The best boondocking spot in the world?

On Friday, the sun came out and along with it some strong winds. But that was okay because we wanted things to dry up from that big rainstorm that went through on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ruth planned a morning hike with whoever wanted to go at 9:30am. I was busy catching up on some computer work when Aron came over to say that there had been some kind of power surge overnight and his refrigerator wasn't working.

Thanksgiving in Mexico

Weather was a bit better yesterday, but it still showered on and off occasionally. Our original plan was to head down to Divisadero for a couple of nights, but because of the rain storm that went through on Wednesday we decided to stay put and let things dry out a bit.

Also, this way we could have our Thanksgiving potluck feast with the group indoors using the conference room here at the lodge.

Never say never!

We had a rain day yesterday. A huge storm front went through much of northwestern Mexico yesterday. We woke up to a heavy steady rainfall on Wednesday morning and it continued all day and into the evening. No idea when it stopped but we woke up at about 4:00am and noticed that it was windy, but no more rain.

It had been forecast though, so we knew it was coming. We've adjusted our schedule accordingly.

Copper Canyon Train - day 2

We were all up early because our ride to the train station in El Fuerte was picking us up at 7:30am so we would be there for the 8:15am departure for the return trip to Creel.

It had rained a fair bit overnight, and it was still spitting on and off. Not the best weather for a scenic train ride, but it turned out that the pictures were a little bit dramatic with the clouds as our altitude rose.

Copper Canyon Train... day 1

The Copper Canyon railway line is one of the world's most spectacular train rides. Ruth and I did it back in January of 2015 and so we knew that it was worth showing off to the group.

The train was scheduled to depart Creel Monday at 11:47am and so the group began walking over to the station at about 10:30am to give us lots of time. Better to be early than late!

Exploring Creel

A bunch of us set off around 10:00am for a hike in the hills that overlook Creel. Roger and Larry decided they wanted to go for a bike ride instead, and Sue, Roy and Garth stayed behind to watch the motorhomes.

Temperature was about 16C (61F) but it still gets a little chilly overnight down to about 2C (36F). We have 30 amp electric here though, so it's nice to be able to use our little electric heater through the night.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Basaseachi to Creel

We planned for a 7:00am start on Saturday. We don't always start that early, but in this case the road leading out to the highway is narrow, and we figured if we left early there would be no oncoming traffic. Also, we wanted to get to Creel at a decent hour to enjoy the day.

The temperature had gone well below freezing overnight Friday night, and Sherman's front windshield was covered in frost... both inside and out!

Another great day of fresh air and exercise

We woke up Friday morning to clear blue sky, and the sun made it's way over the mountain by 7:15am or so. The forecast was for a beautiful day with a high of about 15C (60F) and that's exactly what happened. We took advantage of it by heading off to do a hike at 9:00am.

The main building here at Rancho San Lorenzo was built to be part of a movie set. Not sure what year, but Fernando told us it was a French Western called Blueberry. Fernando said that it was built in three months, mostly by two guys!

To the bottom of the falls... and then to the top!

Larry installed one of his new batteries first thing this morning just to test the system. Everything seems to be working fine, but of course we don't have a spare charge controller for his solar panel so we have a separate battery charger being run off the inverter of another rig. He's got the basics working again so they have power for the fridge and some lights in the evening.

The entire group set off from the ranch at around 9:00am to do a hike. Ten of us who were most ambitious would go right to the bottom of the falls, and then cut across on the way back up to the top of the falls, while the other four would attempt the more direct route to the top of the falls.

First view of Basaseachi Falls.... and battery problems!

The heavy overnight rain eventually tapered off and the sun peeked through at times on Wednesday. When 10:00am rolled around, it was a looking good enough to do the walk up to the viewing area of the falls and the surrounding canyon. It's only about a 1 km (0.6 miles) walk uphill to the parking area, then there are trails leading to three different viewing platforms.

We are in a beautiful remote mountainous area and our internet has varied from poor to non existant. So I won't be able to add photos to this blog post until we move to Creel, probably on Saturday.

Long drive to Rancho San Lorenzo

(Photos have now been added to this post.)

We planned for a 9:00am start on Tuesday to wait for the traffic to die down a bit, but the security guard came over to say that if we wanted to stay until 9:00am we would need permission from the office. And the office didn't open until 9:00am. He said he would prefer if we left at 8:30am. Strange, but we didn't argue with him and it was fine with everyone to leave at 8:30am.

And it turned out that traffic wasn't too bad. Still, it's difficult getting 8 rigs through a city without getting separated by traffic lights. A bit of excitement as one rig made a wrong turn, but they were only on their own for a couple of kilometers and quickly got back in place with the rest of us.

We are okay

We are in a beautiful mountainous area, but no cell signal good enough to do a blog post. You  may not hear from us again until Saturday!

Welcome to Chihuahua!

Just couldn't sleep in yesterday morning and we were up before the sun. That's okay though... it gave us more time to enjoy another beautiful day!

We made plans to leave here with the group at 10:00am and walk the 3 kms (1.8 miles) to the historic central area. We wanted to go to the big Telcel customer service center... but we weren't sure that it would be open. Turns out that it was a statutory holiday here in Mexico and a lot of things were closed.

Fantastic first day in Mexico

We were on the road at 7:00am just as the sun was coming up. We won't always start that early on driving days, but we always plan to be at our destination by 2:00pm at the latest. That gives us lots of daylight hours to fix any problems that might arise along the way.

And, we did have a bit of a long drive ahead of us, as well as crossing the border. And you never know how long it will take to cross a border. Yesterday's border crossing turned out to be very interesting!

Meet this year's Mexico RV Caravan group!

Woke up this morning to a spectacular sunrise. I went out to take a couple of photos, but they really don't do it justice.

We had some hot drinks and breakfast, but it wasn't long before we had to get to work. I replaced one of the roof air vent covers, and then there was a steady list of things I had to get done.

The gang is all here!

Woke up to blue sky and sunshine yesterday and that's the way it was all day long. Definitely our best day for weather since we arrived here in Texas.

It was going to be a busy day. Ruth and I both had a lot to do getting Sherman ready for his big adventure. But, you can't let a beautiful day like that go to waste, so the first thing we did was to set off on a hike!

Sherman is raring to go now!

One of the reasons we arrived in Alpine, Texas a little ahead of schedule was to try to get some minor maintenance done on Sherman. We had a bit of a tough time finding someone willing to do the work. They were all either too busy or they couldn't fit Sherman inside their shop.

On Wednesday, I rode my bike over to BAM Complete Auto Care. I explained to the guy what I needed done, and he said "if you show up at 8:15am and can leave it with me, I will get it all done that day".

What did it cost for our last minute 20 day trip to Peru?

Note, the following prices are in Canadian dollars...

Flight tickets on Air Canada Rouge were $659 return per person. Not a screaming deal, but not bad either considering it was from Ottawa. So we spent $1,318 on airfare.

We flew into Lima and stayed there a couple of days before taking the first class bus to Huaraz. The return trip cost $90 per person, so we spent $180 on transportation in Peru.

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Wandering around Alpine, Texas.

The Lost Alaskan RV Park is located 1.5 miles (2.4 kms) north of the center of town. The temperature was still below freezing when we set out on a walk to see some of the town.

We were also still looking for a mechanic to do some minor work to Sherman, but we were not having any luck. I had made some phone calls, and so had Garth because he was looking to have some work done as well on his rig.

We just made it in time!

The weather forecast said that the front was to move in around noon yesterday, bringing high winds and a chilling drop in temperature to southern Texas.

So we got on the road at 7:45am trying to beat the storm to our destination in Alpine, TX.

We are moving along quickly

For several reasons.

We need to be at Alpine, TX to meet up with this year's Mexico RV Caravan group by Friday after lunch. That is actually the latest possible that we would need to be there. We actually had visions of showing up there on Wednesday just to give ourselves some relax time.

But, Sherman needs to get a couple of minor maintenance issues looked after.

A perfect day in Texas

Well, my comment the other day about not having any luck with Texas weather sure didn't apply yesterday!

We woke up to blue sky and sunshine and it continued that way the whole day. With a high of about 66F (19C) and no wind, it was a perfect day for a hike!

First day back on the road in Sherman!

Friday started off as overcast, rainy, and breezy. The rain was supposed to stop by 10:30am though so we hung out at Tom's parent's place until around that time. Thanks to Tom, Emily, and family for looking after us so well!

Not the best driving weather, however the wind wasn't bad enough to affect us. Plus, they are calling for a really nice Saturday and Sunday so we didn't want to waste the weekend driving.

We hit the road, headed for Garner State Park.

We don't seem to have much luck with Texas weather

We knew there was rain in the forecast, but it had said "occasional showers throughout the day". So we weren't in a big rush to leave Tom and Emily's property out in the country where Sherman has been stored since April.

But, we were definitely keeping in mind that when it gets really wet here, the entrance road turns to thick, goopy, mud! That's what happened when we arrived here.

Back in the motorhome, and that's enough flying for this year!

It might be a couple of days before we get back into our regular routine here, so just bear with us regarding the oddly timed blog posts please.

On Tuesday, we made our way from Ottawa, Ontario to Austin, Texas. There are no direct flights that do that route, so we first had to fly from Ottawa to Philadelphia. We have never been to Philadelphia airport before (and in fact, we have never been to the city itself) so it was a new experience.

Just a quick note

We made it to Austin, Texas and stayed at friends Tom and Emily's place last night. They let us use their car this morning and we went and did a big grocery shop to stock Sherman's empty fridge and shelves.

Gotta go... they're driving us over to meet Sherman now.

Temperature here 74F (23C), but they say there is a cold front coming in towards the weekend.

More later!

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On our way to our motorhome!

We are here at Ottawa International Airport waiting for our flight to Philadelphia.

Our flight is at 6:00am and they tell you to be here three hours before an international flight. And we got here at just after 3:00am. There was nobody at the American Airlines check-in counter, but that's fine... we used the self serve terminal.

They have "pre-clearance" at this airport. So when you have a flight direct to the United States, you actually go through customs and immigration at this airport prior to boarding your plane. So when we arrive in Philadelphia, we don't have to go through it there.

We arrived back in Canada... earlier than expected!

Our flight from Lima to Toronto went fine.

But if you're going to spend eight hours on an airplane, flying with Air Canada Rouge is not the best option if you have long legs like I do. Yes, we always weigh the cost factor, but it really wasn't a very comfortable eight hours for me with my knees jammed into the seat in front of me.

We arrived in Toronto a couple of minutes early at 10:50am. There was no line up at customs and immigration and we were quickly welcomed back to Canada.

On our way back to Canada

Writing this at Lima airport (Peru), waiting for our flight to Toronto that departs at 3:00am Sunday morning! We are scheduled to arrive Toronto around 11:00am, and then we have a short wait there before heading to... Quebec City! Yes, we often have these convoluted routes because they are cheaper. As we say... we have lots of time, but not lots of money! If it were the other way around, we would take the more expensive direct flights when possible.

Anyhow, then another connection in Quebec City that takes us into Ottawa around 7:00pm.

October Expenses

October was a bit of an expensive month for us. We bought new hiking boots, we had some car rental expenses, and of course a trip to Peru! I'll do a separate post later that details the total cost of the Peru trip by itself.

We spent a total of $3,306 CAD ($2,520 USD) for the month. Here's how it all broke down...

Day trip to Carhuaz for ice cream!

We had been told about a town around 30 kms (18 miles) north of here that is well known for its ice cream. Also, the town of Carhuaz was supposed to have a nice central plaza and we were looking for a kind of a casual day.

So we hopped on a collectivo and paid the 4 soles ($1.60 CAD, $1.20 USD) each for the 45 minute or so ride.