Nogales to Michoacan

November 6, 2007
The four of us with our four dogs and two motorhomes left the casino about 8:00am and after filling up with diesel we crossed the border into Mexico about 9:00am. There was no stop at the actual border but we knew we would have to go through the immigration process about 20 miles down the road. Fortunately there wasn't much of a line up and we were able to get the whole process of visas and vehicle permits completed in 45 minutes which is considered pretty quick. We now have a 10 year permit for the motorhome so we don't have to do that for a while.
Topes (speed bumps) are numerous and deadly throughout Mexico as we missed seeing one on the outskirts of Hermosillo and hit it going about 35 miles an hour. Ken and Mary-Beth was in front and got the worst of it as we were able to hit the brakes before we hit the tope. We survived ok but Ken did a little damage to his motorhome and tow-hitch. We all had things fly out of the cupboards.
The weather continues to be sunny and warm and a few miles south of Hermosillo we noticed there was no cool air coming from our dash vents even though we had the air conditioning on. At our next stop I looked in the engine compartment and found that I had lost a fan belt going to the air-conditioning compressor.We'll have to find a replacement as soon as we can.
Arrived at the El Mirador RV park in San Carlos, about 5:00pm. Shortly after we got set up, a local selling shrimp and vegetables out of his truck stopped by and was able to sell us probably more things than we actually needed.

November 7, 2007
Stayed in San Carlos an extra day and had the fan belt replaced. Also bought a spare in case I lose another one. It was kind of amazing, I had lost the similar fan belt in Ottawa, Canada a couple of years ago and couldn't find a replacement. However in this little hardware store in San Carlos, Mexico had several.
Ken had his motorhome washed and waxed. $3.00 per ft. They did a great job.
In the afternoon we took the four pups to the beach. There was very little surf and they had a great time swimming in the ocean as we threw tennis balls for them to retrieve. Hayley is a great little swimmer.
We went up to a look-out over the beach later in the afternoon to take some pictures and then to a restaurant to watch the sun go down.

November 8, 2007
Left San Carlos about 8:30 and headed south through the cities of Guaymas and Obregon then turned east at Navojoa to end up in Alamos where we'll spend the night. The streets through the cities are often narrow with lots of parked cars all of which makes one sharpen their defensive driving skills.
Alamos is one of Mexico's first colonial towns built in the 17th century and was a major source of silver exported to ruling Spain.
We walked through the town looking at the architectural style of the buildings and church near the main square plus a short visit to the city museum. A local vendor on a bicycle stopped us to show his assortment of horse-hair belts and hat bands. Mary-Beth and I each bought one of his belts.

November 9, 2007
All the pups had a good time this morning as we had the campground virtually to ourselves. We let them loose and they ran around playing and chasing each other and were also joined by the park's resident dog.
We had a little delay as after leaving the park, Ken realized he forgot his tow car's rock shield and had to go back for it. The rest of us waited until he returned.
We crossed the border between the states of Sonora and Sinaloa and noted a change in the geography. Leaving a mostly desert landscape in Sonora to large fields under cultivation in Sinaloa.
We decided to fore-go our plans of getting to a campground in Los Glorias and settled for a Pemex parking lot just south of Los Mochis.

November 10, 2007
Got a good start this morning leaving the Pemex lot just before 8:00am. The roads in Sinaloa are well maintained and a little wider than Sonora which is good. Diesel fuel is cheaper down here which is also nice although Ken's fuel gauge stopped working so we keep track of the miles between fill-ups and fill-up more frequently.
We tried to find a campsite that is about 40 miles north of Mazatlan but could not. The road where the directions said to turn off the highway was dirt and looked too rough for a big motorhome. I think I'll send the campground owner an email asking for more specific directions and that he put up some signs on the highway to indicate where to turn.
The pups were disappointed as we had promised them a day at the beach but they'll have their fill of the water once we get to our final destination.
We continued on to Mazatlan to a park we had stayed at previously however had a mishap just before entering the park. It was necessary to go around a traffic circle before entering the park and I cut the corner too tight and scraped the side of the motorhome pretty badly. Once we get settled I'll try to find someone who does fiberglass and paint work. Ken also has some scrapes on his motorhome that needs repair so we should be able to find someone to do the work.

November 11, 2007
Received an email from the campground we tried to find yesterday telling us that they were not open for the season until November 15th. Started out from Mazatlan heading south about 8:00 am this morning. The weather is noticeably warmer since we crossed the Tropic of Cancer and the landscape is either cultivated with a variety of crops including sugarcane or jungle looking. Most of the roads are in good shape although there's considerable road construction and in those places drop-offs from the edge of the pavement is something you don't want to happen to you. The toll charges on the highway are very expensive especially when you're charged for the motorhome plus your tow vehicle. We're paying much more in tolls than for fuel. I've kept a receipt for each toll and will total them when we get to La Placita in Michoacan.
Our plans were to go to a campground in Tepic however after spending some time driving through busy city streets before locating it, decided that it was too small and not very nice looking. We decided then to continue on towards Guadalajara but Ken needed fuel and got off at the exit to Chapalilla where we knew from former years there was a Pemex.
This is where the fun began as we took the wrong turn after exiting the freeway and ended up on a narrow road with no place to turn around. The road ended in the little village of Tequequexpan (don't ask me how to pronounce it) that had narrow streets barely wide enough to drive the motor homes through. It seemed that most if not all of the village residents came out to the street to watch us attempt to extricate ourselves. The people were very sympathetic and everyone joined in giving us directions by pointing one way and then the other and ladies even asked us if we wanted something to eat. Fortunately one person could speak a little bit of English and was able to get us turned around and heading back out of town. It was a fun and interesting experience if you didn't let the situation get to you and I'm sure the village people will have something to talk about for some time. If we were driving one of the big 45ft motor homes with tag axles we might still be there.
Back on the road we found the right road to Chapalilla and the Pemex but by this time it was getting late and we decided to stay here over night. There are several little road-side diners beside the Pemex where we had dinner before heading for bed.

November 12, 2007
The Pemex we stayed at last night was a local hot spot with activities including loud music continuing on late into the night. In addition we heard trucks and cars coming in to get fuel during the night as we were parked close to the fuel pumps. Non-the-less after buying coffee in the morning at the near by diner (which consisted of getting a cup of hot water and being directed to the jar of instant coffee on the counter) we were on the road about 7:30am.
As we were in a mountainous area we drove through patches of fog which burned off as the time went on.
As the famous town of Tequila was on our route we had to stop and stock up. Mary-Beth told us about a Tequila/Coconut mix and after trying some we had to buy a couple of bottles. Tequila is a small town so on entering we parked on the outskirts and took the jeep in as we had to find a bank/atm machine before making our purchases and also to find the best way to get our motorhomes turned around and back to the highway.
On our way through the area we saw many fields with the agave plant from which tequila is made. The plant is light blue in colour and takes up to eight years before becomes mature enough to be harvested. Fields with plants of various ages are seen along the highway.
Leaving the town of Tequila we headed for Guadalajara the second largest city in Mexico with a population of over 2.25 million. We drove through the crowded streets of the outskirts of Guadalajara and headed south a few miles to the town of Villa Corona to an RV park. The park was close to being full but as we've seen down here, about 90 percent of the people here are Canadians.
We plan on staying here for several nights before heading south to our final destination on Nov 15th.

November 13, 2007
It was kind of cool this morning as we're still pretty high up. Guadalajara is at 5,500 ft elevation and we're not far from there.
The town of Villa Corona has it's weekly market day on Tuesdays where you can find anything from food to clothes to hardware and just about anything else you want. We stocked up of vegetables which were fresh and were delicious when we had some for dinner. Unfortunately our freezer is stuffed as there was giant shrimp for sale for $7.00 per kilo.
The church is located near the town square and the thing we noticed was that the bells were being rung each hour. However when we looked up at the bell tower, we saw several boys turning the bells by hand to ring them. The bells were quite loud and we did't see any sign of ear protection on the boys.
In the picture below, you can see the boys in the bell tower. (Don't forget to click on the picture to enlarge it)

November 14, 2007
When checking the oil in the motorhome in preparation to leave tomorrow I noticed the used fan belt I had put on in San Carlos has been pretty chewed up and ready to break. Fortunately I had bought another so several hours were spent today changing it.
Villa Corona park is almost full and we met someone who will be going down to the park in La Placita, Michoacan in a week. He has a friend already there and is getting good reports about the park.
Mary-Beth sent an email to the owners of the park telling them where we were and asked if there was anything we should know before getting there. Apparently there's a bit of a rough road at the entrance to the park road but the owners assured us we'd have no problems.
We all had a pot luck supper with two other couples here in the park and will keep in touch with them and will likely meet up with them again some time.
Most of the things are put away in the motorhome in preparation for tomorrow's departure and we'll try to leave here about 8:00. It's about 200 miles and we figure it will take us six or seven hours to get to our final destination, Rancho Bouganvillia in La Placita, Michoacan.

November 15, 2007
We had a good start out of Villa Corona park thinking we'd make it to La Placita in good time however things didn't quite work out as planned.
Soon after leaving the park we got onto the Libra (free road) heading south instead of the Autopista (toll road). The free road was very narrow and rough causing us to drive 20 to 25 miles an hour. After driving this for awhile it was decided to try and cut over to the toll road. However the road we took was a dead-end forcing us to disconnect our towed vehicles and turn around.
Still on the free road and following behind Ken and Mary-Beth we noticed that their towed car was swerving back and forth. We called them on the walkie-talkie to stop and check things and when they did they found that one of the brackets for the tow hitch had broken. This was weakened by the "topee incident" a week or so ago. From this point on, Mary-Beth had to drive their car.
From Guzman to Colima we drove through some spectacular scenery going over huge canyons on bridges hundreds of feet high.
I was leading at that point and heading for Tecoman and our turn-off to highway 200. Somehow I missed the sign and drove several miles past the turn-off. The highway we were on was a four lane with no place to turn around so we had to exit on an overpass and come back. The overpass exit to turn around was built mainly for cars and a few curbs were bounced over as we made our way around.
Mary-Beth took over leading and took the correct exit off the traffic circle going into Tecoman however Ken who was following thought she took the wrong exit and continued on his own way. We had to wait for him to find his own way back to us as we waited along side the road.
Highway 200 from Tecoman to La Placita went through acres and acres of banana plantations. On the border between the states of Colima and Michoacan we were pulled over at a military check-point and two young soldiers went through the motorhome opening drawers and looking at things. I think they were more interested in checking out the motorhome than finding any contiband.
We finally made it to Villa Bougainvillea RV park in the late afternoon and after an exhausting day were kind of disappointed in the state of things in the park. The road into the park off the highway was narrow with tree branches scraping the motorhomes the whole way. The owners from Los Angeles are a very nice young couple however the park is still in the initial stages of development with the individual sites not completed. After complaining to our selves about things we decided not to make any rash decisions after the exhausting day we had so had ourselves a good strong drink and went to bed.