Thursday, April 2, 2009

Stuck (Emerald Coast to Puebla)

Off to Puebla! Errr, not so fast….we’re stuck in the sand. We aren’t the first ones to do this so the de Alba gang knew what to do. They pumped water from the pool all around and put some palm fronds under the tires. The sand dried and hardened a bit. Still not good so fellow camper Bill pulled us back a few feet with his chain and F350. That got us on solid ground enough to maneuver out.   Only lost about a half hour! We then went cross country and eventually climbed from sea level to 7,000 ft. We only missed one turn in a village and that enabled us to see a beautiful town square and church that we would have otherwise missed. The mountainous passages were steep in places but there was plenty of width to the road and trucks were good about helping people pass them.

That reminds me: there are 2 customs here that are neat. One is that you might see a truck turn his left turn signal on. This usually means that he can see that it is safe for you to pass him. Of course, it could mean that he is going to turn left so you have to judge. It really works well. The other is that 2 lane roads are often, in practice, 3 lanes. The highway is marked with the center stripe and the stripes on each shoulder. But, the shoulder is often very wide. So, one is expected to center their vehicle on the shoulder stripe (i.e., right wheels well to the right of the shoulder stripe) thus leaving lots of room for vehicles to pass slower vehicles. Again, this works great and saves the expense of a 4th lane!

RVers: The roads were all good, especially the new toll road between north of Perote and Amozoc.  We took 129 to 131 to the new 140D (not on some maps and GPS systems) to 150D into Puebla. Ask if you have any questions.  The trip took 5 hours in a gas V10 35’ motorhome towing a Grand Cherokee.  Tolls were $20.

We are staying at a very nice park (Trailer Park Las Americas LINK) in Cholula, a suburb of Puebla. The park is very tidy, beautiful trees and planting, pool, great water pressure, electric, sewer hookup and a great wifi. It is also quiet especially considering that we are in an urban area….well, the pool was bad last night with glass shaking base from a pool party. We moved to a quieter part of the park and it is now fine. $13.57 per night at the weekly rate.  Great value!

Destiono at Las Americas

We’ll laze around and get used to the rarified air and then start touring the towns. Oh, did I mention that we are at the base of an active volcano? It was venting smoke when we came in yesterday. More on all this, with pictures, later. 

2 comments:

Claire said...

Is that your RV right on the little garden?? That is so pretty- and open and ... empty. I know the pups love it!! And the cats, too, I would assume! :)

Claire said...

Dinkus would be so proud that an F350 was able to get you out of the sand! That's hilarious!