Best thing we ever did

Someone asked a question on a facebook forum as to what was the best RV modification/upgrade that you have done. Well, the best thing we ever did was to add solar panels to the roof and a decent battery system to the motorhome. Given the cost of a new RV, I can't figure why they don't come with solar panels and a decent battery system right from the factory. But, of course everybody has their own idea of how much electricity they need, so I guess it's better kept as an aftermarket installed option.

We love being self sufficient for electricity! That's what allows us to sit in one spot like we are now without having to listen to the daily drone of a generator.

We were right...

This is a very quiet peaceful spot to hang out for a few days. That could change today and tomorrow as they fill the big hot springs pool, but even if it does get a little busy, it won't bother us. We enjoy seeing people out having fun.

It turns out that this place is very busy during busy season. I was talking to our host yesterday and he said that when Semana Santa (Easter holy week) begins, the place gets as many as 800 visitors a day.

Back to the countryside!

We walked to the market one last time before leaving Dolores Hidalgo yesterday morning. Picked up a kilo of fresh tortillas for 12 pesos ($0.96 CAD), and a kilo of lean ground beef for 140 pesos ($11.20 CAD).

We hadn't asked for the price ahead of time, since ground beef has never been that expensive. But 140 pesos per kilo for ground beef is getting up there. Had we asked in advance, we probably would have shopped around a bit.

Lunch at the local market

We went for a walk around town. Dolores Hidalgo (pop 55,000) is not a huge place and we really didn't have a plan on where we were going, we just simply walked the streets until we got hungry enough to stop for lunch.

And what a great lunch we had!

We should be safe here!

We're normally up between 6:30am and 7:00am. So yesterday was the one day that we tried to get up a bit earlier than normal, and it was 7:20am by the time we looked at the clock. So much for early.

Not that it really mattered. We try to get an early start on travel days, but we were only planning on going 35 kms (22 miles) or so. And we had Trish and John coming over at 10:00am to take advantage of a ride in Sherman up to the small city of Dolores Hidalgo (pop 55,000).

Anyhow, everything worked out without being rushed.

Time for a change of scenery

We've been here four nights, so it's time to move on. Trish and John are coming over this morning and we're all taking a drive up to the small city of Dolores Hidalgo (pop 55,000). It's only located about 35 kms (22 miles) north of where we currently are, so it won't be a long drive. Just enough for a change of scenery!

And we heard from our friend Chris over at Living and Boondocking in Mexico who said that you can stay overnight in the parking lot of the municipal auditorium there, so we're going to check that out since it's located very close to downtown.

Everybody needs a day off

And yesterday was ours.

We simply hung around the RV park here. I puttered about the motorhome and cleaned the windows. Ruth did some hand laundry and went for a little walk around the park. We played some yahtzee and backgammon and just relaxed.

We even had an afternoon nap!

A little tour of where we're staying. And a dinner invite!

The first time we arrived in San Miguel with the motorhome, there was a hotel and RV park right on the outskirts of town. A year later, that property had been sold and shut down with big plans for development, but it now sits as just an empty lot. There is also a trailer park right in town at the tennis courts, but it's for rigs under 26 ft and even then it's fairly crowded.

The only other trailer park option is the San Ramon Hotel and RV park about 5 kms (3 miles) outside of the town, and that's where we are now.

A fun day with new and old friends. And a puppy!

Peter and Shelagh came up to our spot outside the El Charco de Ignacio Botanical Gardens at about 10:00am yesterday morning, and we locked up Sherman and walked across the road to the entrance.

They've done quite a lot of work here since the last time we visited in December of 2012. And the price hasn't changed...still 40 pesos ($3.30 CAD).

Nice town, except for the gringos...

Two weeks from today we meet up with the Mexico RV Caravan that we will be leading for a month from Guanajuato to Melaque on the Pacific coast. We're excited about this new opportunity and looking forward to sharing our knowledge of RVing in Mexico with a group of new people.

Right now, we are staying on the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende in the state of Guanajuato. This is our third time visiting this area. It's a nice little city (pop 140,000) with a beautiful central plaza and one of the most photographed churches in all of Mexico.

The only problem we have with the city is the number of expats.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous. Twice.

We knew that we could park overnight at the Botanical Garden near San Miguel de Allende, so that's the direction that we were headed. But instead of taking the busy highway between Queretaro and San Miguel, we decided to take the back roads and perhaps we would come across another overnight spot along the way.

I checked out the road on Google Streetview, and the paved section looked quite nice...but there was a 7 km (4 mile) stretch of unpaved road. That particular section doesn't even show up in our Guia Roji Mexico Map Book, but it is there on Google maps.

So, how bad could it be, right?

You win some, you lose some...

We're pretty good at finding decent (and sometimes great!) overnight spots when we're traveling in the motorhome. But ocassionally things just don't work out. Of course when we end up in a spot that's less than stellar, it's always only for one night.

We like to check out different possibilities though, and we had read about a hotel north of Queretaro that had an RV parking area. In fact, at one time, the Juriquilla Inn had space and hookups available for up to 70 RVs!

Only one problem...

Only 7 kms (4 miles) away from the historical central area of the city of Queretaro is a 2,000 year old pyramid. With the remains of a 140 year old house sitting on top of it!

We figured out which local bus would drop us off nearby, and paid the 8 pesos (65 cents CAD) each for the bus fare. We got off, still on the main road, and walked the rest of the way.

Considering this pyramid is not very well known, it's a fairly impressive sight!

First impressions

We've been in Queretaro for over a week now, and it seems first impressions rang true again. We seem to be able to get a feel for a city on the very first day. Here it is a week later, and we still think that Queretaro is a nice city.

And it helps with beautiful sunny days. We decided to go for a walk yesterday morning, and we first headed down to the big Almeda Hidalgo park which had been closed when we tried to go there the other day.

What can you buy for one peso?

First of all, we were originally planning to stay here in Queretaro for one week. That week would have been up this morning. But we're not quite feeling ready to leave yet! And it's still almost three weeks before we have to be in Guanajuato which is not that far away.

So we've decided to hang out here for another couple of days or so. The only drawback is that it's cutting into our overnight budget. At 250 pesos ($20.75 CAD) per night, we won't be here that much longer!

We were scheduled to pick up our new curtains yesterday at 1:00pm, so we couldn't stray too far.