With 323 kms (200 miles) ahead of us we were on the road by 8:30am in keeping with our goal of arriving at our destination before 2:00pm. Again, for this journey up the west coast we're staying off the toll roads unless it makes sense to do otherwise. The tolls are quite expensive for Sherman!
Lots of agriculture in the coastal area south of Mazatlan...
Fields of peppers.
And tomatoes.
Peppers drying.
One of the shallow salt water lakes near the coast.
A little congested getting through the town of Escuinapa...but no problem.
From Escuinapa, you have the choice of getting on the toll road, or the free road. We had done the free road in December of 2014, so we knew that it's in decent shape.
Oranges anyone?
The free road heading north towards Mazatlan.
However, the free road also goes pretty much right through the city of Mazatlan. We have no ambition to go anywhere near Mazatlan, and I think it was a couple of years ago they opened a brand new toll highway that bypasses Mazatlan. This is one of those instances where it makes sense for Sherman to take the toll road!
The entrance to the toll highway heading north from the free road is actually near the town of Villa Union. But it's not marked. You have to take the road that says "Durango Cuota", go over the Mazatlan cuota, and then double back to the northbound entrance.
Cost was 67 pesos ($5.25 CAD) for Sherman to do the 24 km section.
Nice new toll highway bypassing Mazatlan.
And then we got back on the free road heading north towards Culiacan. This is all new for us because we've never driven the west coast north of Mazatlan to Hermosillo.
Once again,it was in pretty good shape. Only the occasional bumpy section.
We managed to keep pretty steady at 80 to 90 km/h (50 to 55 mph) and Sherman even had his cruise control on a couple of time.
Hey, apparently we're not the only explorers. This RV had Texas plates.
We had stopped for a morning break at the Mazatlan toll plaza, and then for a lunch stop later on as well. We pulled off the free road just before Culiacan and into the Jardin La Rinconada park at around 1:50pm. Great timing!
They don't really have an RV park here. It's a kind of a resort, with rental cabins, a swimming pool, an event center. But, they allow RV parking. They wanted 300 pesos ($23.40 CAD) per night, but I explained that we didn't need electricity, just an overnight spot in their parking lot...and we agreed on 200 pesos ($15.60 CAD) for the night.
Sherman, parked up for the night at GPS 24.59805, -107.29946
On a lake with some nice walking paths. And a bit of a sketchy bridge.
Ruth, carefully going across!
The lake is shallow, but popular with fisherman.
Nice swimming pool and shade palapas.
Lots of bird life around as well. If youre a birder, you would probably like it here.
Ruth took a couple of photos of this osprey.
What big yellow eyes you have!
Another long driving day today as our goal is to get to the town of Alamos. It's over 400 kms, so our longest day yet. But, part of it will be done on the toll road so that we don't have to go through the busy city of Culiacan. Still, it's going to be a bit of a long day. But then tomorrow is a scheduled day of rest!
Yesterday's drive, 323 kms (200 miles).
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Always fun to have a remote control toy around. Today only, they are up to 40% off!
And in Canada, a great one day deal on a colour laser printer...
The toll road around Mazatlan was no open when we were there, would have been nice. We will do a couple long travel days then stop for a few, nice way to travel.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to have it open now and being able to avoid all the Mazatlan traffic.
DeleteLooks like we have a nice spot here in Alamos to have a good day's rest from driving.
If you are in the RV park don't plug in which you usually don't anyway. Electric is running high and dangerous.
DeleteElectric is fine where we are Contessa.
DeleteLast week folks from here had to run an a heater outside so they could use the electricity.
DeleteContessa we're not sure quite what you mean by these people having to run a heater outside in order to get electricity? There were four other units here and none of them had a problem and Kevin had checked the level and it had read 128 volts.
Delete15 - 20 cm. of snow expected in Ottawa on Thursday!!!
ReplyDeleteHopefully you won't get as much as they forecast and that it will be the last one for the season!
DeleteLooks like it is going to be a good season for the crops:)
ReplyDeleteThe crops a doing really well here it seems.
DeleteWould be interested in more information of the place you stayed in. Address, city/ village, etc. Wondering if it might be a possibility for us during the guitar festival. Depends on how far it is from Culiacan centro. Also I would wonder what you would think about the leaving the dogs there alone inside the RV for 6 - 8hours in the evening.
ReplyDeleteIt is outside of Culiacan on the road for Costa Rica which is south of the city at Km 6, their phone number is (667)727-1547 or (667)717-2659. It is in the Churches Camping book on page 134. It says it is suitable for rigs about 30' but there are a few spots that could take a rig up to 35'. We didn't want any services so we just parked in the parking area by the river. It is about 30km from el centro. I am sure you can have dogs but it would be up to you on leaving them alone for 6 to 8 hours, it was quite warm when we were there and they only have 15-amp service.
DeleteThanks for the info. From your photos it looked like it could take us but we are 40' plus the car which we would disconnect. Guess it won't work, at least not until we downsize someday.
DeleteLove the daily updates! It's like being on vacation with you ❤️🇲🇽❤️
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you are enjoying our adventures and travel and we are so happy to bring you along on a virtual trip with us. :-)
DeleteBeautiful photos of the Osprey!
ReplyDeleteThank you Emily!
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