quite stressed and fearful. He has slowly been getting better so we opted for the hilly, more expensive though faster route.

Fifteen minutes into our drive Art's cell phone rang. It was Estafeta. They had located our tiles. They were in San Luis Potosi! About the same distance as PV from Delores Hidalgo but in the opposite direction! The courier offered to ship them to Canada without charge, but import and brokerage would make it excessive. The tiles only cost about $25.00! We told them to return them to the shipper and we would make arrangements to collect them when we return to Mexico in the fall. We will probably get then shipped by DHL to Zihuatanejo.

Back to the drive: Two years ago we had driven this route south bound and remember saying of the Compostela route that we were happy to be driving down hill rather than up as there were many looooong snaky lines of vehicles crawling uphill behind semis and other slow trucks. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we managed to get ahead of all the big slow rigs until about 25 kilometers from Tepic, and that truck full of old cane pulled off after ten or fifteen minutes.

Along the way we came upon a brush fire that seemed to have no one concerned, at least no one was doing anything about it. There are lots of burned areas like this along the highways, probably started by cigarettes and or broken bottles.

The motorhome performed beautifully, that little 5.9 turbo Cummins just purred along, the engine temperature never going 190F, and the Allison transmission ran a bit cooler. Surprisingly, looking in the logbook, it seem that the uphill trip between PV and Compostela took 2 hours and 20 minutes while the downhill run two years ago took 2 hours 35 minutes! We did notice that today's traffic seemed very light.

We took in the scenery as we drove, we were certainly going slow enough to enjoy it!

Through Tepic with out incident, though it's a good thing the the navigator had her eyes open as the sign for our turnoff for the cuota (toll road) north was not unambiguous and we had three lanes of traffic to cross from the sign to the turn off only 50 meters away!

At any rate we were rolling on the toll road, made a 40 minute stop at the toll booth at Estacion Ruiz, and at 4:15 we were at the end of the toll road at Villa Union. 227 kilometers in 2 hours 40 minutes driving time! Not bad for a cruse control set at 100 Km/H!

Cost of the tolls: 1,011 pesos=$84.00

At our lunch stop we parked behind this semitrailer which had this very realistic paint job on the right rear cargo door. We really did a double take. It is a painting! (You can click on the picture to enlarge it and click again for an even closer view)

From Villa Union into Mazatlan we were again surprised to find the road surface in excellent condition and the traffic reasonable. We had to pay attention to not exceed the speed limits which varied between 60, 90, 80, and 70 seemingly randomly!

Into Mazatlan we found ourselves in the construction zone we had been warned about. It only took us about 10 or 15 minutes to get through, so not too bad. The left turn into Maz centro from the north end of the city was closed to north bound traffic but as we were bound for the North Beaches area, carrying on north wasn't a problem.

In the pics to the left note worker up in the tree, pruning branches, and the particularly attentive traffic cop!

Where the libre and toll road separated we took the toll road, knowing that there would be no tolls before we turned off west to the Cerritos area (Signed as "Mazatlan Playas") and a few minutes later arrived at Las Jaibas RV Park. We were booked in and parked by 5:20.

Because of the time zone change it was only 4:20 locally, which made us realise that we have missed the trauma of going from standard time to daylight time: Instead of losing an hour for the change, nothing will really change for us as Mexico doesn't change until the end of March! We went from Central Standard Time to Mountain Standard Time just north of Puerto Vallarta and so gained an hour on today's drive. When we cross the border into Arizona it doesn't change to daylight time so we will stay on Mountain Standard time until we cross into California which of course is on Pacific Daylight Time, which are the same! As a bonus, the TV guide on our Starchoice satellite system is set for Pacific Daylight Time, so now what we see is what we get--no longer do we have to wait until 7 o'clock for the 5 o'clock CHEK TV News!

We booked in for two nights at what to us was an outrageous price: $30.00 US, which they converted to pesos as 366 per night. The practice of some businesses charging in US dollars for items that are have nothing to do with U.S. costs annoys us a lot but it appears to be common in Mazatlan. In Zihuatanejo the daily price is 300 pesos, while in Puerto Vallarta it was 320.

We recognised two couples already in the park from previous years and joined them for a drink.

Our friend Paul had been watching for us from his beachfront condo with the aid of a pair of binoculars (which he says he uses for watching wildlife) and soon arrived along with Jacqui and Derek, all close friends from Victoria who winter here in Maz.

As dinner time was rapidly approaching, if not almost past, the five of up went into town for dinner at a new restaurant, Panchos, for an excellent dinner and a bit of a catchup chat.

Home again we watched some TV (the satellite dish is working well) and went to bed ready for a good night's sleep.

We woke early (shortly after six!) to a cold bedroom--windows were closed, vent closed, but the inside temperature was down to 63F! We grabbed a Mexican woolen blanket to lay over the duvet and went back to sleep for an hour!

Yesterday we had called Juan, a body shop owner who has worked on our rigs before, to let him know when we would arrive. He told us he would see us at the rig at 10:00 this morning. At 11:00 Art phoned Juan again--he said he would be right over!

He soon arrived, but had trouble at the gate, but they finally let him in. He looked at the required work, gave us a written quote and said that it would take two days and that he could start tomorrow. But not in this park! Apparently the park owner demands a significant percentage for any work done in the park and most trade people refuse to work here.

So tomorrow we will move into a park in town--more money apparently, but they have a pool! It will be too cold to swim in I'll bet! (Note added later--It is!)

Just as we finished up with Juan, our friend Paul arrived to see if Art wanted to go to the Marina Restaurant to join a "Guys' Lunch". No need to be persuaded he jumped into Paul's Mercedes and off they went.

Lunch specials today included a fish sandwich with French fries and a cold beer for 55 pesos. ($4.50) The fish sandwich was excellent as were the fries and of course the beer!

Since we wanted an early start we began to put things away ready to move in the morning.

Last thing before bed we noticed a foul odor in the bathroom. We recognised it a sign that the grey tank was over full and the waste water was rising up the shower drain! This was no time to dump the tank as the "easy access" sewer drain was too short to reach the drain. Moving the rig was out of the question--slides would have to come in, jacks retracted etc etc. So we shut the bathroom door and went to bed.

Thursday, March 31

Thursday morning in the wee small hours (la madrugada) we woke to the pitter-patter of small raindrops on the roof!

Art woke again to full daylight, checked his watch to find that it read 7:45!!! We had wanted to get into town before 8:00 AM to avoid the traffic! Art called to Gillian and flew out of bed to the bathroom. Out of fresh water too! Just a trickle left. Well, it would have to do. At least the sun was shining!

Finally the rig was moved closer to the drain, enough grey water drained to avoid spillage and we were off to San Fernando RV Park. (Art hadn't completely drained the tank as he hoped that the sloshing of the water in the tank during the move might clean off the level sensors.)

Through surprisingly light traffic we arrived at San Fernando at 8:45. There was no one around, all was still and quiet. The sign on the office door said they opened at nine, so we decided to just find a space and park.

Sewer connections here too were in strange locations, most on the wrong side of the site and well back! However we found a level site which had the drain for the neighbouring site very close to ours so Art thought the 15' hose just might stretch. It didn't as it turned out but the 5' extension made it work.

Now it was breakfast time for us and the dogs. Still quiet around here though one couple did come over to say hello and to see it we wanted them to move their trunk which was parked on the road way, but we were fine.

We turned the satellite system and TV on for the news, then Art realised that we hadn't been as late as previously thought--his watch was still on Central Mountain Time! It was essentially an hour fast! We had actually arrived at 7:45! Another bonus, this park was significantly cheaper than the last!

We later phoned the shop to say we were here and were told that Juan was off buying supplies and would return in an hour. Or maybe two.

At any rate they arrived about 11:00 and unloaded their equipment, Juan set his helper to work and left for the day taking a small piece of trim to use while he mixed paint to match.

Meanwhile Art had realised that he had left his Tilley hat at the restaurant yesterday so once the work was underway he returned to the Marina hoping for the best. He was delighted to find that they had put it away on a shelf and returned happy that he hadn't lost another one!

Here are a few "before" pics.

We spent the day around the motorhome, Art spending some time on the blog as the repairs, filling, sanding and painting progressed. By 6:30 PM the primer coat was finished.

During

Priming in the breeze:

Now that we could get a good guess on our arrival time in the USA Art got on the phone looking for an RV shop that could get us in for the Norcold Fridge recall. He was successful with a shop in Yuma and we are booked in for Wednesday, pending a confirmation call Monday.

After dinner Art continued with the blog--posting the photos seem to take a good bit of the time, but was able to put it away knowing that this long section will be done tomorrow!

Friday morning we again woke up at a reasonable time and while we were having breakfast Juan's helper arrived and began prepping the undercoat and remasking the rig in preparation for the colour and clear coats. Juan arrived shortly thereafter to supervise. For a switch, Juan, the Master, was applying masking while the apprentice was operating the spray gun. Juan later took over for the clear coat.

It was interesting to watch them paint in the outdoors, in wind and sun! Note the serious lack of eye and respiratory protection--they depend on the fresh air and not standing downwind!

During all of this Gillian did 2 loads of washing only to find that the dryer wasn't working! The maintenance man eventually started it manually but it was very slow drying--turned out they were out of gas! The gas truck has just left (as I type!) so hopefully we won't be setting off tomorrow with a bag of wet laundry.

We are off to dinner with Paul and Jacqui and Derek--back at the Marina. Art won't take his hat this time!

Then home to pack up everything up so we will be ready to go early in the morning.

There. This mega post is done!

February

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And this

January 2011

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As will this

December 2010

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This may take a while!

By December we were well into our usual routine, doing not a lot of anything!

Last year we had had the sofa and dinette recovered but had discovered that light bright cotton fabric we had chosen was a mistake--it soiled easily and was impossible to clean. So we had Sr Juarez return and redo them in a cream marine grade vinyl. The same material that he uses on open sunbridges and cockpits of yachts and fishing boats.

He took the sofa first, then reinstalled it a about a week later and took the dinette.

In spite of best intentions to eat more at home there were several meals in El Manglar . Art was particularly happy to get back to one of his all time favourites, the El Manglar Salad with a filet of fish and Rosa's own vinaigrette.

Of course we went to dinner in Centro a couple of times in the first week--Don Memo's--who was sold out of his signature Lasagna again, and, directly across the lane from there, Coconuts, a longtime restaurant just reopening under new management and staff, although a few of the originals were still there.

The food at both was as good as ever, though at Coconuts very slow, due probably to the fact that it was their first night with mostly new staff and new menu and that the place was packed!

A few more photos of the life in and around the mangrove estuary after which El Manglar was named. (El manglar means the mangrove.) Click to enlarge, especially the one to the right. Strange bed fellows!

Arrived in Zihuatanejo!

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Will be working on the incomplete posts below over the next while, but we are now officially on Mexican Time.

15th November

At 9:30 we left the RV park stopping a bit down the the road to fill up on propane. We like to do that inland as on the coast sometimes what you get butane which doesn't do well in cold temperatures. We try to keep as high a propane concentration in the tank as possible.

The fuel gauge still looked good--we would refuel in Zihuatanejo just before parking for four months. The road was mostly down hill. We were at about 6000 feet in elevation here and were heading for sea-level so we should do well fuel wise! Some of the long steep downhills made us glad of the freightliner chassis, air brakes, Cumins engine and Allison transmission with exhaust brakes.

It's a pretty route through very mountainous country and alongside some 25 kilometers of man made lake used for power generation.

We arrived at about 2 PM at El Manglar RV Park and Restaurant. Leaned on the airhorns to announce our presence, RV Park owner and friend Edmundo and waiter Martin came out to welcome us with big grins.

Abandoned the rig crosswise in the parking lot, took the dogs for a quick pee then headed to the restaurant for lunch.

Wednesday morning the carwash crew arrived. We had many months of dirt to be removed. We also had them give the rig a good paste wax and polish.

We'll get it done again before we leave in March to clean off all the salty dust from 4 months in the park.

18th of November was opening night for Tanya and Kenny of La Hija del Capitan restaurant for the new tourist season. We are on our way! This is one of our favorite restaurants, their menu includes a yummy lasagna and their chipotle burger is wonderful.

Only a week here and already the grass is growing under our feet and friends are are dropping in to visit!

We bought a small canopy to protect the car from the overnight dew but it seems to be a little on the small side. We'll have to get a bigger one!

Within the week we had the hammock up and tested and Art had found a place for "La Suegra".

The first day of our second week in Zihuatanejo came to a typical close.

As November drew to a close we continued connecting with old friends and new and re-acquainting ourselves with the scenery and the beach.

Art came across one of our old friends who works on the beach: Not sure if he's just resting after a hard day at work or if it was a particularly hard landing!--Art threatened to show it to his boss--a good friend of ours.

Patzcuaro

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Morning of the 13th, we left the RV Park in Guanajuato at 9:30, destination Patzcuaro. Our route was nearly straight south to Morelia then around the periferico and west to El Pozo RV Park.

The drive was uneventful on good roads through farming country. We had been this way before (and got slightly off course) but this time we had no problems. South of Silao there were many roadside stands selling strawberries and cream. This area is famous for its strawberries. Art asked Gillian if she wanted him to pull over somewhere to get some and she replied that we would get some in Patzcuaro as we had to shop anyway.

One interesting part of this drive was crossing the marsh and the very extensive but shallow lake. There is a dead straight causeway 5.6 kilometers long across Lago de Cuitzeo and almost that far over the march before that.

In previous crossings we have seen many birds, fishermen with their nets and even cattle up to their hocks in water grazing on the vegetation. This time there was nothing but the occasional gull.

Other than the traffic, Morelia was no problem thought we almost missed our exit to the road to Patzcuaro. Fortunately Art recognised the turn at the last minute and was only one lane out of place! The right turn signal on and moving right, he managed to squeeze in and make the turn. At that moment we were the biggest rig so we got no argument from the other traffic!

At 1:00PM we had arrived at El Pozo (The Well) RV park. There were no other rigs there so we carried on down to the bottom of the field and parked the rig.

This spot would give us the most sun for the solar panels, cleared the trees for the satellite RV and left a large clear area to our right for the dogs to wander about. Westbound the park is very easy to find: there is a large sign over the highway right at the enterance!

While Art got parked, leveled and set up Gillian took the dogs out for a short break then went up to the office to book us in for a couple of days. This photo and the next two are actually from our trip home last March. Somehow we didn't take any this round.

El Pozo means The Well, which you can see in the foreground of the picture.

This is a quiet park other than a bit of traffic noise as we are right beside the highway and of course. . . . . the TRAINS which must blow their whistles as they approach the crossing at the park enterance.

Once we were settled we phoned our friends Jorge and Lulu in Morelia and invited them to come for lunch tomorrow at the RV Park. Then it was into town for grocery shopping. We found everything we needed - - - except strawberries! There were none to be had.

Next morning Art took the car to centro to check out the market. Not a parking space to be found! On the way back to the RV park Art had a thought and detoured to a small business area near the lake. He found several shops and markets, but no one had strawberries. One booth said "al rato" meaning soon! While parking the car on the side of the road here he was approached by a young man with a bucket of suspicious looking murky water and a questionable rag asking if I wanted a carwash. Having seen in the past what a man with filthy water and rag can do with a dirty car he agreed and upon his return to the car it was gleaming! 30 pesos. ($2.50)

Later in the day he returned to the market and purchased a huge basket of strawberries, picked that morning. This was to be the dessert for our afternoon meal.

Jorge and Lulu arrived around noon, we had a wonderful time chatting and talking about things in Mexico. They are both concerned about the growing drug violence here. It is something we will have to keep and eye on.

Soon they had to go--work in the morning, but they asked us to make a reservation for them at El Manglar for the 18th of December. It was at this RV park where we first met them some years ago.

Guanajuato and Dolores Hidalgo

2010-11-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

November 11 and 12

Thursday morning we were southbound at 9:30 in reasonably light traffic. A pleasant discovery that improvements to the periferico were continuing and were almost complete. We were pleasantly surprised 8 months ago northbound through here to find a real bypass partially completed. The first time we drove this route about seven years ago the truck bypass essentially went through the edge of town on narrow roads that were in terrible condition and punctuated by topes.

Before long we were again rolling down the highway on wide open roads. Today our route would take us around the city of Aguacalientes on the outer periferico, which in March was in terrible condition. It was not a lot better this year, though the worst spots had been repaired.

Once clear of the city traffic we began looking for an open area on the 45D for lunch . At 2:20 we found a suitable place and took a 40 minute break.

Around the city of Leon, though there was lots of traffic, shops, businesses and industry we were still far from the city proper, then through Silao where we turned off onto the toll road to the city of Guanajuato. (Map below)

Guanajuato is nestled in a steep sided valley, the toll road really the only option for larger motorhomes.

It is a beautiful city with lots of history but we decided to forgo a detailed visit here this round. We were most interested in visiting the town of Dolores Hidalgo in hopes of purchasing a vanity sink for the downstairs bathroom.

Shortly before five we had arrived at Bugamvilla RV park. This is the only place in the area where a large motorhome will fit. We have been here many time. It is essentially a large field with power and water and a semi-primitive dump station located at the far end. We were the only rig here.

We left the rig while Gillian took the dogs out and Art went to check power and water before choosing a site. Good thing he did too--none of the sites in the first two rows had electric power. A close look explained the problem. A grass fire had burned the wiring at several posts beyond salvage!

Next row over was fine, a young man with as lawn mower was in the progress of cutting the long grass. We suspected that the grass fires had been intentionally set as a quick way to control it. We later found this to be true, the owner was not happy when Art informed him that the first two rows had now power and showed him the burned wires. He called his son over and had a few words!

We spent the remainder of the day relaxing, playing with the dogs and not doing much of anything at all. Dinner at home was a shrimp pasta, followed by white wine and dark chocolate. Later we vegetated in front of the TV for a while watching the news from home.

Friday: shopping day. Much of our route planing had been to bring us to this point. Off by car to the town of Dolores Hidalgo, hoping to find a bathroom sink for downstairs. Size, shape and colour had to be just right. Gillian was unsure that she could find the exact shade of turquoise that she was looking for but had brought a hand towel as a colour swatch!

The car could have used a wash, but there was a large "No Car Wash" sign prominently posted. Perhaps we could find a place in Dolores Hidlago. Meanwhile the pixie prints on the hood would accompany us.

Since the RV Park was on the southeast outskirts of Guanajuato we decided to take the circle route, southeast from the campground on the yellow road then curving north to Dolores Hidalgo. This again is high dry country, though there were signs of the good rainy season which had just ended. The pointer indicates the campground's location.

We have been this way before but still don't tire of the scenery, it's different every time, depending on the amount of rainfall and how long it has been since the last rain. In March, following four or five rain free months things look very different. The dogs however seemed to think they had seen it all.

Entering the town we went directly to the strip where all the artisans shops are located. Starting at one end of the street we wandered the entire length of the street, though we had found the sink we wanted about half way along. The particular shade of turquoise Gillian was looking for was not available, even on special order. However she found one basin that contained the colours she wanted, but the surrounding tiles were not available. Special order could be arranged.

After checking the rest of the town we returned to the shop and ordered the surround tiles. We will stop in on our way home on March to pick up our order.

During our wanderings amongst the artisan shops Art was taken with this wonderfully whimsical dragon ornament. At 190 pesos ($16.00 Canadian) it was impossible to ignore. Art calls it "La Suegra" (Spanish for The Mother-In_Law!) He hopes she still has a sense of humor! It has a place of honour beside the hammock.

Returning to Guanajuato via the "red" road (map above) we traveled first through farm country, acres of drying cornfields. As we climbed into the mountains the countryside changed, greener and cooler.

As you can see from the GPS map the route was just a little twisty!

At the approach to Guanajuato we stopped at a funky looking "Restaurant Bar" that we had bypassed several times before. This time we were hungry and decided to check it out. They still had the "Dia del Muertos" decorations. Gillian was particularly taken with one of them. We asked the waiter what had happened to his friend and he responded that he didn't eat enough! Remember to enlarge a pic just click on it. You can click again to further enlarge. Use the "<" at the top left of the screen to return to the blog. We each ordered a beer and a main course, then "on the house" appies appeared! Art ordered the chipotle chicken and Gillian a fish dish with green chile salsa. Both were surperb.

Moving on after a wonderful lunch we had planned to go into town for groceries. We were pleased and surprised to find a new grocery store right on the main road, which meant we didn't have to navigate through the town centre. The photos and the GPS picture will give you some idea why this was a good thing!

Back at the RV park we fed the dogs, (we were not really interested in supper!), watched the sunset, a bit of TV then called it a night.