5C's Que Pasa

Work seems to be winning but we do start each day with a beach walk.  Because of the heat we are walking at 7AM.  It is taking longer to acclimatize this season.  However it seems that everyone is having the same issue.  Also we can only work so long before needing to stop and take a break.  Personally I am having an issue keeping the sun off my face.  At 7AM the sun is low on the horizon and it seeps below my wide brim hat.  I find myself having to look down to protect my face.  Once the temperature starts to cool then we can walk a bit later when the sun is higher.  This is difficult for me as I have always been in the sun with no hat.  I will get used to it as I don’t want to have to go through that face treatment again. My skin is close to perfect now.

Carmeh is enjoying every moment of her time here, be it on the beach or just hanging around.

Saturday was a full day with Ishmael helping to put up the dust screen on the fence and also put up the dog fence.  Poor Caeli can no longer escape.  So far she hasn’t found a way out which might be a first.  Yesterday we concentrated on odd jobs like leveling the outside fridges, power washing furniture and unpacking a few bins.  We have had  some visitors over the last few days, some who live on the Isla permanently including the locals, some who flew in before us and are staying in rented accommodations for the season and others who are staying in one of the RV Parks.  Linda & Bob left the other day for even warmer temps in Lo de Marcos.

We have a patio project in mind for this season.

The first step was to push back the pea gravel from the edges.

We took an hour today and went to drop off our laundry ( I no longer have to do my own laundry until the end of April ) and to do a mini shop at the Super Deli.  We also stopped at Miguels place to check out his veggies.  Turns out that he no longer comes to the RV Park nor the many restaurants.  Instead he brings in fresh produce every morning and people come to his place to buy or the restaurants call in their order and it is delivered by ATV.  Quite the business he now has.  Israel still comes by every day but his supplies are more basic.

Next was a good power washing. Now we are waiting for everything to dry thoroughly.  It might be a few days before the next step.

Don & Kathy had a question about our patio awning repair.  First off the tear is at the corner where the fabric joins the cladding.  It is only a 3 to 4 inch tear so stitching should be all we need.  We thought it better to repair it now that wait for it to worsen.  Great to hear from you Jenny and Brad, thanks for the comment.  Sorry we didn’t connect last year, please email me when you plan to visit Mazatlan this winter.  It would be nice to meet for lunch or dinner if not the theater.

Caeli and I waiting for the sunset.

Our palm tree has gown over the summer and is actually giving us some shade.

….not to mention some lovely foreground without even getting out of my chair.

Needless to say that our overnite sleep at the Pemex was not good, what with the semis coming and going, the sounds, the smell of the exhaust and just the heat in general. None of us in the three RV’s slept well except maybe the girls.  We were all glad to get back on the road again.

Carmeh spent the first hour on the road in a very deep slumber.

A typical Culiacan area agricultural image.  The just beginning stages of growth in the foreground, the green fields next and then the white roofs of the greenhouses.  Such a rich area for Sinaloa.

We only drove a total of 194 miles Friday to get to our Isla destination.  The first 1/2 mile from Estrella del Mar to the paved road was pot hole and washboard awful.  Some dispute between the Barron Ejido and Estrella has resulted in a stalemate in paving that 1/2 mile.  I later found out the the road had just been graded the day prior and was in good shape according to those that come before us.  Linda and Bob coming to Stone Island for the first time were shocked.  I reminded them that this was the norm for us over the past many years for every mile we drove.  We arrived at Tres Amigos in record time.

Carmeh and her pink toy reflection were the first to see Tres Amigos RV Park.

However it was hot, very very hot, you might say sweltering.  One of the RVers thanked us for bringing the cooler weather.  So glad that we arrived a bit later this season.  As I write this at 6PM, 2 days later, it is 84.2F with 66% humidity.  We have to have our A/C on to sleep at night which I hate.  I really like to sleep with the windows open which is possible even in freezing temps but not when the temps are off the charts.  From what I have been able to quickly Google ( cuz I am too busy to be online ) is that we are about 8 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.  So glad we aren’t heading further south.

Thank goodness for Eric the Exceptional RV Tech.  You might remember that we had called him while he was still in Manitoba Canada to help us with our RV problems just before we left home.  A few days before arriving here we had some issues with our hydraulic jacks and sent Eric an email with our arrival date and time.  He was waiting for us as we arrived.

Turns out that the hydraulic fluid in the jacks was full, that had been Colin’s guess as to the problem.  So we will just wait for them to stop working before addressing the situation further.  They did work perfectly when we did finally set up Friday.  Eric was also here to remove our patio awning as we have a 3 -4 inch tear on the one end.  So Eric was going to remove the canvas and do the repair while we were comfortably shaded by our palapa which is in perfect shape.  No wind nor storm damage that we could see.  Colin is the guy in the back on the ground helping roll the awning back up without the canvas, not an easy feat as it turned out.

Eric thought it would only take a few minutes but in the end we waited in the hot sun for close to 90 minutes before pulling into our site. I think it was my holding the ladder that made it go well in the end.  It was a tricky awning with lots of steps to get the job done.  So nice of Eric to be here when we arrived so that we did not have to move the RV again until we leave.  Pus Eric helped guide us into our site for which I was so grateful as by then my mind was fried mush.  Not so easy as Colin needs to come within 1/2 inch of the higher palalpa beam but he can’t see what he is doing as the front right mirror is turned so he can inch past the cement posts.

Because of our delay in settling into our site, Colin missed getting to the bodega before the 2PM siesta.  He and Ishmael, our friend and the RV Park main worker made it there for 4PM and brought back two truck loads as well as a full car load.  That was it, no further work.

Instead the girls and Colin and I walked to beach at sunset. Carmeh & Caeli were thrilled to be to be on the Isla and especially the beach.  Carmeh ran like the wind and Caeli did her best to keep up.

A great end to a long day.

We reached our site here on the Isla about noonish today and haven’t stopped.  Some RV tech stuff involved before pulling into our site.  All is well but we are both tired and I am beyond that with exhaustion.

It has been abnormally warm these past weeks and we are told that we brought the cold weather.  So at 8PM it is 84F with 62% humidity. In my mind that means hot 😯

We did get on the beach for about 10 minutes and Carmeh came to life and ran like the wind.

More tomorrow but seriously at 8PM I am off to bed.

Hard to believe that we are almost home.

We said adios to San Carlos at 8:20AM. First we had some discussions with the others and it seems that Linda and Bob have decided to join us on the Isla for a few days before heading to Lo de Marcos for the winter.  After all the road to the Isla is now paved so why not.

The others have decided to follow our route for the day but we are all traveling separately. The message in this photo is that if you don’t have a truck just remove the lid of your trunk and you are good to go.

No more protests at Vicam and also no more bird sellers.  Things are changing.  Overall the roads are great and when they aren’t  they really aren’t so bad.

Ciudad Obregon was the exception.  You do the usual turn to the left but then there is a detour as the regular road is being redone, thank goodness.

It is fairly well signed but best to follow the trucks.  There were a few bad areas specifically the two times we has to cross the railroad tracks.  GO SLOW, very very slow, the motorhome twisted and torqued and it was teeth rattling.  The only catch is the last quick right turn, then a quick left and then another left back onto 15D.  Just watch the trucks.

Always keep watch for slow tractors on the highway.

We pulled into Pemex 3970 @ KM 75 just before Culiacan.  We found this place last year and I like it mostly because it is fairly quiet and had free internet and we are very very close to the Isla. The other two couples were going to stop in Los Mochis for the night but chose to follow us here.  We fueled up @ 14.63 per litre for diesel.

We pulled in about 4:15PM with Pierre and Diane coming up behind us and Linda and Bob less than 15 minutes later.  We ended up parking one behind the other.

Not bad for a Pemex with free WiFi!

Diane graciously invited us in for a happy hour. Folks got to know each other and plans were made for the morning.

We drove 317 miles today, certainly a long day in Mexico but it is downhill from here on.  We will just relax and enjoy the last few hours into Mazatlan.  Hoping for a quiet night in a Pemex.  One never knows how it will go 😯

The sunrise got our day off to a great start.

I know for certain that there are 4 RV’S behind us following in our steps and then I received another email this evening requesting info so please bear with me if I go into too much detail for my armchair readers.

We crossed at Nogales, specifically the Mariposa crossing which is Exit 4 off of I19.  Cars go to the left but RV’s must go thru the truck lane as above.  Do not use the lane to the right with the orange barricades, marked wide load.

Once thru the truck lane you will need to veer to the right to go around the building shown above.  You will soon be on the road into Mexico.  Just keep following the signs for RVs.

Our second international border crossing this trip.

Some Americans bringing things into Mexico for their family and friends.  We always see trucks filled to the brim like this and often they are also pulling a trailer equally loaded.

This old car was being imported. A gift for someone?

Next stop is the first of many toll booths.  Shortly after that first toll you will come to an inspection area.  RV’s are to go the the right which is the 4th lane to the right.  Someone will come to your RV.  Now this year was the strangest experience we have ever had in the many years we have crossed here.  The border agent wanted to see the RV registration.  I assumed she meant our 10 year sticker which expired earlier this year.  I explained that we were getting a new ten year permit at KM 21 ( which by the way is actually KM 257 ).  She then insisted on seeing our VIN number.  In this RV it happens to be in one of the bedroom closets.

Meanwhile she kept asking about what we had to declare, alcohol, tobacco and money over $10,000.00.  I said that we had nothing to declare.  She came in to look at the VIN and to compare it to our BC vehicle registration info.  Her eyes widened at everything we had inside.  Again she asked what we had to declare.  She then spotted my desktop iMac which we keep in it’s original box for travel.  Bingo!!  Okay how much did the computer cost.  I explained it was old, etc.  She wanted to know how much it cost when we purchased it new.  We said we did not know and back and forth.  She also checked the fridge and found 2 wine bottles!  I did not mention the rest of the wine aboard nor the amount of cases.  Finally she left.  Very strange.

Hermosillo was easy to go through but watch out for those nasty rough areas here and there along the roads, almost pot hole like.  Other than that the roads are in great shape.  Looks like a new road is in the works from south of KM 21 to Magdelena, lots of surveying happening and some clearing beginning.  Very interesting to see how the Mexicans construct their highways.

We were surprised to see that we were the only RV at KM 21 at 8 AM.  Even more surprised that we were the only ones at Immigracion, a first ever.  Everything went smoothly and we were done in just under 40 minutes, a new record for us.  The new 10 year permit for the RV cost the same as the 6 month permit for the car, 1213.96 pesos/$60.12 USD, a great deal for the RV.  I think we paid less than half of that 10 years ago when we got our first long term permit.

We were detoured around this semi that had jackknifed across the road. No idea how he managed to do this unless it happened last night while he fell asleep at the wheel.  As we passed they were transferring the contents of his load into another truck.  Two large tow trucks were standing by.

We got to Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos at 4PM. I had never seen it so empty. However 8 other RV’s arrived about 30 minutes after we did. The price has gone up, yet again, to 420 pesos or $24.00USD. We saved close to $6.00CAD by paying in pesos.  The girls were happy to be on a Mexican beach again.

It took us a bit to get settled.  We seem to have an issue with our jacks.  The right side won’t come down and makes a strange noise.  Colin suspects a low hydraulic fluid level.  At this point we aren’t sure how this will affect our set up on the Isla.  We have sent a message to Eric, our Mazatlan RV tech.  There is always something that needs to be repaired or sorted out.

So basically we arrived, parked and took the girls to the beach.  We had been back at the RV for less than five minutes trying to get set up when I heard my name being called.  Turns out it was Diane and Pierre who will be at Tres Amigos this winter for five months.  They dropped by for a short visit last winter and fell in love.

Diane, Pierre, myself and Linda and her husband ? David, I forget his name.  So  we were were talking to Diane and Pierre when Linda and her hubby came over.  They live in our RV park in Kelowna and had left the same day we did the end of October.  All three couples are leaving here in the morning.  Linda is toying with the idea of joining us on the Isla for a few days.

I can’t get over how many people we have run into on this trip.  Rather amazing.  Yesterday in Amado both couples were blog readers as well as RVers.  Today they are newer RVer friends of the last few years, who don’t even know about my blog.  Don’t forget that I met another couple from our Kelowna RV park in Palm Springs.  First time that has ever happened and now two couples from Holiday Park.  Then there was Colin’s business associate in Napa and the two Isla couples we had happy hour with before we left Palm Springs.  Hopefully I didn’t forget anyone.  So much fun to meet people along the way.  I wonder what Mazatlan will bring this winter.

We drive 289 miles today.

It is almost 10:00PM and I am very tired.  Tomorrow will be another long day on the road and our last before we reach Tres Amigos RV Park on Stone Island/ Isla de la Piedra.  Yes, I am counting the hours 😀