But, in all of our Mexico travels we had never done the route between Mazatlan and Hermosillo. And we'll probably never do it again.
We left Alamos at 8:00am sharp.
Grand entrance to town. Or exit, in our case.
The road between Alamos and Navojoa is in decent shape. Better enjoy it because it won't last!
A little traffic through Navojoa.
Huge statue.
I hope this is a month's worth of dust and not a day's!
Yikes. This guy went for a wild ride!
And then we saw the sign. Yes, the sign that says "we are rebuilding 239 kms of roadway" or something like that.
And it's true. The construction went for miles and miles. In some sections, they already have one side of the highway finished so we actually got to drive on a decent surface, but had to share it with oncoming traffic.
But in other sections, we had to share the extremely poor road surface on the other side with oncoming traffic. For miles and miles.
Nice new concrete road.
Now that's a road building machine!
Lots of truck traffic, and not much in the way of scenery.
Ha. A spider? Or a bug?
Random photo coming into Hermosillo.
It was around 1:40pm when we entered Hermosillo, and close to 2:00pm when we pulled into the big Soriana grocery store shopping center. We've got some pesos left over in cash so we figured we may as well spend them on stocking up a few items that are cheaper in Mexico.
Wandering through the booze aisle, I noticed a sign that said "wide selection of wines and liquors on special. Buy one, get the second one half price. Now there's a deal!
Especially when my favorite scotch was only 99 pesos. Buying two, meant that it was only 72 pesos.
That's $5.60 CAD per bottle. It makes me laugh! That same bottle would be $35 in Canada. Too funny.
By the time we finished up there, it was after 3:00pm. Now, we had some choices.
I knew there is a "campground" in Hermosillo, but I use the term loosely. It's the parking lot of a construction company where the guy has put in some RV hookups. We stayed there in January of 2014, and we swore never again. The guy charged $20 USD (340 pesos), which is a total ripoff.
So I had looked up a balneario (swimming resort) that was along our route and I was going to ask there. But it was 5 kms further up the road. And if they said no, our only other option might be a Pemex gas station or something, and although free, they are not the best option.
Or, we could stay right there at the Soriana. I went and asked a security guard if we could park overnight in their lot, and in typical Mexican fashion he said "of course" in a way that was like "why are you even asking?"
He said the lot was patrolled by security 24 hours.
Okay.
Not the best view from our overnight spot!
But the cars all left, and we actually had a good night's sleep all by ourselves, despite the constant truck traffic on the nearby road.
Taken this morning, at 6:30am. Sherman, all by himself.
So today, it is with mixed emotions that we cross the border back in to the United States. We love Mexico, and we won't likely be back for almost two years. But, we are also looking forward to five more weeks of adventure as we spend two weeks with Ruth's cousin Helen and her husband Tony, exploring southern California, and then make our way back to Canada.
Yesterday's drive, 371 kms (230 miles).
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A great deal on a fashionable men's canvas travel bag...
Not often that there is a "great" deal of the day at Amazon.ca in Canada, but this comes pretty close...
Two years? Guess I must have missed something. No big deal. I'm sure you'll have a fine time with the relatives in California. Should be fun.
ReplyDeleteNext winter we plan on Spain, France, Morocco, and Algeria!
DeleteWill you have Sherman shipped across the ocean? Or will you purchase an RV for your time in Europe and Africa?
DeleteNo Rita, Sherman will not be shipped across the ocean. We are doing a motorhome swap with a couple who have a motorhome in Spain. They will use Sherman this summer in Canada for 2 months and we will use their unit in Spain and France for two months next January and then we are hoping to backpack in Morocco and Algeria after that.
DeleteKevin and Ruth, will you RV next winter in Soain etc?
ReplyDeleteYes, we will for both Spain and possibly France and then backpack in Morocco and Algeria after that.
DeleteYou still have woolworths, completely closed here in the uk and very much missed.
ReplyDeleteWe will try to cheer you up, less than a week to go.
Apparently there are still three countries that have some left, Mexico is one and the other two are Austria and Germany, according to Wikipedia.
DeleteNot long now, looking forward to seeing you! :-)
I read the earlier comments indicating your travels next year - excited!! We leave on Friday for Spain and I can't wait. We can only spend 10 nights unlike you guys :)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing your reports, we are exited for you as well as for ourselves! Hope you have good weather there.
DeleteHope you have better roads today but didn't someone say California roads aren't much better?
ReplyDeleteThe road in general was better on yesterday's drive but there were still some sections that were rough. We will see what the roads in California will be like once we get there, plus we don't intend on drive Sherman much once we are there, more of the driving will be in the rental car so rough road won't seem quite as bad.
DeleteThere are woolworths in Austria Germany and Mexico. Used to be in the UK but no more
ReplyDeleteI can remember when They where a five and dime Store
Way long before Walmart
Yep, that is what I have read as well! I remember there being one in the little town where I lived and it was always the best place to get our school supplies when I was little.
DeleteEnjoy you next 2 years gotta do it while you can.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry George we will have no problem enjoying our adventures ahead! :-)
DeleteHow much booze can you legally bring back into the US?
ReplyDeleteFrom everything I have read it looks like you are allowed only a 1 litre bottle of alcohol per person as long as you are over 21 years of age. Anything over that you will have to pay duty which apparently isn't very much, about $1.50 per bottle, if they decide to send you in to do that. We were over our limit and we were prepared to pay but they didn't ask us about alcohol so we didn't offer the info. He only asked us about food and that was after going through some kind of scanner/x-ray machine and then he sent us on our way.
Delete