Sat, 6 January 2007, Teacapán (State of Sinaloa) to Culiacan, er make that Las Mochis (State of Sinaloa)

We hated to leave Teacopan but they were full so off we went at 0845. We decided to try the free (Libre) highway because other RV’ers say they are fine and the toll roads can get very expensive. They are right! We were on toll for only a short section and saved at least $75US. Plus the free highways were great and scenic. You get to see more towns and these do not slow you down much. We had 2 or 3 instances to getting stuck behind trucks, but nothing of concern. It is the libre for us (except in mountains, probably).

We arrived at our campground in Culiacan about 1400. It was lovely…a water park with a nice lake and pools. So far so good. As we neared the site, the coach began vibrating. When we stopped there was a loud, steady ka-thump, ka-thump. It was “music”. Thinking it was just workers with a boom box we set up and unhooked the Jeep. Steve drove (it was that far) to where the “music” was coming from and it was a DJ setting up! Steve drove to the office and asked (it was loud there too, a mile away) about it. “Oh, that is a fiesta.” When will it end? 0200. We left.

Driving was good so we pressed on to Las Mochis and arrived at 1830. We’re in a bare bones campsite that is used as a storage place for RV’s while the owners take a train into the Copper Canyon (Mexico’s grand canyon, which is bigger than ours!) Doesn’t matter, it has utilities and is fairly quiet. We’re ahead of schedule so now we’ll be able to spend extra time in the colonial towns of El Fuerte and Alamos.

We traveled 357 miles today, a long way in Mexico. We also chatted about what we’ve done so we did some numbers:
We left NC on 25 Oct
We arrived in Mexico on 9 Dec
We traveled 3,382 miles (so far) in the US
We traveled 2,004 miles (so far) in Mexico
Grand total of 5,386 miles, so far.

Some random observations:
•We have not seen one single person begging for money, anywhere.
•We have not seen anyone sleeping on the streets or sidewalks.
•We still get smiles and waves from people everywhere
•No one has tried to cheat us (other than the “Dr” in Mazatlan) and we have never felt uneasy in spite of having traveled from the biggest to the smallest areas.
•Dirt streets seem normal now, we don’t even notice them
•There are very few signs admonishing you to not do something. There seems to be an attitude of act like you know you should act and be responsible for yourself (we are told that lawsuits are almost unheard of here…you should have watched where you were going)
•Baseball is a big deal here. We’ve seen quite a few games being played in village ballparks. The players are in nice uniforms and there is always a fair size audience