Moving On to Puebla

Holy week, or Semana Santa, brings a huge throng of folks to the beach. The park we are in will be a zoo. So, we’re going to escape inland and up to the mountains. We’ve been wanting to see the colonial cites of the interior so this is as good of a time as any. We’ll leave tomorrow (Wednesday) and drive about 5 hours climbing to 7,000 feet!

There is a good descriptive link to where we will be staying Here

Badges? Badges? We Don’t Need no Stinking Badges!!!

Now we are having a proper Nor Easter! Sustained 20 knots, cloudy, and 14 deg cooler than yesterday. At least I don’t have to go pick up marsh grass!

With the less than great weather, we decided to kick back and enlighten our minds so we watched a Blazing Saddles DVD!!! Just love that movie. I guess I am a shallow person since I have watched it so many times!

Lorena invited DJ over to her casa for lunch today and a haircut.  Daniele and her hit it off and laughed all the time she was here during her nails. DJ’s Italian enables her to understand a lot of Spanish so they are able to “chat”.  She had a fantastic time today and thoroughly enjoyed being in a Mexican home. She was there for about 3 hours and had a ball…she made tortillas the old fashioned way and participated in making the lunch.  It took everything she could do to get Lorena to let her at least pay a little bit for the haircut.

We had our lovely fish filet with all the trimmings last night. Finally remembered to take a picture. $7US!.

Dog Days of Spring (SOB)

 

87deg and humid. All animals, including 2 legged ones, are moving slow. But the ocean breeze is great.

Speaking of dogs, a funny story yesterday. The park is almost empty so we don’t have to leash the dogs (or cats). Ours stay next to us anyway. Well, Pasha is asleep under the coach, as in the picture. A little, tiny, Yappee dog is walking down the road, see’s Minou the cat near the back of the coach and decides to chase the cat. Minou simply turns around, bolts for the door and, I swear, told Pasha to take charge as he went by. Pasha slithers up and pops out in front of Yappee dog. It was a Road Runner Willy Coyote moment! Yappee is trying to put on brakes and go into reverse in a cloud of dust at the same moment and all the while fighting a heart attack. Pasha just stands there looking down at him with her tongue hanging out and not moving. Yappee gets traction, does a 180 and heads for his RV. Minou watched all this from the door and came back out when Yappee left. Pasha just turned around and went back into her hole under the coach…never said a thing. We haven’t seen Yappee since. BTW: Pasha is a 135 pound Newfi!

A Lazy Day (yet again!)

We are trying to learn Spanish (well, Daniele is so much better than me…I keep wanting to use French words!) One word that we have all mastered is “Siesta”. Even Minou

Our new friend, Claire, asked Daniele if she wanted a pedicure. At about 1700 Lorena arrived right here at the rig and went to work. I went inside and surfed the web..nobody is touching my feet!

Late breaking news: only time for a pedicure today ($14.29); she has invited DJ to her house tomorrow at 1500 for a manicure...and the manicure is part of the $14!) And, she gave DJ a money purse thing that she embroidered herself!!! (Picture tomorrow...we are off to the resto where they have prepared us a tempura dinner!) Turning into a busy day after all!

Wash Day

For the RV & Jeep that is. We went through a week of rain in the States and coming here. The poor Jeep that we tow was really a mess and the motor home wasn’t much better. There are a couple of young people here that work with Antonia in the park and kitchen. We are told that they don’t make much and pay is sporadic depending on business. They will wash RV’s as a sideline. So, yesterday, after they finished cleaning the pool, Lucy and Polo came here and began the task.

They worked extremely hard for about 3 hours and did a fantastic job on the motor home and jeep. When it came time to pay them, they said 200 pesos ($14.29US)! I said no way! The web site even says 300 pesos. Let it be said that we did not pay them 200 pesos or 300 pesos. Some will say we did wrong and are “ruining it”. Tough. These 2 need the money and are willing to work hard for it: if they cannot earn it, then they will go elsewhere; Antonia will lose help; RV’ers will whine that the park is going down; Antonia will close; RV’ers will whine that there are no parks.

Our vehicles are clean and 2 hard working people were appropriately rewarded and might stay on with low/no pay because it opens opportunity to make some side money. Don’t get any better than that!

Mullet Blow & Turtles

Well, I don’t know if they call them Mullet Blows on the Gulf like we do on Cedar Island, but we had one yesterday. Probably 20-30 knot sustained easterly wind for most of the day. Had the sea pretty angry.  In spite of that, a turtle came on the beach right in front of where we are parked and laid eggs!

We did a little shopping in the small town of San Rafel. Got a pre-paid cell phone from Tel-Cel for emergency use---now have to figure out how to use it. Also dropped off a huge load of laundry. Cost is $5.50 for washing, drying, folding, and wrapped in plastic! Also stopped at a roadside chicken place and brought home a whole chicken, all chopped, complete with a huge assortment of sides for about $7. It was excellent!

No pool day

They drain the pool on Mondays and refill it. No chemicals here!

Last night was a birthday party for the daughter of the park owner, Antonia. She is a hard working lady that has her challenges. Her husband died in an accident last year and it has been tough for her. Another great lady, Claire, is, essentially, a work camper, but really helps Antonio a lot.

I don't know how to arrange pix and add captions. Claire is the one in the hat with Daniele. Antonio is with her daughter in the cake picture. There is a view of the kitchen that produces such great food. The other picture is of world famous blogger Croft (mentioned yesterday with link), his bride Norma, and Claude and Daniele with whom Daniele J was able to dust off her French. Claude and I just enjoyed a cigar and a single malt scotch that Croft and Norma provided. Note: you can click on the pix and make it larger.

Where are we?

Claire just asked me where we were. We're on the Emerald Coast. We came here from La Pesca. See the push pins.

Ho Hum...another beautiful day.

Another beautiful, sunny, day on the Emerald Coast

I have found a gold mine of information on routes, campgrounds, attractions, etc. Most of them are really well done with beautiful pictures and great details. What I especially like about them is that after you read them a bit you get an idea of the author’s preferences and you can assess the relevance of the information to your own preferences. We actually got to meet one of those bloggers yesterday. I had just reviewed his blog and glanced out the window and there he was! We ended up having a great late afternoon by the pool chatting and enjoying a cigar or two with Croft and Norma and another couple, Claude and Daniele (yes, another Daniele). Croft's website is here. I hate to link to it because it shames our humble offering here.

Emerald Coast, still

Fri 20 Mar EC

What are our plans, we are asked? Err, we don’t have any. We are here at de Alba at least until Tue 24th. We may go elsewhere then or we may not. We have a prime spot that we hate to surrender. We do want to explore so maybe we’ll go somewhere. The Yucatan is a ways away but maybe we’ll go. When we get Wi-Fi back, I’ll surf some RV Mexico blogs to get some ideas. Holy Week is a zoo here on the coast so we may go inland and explore some Colonial towns then. If fellow Mexico RV’ers are reading this, ideas welcome.

Sending this in a fantastic "Italian" coffee shop. Very good internet and a coffee selection that is quite amazing

Emerald Coast, still

Thur 19 Mar EC

Another lazy day at de Alba. Hmmm, they are all lazy aren’t they? Wi-Fi is down. I helped the manager trouble shoot it a bit but I think it is an issue of the satellite company putting him in a “penalty box” for excessive bandwidth use. They have a term for it, something like usage fairness, and if someone starts downloading movies or streaming video it puts you over your allocation. They punish you by degrading your speed to dial-up or below for certain number of hours or days. There is a coffee shop up the road with Wi-Fi so I’ll go there tomorrow and check in and, hopefully, up load all this stuff.

We’re just reading. Temp in the 80’s in the day and 60’s at night. The dogs are chilling out and if they get hot, they run down to the surf and cool off. The cats even got out for a bit to explore. We’re trying to avoid a repeat of 2 years ago when Pepito got lost and left in a campground for a month.

Oh yes, we did have yet another great meal. Fish, shrimp, and a shrimp cerviche (3 entrees!), all of which was fantastic. $21, with a generous tip. Had a nice conversation with a gentleman from a caravan that is here. There are about 15 rigs (several of which are huge!). They have been on the road since early Jan! They came down the East Coast of Mexico and then visited every country in Central America (in their RV’s) down to Panama. This includes Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and some I’m probably forgetting. He said they had a fantastic time.

de Alba

Wed 18 Mar. Emerald Coast

We’re settling in to Trailer Park de Alba. Hit the ATM machine this morning and settled our bill. The site fee is about $11 per night including full hookups and Wi-Fi. We’re moving in a few minutes to a water front site so that it should be cooler, less crowded and more scenic. (Time passes). We moved and what a great location we now have. We’re front row with no one next to us. We have a great view of the Gulf and sit under a coconut tree complete with coconuts! Pictures when I get bandwidth.

An observation from the 2 campgrounds on this trip and the one a few years ago: It is startling how uncluttered the parks are with the total absence of signs telling you can or cannot do this or that. There are no such signs! And, if something is broke, you should stay off of it, simple. We like the concept of exercising personal responsibility.

We had another fantastic meal at the park. You just tell them during the day what you would like and they fix it. DJ had a fantastic seafood soup (more like a bouillabaisse) and I had a filet of fish. We’re talking huge portions of finest quality complete with salad, rice, fries, and guacamole for a total of $16, including tip! You know DJ knows her food and is “selective”: she has not had one “suggestion” on how it could be improved!

To the Emerald Coast

Tues 17 March La Pesca to the Emerald Coast

We have not seen the sun since Louisiana and today started no different. Got underway at 0820. Fueled up (gas here is $2.09/gallon) and headed south on MX180. Nice drive to Tampico. Road pretty good and nice scenery. Fields were a mix of cattle and farming. Like on our West Coast trip, we are amazed at the number of folks that wave at us with a huge smile. Here we are blessed to be in a motor home and they are living on the edge yet they are glad to see us. Maybe there exceptions but we haven’t seen it yet. Also amusing is that all the intercity bus drivers wave at me. I guess I am a fellow driver!

Tampico is a big city and time consuming to get by. There is a circuitous by-pass and it went well. (RV’ers: there is a new bridge over the river. Church says turn left. You must exit to the right and take the fly over. The rest of the by pass is as marked. Just slow with lots of topes and trucks.

MX 180 south of Tampico is slow. Lots of trucks and small towns with millions of topes (Topes are speed bumps and Mexico has perfected them. You don’t find 1, you find them in groups. You WILL go slow!) I missed a turn, could not turn around and we ended up going via Tuxpan. Actually this was good. Scenery beautiful, no trucks, and few topes. There was a little congestion in going through Tuxpan, but not bad. We picked up a toll road there and later joined the Pozza Rico bypass. Excellent road. We lost time, but not too much. MX 180 is fine on into the Emerald Coast. It was a long day: 382 miles and 9 hours. We normally would not do this much but we were anxious to get on the beach, AND, the sun came out!!!

We are staying at Trailer Park de Alba. Nice but crowded for us. Pretty good Wi-Fi and we had an EXCELLENT meal last night of fish and shrimp for $15, cerveza included.

Gone SOB

Sat 14 March 18, 2009. SOB

For Family and Friends. We departed Kingsville NAS at 0900 and arrived at the Los Indios border at 1040. Cold (47 deg) and a mist. Border procedures are a pain anywhere in the world so do not think that this was any worse that usual. I’m including a separate section for RV’ers since we all go to school on each other. We finished the formalities at 1230 and headed south. Err, no. We headed east. The laptop with its GPS program crashed right when we needed it and we ended up in the outskirts of the city. I’m glad we had done this before so we were not intimidated and plowed into the traffic and made some tight corners towing the jeep. Excellent road for most of the way and the smaller roads were not that bad. We arrived at La Pesca, a fishing village, at about 1700.

We’re at La Gaviota RV park. Huge grassy field overlooking the river. Just one other coach here, a couple from Switzerland.

We were leaving Mon but decided to stay an extra day.

BTW, we did some tallying and found that we had driven 1,967 miles to here in La Pesca. We used 260 gal of gas for a cost of $468. Campgrounds have cost us $154.

For RV’ers. We have some lessons learned that might be of use re Los Indios in particular.

First, the hours are different than in Church and could be different tomorrow! As of 14 Mar 2009, the Banjercito is open 0900-1800 Mon-Fri; 0900-1600 Sat; Closed Sunday!!! This is important also for returning your visa and TIP’s.

Somewhere we read that the location of the border is well marked. We have yet to see any sign. We saw the buildings and figured it out. The first thing encountered is a line of 18 wheelers. Ignore them and keep going straight. You will come upon a booth. It turned out to be toll to cross the bridge. It was $14 for a MH and TOAD! You cross the bridge and then encounter Mexican customs. It was very narrow but we got through. The building immediately to the right of this is where you do your paperwork but you must proceed about 50 yards through a military check point (a second building on your right), to the parking area. It is not huge, but adequate. They wanted us to go in and back in a “U” and park.

You then walk to that first building. On entering, there is an immigration window on your right. Go there with your passport and tell them you want 6 months. They’ll ask you where. We said Veracruz. They fill out the form and tell you to go to the Banjercito windows and pay (262 pesos each) and then come back for the final stamp. This takes almost no time.

In our case, it took an hour in line to get to the teller and another half hour for him to complete everything. Before you get in line, take the immigration form(s) to the window that sells insurance/money exchange. You need 2 copies of the one for the primary driver and 1 for the other. (They will say you only need 1. You need 2.) Cost is 25 cents. You should make copies ahead of time of your passport (and drivers license) and vehicle registration(s). Make at least 2 each. When you get to the window, they will process the forms. They will complete one “Temporary Import Permit (TIP)” for the Motorhome/Tow vehicle and one for the trailer/TOAD. The RV is for 10 years and cost 730.13 pesos. The TOAD/Tow Vehicle is for 6 months and cost 438.08 pesos. This will be run as 2 separate transactions on your credit card (Visa/MC only). They will then run your immigration visa fee for a total of 3 transactions. You then go back to the immigration window and give him your paper work. He stamps it and you are done inside. Go to your vehicles and immediately put on the hologram. Motorhomes: put below the dark tint or it can’t be seen from out side. Keep your paperwork handy.

A Mexican national and I talked while in line. He was as confused about all this also and he does it a lot. I asked about returning the visa and TIP. He said you do it in this same line. I asked if you hand to stand in the line. He said yes but that the guy who was walking around the line periodically was asking (in Spanish) if anyone was in line to turn in forms. If yes, he took them to their vehicle and removed the hologram and gave receipts. So, if you hear some one asking something, it may be for this. You turn in to the same parking area to do this.

All of this took us 2 hours and we had no problems and our teller seemed efficient (although he listed our motor home as a folding trailer on the TIP!). It was a Saturday and there were a lot of Mexicans appearing to be coming home from the US for spring break, so the line was long. Everyone was very pleasant and in good humor, both the officials and those in line.

We then headed out and got lost. Keelhauler says I should have stayed straight and not turn on MX2. My bad. We eventually got on MX110 and headed south. At about 20 kilometers, we encountered a customs inspection. We went in the Autobus lane. A very nice agent checked for our holograms, asked for the paperwork and then compared the VINs to the papers. She came in the coach, cursorily looked in 1 cabinet, played with the dogs (no mention of health certificates) and wished us a great trip. She said in Spanish to keep our eyes open. We asked if there was a special problem. She said nothing in particular, but it is always good to be alert.

We stayed on MX 110 to San Fernando and then got on MX 180 to Soto. 180 was great until about the last 20KM. Then it was narrow but not bad. The new road to La Pesca is great until you encounter the final construction about 5KM from town. That part is slow going. This was in March 2009. We stayed at La Gaviota. A nice open, grassy field with palms overlooking the river. The manager is very nice. They took pictures and played with the dogs for a long time today. We planned to stay 1 night and are staying 3! Cost is 250 pesos/night. 15 amp with water and sewer. By the way, the PEMEX in La Pesca is not RV friendly (small). If you were desperate you could maneuver without a TOAD. Better to use the Pemex on the left as you enter Sotto. They take credit cards.

Kingsville TX

We're freezing in the Rio Grande Valley! Arrived at Kingsville Naval Air Station, Texas yesterday and decided to stay a day to provision for our trek SOB tomorrow. It's been rainy and cold!! Will be glad to get in the sun. The base is small and deserted. It is primarily used for transitioning potential Naval aviators from prop to jets. Lots of T-45's. It is also a staging area for the Border Patrol. There must be 100 Border Patrol SUV's in the barrack's parking lot across from the RV park. The town has a Lowes and a Walmart. That's about it.

We'll cross the border at about 1000 and then head south. Doubt that we'll have WiFi until Monday.

Off to Texas

Woke up in Vinton to a cold morning! A front came through and chilled things down. We drove 356 miles today. I-10 to Houston and then US 98/77 south to Kingsville, Texas. Lot of construction on I-10 but no slow ups. Houston is a maze but it wasn't rush hour so it went fine. Pasha was a little bit more like normal but not totally.

We are staying for 2 nights at Kingsville Naval Air Station in their RV park. It's being remodeled and a bit of a mess but at $9/day, it is great!.

Cajun Time

As predicted, we stayed over an extra day at Blue Angel and did not leave until Wed, 11 Mar. The picture is our site at Blue angels.

We drove 400 miles on I-10 to Vinton, Louisiana. Pasha is still acting strange. Vinton is close to the LA-TX border. We found a nice CG (Vinton RV Park) and a great Cajun restaurant nearby. They were selling crayfish like crazy.

RIP Mimi

Well, not a great 2 days. The ending first: We had to put Mimi, the gray Bouvier down this morning at 0800 after 16 great years. She was a great dog and adored Daniele. Whatever room DJ was in, Mimi would be there no matter how much she was hurting.

This all started in Thomasville GA. Sat night, DJ had a tough time getting Mimi out of the coach and ended up creating a lot of extra joint pain. Sun AM I too had trouble getting her out and realized she could not use her left rear leg very much. Plus, I sprained my knee awhile back and aggravated it Sunday so I can’t walk very easily! We really looked like a bunch of geezers. To top it all off Pasha, the Newfie, is acting bizarre when we’re on the road and insists on being right next to one of us no matter how we push her away or beat her with a paper. She usually sleeps the whole time. We wonder if she knew Mimi was failing?

So, Sun we left Thomasville and came to Pensacola, FL and are staying in the Blue Angel RV park run by the Navy Link - Right on a sound with a beautiful view and under huge oak trees. So, I hobble around getting parked and Daniele works through her pain setting up inside. Sunday night Mimi goes downhill fast. She kept DJ up all night and me parts of it. We had no idea where an emergency vet was located but did see a Vet near the RV park when we came in. So, I was waiting at their door when they arrived at 0800 and put Mimi to rest.

We were leaving Tue but between both of our aches, pains, and tiredness, we may delay and leave Wed. RIP Mimi.

Thomasville GA

From Charleston we took US 17 to I-95 and then I95 to near Brunswick GA. There we picked up US84 and headed west. 84 is a 4 lane divided highway with no traffic! Enjoyed going through the old towns that I used to visit when my dad was conducting Seaboard Railroad business in my youth. Stayed at a nice CG in Thomasville, GA. Here's their website. Nothing special but nice and clean with a fair price of $26.

Charleston

Friday, 6 March. Went as far as Mt Pleasant SC (Charleston) today. Stayed at the KOA. Too expensive at $40 but a nice CG. We stayed here last August while working on a proposal. The highlight is a hole in the wall restaurant on US17 that serves excellent home style southern food. You'd never think to stop here but it was packed with many of the cars being Beemers and Mercedes! Here's their web page. Try it if you are in the area.

Getting Ready!

Well, it's been 2 long years since we were last SOB and we are getting ready to head that way. The map gives an overview of this 5,000 mile, one way, trip (click on it to see a large version). We plan to leave Thur (5 March). We will mosey our way to Brownsville and plan to go back roads as much as possible. We will do the East or Gulf Coast of Mexico this time. First area that we will spend time at is on the Emerald Coast, just south of Poza Rico and north of Veracruz. This will be quite different than the West Coast trip since on the second day in Mexico we will already be below the Tropic of Cancer and in warmth! Who knows what we will do from there? We have the medicine issue resolved for 90 days so we will not be pressed.

Daniele will be doing most of the blogging on this trip. We've got our SkyPE system working. The Email works. We've got our paper work in order....we hope.

Check back and see how we are progressing! And, yes, we have read all the dire warnings. We frequent RV in Mexico web sites and forums and no one has had a problem. We will get clear of the border in a hurry and practice situational awareness.