You win some, you lose some...

We're pretty good at finding decent (and sometimes great!) overnight spots when we're traveling in the motorhome. But ocassionally things just don't work out. Of course when we end up in a spot that's less than stellar, it's always only for one night.

We like to check out different possibilities though, and we had read about a hotel north of Queretaro that had an RV parking area. In fact, at one time, the Juriquilla Inn had space and hookups available for up to 70 RVs!

So yesterday morning, we finished up 9 nights parking at the Flamingo Hotel in Queretaro. Management has told us that they will no longer be accepting RV's there as of January 31, so that option has disappeared. We had a good stay though, and enjoyed the city of Queretaro.

But, time to move on!

We emptied the holding tanks and filled the fresh water tank and hit the road just after 10:30am. A bit of a late start, but we were right downtown and wanted to let the morning traffic die off a bit. Plus, we weren't planning on going very far! The Juriquilla Inn is only about 15 kms (9 miles) north of the city.

But it's such a built up area now. 10 lanes of traffic heading north out of the city, which becomes 8 lanes by the time it reaches Juriquilla.

Traffic heading north out of Queretaro.

Pulled in to the Juriquilla Inn and I went into the reception. The guy there spoke really quickly in Spanish and I missed half of what he said, but he led me out to an area where you could see that they used to have a lot of parking spots with RV hookups, but none of the hookups were functional. I had explained that we didn't need any hookups...just somewhere to park.

It was a terrible looking section, right close to the highway and it looked like a construction zone dump site. Terrible. I wouldn't have parked there for free. 

Their website had said that RV parking was 180 pesos ($15 CAD) with full hookups. This guy wanted 200 pesos ($16.60 CAD) just to park. Nope. I told him it was too much. They had another RV section towards the back, and on grass but he said that area had been leased to a construction company and there was no longer any access to it.

We were about to drive away, when he came and knocked on the door. He showed me another possibility beside one of the hotel units. It was a lot quieter there, and I offered him 150 pesos ($12.45 CAD) and he accepted.

But it's not ideal, and we don't recommend going here. I honestly think they're trying to get out of the RV park business, and even the hotel itself has seen better days. Juriquilla is a growing area, and it's probably one of those situations where the property had become worth more than the business itself.

Sherman, parked up at the Juriquilla Inn.

Okay, for one night.

But the view from our side window overlooks another construction zone, and the main highway. Terrible. You win some, you lose some!

On the other side of the highway is the modern upscale planned community of Juriquilla. It's based around a small lake formed by a dam. The dam has been there for many years, but I'd say it's only within the last 10 years or so that the property around it has been developed. Now, there''s a golf course and many middle to upper class condos, apartments, and homes being built.

So we went for a walk on the other side of the highway.

Golf course beside the lake.

Many expensive homes.

Two brand new high rise apartment buildings.

I looked up some prices and even the smaller row type homes start at about 2 million pesos ($160,000 CAD). Definitely a mid to upscale neighborhood.

Ruth, with a chili fruit cup.

We bought a fruit cup from a guy with a stand at the side of the road. Watermelon, pineapple, and honeydew melon, with hot chili sauce! They put chili on everything here, and it was delicious! 15 pesos ($1.25 CAD).

We did about 8 kms (5 miles) just exploring the neighborhood, then walked back across the highway.

We used a temporary scaffolding walkway to get across the highway.

Yikes. It didn't seem very stable, but it did the job!

Played a bunch of backgammon and cribbage for the rest of the afternoon.

Slept okay, despite the highway noise. But still, one night is enough here, especially since we paid. We could have parked on the street in one of the residential areas for free and it would have been nicer.

So we're headed towards the Botanical Gardens at San Miguel de Allende, which is not very far away, but we're going to take the back roads to get there. Or at least we're going to ty to. There is one section that looks to be about 7 kms (4 miles) of dirt road, so hopefully it's going to be okay. Sherman says he's ready for some adventure!

So if we find somewhere to overnight along the way, there likely won't be internet available. And if it's nice, we might stay for more than one night. So if you don't hear from us for a day or two, then that's what happened.

Oh, and congratulations go to Vicki Gateley of Estell Springs, Tennesee...the lucky winner of our contest to win a Go-Pro camera! Thanks to Motorcyclehouse.com for sponsoring the contest!

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