Week one - we're at it again!

Travelling ramblings – 2014/15

Our home for the next 4 months or so - 9 1/2 feet for two people and a dog!  Sometimes less is more!

 

Week one

Well, here we are again – back on a winter trip to points south!  I noticed that last year I barely posted – I promise to be better on this trip.  As you can see, we have downsized our living accommodations.  Seeing as we are outside most of the time anyway, and hope to get off the beaten track a bit – we decided to put the camper on the back of the truck and try it out for this year.  It’s a great camper – and so far (this IS only week one) – so good!  It’s kind of cozy, don’t you think?

Kipper's spot

a place for everything and everything in its place

 

Our trip started on Friday, November 14^th from our driveway by Water Valley.  One left turn, one right turn and straight south til we find the sun and sand.

 

All the essentials - toolbox, camera, golf clubs, satellite dish . . .

 

Kipper's ready to roll

 

and we're off . . .

 

Heading down the road!

It was a frosty day when we left – can’t remember the temperature now, but it just got colder as we headed south on Hwy 2.  Our first stop was Lethbridge where it was -24 degrees Celsius overnight.  Brings a whole new meaning to that word “cozy”!  We have a good furnace tho, and a little electric heater so we were just fine.  Good enough that Bev kicked ass at crib – that title will be determined at the end of the trip.

 

An early start on the 15^th got us in to Pocatello, Idaho for another frigid overnight stop – the temps were about the same – like I said, “cozy”.

I tapped these flip flops together three times and . . . 

nothing happened - still in Pocatello.  I must be doing something wrong!

 

 

  Next stop, St. George, Utah – the land of the red rock and white steeples.  We have just loved stopping here in the past, and it was no different this time around.  We usually stay in a beautiful state park outside of town, but it was extremely windy out there, so we opted for a park in town – nice and convenient for shopping, etc. for two nights.

Then the fun started – travelling through the magnificent Zion national park – just can’t get enough of it!  Please forgive me for posting so many pictures - I can't help myself!

Tunnel in Zion - if you are overheight, you have to book your time to travel through the tunnel.  The rangers will stop traffic coming the other way - you drive right down the center

In we go - sure hope nobody's coming!



Inside the tunnel

That looks like an interesting road for another time!

Lake Powell



From the dam on Lake Powell

 

Because we aren’t pulling the fifth wheel, we took a new route – through Page, Flagstaff, Phoenix and to Casa Grande.  This was a long, full day of travelling – which was topped off by sitting in the rush hour traffic of Phoenix – I swore we would never do that again – but, never say never.  We got into Casa Grande about 7 p.m. – tired, hungry and CRANKY . . . ahh, the fun has just started!  A good night’s sleep at Doug and Linda’s and some of that Arizona sunshine soon fixed that.  Doug and Linda are great hosts and we enjoyed our three days with them.

And that, my friends, brings us to the end of week one!  Highly uneventful – but we like it that way!

Stay tuned – week two coming soon!

Arturo y de Beeb 

The end of a long and winding road . . .

We are here at our final destination - Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico . . . it all feels so familiar.  It took us three days from the USA border to get here - some of it good, some not so good.  Last time we were here we said our 5th wheel was too big and that we would not be bringing it back to Mexico . . . but here we are again!  The worst part, in my humble opinion, is the long and winding hell - I mean hill, from Tepic to Las Varas.  It's about 70 kms I think of narrow, twisting road with little or no shoulders.  And, unknown to us, this was a long weekend in Mexico - so we were travelling against all the traffic returning to Guadalajara from a long weekend at the ocean.  I don't have any pictures of the "hill" - as I was too busy hanging on for dear life to snap a photo.

Beginning the descent out of Tepic

Loaded with sugar cane!
 

When we got to an area where we could stop, we pulled into a roadside restaurant for something to eat and take a little break.  This little spot looked fine - but there was no menu, and the young girl who was waiting tables spoke no English at all.  We thought we were getting something with chicken (chicken tacos perhaps) and knew for sure we had a coke and fresca to drink, but other than that it was anyone's guess.  As it turned out, we each received a bowl of beef soup and a tortilla.

Mystery soup

Wash station outside the bathroom

Free range rooster . . .

 wood fired oven - so they must have been doing some kind of baking here - ?  bread, pizza perhaps?

Add caption

 We asked for "la cuenta, por favor" - it came to $140 pesos!!  That's equivalent to about $12 Cdn Dollars - we have noticed things have gone up in Mexico - but that much????  As we left, we wondered if we had more food coming that we missed out on, or if that's the price when you pull up in a big rig . . . whatever it was, we paid WAY too much for soup and a pop!!  But, again, an experience and the atmosphere was truly Mexican!

Back on the road, and within a couple of hours we were setting up the patio for one of many Happy Hours at Cruz Maria RV Resort.

Tuesday morning at the panaderia!

Getting our days supply of bollos

The zoccola in the plaza is still the same . . .

On Wednesday morning, Arturo went to play baseball, I walked Kipper up the hill to the other beach, and it all was very de ja vu -ish!  Kind of like the movie Ground Hog Day - just the same as many other days down here.  For us it's all good - but I wonder about the local people sometime - it just never changes for them.  Well, almost never - this little palapa and sitting area was built since last time we were here - it's a beautiful spot to watch the birds, turtles and maybe even a crocodile in the swamp.

New palapa on the beach road

The Kokanee Ranger - Mexican style

Looking forward to our first Saturday Taco night tomorrow . . . yum, yum, I have been waiting for months!

Hasta Luego - Arturo y de Beeb

Kipper is a "dalmata"????

 

 

We are in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico . . . where we have been many times before.  It is the perfect spot to get your Mexico legs under you. 

As planned, we left Casa Grande, AZ, at 0530 . . . it was early, but worth it to get to the other side of Tucson early in the day. 



Hooked up and ready to roll . . . still dark out!
 

Rolled through Tucson in "early rush hour" - but no problems - reached the Nogales border crossing about 0830 . . . no problemos  . . . well, except we got into the truck lane (we have a truck after all) . . . but it was the lane for importing goods in big trucks.  Wouldn't you know, that we couldn't just go through, but had to back up the fifth wheel (that's not as easy as it sounds), get a gate unlocked, make a tight turn . . . and get into the proper lane (all with sign language as the attendants after all, we Mexican . . . and didn't speak English) .  You would think that we would know this all by now - but, no, it's always an adventure.  All the documentation for entering Mexico is done 21 kms down the road - and luckily, there was only three or four other vehicles there when we started the import process.  It still took us an hour - but no hassles as we had all the proper documentation to bring the truck, fifth wheel, us and Kipper into Mexico . . . we are good for 180 days!

No surprises along the highway . . .except this . . .

Kind of blurry, but taken through the windshield of the truck
 

WTF - were we seeing things?  The truck traffic northbound is always stopped here for inspection - they are lined up for at least two kms . . . but then we saw this truck ahead of us in the southbound lanes . . . are we seeing things??? . . . we thought it had tried to bypass the line up by crossing into the southbound lanes - but we weren't catching up to it????  WTF???  excuse my language, but really, we were getting concerned!

As it turned out, it was a truck transporting a truck . . . so it really was travelling southbound.

OK, not so exciting, but the most exciting thing that happened to us this day!

Arrived in San Carlos and got set up for the next couple of days.  Last night we enjoyed our first Mexican meal and sunset . . . this is what we are here for!

Kipper got his Mexican haircut from Manuel . . . looking good, Kipper!

And we had a really nice visit with our friends, Dick and Mary.  We met them in Tenacatita 7 years ago - and have kept in touch ever since.  Great friends from Colorado . . . good luck with the Super Bowl tomorrow! 

We'll be in touch on our way back north for sure.

We will be on the road again tomorrow - hopefully through to Mazatlan.  This is a long drive - but we are planning to be up and at 'em by 0600 . . . then one more day to Lo de Marcos . . .

So far . . . so good!