San Carlos to Alamos to Mazatlan

In spite of Art's unforeseen shower and cleanup we were rolling by 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning. Today was to be a relatively short to the old mining town of Alamos some 50 kilometres east of Navajoa. (The pen points in the photo mark the start and finish)

After 266 kilometres, 393 posos in tolls,($33.00) we arrived at Alamos, the entrance to the town marked by a large triple arch, reaching campground, Real de los Alamos, at 12:45.

We were able to get mostly off the road, the back end of the tracker partially blocking the traffic lane because the gate was closed. A moment later a man arrived to advise us that they weren't open for business yet – it was too early in the season, they wouldn't open until December! As we explained that we didn't need any services, just a safe place to park, a young man joined us and said a few very fast words in Spanish that we didn't understand, then we heard a voice call from the porch of the house and the man then told us that the owner said we could stay and that the boy would show us where to park. We quickly got off the road and were soon settled in. When Art checked the electricity (always necessary at most RV Parks in Mexico) he found the hot and neutral to be reversed. – no great skill to check this, a $10.00 plug in devise makes it easy.




This park is a large grassy field lined with trees and signs of a lot of recent rain. After we were set up Art went up to the house to pay our fees—260 pesos if memory serves and found the three men sitting on the porch. He was invited to sit and chat for a while; he learned that the owners name was Enrique, Cyrilo was the man who met us at the gate and Arturo was the young man. Art learned that a month ago the park had about a foot of water in places but was quite dry and firm now. Two years ago the place had been completely flooded from the rains of a hurricane. The owner said he had had a lake for several weeks! (The above photo was taken later in the day. Note the van. It had arrived while we were out sight seeing.)

Art mentioned what he had found with the power, but was told there was no problem, it was the same as the house used! Enrique seemed to understand about hot/neutral reversal, but didn't seem to believe that Art was correct and made no move to check it! Since we couldn't use it, (the inverter won't let it past into the coach) we didn't plug in. The batteries were fully charged and the inverter would supply any AC that we might need such as for the TV and satellite receiver. The weather was very pleasant so there was no need for the air conditioner. No chance of a discount on the rent either!




After a quick bite of lunch we headed into town. We soon found a guide, who led us around for an hour in his truck while we followed in our car. We stopped in several interesting places and learned quite a bit of the history of the place. The floods of two years ago washed out an entire neighbourhood of shacks and shelters of the very poor, many of whom were killed. The cemetery in the photo was flooded. The area between the cemetery and the river beyond is were the homes used to be.

(click to enlarge)

















Entrance door to a private residence, the tree outside--we are always amazed at how well trees do almost encased in concrete! Right; the main foyer of the Palacio Municipal (City Hall).


Alamos has been here for centuries and was getting quite run down when discovered by wealthy American and Canadian ex-pats who have been buying the old residences and restoring them to their former glory. Unfortunately, most of their character is hidden behind high stone walls, although some tours are available. We may return here for a bit longer stay another time.


When we returned to the motorhome, we found we had company—a small van was parked a few spaces down. There was no one around that evening, though Gillian met Katheryn, who's rig is was, in the morning, just before we left.






As we were hooking up the car Art asked Arturo if the small trees were citrus, and was told yes—lemon, orange, mandarin, tangerine and grapefruit. As we were pulled away Arturo dropped out a nearby tree and presented us with the one and only ripe grapefruit on it!





Katheryn pulled out right behind us, but turned right to town while we turned left back towards Navajoa and the long day's run down to Mazatlan. The time was 8:15, one of our earlier starts, but we knew it would be a long day.

By 11:00 AM we were ready for lunch and so we pulled into La Pilarica, a Spanish owned Pemex and truck stop at Los Mochis. This is another of our favorite stops—the restaurant serves good Mexican truck stop food—far from the typical fat, sugar and carb food found in US and Canadian truck stops. This time however we decided to just make a sandwich as Art wanted to stretch out for 20 minutes as well. By 12:08 we were southbound again, taking another 20 minute rest at one of the many toll booths two and a half hours later.

This is also an expensive run—lots of tolls totaling 1174 pesos—almost $100.00 Canadian.

At 5:20 we arrived at Las Jaibas RV Park in Mazatlan, a 620 kilometre drive.

Fuel on this leg; 203.1 litres

Mexican Border to San Carlos

We were on the road at 8.30 and 55minutes later we crossed the border into Mexico. This is a very uneventful crossing. Although there are officials here we have yet to be delayed more that a coupe of minutes—this time straight through.

21 kilometers and 20 minutes later we arrive at what is appropriately known as Kilometer 21. It is here that we get our tourist card, (like a Visa) allowing us to stay in Mexico for 180 days. The cost for this was $22.00 Canadian, each. Here we also had our passports stamped. Next was the temporary foreign vehicle import permit, also issued for 180 days for the tracker, our tow car. This comes with a hologram which is affixed to the windshield and cost $33.00 Canadian.

This year there was a senior official wandering around watching. He would occasionally approach the the line up, ask people what they were waiting for, and check to see if they had everything they would need at the wicket. Several people returned to their vehicles for papers, some had to go and get photocopies, and some even had to go back and get their tourist card, which had to be paid for at the wicket.

When we entered Mexico last year we were issued a 10 year permit for the motorhome, which has been available for several years now for motorhomes, trailers and boats. Last summer we had the motorhome windshield replaced and had the glass shop remove the hologram from the old windshield. We had stuck it back on the new one but it was obvious by even a cursory glance that it had been removed. We had come concerns about being stopped later and having problems with it.

Art took the opportunity (with some misgivings!) of asking the official about it, explaining what had occurred. He assured us that as long as the numbers on the hologram sticker coincided with the paper permit and the information on the permit matched registration of the vehicle, everything would be OK.

Back at the rig, new decal on the tracker and dogs walked, we were on our way an hour and twenty five minutes after pulling in. One last gauntlet to run—at the exit we again had to drive through customs. A few questions, where, how long, what were you bring in etc and we were finally on our way for real.

Shortly before 1:00 PM we pulled into the Pemex at Benjamin Hill for fuel and went into the restaurant next door for lunch. Diesel was 8 pesos a litre—about 67 cents Canadian at current rates of exchange (approximately 12 pesos to the Canadian dollar). This is a favourite stop either south or north bound, our first or last stop depending which way we are going and we are usually here for about an hour. We would now drive non stop to San Carlos, 265 kilometers which would take a little over 3 hours if the roads are in good shape. We drove through the City of Hermasillo using the eastern bypass with out incident. The 4 lane street here is in very good condition for the most part (though there is one small section in the city with a few nasty topes) and it takes a lot of concentration to maintain the 60 Km/speed limit—which is strictly enforced—especially against foreign vehicles!

The highway from Nogales to Magdalena wasn't in particularly good shape, Magdalena to Hermasillo was fairly good, and fair on to San Carlos. Fortunately traffic, especially truck traffic, was light and we had no difficulty maintaining a highway speed of 90 to 100 Km/H and arrived at the Totonoka RV Park in San Carlos at around 5:00 PM

We had a couple of gifts (one a small joke which had traveled all the way from Marrakech) for our friends Joe and Christine who winter in San Carlos but had not yet arrived. We were able to leave these with the owners of the RV park who know them well.

Note the topiary, especially the small tree in the middle. There were quite a few of these around the park. We stayed 2 nights here, got a load of laundry done and a bit of shopping and spent the rest of the day re-acquainting ourselves with the area.

San Carlos received quite a bit of damage from the hurricane last September but repairs were well in hand for the most part. There was a lot of water damage from the torrential rains and water run off. The property beside the RV Park was almost completely washed away and across the same was similar damage.






To the west, approaching the second section of San Carlos (the town is in almost 2 separate parts separated by steep cliffs on one side and a deep bay on the other) the eastbound bridge was impassible, all traffic using the 2 laned westbound bridge.







West of San Carlos is the tiny village of La Manga (the Sleeve) and we were quite concerned that it might have suffered a lot of damage. We drove up the dirt track and found it to be in very good shape. The little school had 5 large solar panels and signs of recent maintenance, there were several shacks with new “Restaurant” signs advertising seafood; the fishing boats pulled up on the sand testified to the freshness of the catch. Still a poor village but improving year by year, thanks in large part to American service clubs.


When we were getting ready to go in the morning Art proceeded with the outside chores while Gillian took the dogs for a last walk around the park. These chores included draining the black and gray water tanks. The gray is emptied first, then the gray, to flush the worst of the smelly stuff out of the hose. When the contents of the black tank had stopped flowing Art closed that valve and opened the valve for the gray water. It ran normally for a few seconds, then . . . . the connector came off at the valve, and the gray water poured out onto the ground and Art's lap! He managed get the valve closed before all 50 litres or so had run out. Inspection showed nothing wrong with the fitting, the only remaining being operator error, and it hadn't been secured in the first place! Art was quite pleased that in Tucson he had emptied the tanks and added about 20 or 30 litres of clean water and deodorant to help clean the tank as we drove.

Art hosed himself off, packed things up, stripped off on the steps and headed to the shower!

After a change of clothes, leaving the wet things on the floor of the shower, we were ready to go.




Leaving San Carlos/Guymas to the north, where the toll road bypass starts, the former overpass has been completely destroyed. Southbound traffic (us) is temporarily being re-routed through the Pemex station at the intersection. We were unable to take time for photos here as typically there were no direction signs and we had to watch carefully. If we hadn't known where we were supposed to go we would have found ourselves on the road back to Hermasillo! Once through the Pemex lot we did manage to snap a few pics through the windows, unfortunately due to reflections from the bright sunlight they aren't particularly good but you can see that they are hard at work rebuilding.




99.94 Litres of fuel.




.

Tucson

In Tucson we stayed two nights at the Prince of Tucson RV Park which is in the northern end of the city right beside the freeway, though quiet enough. We have stayed here before and quite like the place, though most of the spaces are very narrow—no room for the awning, barely room for a chair or two. They have a pool and a hot tub which Art took advantage of to soak his aching bones. They cater to long time snowbirds as well as over-nighters such as us and quite a number of permanent residents. They have a large lounge with TV, coffee on every morning, newspapers available, pool table etc. They also have wireless (for a fee—the free wireless seems to be getting rarer and rarer these days)

First item on the day's agenda was the laundry, which we soon got out of the way, then around noon we went out shopping, primarily for a copy of the 4^th edition of Mike and Terri Church's “A Traveler's Guide to Mexican Camping” which was due out in late September. Bookstores in Canada were hoping for an early to mid October delivery, but though we had a request in at Tanners in Sidney, it hadn't arrived by the time we left. We had even driven over from the RV shop that morning to see if perhaps it had come in. We really wanted the latest edition as we knew it would contain a lot of new information and the older ones would no longer be supported on their website update pages.

At Barnes & Noble in Tucson we bought the last copy on the shelf! It retails for $21.95 but I think that by the time we got out of the store we had rung up $100.00 or so between the two of us! We then found a large shady tree to park under so the dogs would keep cool, out of the sun and in the breeze, and went to Appleby's for lunch. Again huge portions, sharing helps though, and we usually end up taking some home for next day's lunch.

That night (Friday) we again went out for dinner, finding a very pleasant Italian restaurant. Art's tummy

was playing up again so didn't feel that he could face another huge American restaurant portion so he settled for an appy of steamed New Zealand green muscles. There must have been two dozen! A chuck of crusty bread to soak up the juice. . . . Yum yum! Gillian can't remember what she had—it was too long ago. We really have to be a little more timely posting these blog entries!

At the next table to us was a man in his thirtys with his daughter who appeared to be about 10 years old or so. When they were almost finished their meals, the little girl went to the bathroom and he dad told her that he would see her back at the car. A few minutes later he asked the waitress for a doggy bag then he too headed for the washrooms—and never returned! We later spoke to the manager about it and he said this was becoming more common. They used to be able to spot potential runners but it is getting more difficult.

Such a terrible example to a child.

What we do remember is driving home afterwords. Art turned right and there followed a discussion about direction. Just as Art was beginning to think Gillian was right (why does he even bother to doubt any more?) flashing red and blue lights appeared behind us. We pulled over and the policeman asked for drivers license and registration which were produced, and he asked if we knew why he had stopped us. We had no idea, we weren't speeding, Art had signaled the turn—it appears that a tail light was out. And, he went on to say, he couldn't read the license plate because of the bike we are carrying! He didn't ask us to do anything about that though! Art said he would go to the auto parts store up the street in the morning and get a new bulb and maybe a spare or two--no point is giving the Mexican Police a valid excuse! The policeman agreed that would be a good idea, called the info in on his radio and soon returned the documents and wished us a good night. Art also told him that we had been having a discussion as to the correct direction. He asked where we were going and when Art said “Prince of Tucson Road, he grinned and said, pointing to Gillian, “she's right”. So Art turned around and we were soon back at the RV Park.

Next morning Art pulled the tail light bulb (the left one wasn't working) and noticed that the filament appeared intact. Knowing that appearances can be deceiving, he pushed it back in the socket – and it worked! Must have been a dirty or loose connection. (Two weeks later it's still working).

Once again appropriate we topped up with water and dumped the gray and black tanks as around noon headed south. We planned a short stop at CampingWorld in South Tucson then to overnight at the Desert Diamond Casino about an hours drive north of the Nogales border crossing.

At CampingWorld Art found a set of safety cables for the tow bar—he had bought new ones at home just before we left but when he put them on he found them not really suitable. They were the coiled kind, designed for a different type of tow bar, and found that they got in the way of the tracker's emergency breakaway “brakes on” cable. If this cable is pulled, the tracker's brakes would lock full on!

We also bought a few other little things and Art put the new Brake-Buddy cables on. Much happier, we set of for Desert Diamond. You can imagine our surprise when we pulled in to find that the parking lot was almost full of RV's. There had to be a hundred! Art said “I hope all these rigs aren't going to the border in the morning! So much for a quick and quiet Sunday morning crossing! A couple from Campbell River soon put our minds at rest—there was a bluegrass festival going on!

If Art had been feeling a bit better he might had been tempted to investigate—we heard no music anywhere, though we didn't go into the casino. However we wanted to be up and rolling early, so we had a bite to eat in the motorhome and were soon in bed.

Tomorrow, we cross into Mexico.