Farewell to Mexico

This is it, we head out today for the border, boy I sure hope things go smoothly. We have listed everything that we have in our freezer and everything we have purchased. If we are lucky we will get right thru but we have heard stories where you can be held there for hours. We are hoping that if we all show up at the same time they will not want to mess with all of us, will have our fingers crossed.
We really did have a fun group of people, except, one couple but luckily they left us a couple weeks ago. It did go by pretty fast, I can't say we would do this again, it was some hard roads and dirty campsites but at least we can say we've been there and done that.
We have made some great friends on this trip and plan to get together again. There are about 5 of us that will be going to the balloon festival next October so that should be fun.

RV and Car are Clean Again in San Carlos

Monday morning I cleaned this RV for 4 ½ hours, I can’t believe all the dirt and sand that was all over. By 12:30 I had had enough, while I was cleaning Dave was washing Valley, visiting with people then decided to shave Valley. What a mess Valley turned into, she had high patches, bald patches, she looked like she was dying a slow death, and she looked like some of the Mexican dogs we had seen that needed to be put out of their misery. The only difference was Valley has meat on her bones, lots of meat compared to them, anyway, next thing I know Dave takes off in the car to look for a groomer to try and fix Valley’s strange shave. He didn’t find one so we hid Valley inside the RV so no one could see her plus so she wouldn’t get sunburned on the bald spots. When the rest of our group showed up from Alamos Dave went over and asked Dan and Nancy, who use to own a dog grooming business, if they could possibly try and fix Valley up so she at least looked a little presentable. They did their best, they would have kept going but after 1 ½ hours I said that was enough, they were killing their backs and knees, but we sure to appreciate what they did for us.
Dave had washed the car with the power washer when we first got here, but then had the guys in the park wash the motor home again. They did a great job, it almost looks like they waxed it again, but since we had it waxed in Guadalajara, it didn’t need to be done again. They only charged a $1.00 a foot, not a bad deal.
Yesterday morning we went on a nature boat tour for a couple hours, we saw lots of birds, sea lions and dolphins. We drove around town with Jackie and Bob and went condo hunting, such a deal a new 2 bedroom condo, that will be finished next year right on the water, for only $407,000.00, they even supply a rental company that will rent it for you the months that you aren’t there, amazing. It is beautiful here so we are thinking about coming back after the balloon festival in New Mexico next October but the RV Park is about our limit on what we can afford around here.
Oh, Dave never went diving, but today he is off playing golf with Lee, Larry, and Bob so the girls are going to have a play day, we leave at 10. Will write more later.

Fixed the Power We Stay

Well I played with the surge protector and convinced it that 133 volts was 130 volts so it would let us connect to the shore power...and it worked....we have shore power. So I guess we will stay till Feb 29. The view out the window is great lots of boats and then the Sea of Cortez. As Jeri said the weather is fine about 80 degrees and a nice brezze. We are getting everything clean there must be dirt everywhere. Now back to Jeri and her funny stories.

San Carlos

We made it safely to San Carlos, we only hit one low hanging tree branch right before we got to the RV Park. Nice looking park, paved roads, patio outside the rig door then rocks. It also has a pool and a restaurant and great views but still couldn't get TV or electric. There is electric but it puts out too high of voltage, over 130, so we are hoping that once everyone gets here today and they hook up that will be enough to make the voltage even out, if not Dave said we are out of here. He doesn't want to be here running the generator the whole time for AC and power, will see. Today its cleaning day, try and get all the dirt out of the inside of the rig, hopefully get Valley washed, just generally clean everything and everybody.
Temps here in the 80's and we were able to get 3 channels on cable and the weather in the states sounds terrible, we better enjoy this while we can.

Leaving Alamos and headed to San Carlos

The walking tour yesterday was another bust. The guide told us a lot of history about Alamos, which was interesting, then we car pooled to a Casa that was for sale, so I think on the side he is a real estate agent. The house was nice reduced from 410,000 to 340,000 5 bedrooms, 5 baths, 2 outside BBQ areas, it was nice but you would have to stick another 200K to bring it up to our standards. It would make a hell of a Bed and Breakfast, great viewing area, and you could get a maid/cook for about 3K a year. After that we drove into town and we walked around looking at the outsides of mansions. These mansions take up just about a whole city block, outsides only we saw, then to the church. Thank goodness it only lasted 2 hours. We then went back to camp and relaxed and read, later on Dave and I walked back into town and walked around then stopped and had lunch.
We had another dinner last night with the group at Casa La Aduana, very nice place and my dinner was great, Dave's was just OK.
That's it for now, we are leaving the group and going ahead to San Carlos where they will all meet up with us tomorrow afternoon.
Wish us luck on getting out of this small campsite, will let you know once we get to San Carlos how many more dents we get.

Alamos - 7 Days Left

There are things I forget to mention when I get behind in writing, so here are a few.

I did mention that Dave hit the tree trunk when he was pulling out in Mazatlan. I don’t believe I mentioned, and I’m not going back to look, but George and Patricia had hit a retaining wall when we left Guadalajara. Then once we got to Guasave, Roger, our new acting Wagon Master, was helping Carl back up his Motor Home and Carl back right into another Motor Home. They took out the front mirror and windshield. The motor home they hit was another Adventure Caravaner, not in our group, but was leaving the next day to Mazatlan. That group was doing the same tour we were doing only they left from Nogales instead of Presidio, and ours ends in Nogales. George got his 5th wheel fixed in Mazatlan so I’m sure that other caravan guy will be able to get his fixed there too. I have no idea if we will or Carl will be able to get our rigs fixed before we leave this country.
We are in Alamos now, a very small RV Park, more dirt and trees that Dave had to cut the limbs so we could even open our slides. Charlie and Gayle went ahead to San Carlos, they were smart, Charlie had said he was tired of all these small camp sites, and we know that San Carlos is paved and large; we might leave Sunday instead of waiting until Monday. That’s if we can get out of the site we are in, it took forever to even get into the spot, thank goodness Lee was here to help Dave, Roger too but we don’t trust his parking ability, especially after Carl’s incident. (Just kidding, shit happens)

At 4:30 we had a little gathering with snacks then the street vendors showed up, selling belts, dresses, shirts, purses ect. At around 8pm a group of us drove into town with the Wagon Master and his wife to check out the town, we drove around a little then parked and went into a bar and listened to 3 guys on their guitars, an almost Mariachi Band, got back about 10pm.
Today it’s a walking tour of Alamos then tonight dinner. You know when we leave this place I sure won't miss these damn lose roosters and chickens not to mention all the lose dogs around here making noises starting at 4:30 in the morning.

Mazatlan-San Blas and all caught up

While in Mazatlan Dave and I went into town to buy new front tires for our car. Dave had noticed that our front bumper was kind of hanging off so when he went to put it back on he noticed the front inside of the tires were bald. We went to Wal-Mart, they sold tires but they didn’t mount them, we went to Sam’s Club, they didn’t have our size tires. We went to a tire store and they were going to have to order them and that would take 2 days, but they said if we wanted a little bit smaller tire we could be out in a ½ hour, and pay 560. Dave said we would keep looking and right down the street was another tire place that had the right size delivered to them while we waited and it only cost us 350.00, good thing we kept looking.
The next day we drove into town, found a parking place then grabbed a taxi to take us to the seafood market place, then on to the market place. No parking around there that’s why you take a taxi all around, we loaded up on shrimp and scallops then in the market place we got Danny’s family soccer shirts, which they had asked for and Kim a handmade Mexican dress.
The rest of the tours we had in Mazatlan were OK, should have stayed home and laid out but we didn’t we hung with the group.
In San Blas, I didn’t really mention that place but when we arrived, because of all the tough Topas our front grill was hanging off. It seems the screws came out of the right hand side, so I got pictures of all the guys working on our coach. When we were getting ready to leave the place to head out for Mazatlan, the Wagon Master could get one of his jacks up, Lee’s electrical wasn’t working and John’s trailer hitch was almost off, so that was a very tough road.
While leaving Mazatlan, Dave tried to go around a tree stump, and the stump won, oh well, another new dent in the RV. As long as no one looks at the right side of the rig we will be OK. We have now been in Guasave for 3 days and we leave this morning for Alamos. We have been parked on the beach these 3 days and the rigs are all full of sand and dirt. Not even going to bother cleaning it until we get on solid ground again. We will be in Alamos for 3 nights then onto San Carlos where we will finally be parked on solid ground. This adventure ends in 8 more days, but we have signed up for 2 more adventures, next October back to Albuquerque for the Balloon Festival, then next May we are doing a 43 day Lewis & Clark Trail adventure.
One more thing, our Wagon Master didn't make it to Guasave, with us, he has been so sick that his wife took him right back into the states to get him to a hospital. We also left Art and Mary behind, because Mary ended up so sick that she was admitted into the hospital in Mazatlan. There have been so many people sick and it wasn't from the water either.

Very Sad Day

Let me start out with it is a very sad day, my oldest brother, Vance, passed away yesterday of a massive stroke. He was 4 months shy of his 61st birthday, way too young, I am so sorry for my niece, Caryn, and her family and my nephew, Jimmy, to lose both parents at such a young age. It really doesn’t matter at any age; it is always hard to lose anybody. We are still here in Mexico so I can’t be with the rest of the family, but everyone is in my thoughts. I had a good long cry on the beach the other day and now I know he is not suffering anymore and he will be with Jan, our parents and other family members.

Mazatlan Now- Natives are getting restless

I am so far behind in writing that it's not even funny. We have been staying pretty busy and when we get back I don't feel like writing.
I do have to tell one story though. We have one couple in our group that really rubs the rest of the group the wrong way, even the staff have had problems with them. They are the 1st ones at every meal, every potluck we have they go up and get thirds, fourths and sometimes even 5ths even before everyone has eaten. They won't stick with a pod, they try and beat everyone else to the campsites ect. ect. Well, the last night before we left San Blas the staff cooked us all dinner and of course you knew who was 1st in line, when it was desert time they were frying up sopas, fried dough with either chocolate sauce, powder sugar or what else they had out. This couple got there desert then the man went back again, the staff told him he would have to wait until everyone had gotten desert and he bitched that he had paid his money and he could eat as much as he wanted. They made him wait and everyone else watched this and those that didn’t hear him say that, passed it around to the rest of the group very fast. The next morning we were to leave at 9am at 7:30am this couple was gone, people were getting madder and madder, but they had at least told the Staff that they were going on their own. Our drive down in our pod was bitching about this couple and that everyone had had enough of them. We get to Mazatlan and all sitting around for happy hour when it was brought up that 3 couples were staying behind when we leave here because they are going on with another caravan, we all said we thought 4 couples were leaving and he said no this couple, that no one can stand, stay with us 3 more days then they take off. One guy said “oh, shit” then the fight began, names were being said, there was threats of taking it out back and fighting it out, it just started getting nasty. You see the natives are getting restless because we haven’t had TV since January 23rd and I believe everyone is feeling it.
Anyway, wanted to get that out before or if I ever get the rest of the blog caught up. The next day we all got on the bus for a city tour, which turned out to be a bust again, but at least there was no fighting going on.

San Blas

We have arrived at San Blas Mexico and parked with the ocean right in front of our rig, what a beautiful site. We have chairs out and enjoying the sites, Dave even went swimming in the ocean, the temp is 74 degrees.
I have catching up to do on Feb. 9th thru the 11th, plus today, will probably have to do it once we get to Mazatlan because we can't get internet service here with our dish so we are using Bob's service right now. There happens to be a big tree right in front of us and that's where the dish needs to point at. We are all packed in here pretty tight so we don't dare ask to be moved, we can manage for 2 days.

Guadalajara Touring and Catch Up on Blog

Sorry got behind again.
The last I wrote we had a free day and we did have our rig washed but Dave got the price down to $60.00, and they got a lot of the scratches off. The guy that came in and did Charlie's rig did an excellent job; he even matched the paint to a “T”. As a matter of fact, other people in our group that have any kind of damaged spots on their rigs are having him fix them up too. We walked to Wal-Mart with Glenn and Helena spent way too much money and just kind of kicked around all day.
On Thursday, we had our Guadalajara City Tour which turned out to be another bust. Jessie never found us a guide, as we were driving into town he tried to answer the questions we had but he wasn’t a tour guide. Hell we could have taken a regular bus into town instead of the company paying for a tour bus that didn’t tour us. We told Jessie to just drop us off and we would go to the Mercado (shopping) by ourselves. When we were close to town the streets were blocked off and there were police everywhere, the bus dropped us off and we watched the demonstration that was going on. The school age students were protesting because of the school conditions, overcrowded rooms, not enough school supplies, and the teacher’s low pay. The police had their armor out, as if the students were going to start shooting, very interesting to see. We walked over and viewed another Cathedral then Jessie arranged for us to see the Government Building, it was closed because of the protest. The Government Building was a bust; they wanted money to have a tour so we all said forget it we are going to the Mercado. We walked 5 blocks to the Mercado and then some of us stopped and had lunch, others started shopping. At 3pm the bus would pick us up and take us back to the RV Park. Dave and I got a leather jacket for me; we got a Mexican Blanket, really nice, for the baby’s room to hang on the wall and also a sombrero to hang on the wall with the blanket.
Friday, was the Tequila Factory Tour, yea, it wasn’t a bust. At first we thought it might be but in the end it turned out really good. We were suppose to have a tour of a tequila ranch, but all we saw was a video, no tour or tour guide to help us. The tour bus then took us to the Tequila Factory, which there was a guide there, Luis, who was very informative. Just around the plant, which by the way is in the town of Tequila, there are over 40 million agave plants, plus the agave is everywhere growing, pretty neat to see. Luis told us the process of making the tequila, there is 2 kinds, 100% agave tequila and then there is just tequila, which is 51% agave and 49% corn alcohol, then of course there is the ageing of it. In the Sauza Tequila Factory alone they make 90 thousand bottles an hour, 30% stays in Mexico, 40% is shipped to the United States and the other 30% is exported. Forgot to mention the Sauza Tequila Factory is now owned by the Jim Beam Corporation. The only tequila that is still family owned is Jose Cuervo . During the tour they had 3 bottles out that you could smell and taste, so the group was passing around these bottles taking sips from them, I didn’t get to taste them but Barbara took a big gulp and her eyes started watering. On another part of the tour, Luis took us to where the barrels were of the ageing tequilas and he passed around a sample of it, that one I got to taste, and it was pretty good. After the tour we walked thru their garden area and went to the bar and had a free sample with lime juice, then of course went to the store they had there to purchase any tequila if you wanted any. We purchased one of the 100% Agave one’s and stashed it under our bed to bring back for trying later.

We made it to Guadalajara by the skins of our teeth

The drive from Zacatecas to just before we came into Guadalajara was just beautiful. It was a lot of hills, ups and downs, lots of curves, cute and clean little towns we drove thru, we even saw a beautiful water fall. Then we drove into Guadalajara, graffiti, trashy, dirty, that’s what you get when you come to a big city. On the drive here we were in a new pod and Dave and I were the leaders, it was because of the parking situation when we had to leave the tight quarters of Zacatecas. We could have stopped 72 miles up the road and reassembled but most people just decided to stick with what we left with. It was a good thing too because if Lee and Vicki would have been in our pod, Vicki would have gone crazy with all the talking going on. All our driving days the guys like to talk back and forth about different things and she said the guys are worst then the girls with all of their chattering. The pod we were just in yesterday it was none stop talking, we have Art and Mary and they are volunteer Archeological diggers, so they were very knowledgeable about all the mountains and rock formations, so we were getting lessons on the drive, it was very nice. Back to Guadalajara, we made it to the Pemex 8 miles from camp to stop for gas and when we left the directions were not making any sense, but somehow we made it here. We had left at 8:30am and arrived at 4 pm. This RV park is about a mile in and on cobble roads with the biggest damn holes , at one point we thought we were going to tip over the hole was so deep. There were tree branches sticking out and they got the whole side of our coach, the turn was so bad Dave just couldn’t miss it. The next group showed up at 5 and some of them were missing out of their pod because they took wrong turns. When Charlie went around the corner, that Dave hit the tree branches; he hit the light post and damaged the side of his rig. Needless to say all but one of the caravaners made it by 6pm, and they were all pissed off about the directions or damage to the rigs. The Tail Gunner had to unhitch his car and go out looking for our one missing 5th wheel. He found them about 7pm; we all sat outside and had appetizers, drank, and bitched our heads off.
Today is suppose to be in the 80’s and it’s a really pretty campsite it’s just the roads suck. The work crew, Wagon Master and Tail Gunners, made pancakes and sausages for everyone this morning. Jessie our guide while we are here has arranged for guys to come in and wash/wax our rigs, it we want them done $70.00 bucks, American money, can’t beat that, so our rig is getting done 1st, and they are going to try and buff out the tree limb scratches. The RV Park has agreed to split the cost of the repair on Charlie’s rig, they are bringing someone in today I think. Jessie is bringing in fruits, vegetables, people to cut our hair, and people to do manicures and pedicures if anyone is interested. He is also, if you need it, will go and get the peso you need exchanged, amazing guy. He has been contracted with Adventure Caravans for over 10 years now, so I think he is pretty safe. This afternoon a big group of us are going to walk to Wal-Mart, you know by now we are having withdrawals after all it has been way before even getting to Presidio since any of us has seen a Wal-Mart. Anyway, we are walking to Wal-Mart, about a mile away, and if we buy too much we will take taxis back. Sounds like a very exciting free day in Guadalajara.

2 things I forgot to mention

Forgot to mention that we have been having some problems opening the door on our rig. When we got here to Zacatecas, and watching everyone trying to squeeze into their parking places, we went back to our rig and the door wouldn't open. A few guys helped with it and we finally got it open. Dave and Bob ended up taking off one panel of the door and worked on the latch for a couple hours, and they finally got it fixed. They had at one point talked about cutting the whole panel off, because they had dropped a piece down it, but they managed to fish it out.

Larry, who had his airbags deflate and shocks mess up, ended up at a freightliner shop, they let them spend the night there and then worked on his coach for 5 hours and charged him $130.00, what a deal he had gotten. Bob and Jackie, who had a tire leak, ended up having to buy a new tire and were charged $530.00, what a rip off. That's the difference when the Mexicans work on your rig, that's what Larry had, and Bob had the Mennonite's.

Quick Update on Dinner and Light Show

Taxi cabs came and picked us all up for dinner at 4:20 and dropped us off at the restaurant, but dinner wasn't until 6pm. Cheryl said we could do some shopping around before dinner but all the shops were closed. We ended up sitting on the patio outside and having drinks, since there was nothing else to do. The restaurant was beautiful, it use to be a bull fighting ring in the old days. Dinner was excellent, at least the salmon was, the ones that got beef wellington had mixed answers, some say it was great but more said it was tuff. The chicken cordon bleu was pretty good most said, the salad before dinner was tasteless but those that got the soup raved about it. I think all in all in was pretty good food and a beautiful presentation. At 7pm the "Dancing Water" light show was suppose to begin, we got over there by 7:30 and no light show. Come to find out today is a Mexican Holiday, it's the anniversary of the Mexican Constitution. That's why the shops were closed and no light show. When the taxi cabs got back we headed back to the RV's. Oh well, another bust on an adventure, remember we are suppose to be fexible.

Zacatecas - and blog finally caught up

Our drive from Jimenez to Zacatecas was 374.5 miles; it was a very long day. We went from Mountain time, into Central Standard Time once we left the state of Chihuahua and entered into the state of Durango, state of Zacatecas is in central time too. We went thru 7 tollbooths and you have to watch them very carefully because they rip you off. Lee at the beginning was being charged 2x's more then what Charlie and we were paying, they also would short change you when you went thru. Can you believe that, the Mexican's being dishonest by over charging and under paying? They were doing it to the people with the trailers and 5th wheels too, can't imagine that. After the 4th tollbooth who ever went 1st got on the CB's and said what they were charged, they think they are so smart, of course it only took us 4 tolls to catch on, stupid Americans.
We are staying at the Hotel Hacienda del Bosque RV Park, in other words we are in the parking lot of the hotel, in the front of the hotel no less. We are parked so close together that there is maybe an inch between our slide and Al and Barbara's slide.
Yesterday, the bus was supposed to be here at 9am to take us touring around, it showed up about 9:30. The driver of the bus, had on his mirror, a kid taking a dump on the word "American" It was like that drawing you see of a kid taking a pee, needless to say we were not happy campers. Barbara said something to him, when we got off the bus, and he tried to say it meant they didn't like American football, yea right. Our guide, Moses, didn't speak good English and had the flu, so it wasn't a good tour. We went on a mine tour and at the end, no bus. Moses didn't know where the bus was so we ended up walking 6 blocks to lunch; Cheryl the wagon master was pissed. I guess Barbara shouldn't had made a remark about the shit. After lunch, still no bus, so we walked 2 more blocks to a old time theatre, and waited and waited for the bus. Lee, Vicki, Dave and I decided to leave; Lee needed to find a grocery store so we were just going to take a taxi back to the rigs. After we left the bus showed up about 10 min. later. We never did find a store but we did get a taxi and went back to the rigs.
At 5:30 the hotel let us have their game room so we could have a Super Bowl Party. Vicki, Nancy and I were in charge of appetizers and the hotel provided margaritas. We watched the game in Spanish and had fun taking and watching and just relaxing.
Today the bus didn't show up until 10am and took us to a Mask Museum, which we were suppose to do yesterday but ran out of time, since we had no bus. The mask museum was really interesting, we only had an hour and it just wasn't enough time for a lot of people. Cheryl said they could go back later if they wanted to or just stay and take a taxi back, no one took her up on that offer though. We got back to the RV's at noon, and everyone is just hanging around, washing rigs and cars, posting pictures, writing blogs. Tonight we go out to "La Quinta Real" for dinner then to a "Dancing Waters" Light Show. That's it, all caught up now, tomorrow we go to Guadalajara.

Cuauhtemoc

We left Creel on January 30th and headed for Cuauhtemoc, we were staying at Loewen's RV Park which is owned by the Mennonites. The 1st night we had a Mennonite "Family Style" Dinner. The next day we went on a tour of a Mannonite School, the kids sang for us and read from their books, but everything is in High German. At home they speak Low German, you would think they would teach the kids spanish too, since they are in Mexico, but they don't. We gave all the kids candy, then headed for a Mennonite Church. For lunch we were invited to a Mennonite house for lunch, low and behold, they sell stuff there too, who would have thunk. Well, it was a good thing tho because I got a quilt for the baby, all hand stitched for only $45. When we looked at that kind of stuff at the Omish places in Pennsylvania the cost were a few hundred dollars, so I just couldn't pass that up. Now for the baby we have a quilt, rattle like thing, and leather sandals. After lunch we went to a Mennonite Museum and watched a movie and looked at old farm equipment, nothing really exciting.
Then Dave, Lee, Vicki and I went into the town of Cuauhtemoc and walked around, while driving into town this guy on a motorcycle, he was almost next to us, he hit the curb and we all watched him and his bike tumble down the street. He got up limping so we guess he was OK but there was no way we could or would stop and help him. Asshole shouldn't have been driving so fast and cutting to the inside.

CREEL RECAP

Let me start out with Larry and Linda got their coach fixed, and have made it back with us. We are back to 19 coaches and parked lot in Zacatocas, Mexico in a Hotel Parking area.

Back to the recap of our tour of Creel while the other group was down at the bottom of the canyon. We left on Sunday morning for our tour which ended up being kind of a bust. We went to the Tarahumara Indian land to see the school, but it was Sunday and the school was closed. Then we went to see the San Ignacio Mission, it was closed, but Denise, our guide, found someone to open it up so we got to take a quick look. We saw the "Valley of the Mushrooms" which was rocks that looked like mushrooms, we then went to a Mission Store, and everything you buy from it goes to the hospital, next door. We were supposed to have a tour of the hospital but they are having a TB or something out break so they cancelled the tour. This is Adventure Caravan, we could use some adventure, what the hell are they thinking, just kidding, since we didn't get the tour of the hospital we went to their museum. That was a quick tour because it was closing; everything on Sunday closes at 1pm. After the quick tour we had lunch then back to the RV Park, stupid of them to plan a tour for a Sunday, because everything here in Mexico closes early.
Monday, it started raining during the night, and it rained all day too. It was another touring day, which was a bigger bust. We were supposed to do a Guided Bus Tour of Divisadero, Canyon Rim Walking Tour and seeing the Balancing Rock, everyone was too cold to do anything. The bus leaked like crazy, the guide, Denise, offered to get us 3 vans to split up in but we are one crazy group and we wanted to all stay together. We road in the bus with plastic bags covering things to try and keep the rain out, plus umbrellas. We got to the 1st stop and got out and looked around in the rain and fog, froze our asses off and ran back to the wet bus. After that we just kept asking her to find a hotel with a bar and fire place that we could sit at. Monday was a really lost day.
Tuesday, our free day, the sun was out and it was beautiful, so Dave and I decided we were going to do the drive to all the sites we missed the day before on our tour. I kept asking people if they wanted to go but everyone kept turning me down, they had laundry to do and wanted to get it done. Well, Dave was smart, the hotel we stopped at for lunch the day before, which was close to the campground, does laundry, so Dave had run over and dropped our laundry off on Monday afternoon.
As we were leaving Linda, Larry, Bob and Jackie decided to join us, actually following in Linda's car and we went on our own adventure. As we were climbing the roads we saw a tour bus ahead of us so we followed it. Dave and I figured that all the tour buses stop at the same place, which they do and it was great. We made all the stops we were suppose to, the day before with Denise, and boy were they great. Mexico is really beautiful, or at least some parts of it. The pictures we got were great, we are so glad we went out on our own, and saw the things we missed the day before. We even stopped at a street vendor, who was cooking Gorditas, in the lid of a 55 gallon drum and it was great. The day turned out great and we didn't get back till almost 3pm, we wanted to get back by 1pm, oh well.
The second group was coming back from the bottom of the Copper Canyon and we had to cook them dinner, that's why we wanted to get back early. Remember we left the bottom of the canyon at 8:30am and got back at 2:30pm. The next thing we know it’s almost 4pm and no second group, I'm a little pissed off because I know they are having an adventure we didn't get to have. They finally showed up at 5pm, dinner was for 5:30pm so we got everything ready for them and then found out what the Hell took them so long.
They had a lot of rain too, and when they got to the construction site that we had had problems with, they had a truck stuck and there was no way to go around it. They ended up with one of their fellow passengers, Hank, getting out of the van and driving one of the earth movers there and clearing the roads for them. They were stuck there for 2 1/2 hours and that's why they were so late.
That's the recap of Creel, when we were getting ready to leave the next day there were some boys hanging around, and now we know why.
On one of the stops we made to rest, with our pod, Dave walked around the coach and tow vehicle and found out back bike tires hanging. So it seems the boys, that I had chased away from Gene and Carl's car, with the bikes on the back like ours, came after our bikes. They had the tires off but because everything is tied down, they couldn't figure out how to untie the strap Dave had done. Now we have cables wrapped around the tires so there is no way anyone can steal our tires.

DROPPING LIKE FLIES

We started this trip with 20 couples, 20 rigs, and now we are down to 18 couples. Yesterday when leaving Cuauhtemoc, I'll recap on that one later, Troy and Maryann had to go back to Presidio, where we started this adventure from. They had only signed up for a 14 day adventure, so there time was up with us, Roger, our Tailgunner followed them in his car back to the border then caught up with us last night in Jimenez. Or forgot to say, we are in a Pemex Station (gas station) dry camping in Jimenez, they have no campgrounds here. OK one couple gone, then before we could pull out Bob and Jackie had a leak in one of their tires. So our new Tailgunner, in training, Bob and Pat, took them to a tire place down the street, and their friends Larry and Linda stayed with them too. Anyway the rest of us took off, on the road we got separated so Lee and Vicki were leading 4 of us and took a wrong turn. After a few miles we relized it and had to make U-turns and once we got thru one of the Toll Booths there everyone was waiting for us. Needless to say our Wagon Master was happy to see us, so everyone got back on the road again. After driving thru Chihuahua we all stopped at a Pemex for lunch. After lunch we broke off into our pods again, this time we had 3 more join our pod, which was great, because they are big talkers on the CB Radio, we did a lot of laughing. We left at 9am and got to Jimenez about 4, here we are with all our chairs outside in a circle having soup and tortills for dinner and having our next driving meeting. As soon as we were breaking up here comes 2 more rigs and it's Bob and Jackie, tire fixed, and Bob and Pat, the Tailgunners. Where the hell is Larry and Linda? What they said was that one of the many big holes in Chihuahua that Larry hit deflated their airbags in the back of their coach, which dropped their back end down. So they are still in Chihuahua trying to get there airbags fixed, what confuses me is that I thought the Tail gunner can never leave someone behind? Someone said that if a repair is going to take more then 24 hours they don't have to wait, and Jackie said that Larry might be there all weekend. So that's the second one that dropped, will see who's next.
Today we have a 374.5 mile drive to Zacatecas, it's going to be a really long day.

Part 3 Final Recap of The Trip down the Canyon

The next morning coffee was at 7am and breakfast was ready at 7:30, pancakes, fried eggs, and bacon, for 20 people, and the eggs were cooked perfect. I forgot to mention it is a husband and wife that run the hotel, she does all the cooking and he helps serve but his main job is to take and serve the drink orders and keep track of what you owe, they don’t want to be paid until you check out because they never have much change. I did see a lady come in and help with dishes and at night there was a young boy that came in and helped serve dinner, amazing. We got back on the road by 9am the weather was clear so we got to see all of the canyons that we didn’t get to see on the way down and boy it was beautiful. We also saw the roads we had driven on the day before and the drops that were there were very scary. I believe it was Jackie that said she would have had a heart attack it she had seen these roads on the way down; she would have wanted a helicopter to lift her out of the canyon. We stopped again at the ranch we had lunch at on the way down for a potty break (outhouse break) and to purchase some of his fruit, no lunch this time there.
The road was so muddy, with all the rain we had had, that once we hit the construction part, where they are trying to improve the roads, ha ha, we almost got stuck. At one point on a curve a bus was coming down the road so we had to back up to a wide spot to let it by, which means the van behind us had to back up too, we were not happy campers having to back up on such steep grades. Anyway, the bus made it by then 2 more trucks were right behind the bus, which we hadn’t seen, very scary. We finally made it off the dirt road and got on the paved highway and stopped at the Pemex, gas station, and they had no fuel. Cesar said for us to all get out of the vans and have lunch, which the hotel had fixed for us, while he and the 2 vans went to the next town to get gas. Too funny, 20 white folks sitting around gas pumps, that are empty, eating burritos and ham sandwiches. The cars that drove by thought “What the Hell is going on”. We then decided the next car that drove by we were all going to put our hands out and ask for peso’s just like they do.
When Cesar and the vans got back we piled in again and got back to our RV park at 2:30,a hell of a lot better time than going down the canyon, makes a big difference in the rain and a sunny day. Once back we were told we couldn’t tell the second group what went on with our group, after all it is an adventure, and they needed to experience their own. We were all so tired, so it was great to hear that the second group had fixed a potluck dinner for us, which we all really enjoyed. Then it was hit the beds early again. Our adventure was over, the next day was the second groups adventure.

Part 2 The Trip down the Canyon

The next morning coffee wasn’t ready until 7:30am so you know Dave and I had to wait a long time, since we get up so early. Breakfast was ready for everyone at 8am, we had scrambled eggs w/ham, fresh fruit, toast, and tortillas, it was unbelievable. After that we got back into the vans and started site seeing again. We went to the “Lost Cathedral of Satevo”, to find the place was amazing, now we know why it is lost, and really should stay that way, just kidding. To get there we had to do more dirt roads, holes, ups and downs, and then if another car came by, forget about it. After that we went and visited the Tarahumara (Indians) Family , this was a mother with 7 girls and 8 boys. The 13 year old that played the harmonica had 2 kids already, and her 14 year old sister, who lived next door, had 4 kids. Their husbands where 14 and 15 years old, can you imagine. That’s the way these Indians live down there and they are happy, during the winter months they live in “kind of houses” but in the summer, when it gets to 115 degrees they move into the caves that surround them. The mother and 13 yr old took turns dancing for us, which to me was horrible, it was like watching animals in a zoo. All these babies standing around watching their mom and grandma performing for the crowd I just didn’t like. But I must say when they were done they were more than happy to except the peso’s from us. When we left the place we all decided to chip in and have Cesar, our guide, stop at a store before he brought the next group down and bring them beans and corn, they needed food more than money. We ended up giving Cesar 1,350 peso’s, so he was able to buy a lot for them. Then we headed back to the hotel for lunch, god help us if we should miss a meal, thank goodness this was all included in the cost that we had already paid to our caravan company. After lunch we got back in the vans and did more driving around and stopped at the “Old Mining Shepherd’s Hacienda”. It’s just a shell of a Hacienda now but it was something in those days, with all the mining of gold and silver they did. We did get a chance to walk around the town of Batopilas, we visited a girls private school, and brought them some candy and school supplies. Then Dave found a street vendor that made, by hand, leather sandals that lace up the legs, the bottoms are made of tires then leather on top of that, so that was the new grandbabies 1st present. Unisex present since we don’t know the sex yet.
Then it was back to the hotel for a “Welcome to Batopilas” margarita party, then Cesar surprised us with organic tequila and wanted to teach us how to do shooters. What does he think we are armatures, well one of the girls in the group had a surprise for him, and boy did Linda surprise him. She taught him how to do a body slam, and he was not willing at first, but we cheered him on and he did it. I didn’t know what it was but sure found out. Linda wet her neck, then put salt on it and then put a lime between her teeth, Cesar was suppose to lick her neck, drink the tequila, then get the lime from here teeth, that’s the short version of the body slam and boy he was a trooper and did it. We all were laughing so hard and Bob and I were trying to take pictures, I got about 3 hopefully Bob was able to get better ones. After the drinking Cesar brought out a Mariachi Band and they sang for us, Cesar then sang and then Larry, Linda’s husband, you know the body slam lady, sang for us, what a wonderful voice he has. Cesar and the band were very good too. After dinner, which by the way was goat, I thought it was chicken in a gravy and was very good, we all went back to our rooms again, very tired. The Mariachi Band was still outside, drinking more organic tequila, and singing songs so a few of us went out to listen to them. We were having fun listening to them then Linda and Larry came out on their balcony, so Cesar had the Mariachi Band sing to them. Since Linda did the body slam with Cesar and Larry sang with Cesar it seemed the right thing to do. After the singing was done everyone headed back to their rooms, what a great night.

Part 1 The trip down the Canyon

Two vans and 20 people heading out for an Adventure to Batopilas.
Let me start off with I was wrong when I said it was 40 miles to the bottom of the canyon, it was 40 miles on paved road then 40 miles on dirt roads, very winding roads. We started off at 7500 feet and drop down to 1900 feet once we reach the bottom of the canyon, and it was raining cats and dogs, we didn’t get to our destination until 5pm and we had left at 9am, so it was a very long day. We had a hell of a good group on our bus too, we laughed so much, the driver, Martine, and the guide, Cesar, thought we were all crazy. We had fog and rain on the way down so we really couldn’t see the canyons but we still stopped and tried to get some pictures. We stopped for lunch at some friend of Cesar’s about 2pm and they all made us a surprise lunch. They, meaning, Cesar, our 2 drivers, the owner and someone else. The owner’s land was great, he had orange, papaya, tangerine, and mango trees all around, and it was raining so we had to stand under the trees or sit in the vans because of the surprise lunch they were fixing. They set up tables, with table cloths, napkins, real plates and glasses, bottles of wine or soda, it was amazing. Of course they had to set up tarps because it was pouring rain, and as usual it started raining even harder when we sat down under the tarps, which were leaking badly. They cooked everything outside; we had cheese quesadilla, homemade guacamole, which was great, and a mystery meat dish. It was Mexican sausage, chorizo, and I swear it was chopped up hotdog, it tasted like it anyway. I picked at mine; I don’t like mystery stuff, so I mainly ate the cheese quesadillas and guacamole. After lunch they cleaned up everything while everyone made one last outhouse break, then back on the road again. Like I said we got to the hotel at 5pm, just in time for everyone to take their stuff to their rooms and get together for happy hour.
The hotel was very nice just about all the rooms had 2 beds in them, either 2 twins, a twin and a double, 2 doubles, every room was different. They also either had a tub with a shower or tub and shower separate, or just a monster shower that 2 or more could fit in, it was a really nice place. The only thing in Mexico is you can’t flush the toilet paper, well I guess you could, but then you would probably have a back up in your bathroom, if you know what I mean. That was one other thing we were told, anywhere you go carry your on toilet paper with you, not all places supply the stuff. Anyway, when dinner was done about 8pm everyone just went back to their rooms and crashed, no TV’s in any of the rooms, oh yea, Dean and Cheryl had one but it didn’t get any stations. I read for a while then that was it, just listen to the rain and fall asleep I was very tired after that long ride and Dave was already asleep.