A long driving day in Mexico!

If we wanted to cross the border on Monday, then Sunday was going to have to be a long driving day! Still traveling with two other rigs, we were up and on the road at the crack of dawn.

Originally, our destination was the city of Saltillo, and the Imperial Hotel where we had stayed our very first night with the Mexico RV Caravan group. But traffic is busy in the city, and considering we were only staying the night and just needed somewhere to park, we nixed that idea and figured we would wing it.

Fantastic day at a Mexico National Park!

It's Semana Santa (Easter Week) and it's the weekend. A lot of Mexicans head to the beach during Semana Santa, but that doesn't leave the mountain spots untouched, and such is the way it is here at Sierra de Organos National Park.

There aren't a lot of camping spots here, and it's pretty busy. We had music well into the night, but that's the way it is in Mexico so we expected it. But they are friendly people, just having fun with their friends and families and we have no problem with that.

Here's how our day went on Friday...

Three of the group left Isla de la Piedra at 6:00am. A few of us were even up to wave goodbye. They wanted to get an early start and a long days drive in to head towards the Arizona border on Sunday and get back to Canada for various reasons. Next, at 7:00am, seven more rigs pulled out, again heading towards Arizona, but this group won't cross until Monday.

Then at 8:00am, it was our turn. Us, with James and Karen behind us, and Kenny and Gail bringing up the rear. We are down to a three rig caravan!

Just a short note

To let you know we made it to the National Park. No cell signal unless we do a hike to a lookout! That's where we are now. Using my phone to do this blog post. Normal blog post will resume tomorrow!

I've never tried doing a blog post from the phone. Hope this works!

Mazatlan, and saying goodbye

We walked the the ferry dock here at Isla de la Piedra and took the panga boat to Mazatlan. It crosses the shipping port and is about a ten minute journey.

We were meeting up with Steve and Rebecca, a couple who had hosted us at their place in Duluth, Minnesota back in 2013. They've been loyal readers of this blog since 2011!

Mazatlan Countryside Tour

The bus was here to pick us up at 8:30am yesterday morning. First stop was the village of Puerta de Canoas, about 57 kms (35 miles) from where we are camped at Isla de la Piedra.

This is where there is a guy who trains dancing horses. Plus, it's just a nice little typical village. I always find it interesting how you only have to be 16 kms (10 miles) outside the hustle and bustle of the big city of Mazatlan to find yourself out in the country. You'd never know that you're so close to the city.

February Expenses

Better late than never, right?!

If you remember, Sherman broke down on Thursday, March 1st. That week, and the following week were a little hectic for us, and we kind of got out of schedule and the February expenses never got posted. So I'm posting them now.

February was a pretty reasonable month, which is a good thing because March was not! However, we have to keep in mind that February was only 28 days...

Last driving day with the group

We did the short drive from Teacapan to Isla de la Piedra yesterday. We had a 9:00am start because it's only a 131 km (81 mile) drive. A couple of us needed to get fuel, so we left 20 minutes early to stop at the station up on the road, but when we got there they had one pump closed and it was pretty congested. We decided to carry to to El Rosario where there was a bigger station.

And, we took the free road again. It's in pretty good shape, so it's one of those situations where you can't justify spending the money on the toll road.

Planning our exit from Mexico

Six more nights in Mexico. Hard to believe. But, all good things must come to an end, so they say!

We have only one more drive with the whole group, and that is today from Teacapan to Isla de Las Piedra near Mazatlan. Then on Friday, we split ways and most of the group is exiting through Nogales with the leader of the Copper Canyon group, while Ruth and I take two rigs out through Laredo.

The beach goes on for miles...

We went for a walk on the beach yesterday morning. The last time we were here, two years ago, we walked all the way to town which was about 10 kms. We didn't feel quite that ambitious this time around, and so we took off in the opposite direction to see what there was to see.

The beach goes for literally miles!

RV camping on the beach in Mexico

We had to get an early start yesterday morning. Saturday is market day in Lo de Marcos, and it would have been tough (maybe even impossible) to get all the rigs out through the town if we waited until later. So, better to be safe than sorry and we were all out of the park by 6:30am!

Also, better to get an early start to do the twisty windy road up the mountain towards Tepic.

Nothing wrong with a soak in the hot springs!

Just a short update today.

We went with Mike and Linda up to the Aguas Termales De Nuevo Ixtlan. 

What is that, you ask?

Ruth and I have been there before. It's a natural hot springs up in the mountains northwest of Puerto Vallarta.

This is the first time

This is the first time during this three month trip that we have had time to relax. And there's less than two weeks remaining in the trip! Overall, it's been an okay job, but it's a pretty hectic schedule and it's been more work than we thought it would be.

Of course, if we do it again next year it should feel like less work because we will be totally familiar with the route and the schedule.

I think one of those hammocks has my name on it...

Ruth had a couple of haircuts scheduled for yesterday morning, so while she was doing that I went for a walk around the property here to take some photos for you all.

Tlaquepaque is a resort hotel property with bungalows and rooms for rent, as well as 70 RV spaces. In our opinion, it is one of the nicest RV properties in Mexico. And, it's fairly pricey, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

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.