17 March
A long day ahead today, roughly 12
hours including breaks.
We left San Fernando RV Park at 6:55
A.M. with not so much as a cup of coffee to get us going. A few
kilometers later we paused for a few minutes to connect the Jeep, it
being easier to do here than in the park which has a very tight
entrance/exit. More by fluke than intention we stopped directly
opposite the condo rented by our friends Jacqui and Derek who
surprised us with an early morning farewell visit!
We were soon on our way again, back
onto the cuota and arrived at the first of many toll booths at 7:40.
We stopped here for breakfast both for us and the dogs and also gave
them a bit of a stretch and were northbound again at 8:30.
The terrain along most of this trip is flat farm land, most of which seem to be owned by the huge farming companies such as Monsanto. At least we made good time without burning more than average fuel!
The terrain along most of this trip is flat farm land, most of which seem to be owned by the huge farming companies such as Monsanto. At least we made good time without burning more than average fuel!
We arrived at La Pilarica (the fuel
stop) at 1:00 PM, just over 400 kilometers from the park in Mazatlan,
after 5 more stops: One agricultural inspection and four more toll
booths. The tolls for this portion of the trip totals 972 pesos,
roughly $80.00.
Los Mochis is about half way along
towards San Carlos. The options for an overnight stay between
Mazatlan and San Carlos aren't too numerous or appealing. There are a
couple of campgrounds, one in Los Mochis, but we have never heard
anything good about it. There are a few more along the way but they
are well off the highway, more than an hour each way. We have done
that before but usually don't feel that it is worth the the extra few
hours driving. La Pilarica, a large fuel/truck stop at Los Mochis,
has overnight parking which we have used a couple of times but over
all we would rather press on.
We spent an hour here for fuel, lunch
and dog walking. While fueling up Art noticed the state of the tires
on a semi trailer fueling beside us and manged a surreptitious
photo. Hope he was going the other way!
The last half of the day was much the
same; 382 kilometers, 5 tolls totaling 688 pesos ($60.00 or so) and
lots more flat country. There was also quite a lot of road
construction, and not before time. Not just new asphalt, looked a
complete rebuild.
We arrived at Totonaka RV Park in San
Carlos at 7:15 P.M. and checked in for two nights. A chance to get on
the internet and also hopefully to catch our friends Joe and
Christine. Yet another couple we met some years ago in Zihuatanejo
and have continued a friendship.
Next day they showed up at the rig. We
had a quick visit and were invited to there home that evening for
drinks and dinner. We had hoped for another early start come
morning. One thing is for sure, it wouldn't happen before 7:00 AM as
they are great company and we always have a wonderful time discussing
the world's problems and other fun stuff.
19 March San Carlos to Ajo, Arizona
Somehow we were up and running at 8:30.
This wouldn't be quite as long a day but we did have paper work to
deal with at the border such as turn in our tourist cards (like
Visas) and cancel the car permit so we would be able to get our
deposit back—and most importantly, be able to bring it in again!
At Hermosillo, the first major city, we
were surprised to see a new sign directing all heavy traffic to the
right onto what appeared to be a new bypass route. It was some 30
kilometers long, some new construction but a lot of older roads.
Think it will be a good thing when it is completed.
After Hermosillo we turned left onto
highway 2 at Santa Ana towards our preferred crossing. At this point
we were only a little over 100 kilometers from Nogales but that is
not a crossing we like. It also brings us into the heave freeway
traffic sooner than we would prefer.
Somewhere around here at 12:30 we found a place to pull off for a quick lunch and were back on the road at 1:05.
Highway 2 runs east-west across
northern Mexico, our crossing is at the Mexican town of Sonoyta. On
the US side the place is called Lukeville but there is almost nothing
there. The road is again for the most part straight and flat across
the Sonora Desert.
Having fuelled in Los Mochis we felt confident that Sonoyta would be the best place to get fuel as we would then cross into the USA with some 340 litres (90 US gallons) of Mexican 80 cent/litre diesel. Then the fuel light came on. However we managed to make the Pemex and topped up. It only took 268 litres. It had taken 250 in Los Mochis. Do the math if you wish: 948 kilometers, 268 litres. OK OK, I'll do it: ROUGHLY 8.4 miles per US gallon.
The US Border was just a few kilometers away and as usual, the crossing here was uneventful. It took all of 10 minutes and we were in the USA, 50 minutes away from Ajo Height RV Park, our home for the night.
No delays along the way, we were waved right through a couple of Border Patrol Check Points.
We were still in the Sonora Desert, but now more into Cactus country.
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