Arrived at Lo de Marcos

Managed to get 16 rigs out of the Laguna del Tule Trailer park in Melaque. We decided to group up at a nearby gas station, that way everybody could get out of the park at their own pace before our 8am scheduled departure. It all went pretty smoothly and thankfully there isn't a lot of traffic at that end of the town.

We had some leftover members of the Copper Canyon caravan with us for this drive, so we split into two groups of eight, and the second group departed 15 minutes after the first group.

We really noticed a difference traveling with eight rigs instead of our normal twelve. Much easier, and of course we knew it would be. Just getting into gas stations and making rest stops goes so much smoother.

Exiting Melaque.

Mex 200 is the highway that follows Mexico's pacific coast. For the most part it's a simple two lane road with no shoulder, however parts of it have been expanded over the last couple of years. However, coming into Puerto Vallarta from the south, it still enters at a congested area near the center of the city. There is no other route. 

We've traveled the 200 several times over the years and each time there have been sections that have new pavement, and sections that need to have new pavement. No different yesterday.

Watch for animals crossing.

Scenery along the way.

The sign says "no hunting", with a picture of a jaguar.

Road construction.

Scenery along the way.

More road construction.

In the big city of Puerto Vallarta.

There's a cruise ship in port.

Entering the state of Nayarit.

We pulled into the big MEGA grocery store in Bucerias. The parking lot was busier than we've seen it before, and it was actually a bit tough getting sixteen rigs parked up in there. But, we got it done. We took an hour to do some stocking up, and then headed another 45 minutes north to Lo de Marcos.

Lots of stuff being sold at the side of the road. 

Didn't see lots of buyers.

Copper pots.

Yesterday's drive, 280 kms (174 miles).

Pulled into Lo de Marcos. 

Now, this is a fairly small beach town that has not yet gone the way of nearby touristy Sayulita. Although, there are probably six or seven RV Parks in town. So, there are quite a few gringos around at this time of year, but the town maintains it's Mexican qualities.

We are staying at Tlaquepaque Bungalows and RV Park. It's a big lush property that's well maintained with lots of greenery and flowers. In our opinion, far better than some of the dusty parking lot style options you can find in Mexico. In fact, there's no comparison. We'll show you some pictures of the place in tomorrow's blog post.

We had a bit of a tough time with everybody clogging up the road out front. Nothing we could do about it, so everybody just had to sit tight while I got the gate open. There was a pickup truck on the narrow road out front and we had to get that moved in order for some of the bigger rigs to make the turn. Just another day RV'ing in Mexico. It takes a lot more patience than doing the same thing in the U.S. or Canada.

There are 70 RV sites, and with our group of sixteen showing up, there are probably only six or seven empty sites left. It's actually busier than I thought it would be, although we've already heard that some of the winter people are packing up their RVs and heading north soon.

We had to get some of them to move pickup trucks and golf carts they had parked in the empty sites. But, everybody was friendly and we eventually got everybody parked up.

Today is a day off. We're totally okay with that. We will go out for a bike ride and see who is at some of the other parks in the area. And then maybe a walk on the beach.

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