There is Lots to Do but No Rush

WHERE ARE WE? La Penita, Nayarit, Mexico

Loved having my first coffee on the beach of this season.  It is so nice to just sit and listen to the waves and watch the fishing boats out in the bay.  

Jeff and Fany dropped by and they were going to go to their house and wanted to know if I wanted to come along.  Sure I would but I'm sure I won't be much help. They have done a lot of renovations since last winter and they include a spiral stairway and a new pool.  Wow it looks good.

They have lots to do today so I went home and they moved a few loads of stuff from their trailer to their house.  I spent a bit of time putting reflective sheets on our back window.  We get lots of morning sun on the back and insulating it makes a big difference.

They all came back to our park mid afternoon to hang out with us.  Kenia and Abuela Tina along with her aunt and boyfriends mom came over for a while as well.   

Kenia had to take the girls home so they left and we hit the swimming pool.  It is about the only way to be able to stay cool on these hot days.

Max and I found this great big beetle wandering in the sand.  I don't think it is a cockroach, but rather just a beetle from the palm trees.

     

And a little later we spotted a beautiful green iguana behind a tree.  He didn't stay for any longer than he had to before scurrying off into the neighbours yard.  

Both Sue and I were feeling a little off tonight so we just hung around home and watched TV.  I did manage to catch the sun on its way down.  Good Nite!!!

We Made it to La Penita

WHERE ARE WE? Numero Uno, La Penita, Mexico

We were up and on the road by 8 am this morning.  We had a nice relaxing coffee with everyone before pulling out.  We have 450 kms to go today.  The roads have been good the whole trip but we did encounter some construction today.

The farmers around here are having rotating protests on the Federal Highways right now seeking better prices for their corn.  There was a protest reported on the microlibre that bypasses Guadalajara to the south so today we are going to bypass the city on the north side using the perifico that goes by the airport.  So FANY said let me navigate us around the protest, and she did.  However she navigated us right downtown in a large town with narrow narrow streets with cars parked on both sides and we only had about 20 blocks of this before she managed to break us out of this mess and back on to the highway.  We always love these little adventures especially is no one gets hurt.  Would I do it again? No but I will always smile when I think of it in the future.  

this was actually a wider street.  Much narrower ahead.

Anyway we escaped unscathed and kept going.  Len was having more issues today than yesterday so once again Jeff and Bob headed on down the road so there was just Len and I travelling together.  This makes it much easier to find pull off spots when he needs to reset the computer.  We actually made pretty good time even with the slow climbs up some of the hills.

We arrived in La Penita about 4 pm and Len headed to the big park and we headed to Numero Uno.  It was nice to have arrived in our winter home.  The owners, Ed and Jen will not be here until December so we will get everything set up for their arrival.  They have been so good to us, letting us come early and in return we will help them as other guests arrive as well.  The grass is always so nice and green when we arrive just after the rainy season, but we will probably not see any rain for the entire winter and the grass quickly turns brown again.

After getting set up I went for a dip in the pool to cool off.  Nope!! Not cool at all, as the temperature showed 90F in there but it did lower my temperature a little bit.

After the swim, I headed downtown to visit with Kenia at her cafecito.  On the way I went down the dark back alley I usually walk down and was keeping my eyes open for our favourite dog Bruno.  Bruno is a big black German Shepard.  He was not well last year and I was wondering if he would still be around.  Well as I rounded the corner from the back alley, I felt a bump on my bum and looked around and there he was.  He gave me a great big nuzzle and I gave him some treats.  He was super friendly, like he had missed me.  He is not photogenic but you can still see his shiny black coat.  I am so happy he is still here to greet me on my way downtown. 

On my way to Kenia's, I stopped at Hindi y Jamies to visit with Jeff, Fany, Max, Bob and Cindy and recap our trip.  While we were there, friends Steve and Anna showed up, so we had some fish taco's and watched the Blue Jays win game 5 of the World Series against the Dodgers. It was nice to see Steve and Anna again and we hope to get together some times this winter.  

Kenia was happy to know that we were here safe and she looks forward to spending some time with us this winter.  She was sitting around when I got there with her family and a friend.

Suzanna, Karen, and her boyfriends mom, and Kenia holding Diago who is Suzannes son.

Well we are finally to our winter home and we look forward to having a lot of fun with friends and family.  The weather is hot and humid right now but will change in a couple weeks hopefully.  The sun went down behind some clouds tonight at about 5:30.  It makes for long evening with it setting that early.  I just go to bed earlier to compensate.  Good Nite!!!

Day 2 in Mexico

WHERE ARE WE? Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco

The mechanic from last night finally showed up about 8 am and changed another filter on Lens truck, and then used his code reader to reset the engine code.  He then offered to follow us about 20 miles down the road to make sure it was running fine and it was.  

We arrived at the spot where the other 3 rigs has spent last night about and hour later and stopped to take on some fuel.  The other 3 are about and hour ahead of us.  

We continued on for another hour or so and then I looked in the mirror and the National Guard were pulling me over.  What the heck?   So I grabbed our TIP papers and went out to meet them.  A couple of nice cops met me and we had a nice conversation for a while.  They never told me why they pulled me over but after a bit they started telling me that it is illegal to tow a vehicle behind a motorhome.  They did show me a line on the TIP that read like we were not to tow anything.  I found out later that what the line means is that each vehicle must have its own TIP rather than not having one on the TOAD.  Anyway they kept telling me about it being illegal.  No sign of a ticket book or any request for a bribe, just stalling.  So I feigned being thirsty and went inside and brought out 3 cokes. 1 for each of them which they accepted reluctantly.  I offered to unhook the Jeep and get Sue to drive it and they said no, but that it was illegal to tow it.  About then, Sue arrived with a bag of Cheetos.  Now you can't get Cheetos in Mexico but they all know they are yummy so they accepted them with a smile.  I once again offered to unhook and drive the Jeep and they said no that's fine and shook my hand and headed back to their car and we were off.  I still do not know why they stopped me in the first place but oh well, we were back on the road.  Of course no pictures were taken as it was a civil stop.

Archie did his job today looking for cows and he did find a few accidents involving semi's.  We saw 5 different accidents today with big trucks that had happened last night, an most looked quite fatal.

We arrived at the campground in Lagos de Moreno about 2 hours after the other 3 and settled in for the night.  By the way, Lens truck acted up a couple times again today, but now he knows he just has to reset the computer and it is good for about 100 kms again.  He will ride it out to La Penita cause we only have 400 kms to go. 

This was our route today.

They had a pool there so Fany and Max and I went for a wee dip before bed.  We have one more day to go.  Good Nite!!!

Day 1 in Mexico

WHERE ARE WE? La Roja Oxxo, Saltillo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

We were up and on the road by 7:30 am.  We had to drive 50 kms to Puente Internacional Solidaridad-Colombia Bridge to cross into Mexico and get our FMM and TIPs.  The Aduana opens at 8 am so we wanted to be there around that time.  The traffic was quite busy at that time of day so we were a little late actually.

We got to the border an all parked up in a big parking lot.  Normally someone comes out to inspect the trailers and trucks but not today.  No one seemed interested in us at all.

We did pretty good getting all our stuff.  Len and Judith had a couple glitches while us and Jeff and Fany breezed right through.  Bob and Cindy ran into a bit of a glitch and we figure they were just the brunt of a "I want to make you wait" agent.  And wait we did.  It was 11:30 before they finally stamped everything and sent us on our way.  That is just how Mexico is!!!  Nobody is in a rush.  

We met a lovely lady named Tracey and her dog Doyle and another friend at the border and they asked if they could tag along for a couple days.  Of course they can and we found them to be quite nice.  We always like when people tag along with us.  That's how we make new friends.  Only picture was of Doyle.

We had a fairly long day planned today and with the delay we were pushing it to get to our destination of Matehuala by dark.  This was our route today to the Oxxo.

We had good roads all day with a little bit of fog in the morning.

And somewhere along the way Fany spotted a Mickey Mouse cactus!!!

It is always nice to get a glimpse of the mountains.  Although a lot of trip is on flat land, we can always see mountains on both sides of us along the way.

There are always interesting things along the way in Mexico.  

Not everyone was interested lol

load security

random feet

We did have a couple alternate stopping spots for tonight, which we actually utilized.   We got down the road about three hours when there was a call on the radio that Lens diesel truck had gone into limp mode.  He had had this happen before and because of that carries spare fuel filters.  

Off with the old filter

Len has done this filter change before

He changed them out and we got going again.  We were going around Monterrey by now and it went in limp mode again.  Same process and got going again.  This time didn't go very far and it did it again.  Len was getting frustrated and we all agreed that it was a problem that needed someone to look at it.  That is when we made the decision for 3 of the convoy to go on ahead to the alternate stop and I would stay with Len in an attempt to get it fixed.  So we limped down the road a few miles and pulled in to an Oxxo.  Lo and behold there was a Mechanico in a little shack and he said, Sure I will fix it.  So he pulled Len into a tight little ally way and took the filter off and grabbed the spare and Len's wrench and took off to look for parts.  

That was the last we saw of him and the other guy in the shop said he probably wouldn't be back till morning.  Well that settled that, we were spending the night.  We got all set up in a corner of the parking lot near where Len was and made ready to spend the night on the side of the road somewhere near Saltillo.  To be honest, I never felt at all unsafe.  There were lots of trucks around but that made for a noisy night with backup beeps and dogs barking.

We got some pictures from the other 3 rigs and they are all safe and sound at the Parador Turistico San Pedro.   It is a big parking lot behind a service station and hotel.  Sleep well!!  Good Nite!!