Apr 03, 2016
Hopefully the worst is behind us
[This is being posted on Contessa’s behalf mid-Sunday morning]
It was surprisingly cool at 5:00AM, guess we aren’t usually up at that time of day. We were able to get it together and were driving out the gates of Tres Amigos RV Park at 5:35 AM, a mere 5 minutes late. Had one quick stop for a noise I thought was unusual, Colin got out and checked but all appeared well.
It is not often that we get to enjoy a sunrise.
It was an easy day with stops here and there and a few extra stops as requested by the girls 😉
Such a beautiful drive. This is on the toll road just after Culiacan. We never tire of the drive.
Many crops in Sinaloa, mostly corn and tomatoes as in this shot.
So many who have traveled this route before us this year have complained about the horrific state of the roads. Personally we believe the roads to be the best they have been in many many years. Colin says that out of our entire 12 hour drive today that the roads were 92% great. Yes it was a 12 hour drive today, we drove 512 miles but interestingly we were not exhausted. That is due in part to the great roads. If just under an hour of that twelve hour drive was rough than we call that a great day, especially here in Mexico. The majority of you don’t really care where the bad areas where so if you really want to know send me an email, I did make extensive notes. Overall it was a great drive and I can see that next November is going to be an even better drive south due to the extensive amount of paving being done.
An unscheduled stop as called by the girls. A new Pemex with lots of grass and an easy stop with lots of parking. Some of the staff came to greet the girls which of course interfered with them getting their business done.
Sadly we passed a bad accident just North of Los Mochis. The semi not only flipped and dumped its load but was burned rather thoroughly.
The biggest surprise of the day was that we needed more fuel that we had anticipated and that we ran out of pesos to pay for the diesel. On reflection we realized that we had fueled up about an hour further North that we usually do as we headed to Mazatlan last November. You might recall that we stayed at a new Pemex where we fueled up, that also offered WiFi and it was a much quieter stop that our usual Pemex at the start of the Culiacan/Mazatlan autopista. Then there was that unexpected trip to the first toll both on the Durango Highway during the hurricane last November. That pretty much explains why our tank was empty about three hours early. So we put in 4000 pesos but knew we needed more. There just happened to be an ATM at this particular gas station. Twice my ATM request went through to the final stage and then was cancelled. Most frustrating. A few hours later we did stop at our usual fuel stop ( we only have the one stop as we head North as we have a large tank ) and put in 500 pesos ( I only had 700 total ). That brought the fill line back up to full so we are certain that we will be able to get back into the US with no issues. Last year we only took on 70 gallons once we entered the US and our tank holds 100 gallons so we are no longer worried. I however am concerned that my ATM card was denied when I needed it most.
How would you like to follow this oversize hulk for several miles?
The only other outstanding evet of the day was a first of us. We were stopped by police chasing after us, flashing lites and all. Seems that at the toll booth between Navajoa and C Obregon we were charged and paid a toll of 110 pesos. Turns out that that was the cost of the RV but we were never charged for the car we were towing. Not sure if that set off an alarm or what but not more than 4 minutes later we were pulled over. Seems we short changed that toll booth 65 pesos for the car. Well not our fault, we pay what we are asked. So what to do, they wanted us to take the car back to pay the toll….right 🙄 If you have an RV you know how impossible that is. In the end the two officers just let us move on. Funny thing is that at the very next two toll booths they did the same thing and we had to ask them to charge us more….please! We didn’t have time to keep getting pulled over by the police. It was humorous at the time.
So we arrived at our planned destination 12 hours later as expected, in fact it was within 2 minutes. We were tired but not exhausted. Colin took the girls to the beach while I dusted ( not sure why so very dusty this time ) and returned things to a semblance of order. Chores done by both of us then we had a wonderful dinner. Colin has done the dishes 🙂 while I worked on this post. Showers and bed next.
Sadly it is Saturday night in San Carlos and it is the last weekend of the two week Semena Santa holiday. The room rentals here at Totonaka RV Park are full of Mexicans heading back North. Two ATV’s are racing each other up and down the RV rows. Very loud banda music is coming from one of the overnite rooms. Some RVers are having quite the happy hour and the disco is just tuning up……..hopefully we will sleep well. Hmm there also seems to just be a lot of noise…..you know, young folks drinking just a tad…well maybe a lot….could it still be spring break 😯
Thanks for checking in, have a great Sunday.
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Unhook the car and bring it back to the toll both. Yeaaaaah.
Based on what you describe, your card was likely declined because you asked for an amount the ATM was not able to give you. For example, with Scotiabank, you can only take out even thousands of pesos, so $2,000, $4,000, and $6,000 and they won’t let you take out more than $6,000 in one transaction. Or the ATM was out of money. I wouldn’t be concerned, just annoyed.R
The report on Totonaka put the nail in the coffin of any lingering hope they have of seeing me again.
Hope your border crossing goes well today.
Having the road from the Isla paved along with the bypass around Mazatlan has made it possible for you to make such a long day of travel in Mexico and towing, too. Opps, I just assumed you used the bypass around Mazatlan – great time saver for those traveling North that Winter further South in Mexico. Continued travel mercies for the trip home.
Looks like did well, but a very long travel day, hope the rest of your journey goes well.
Glad you guys are moving along without any problems other than being chased by the cops. 🙂
Listening to that loud banda music might require more than a couple glasses of wine for me. 😉
So glad 1st day went well!!!