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I last left off on New Year’s Eve as the group was gathering in Gila Bend to depart on January 2, 2004. We all put
together a potluck dinner and took it up to the Elk’s Lodge and later went back to dance to the music of a DJ.
There were a few local folks there, but the 17 of us made up the bulk of the ‘crowd’. We had a good time but most
of us left before midnight to head across the gravel lot to our rigs. Colleen and I barely managed to get out a
“Happy New Year” to one another before falling asleep. It’s interesting how staying up late doesn’t have as much
appeal as it did 30 years ago.
We spent New Year’s Day finishing up last minute projects, dumping holding tanks, entertaining friends and
generally chomping at the bit to get going. Jerri, Colleen’s sister-in-law, and Jim, a friend from Phoenix came to
Gila Bend to see us off. Other friends of the group also came to see us off on our journey…thank you Jerri and
Jim for coming to send us on our way. We weren’t headed for the moon, but Panama is enough of an adventure
that it draws some attention.
We left at 8:00 am from the parking lot of the Elks Lodge in Gila Bend after taking many photos of all the rigs lined
up. We were all very excited to shift our attention from ‘getting ready for the trip’ to ‘on the trip’. Most of us had
spent months in preparation for this day and couldn’t wait for it to start happening.
We headed our lumbering 11-segmented selves down the highway to Lukeville and Sonoyta for the border
crossing. We all had to get the papers for a 6 month stay in Mexico as well as deal with all of the appropriate
paperwork to get the vehicles across the border. It cost $19/person and $29.70/vehicle for the permits and took
us 3 hours to get everything done. One glitch was that a couple of the rigs had generators and spare tires in the
compartments and in the back of their trucks that had to be taxed separately because they were not attached
and/or were more spares than would normally be carried. I think it cost Ken and Kirk each an extra $15 for that
‘import’ tax.
Off we went to Puerto Peñasco (also called Rocky Point) and we reached there around 3:00 in the afternoon. We
camped in a dry camping area at Sandy Beach for $5/night. I see now why it is called Rocky Point…the only sand
is quite a ways from the shore. The first night’s sunset was glorious. We stayed there for 2 nights. On the second
day a group of us went into town and purchased beautiful shrimp, shark and clams and put together a great
group meal.
From Puerto Peñasco we headed inland toward Hermosillo and spent the night just west of Santa Ana in an
abandoned Pemex station. During these 2 days of travel some of us were weary of the constant admonishments
from the caravan leader to watch out for potholes and other generally irritating instructions as though we weren’t
capable drivers. So, while we were in Santa Ana the group sat down and put together what we thought were the
responsibilities of the caravan leaders and the fact that we wanted some input into the destinations, duration of
stay, and camping locations. In spite of our best efforts to communicate this information to them, they were so
invested in the military model of group leadership (there were repeated mentions of Admirals and Captains of
ships) that it was apparent to me that the group might have to divide into two groups.
The next night was spent in Hermosillo in the WalMart parking lot. There were more power plays from the
organizers of the caravan and many of us were getting a bit depressed about what we had signed up for. I say
‘signed up’ and mean it loosely as there were no fees associated with joining the group. Originally, we started with
the feeling that the caravan members would be fully participating members of the group. Not so!!!
From Hermosillo we headed south and east toward Ciudad Obregon. We stopped just shy of the city in a town
called Bàcum and occupied two sides of the town plaza. There were lots of kids who were fascinated with our rigs
and we were told that we were the first tourists to stop there. Colleen and I got our bikes off the rack and went for
a tour of the town with all the kids on their bikes. The town looks very prosperous and the kids were great fun.
Ken and Carolyn invited all of them, four at a time, in to see their rig. Colleen and I asked the kids to choose one
among them to come in and then provide a full report. The one they elected was named Raquel and she was very
conscientious about looking at every detail so she could provide a full report back to the kids. We ate tacos at a
little stand near the church and then turned in. There were lots of roosters nearby that kept others awake, but our
rig seems to be pretty well insulated and they aren’t bothering us since we have the windows closed. I suppose
that as the weather warms up and we open the windows at night we will be glad we brought ear plugs.
We left Bàcum for Alamos which is a lovely old colonial town at the westernmost edge of the Sierra Madres. We
dry camped for 100P/night at an RV park about ¾ of a mile from the town. Many of us were getting pretty
unhappy with our leadership though we were willing to continue trying to make it work. At 2:30 the afternoon we
arrived, 9 of us from 5 rigs met to discuss the situation and decided that going on would be like keeping a bad
marriage together for the sake of the kids and that we would announce our decision to the group at a 4:30
meeting. After that announcement 2 other single members made known their intention to also leave. One (a gutsy
single woman in her 70s) has gone off on her own and the other joined up with us. In addition to all of the
discomfort with our disenfranchisement, a single woman who was accompanying one of the leaders decided that
the trip with him was not going to work and wanted to return home. After spending the night with us on the sofa,
Joe took her to the bus station in Navojoa. So, when all was said and done, the group leaders have gone on with
4 rigs and 5 people and we are traveling with 6 rigs and 10 people. One of the couples that will travel with us had
their refrigerator fail and returned to Tucson for it to be fixed. We will meet them in Mazatlan this weekend.
The newly happy, relieved caravan stayed in Alamos a second night and then headed for El Fuerte by way of
Navojoa. El Fuerte is also a colonial town on the west edge of the Sierra Madres and is a popular place from
whence to catch the train into the Copper Canyon. We boondocked in the village of Las Cabras, 50 kilometers
from Highway 15 on the road to El Fuerte from El Carrizo.
The comisario of Las Cabras, Rogelio Guerrero, would like other RVers to know that they are also welcome to
boondock here for 25 pesos per night (about $2.25US). I wrote out the words he will put on a sign on the road...it
should say "Las Cabras....RV dry camping...25 Pesos". It is a very nice wide area near the highway with easy
access for any kind of a rig with a large thorny tree which affords some shade and a focal point. It is just dirt so a
little dusty, but for 25 pesos you can't beat it. The money derived from this venture will go to the local primary
school. Las Cabras is located at 14 kilometers from El Fuerte and 50k from El Carrizo on the road from El Carrizo.
If you care to put out the word, Rogelio will appreciate it. Rogelio himself is a farmer who has been
comisario/mayor for 12 years because no one else wants the job. He is a very lean, soft spoken, dignified man
who looks much older than his 50 years. His hands tell the tale of years of hard work.
We stayed in Las Cabras for two nights and went into El Fuerte to look around. While we were gone from our
encampment, we hired a local woman, Jenny, for 10 pesos/hour to watch our rigs to keep the kids from climbing
on them etcetera. While in El Fuerte we went to the museum at the old fort, shopped for some produce, and Kirk
and Kathe bought machetes. They are getting ready for all the coconuts to be opened and jungle plants that will
need to be hacked out of the way as we get into the jungles farther south.
The reorganized group consists of 3 trucks with either 5th wheels or regular trailers, a small van conversion, our
class A motorhome and another smaller class A motorhome. We are so happy to be traveling with this really
compatible group!!!! The people with the trucks and smaller rigs are very generous with getting the group into
towns and searching out great spots to stay. We have created a common purse, maintained by Colleen, for group
purchases such as watermelons, firewood, and guard services.
We left Las Cabras this morning, January 11th, destined for Topolobampo a coastal town not too far from Los
Mochis. We drove out to Maviri Beach where we are camped in the parking lot of a large beachfront restaurant.
We ate lunch there at the restaurant though it was a little pricey, walked down the beach, oohed and aahed over
an incredible sunset, carried a few women off a lancha that couldn’t get all the way to the beach because of the
shallow water and then headed back to our rigs for our nightly campfire in a washing machine tub that Kirk
brought…we are really enjoying the nightly campfires. While sitting around the fire we got talking to the Valdez
family (mom, dad, twin daughters, and grand-daughter) and they ended up inviting us to their home in Los
Mochis. After a few minutes of talking they decided that maybe we would prefer to visit their beach house in San
Ignacio, outside of Los Mochis instead.
Tomorrow morning we are leaving here early to meet them at their city house at 8:00 am and then caravan out to
their beach house for 2 nights. They own a business that puts on parties for children and will take a couple of
days off to spend with us. We are very excited at this invitation and sad that Joyce and Larry won’t be back from
Tucson to enjoy it with us. We will take lots of pictures!!!!
We arrived at their home in Los Mochis shortly after 8 am after having the group get separated traveling through
town. We had to go back in the Valdez’s car to get the ones we lost. We discovered that they were just getting up
and weren’t packed and ready to go…I think this is a cultural difference….we felt compelled to be there at 8:00 as
arranged and felt bad that we were 11 minutes late and they weren’t even out of bed yet. Later around a fire I was
talking to Marisol and she told me that her dad told her that Americans are very prompt.
We were invited in to their large and rambling home with a central courtyard with a swimming pool and to their
business that is attached to their home. Most of what I saw were accoutrements of fantasy characters such as
Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and many others; their business is called Mundo de Mickey (Mickey’s World).
The whole family, three generations, works in the business either doing the photography, booking parties, making
costumes or actually doing the singing and dancing in costume for large birthday and other parties. They also
have several employees.
From their house several of us walked to the local grocery store and Ken went with Enrique Valdez to the butcher
shop to make the purchases of fish, shrimp and steak for a large BBQ that night at their beach house. After going
to the store and a few false starts to getting going, we were finally on the road at 11:00 or so. Enrique, the dad,
and 4 year old Alexia, Solangel’s daughter rode with us to provide directions; Marisol rode with Kirk and the rest
were to follow later.
We had looked for San Ignacio on the map and found it easily not too far from Los Mochis. It looked to be about
30 miles away and it was, but, contrary to the map, the road was not a straight line but a series of dirt roads and
roads across mud flats and through washes that took us around the edge of the bay. It took us 2 ½ hours to go
20 miles as the way was rocky, bumpy, circuitous, and complicated by many alternate dirt roads. At some point
Joe started setting waypoints on his GPS so we could find our way out again if we wanted to leave before the
family did.
We finally arrived and set up camp near the home of the velador (night watchman) for a stay of two days on an
idyllic bay in a private encampment of contiguous beach homes with no electricity other than that provided by
generators. Any water they had for home use was either collected in cisterns from the rainfall or hauled in. We
unloaded our kayak, the BBQ and the bicycles, set up the satellite dish and prepared for a stay of at least two
and maybe several days.
Colleen and I went for a kayak ride around the point and took Alexia with us. A panga was just pulling up on a
beach to clean the day’s catch of Baquete, a red fish that I don’t know the name of in English – it’s not a red
snapper because they call that Pargo. As they were cleaning the fish, dozens of pelicans gathered politely nearby
in the water waiting for them to finish. While the pelicans waited, dozens of frigate birds started to congregate
above our heads and swoop down toward the sand where the fish guts were near the fishermen. This got the
pelicans agitated and moving toward the beach to get their share. We ran the risk of being bombarded with frigate
bird poop and fish guts as the birds wrestled midair over choice pieces, but hung in right there. The frigate birds
never touched the ground in their forays for the offal and the pelicans desperately wanted some of the bounty but
were so polite they were mostly missing out. What a great scene!!!!
We paddled back and dropped off Alexia. Kirk and Joe had just paddled over in Kirk’s Sea Eagle, an inflatable
that has a sail and a motor to use with it when you want. We challenged them to a race from a dead stop and with
our practiced and synchronized paddling we soon left them in the proverbial dust. The bet was that the losers had
to BBQ the fish. Kirk and Joe soon gave up the race but are willing to take us on again later when they have had
more practice and without paddles…they think the only way they will win is to use the motor and the sail…I guess
we get to use our hands.
We started cooking at 5:00 (we had told Enrique that dinner would be at 6:00) and had to go get them at 6:15 so
we could eat while the food was hot off the BBQ. This difference in sense of time will probably provide other
challenges during our trip. The rest of the family had still not arrived. We had a great meal with each ‘righold’
providing a contribution. Afterward we built a fire in the washing machine tub and sat around swapping
stories…eventually other members of the family arrived. During the conversation, Marisol mentioned that if it rains
no one can get in and out of this village. We turned in around 9:00.
During the night it started to rain and after checking the internet for the weather report we decided to pack up and
get moving out of there. Within the hour, at 9:15, we were on our way after offering our regrets to the Valdez
family (most of whom were still asleep). Fortunately Joe had marked the waypoints and we thought we could find
our way out through the maze of dirt roads. What used to be dirt roads were now covered in goose grease and we
had a heck of a time slipping and sliding our way back to the highway. It took us 2 hours to go 20 miles. I had no
idea what it might be like to drive a 30,000 # 38’ motorhome up and down hills with the rear end of the coach
trying to catch up with the front of it. It was a harrowing trip and we all made it out safely. We were exhausted!!!
We will now use this as our benchmark for future tough roads….If we can make it out of San Ignacio we can go
anywhere!!!
We continued south after getting back to the pavement and took the free road to save the tolls. We spent the
night behind a Pemex station just south of Culiacan and continued on the next day to Mazatlan. We are camped
on a paved street that dead ends at the ocean and glad to wait here for Larry and Joyce who got their refrigerator
repaired and headed south. In Hermosillo they discovered that the refrigerator wasn’t working again and turned
around for Tucson. It has now been repaired again and tomorrow, the 15th, they are heading our way again.
You didn’t have to wait long for this episode because I wanted to get it all down while the memory of the trip to
San Ignacio was fresh.
We camped on a cul-de-sac 100 yards off the beach just north of town near Playa Bruja. We were told that this
has been an on-again off-again boondocking area and that the police sometimes kick people out of there.
While there we went into town to walk around, took our laundry to be done, did some shopping and generally just
hung out. Lee Jacobs and her husband came and visited us there. Thanks to them we had precise directions to
our boondocking spot. Larry and Joyce made it to Mazatlan in record time, just about 10 minutes after the police
informed us that we could not stay another night. Ken and I went to a nearby RV park and made arrangements for
the group for $14/night at Playa Escondida RV Park.
The park was a run down RV park with deteriorating facilities, a few long term residents toward the front of the
park, and nothing to recommend it except as a place the police wouldn’t kick us out of. The next day we washed
the final remnants of the mud from the road out of San Ignacio off of our rigs, filled our fresh water tanks with
potable water and then started the process of dumping the holding tanks. What a disaster!!! The drains were
mostly plugged up and we had poop everywhere!!! We finally did manage to get all the rigs dumped and then
headed off south.
Along the road Kirk had a blowout on a rear tire on his truck. There are generally no shoulders on the roads we
travel and this one was true to form. Kirk’s truck and trailer were now blocking half the road. While most of us went
ahead to a wide place where we could pull off, Joe stayed behind with Kirk and some of us went back to help
divert traffic. It took a while, but the tire got changed and we continued on toward Mexcaltitan. We got to the
northern turnoff for Mexcaltitan, an island village, and called it a night behind another Pemex station. In the
morning we headed west toward Mexcaltitan and had one of the most delightful drives we have had so far. It was
around 9:00 in the morning and we drove on a 2 lane road with marsh and mangrove on both sides and hundreds
of birds, large and small, very close to the road. We saw egrets of various kinds, herons, storks, roseate
spoonbills, hawks, eagles and falcons as well as lots of smaller, colorful songbirds. What a treat!!
We arrived at the end of the road and arranged for a tour of the area via boat for 60 pesos per person and all
climbed aboard a fiberglass panga for 3 hours that also included a visit to the island itself. This island is said to be
the birthplace of the Aztec people. Looking at a picture taken from the air it looks like a mandala or a Mayan
calendar to me with its central zocalo and streets radiating out from the center.
After returning to our rigs we headed back out the same road to the main highway with San Blas as our
destination. We got held up for a long time at a bridge construction project and were not going to be able to make
it all the way to San Blas before nightfall. As we were let through the blockade at the bridge, the men directing
traffic stopped Joe from continuing. Via the CB radio I talked to them and convinced them that they needed to let
Joe through with us as it would be a half hour before he got through otherwise. We knew that the road off the
highway might be narrow, steep and twisty, so we pulled off the road to stop for the night alongside the side road
in to San Blas.
Just about the time we got ourselves situated and a fire going in our laundry tub, the watchman for the closed
mango packing plant we were parked in front of, came out to ask us to move inside his gate where we would be
safer. He was quite insistent (and quite drunk) and so we packed it up to move inside his gate. The velador lives
there with his daughter who appeared to be about 16 years old; his wife recently died from diabetes. They were
both intrigued with our casas rodantes (rolling homes) and got a tour of the rigs. We spent a peaceful night and
headed out at 8am the next morning.
After arriving in San Blas most of us hung out in a parking lot while Larry and Joe went to find a place for the
group to stay. They were gone quite a while and, after some more forays into various areas, we settled on staying
on a beach in front of a restaurant called Las Cumbres about 4 miles south of town. Larry and Joe found the
perfect spot. As I write this I am looking out the window at the high tide as it pushes the flotsam up the sand about
40 feet in front of us. Colleen, Joyce and I tried kayaking out through the surf, but managed to swamp the kayak
before making it beyond the breakers. We are looking forward to calmer waters that aren’t such a struggle to
paddle through.
While here we have eaten at the restaurant frequently to ‘pay’ for our stay in this beautiful spot. We also went
walking in town, went on another boat ride through the mangroves to La Tovara, a fresh water pool where we
went swimming. On this boat ride we saw lots of different birds and several crocodiles. There were two large crocs
that live near the pool at the end of the boat ride that make me a little nervous to be swimming there. We have
also done a few maintenance chores so our rolling homes don’t fall apart around us.
Tonight is our last night here on this beach and we went to dinner at the restaurant where the shrimp a la diabla
without ‘pajamas’ were spectacular. I made a joke to the women who cook here about why we were not ordering
the shrimp dish. None of us like to order shrimp with the shells still on so I explained that we didn’t like shrimp with
their pajamas on. In our honor they removed the pajamas from the shrimp tonight and they were great.
When we left San Blas we were headed for Puerto Vallarta and we found a great boondocking spot on a cliff
overlooking the ocean near Punta Mita several kilometers north of Pto Vallarta. We had originally thought to
approach from the road that goes through Sayulita, but that turned out to be an interesting side jaunt through a
very small town square with lots of onlookers as we extricated ourselves. The map showed a heavy red line for
both approaches to Punta Mita and so we chose the shortest route. Maybe the cartographer was optimistic that
someday the road would be more than a goat track through very narrow streets. We ended up about 5 miles west
of the main highway on the south road that angles out to Punta Mita. It was an overlook point that allowed you to
see from one end of Bahia Banderas to the other so at night we looked south to the lights of Pto Vallarta.
We find these supposed free camping spots via word of mouth from travelers that we meet or we have heard from
others who publish trip notes such as the ones you are reading or we just see something that looks likely. This
particular one was littered with trash that we all spent about an hour picking up and burning so it looked quite nice
when we were finished. While we were involved in our clean-up efforts two young men happened to stop by; it
turned out they were the sons of the owner of the land we were camped on. They were very welcoming and
grateful for the trash pickup. They told us to stay as long as we liked and sent the local police to assure us we
would be safe there. The police stopped by on a regular basis to say hi.
We stayed for two nights and went in to Pto Vallarta to check out the town. It was another large tourist town and
we were glad that we were camped a few miles from it. We also swam on the beach in front of our clifftop spot. We
are going from one beautiful spot to the next and always eager to see the next beach or town.
Heading south once again we stopped at Punta Perula (N 19° 35’, W 105° 7’) where we found a beach access
road used by the local fishermen to get to the beach with their boats. It was right alongside the Punta Perula RV
park where one of our members decided to go for the full hookups for the night. As are most of the RV parks
down here, this one was filled with RVs from the US and Canada with people who come back to the same villages
and parks year after year. We arranged our vehicles in such a way as to not block the access for the fishermen
and set up for a two night stay. While there we walked in the village, swam, took a side trip to another
recommended spot where we met some Americans who gave us some more tips on good places to stay as we
continued down the coast.
I included the latitude and longitude reading because there are readers of these notes who use the GPS to find
spots such as the ones we are using on our way south. A couple of readers are authors of books that may find
some updated information to add to their latest version. I will continue to include the readings wherever we use
the satellite dish as I need the readings to set it up anyway.
By the way, the satellite dish is working great though the signal is getting weaker as we get closer to the limits of
the footprint of the particular satellite we are using (SatMex5). We generally set it up in front of our motorhome
where we can cable it to the steps or a tree and the three other members of the group who have purchased the
router and WiFi cards park nearby. With their WiFi cards they can access the net at the same time we do and can
then keep up with their email and online bill paying etc. We are using the DirecWay elliptical dish with the Hughes
satellite. The service costs $59.99 a month for unlimited access and then we also have a service where we plug a
telephone handset into the computer and can call the US for 3.9 cents a minute. If you are interested in having
this service, I recommend that you contact Ron Brundage in Gila Bend, Arizona at (928) 683-6004 for more
information. This isn’t who we purchased the system from, but Ron sells the newer DW6000 system for less than
what we paid for the older DW4000 system. As we get farther south we will have to change to a different satellite
and we may be off the air for a few days while we get it sorted out. Fortunately for me, another member of the
group, Larry, is a whiz at dealing with equipment such as this and is very generous with helping with the setup and
troubleshooting problems.
From Punta Perula we went to Cuyutlan to a large parking lot (N 18:55, W 104:4) that was right on the beach near
an area that we suspect fills up on the weekends and holidays with hundreds of Mexican families who head for the
beaches just like we do. Just south of the parking lot were dozens of large palapas (wood pole structures with
palm frond roofs to provide shade) with hundreds of plastic chairs under them and dozens of rolled up umbrellas
planted in the sand along the beach. Each area had an open-air kitchen associated with it with their seafood
specialties detailed on hand lettered signs. Shrimp and fish meals are generally in the 40-80 peso range (9.5
pesos to the US dollar), and beer and soda pop are 10 pesos each.
We only stayed one night and then continued south to Maruata (N 18:16, W 103:20) where we camped at the end
of an abandoned airstrip in front of a military outpost at the east end of town. This beach is one where the turtles
come to lay their eggs. In the daylight you can see evidence of the tracks of the large turtles who come ashore to
lay eggs and the scaled down version of the tracks left by the newly hatched baby turtles who are making their
way to the ocean. What a treat!!!! At around 8:00 pm we headed out down the beach with flashlights to see if we
could find any turtles and we were rewarded with our efforts by seeing 4 turtles that made their way in to above
the high water mark to lay their eggs. This particular sea turtle is the black turtle and probably weighs in the
neighborhood of 35-50 pounds, about 30 inches long. The military walked with us along the beach with their
machine guns both to protect us and the turtles as part of their duty assignment.
We only stayed one night on the airstrip and then got ready to leave at our accustomed travel time of 9:00 am.
We got ourselves all lined up on the airstrip and headed toward the village to get back to the highway. As we
approached the village we were stopped by many tarp covered shops that had been set up in the early hours of
the morning for what was probably a weekly market event. One enterprising shopkeeper had strung a rope and
tarp across the road out of the village. In order to continue, the two larger rigs had to exit with a person on the
roof to help move the tarp and rope along the length of the rig as it passed underneath. We were sorry that we
were leaving instead of enjoying the market, but kept on anyway.
On the way from Maruata to Playa Linda near Ixtapa, Kirk had another tire go out on him. This time the tread
separated and he was able to limp to a place to get off the road and change to his new spare. Kirk will be getting
all new tires in Acapulco so that he doesn’t continue to have tire problems. When he started the trip he put new
tires on his trailer, but thought that he could make the trip with the existing truck tires. He now knows that these
roads are hard on tires and will soon have all new ones.
Traveling down here in a caravan is an interesting exercise. Yesterday we were traveling down a road that was
steep, twisty, not well maintained, frequently next to rugged canyons, with no guardrails and only about 22 feet
wide with no shoulder. It took us 1 hour to go the first 25 miles. Since our rigs are 10 ½ feet wide and other large
trucks are equally wide, there sometimes are just inches between our mirrors as we pass in opposite directions.
Because of the bad road we got strung out too far yesterday and, when Kirk had his tire problem, those of us that
stopped with him were out of radio contact with the others. This caused some tense moments when our
frustrations got the better of some of us (me included) and we had some group dynamics repair work to do after
we got settled in at Playa Linda. Fortunately we are all willing to deal with making the repairs and moving on with
things.
Playa Linda (N 17:41, W 101:39) is a free camping spot just down the street from Club Med Ixtapa. It is a large,
sandy, peninsular area with ocean on a couple of sides and a lagoon with beautiful egrets just behind where we
camped. On the side of the lagoon is a sign warning us of the crocodiles. It provides easy access (if you can
figure out where the access is) for large rigs and there is plenty of room. There was a club nearby that played
music with a loud bass, but earplugs solved that problem. The egrets were a bit quarrelsome and noisy too.
We were sorry to leave Playa Linda but continued south to Acapulco. We had heard of an RV park in Pie de la
Cuesta north of town so all stopped there and Colleen and Joe went out to try to find a boondocking spot along
the sand spit. They were gone for 2 hours and came back with the information that there wasn’t really anything
suitable. We all hung out on the grass at a Pemex station in the shade and I tried to figure out why my engine won’
t shut down. No matter what I did, the engine continued to run. Finally, after about 1 ½ hours the engine decided
that it had run long enough and turned off. Luckily we were coming in to a large town where I was likely to find
assistance.
When Colleen and Joe came back with no success, Ken had already decided that he was going to an RV park at
the other end of Acapulco Bay and we all decided to go there too. We headed off behind Ken and Carolyn like a
bunch of ducklings to hopefully find our way around the city to the Diamante RV Park. Well, guess what, we ended
up going right through part of the city at rush hour. I can’t even begin to describe with any accuracy what it is like
to take RVs through a very busy Mexican resort city at rush hour all trying to stay together. At one point there was
a Volkswagen that was trying to sneak past me on the right as I tried to move over to the right lane. Mary, behind
us, warned me that it was there and I just decided I would squash the ‘bug’ and continued on over. Size does
matter sometimes!!!! This route took us up a steep hill and then down the other side with an equally steep slope.
Steep downhills are a piece of cake for us with the exhaust brake, but the others’ brakes were heating up. How we
managed to find the RV park without any scrapes and all staying together is a wonder to me.
It was almost dark as we arrived and had to maneuver into spaces with lots of shrubbery. The engine wouldn’t
shut down again and so I went to find a local mechanic who lives right outside the park to get his assistance. He
very kindly left his dinner to come to our aid. Eventually he pulled the battery cables to cut power to the fuel pump
and there was blessed quiet as the engine immediately shut down. His name is Tomas and Colleen is calling him
Santo Tomas since he came to our rescue.
Today was a very long day…bad roads, dozens of topes (we launched off of one with no damage), our first boo
boo to the rig as I went down too steep of an entry to a pull-off spot and cracked the fiberglass shrouding under
the front of the rig, long wait to find a stopping spot, engine wouldn’t shut down, arriving at dark….we were all
pooped.
So, we are at the Diamante RV Park (N 16:47, W 99:48) where we are hugely outnumbered by people from
Quebec. French is the dominant language and it is fun to practice my very rusty French. Yesterday I spent the
day on the telephone both to the US through our computer and from the park phone to local Caterpillar and
Freightliner repair facilities and today, January 31st, at 10:30 a mechanic from Freightliner is due to come to the
park to look at the problem. It may be a fuel shutoff solenoid that is bad…we’ll see. We are planning on staying
here in this park for at least 5 days as we all get some needed down time for sightseeing and repairs.
This is the end of the January trip notes…they have been pretty long as we are doing a lot. We have passed the
2000 mile point in the trip which is expected to be about 10,000 miles in all. I am in the process of redoing the
pictures on the website http://www.whirledvision.com so go check that out in a couple of days; I also am posting
the trip notes there in case you are interested.
Hasta later, Kathe
together a potluck dinner and took it up to the Elk’s Lodge and later went back to dance to the music of a DJ.
There were a few local folks there, but the 17 of us made up the bulk of the ‘crowd’. We had a good time but most
of us left before midnight to head across the gravel lot to our rigs. Colleen and I barely managed to get out a
“Happy New Year” to one another before falling asleep. It’s interesting how staying up late doesn’t have as much
appeal as it did 30 years ago.
We spent New Year’s Day finishing up last minute projects, dumping holding tanks, entertaining friends and
generally chomping at the bit to get going. Jerri, Colleen’s sister-in-law, and Jim, a friend from Phoenix came to
Gila Bend to see us off. Other friends of the group also came to see us off on our journey…thank you Jerri and
Jim for coming to send us on our way. We weren’t headed for the moon, but Panama is enough of an adventure
that it draws some attention.
We left at 8:00 am from the parking lot of the Elks Lodge in Gila Bend after taking many photos of all the rigs lined
up. We were all very excited to shift our attention from ‘getting ready for the trip’ to ‘on the trip’. Most of us had
spent months in preparation for this day and couldn’t wait for it to start happening.
We headed our lumbering 11-segmented selves down the highway to Lukeville and Sonoyta for the border
crossing. We all had to get the papers for a 6 month stay in Mexico as well as deal with all of the appropriate
paperwork to get the vehicles across the border. It cost $19/person and $29.70/vehicle for the permits and took
us 3 hours to get everything done. One glitch was that a couple of the rigs had generators and spare tires in the
compartments and in the back of their trucks that had to be taxed separately because they were not attached
and/or were more spares than would normally be carried. I think it cost Ken and Kirk each an extra $15 for that
‘import’ tax.
Off we went to Puerto Peñasco (also called Rocky Point) and we reached there around 3:00 in the afternoon. We
camped in a dry camping area at Sandy Beach for $5/night. I see now why it is called Rocky Point…the only sand
is quite a ways from the shore. The first night’s sunset was glorious. We stayed there for 2 nights. On the second
day a group of us went into town and purchased beautiful shrimp, shark and clams and put together a great
group meal.
From Puerto Peñasco we headed inland toward Hermosillo and spent the night just west of Santa Ana in an
abandoned Pemex station. During these 2 days of travel some of us were weary of the constant admonishments
from the caravan leader to watch out for potholes and other generally irritating instructions as though we weren’t
capable drivers. So, while we were in Santa Ana the group sat down and put together what we thought were the
responsibilities of the caravan leaders and the fact that we wanted some input into the destinations, duration of
stay, and camping locations. In spite of our best efforts to communicate this information to them, they were so
invested in the military model of group leadership (there were repeated mentions of Admirals and Captains of
ships) that it was apparent to me that the group might have to divide into two groups.
The next night was spent in Hermosillo in the WalMart parking lot. There were more power plays from the
organizers of the caravan and many of us were getting a bit depressed about what we had signed up for. I say
‘signed up’ and mean it loosely as there were no fees associated with joining the group. Originally, we started with
the feeling that the caravan members would be fully participating members of the group. Not so!!!
From Hermosillo we headed south and east toward Ciudad Obregon. We stopped just shy of the city in a town
called Bàcum and occupied two sides of the town plaza. There were lots of kids who were fascinated with our rigs
and we were told that we were the first tourists to stop there. Colleen and I got our bikes off the rack and went for
a tour of the town with all the kids on their bikes. The town looks very prosperous and the kids were great fun.
Ken and Carolyn invited all of them, four at a time, in to see their rig. Colleen and I asked the kids to choose one
among them to come in and then provide a full report. The one they elected was named Raquel and she was very
conscientious about looking at every detail so she could provide a full report back to the kids. We ate tacos at a
little stand near the church and then turned in. There were lots of roosters nearby that kept others awake, but our
rig seems to be pretty well insulated and they aren’t bothering us since we have the windows closed. I suppose
that as the weather warms up and we open the windows at night we will be glad we brought ear plugs.
We left Bàcum for Alamos which is a lovely old colonial town at the westernmost edge of the Sierra Madres. We
dry camped for 100P/night at an RV park about ¾ of a mile from the town. Many of us were getting pretty
unhappy with our leadership though we were willing to continue trying to make it work. At 2:30 the afternoon we
arrived, 9 of us from 5 rigs met to discuss the situation and decided that going on would be like keeping a bad
marriage together for the sake of the kids and that we would announce our decision to the group at a 4:30
meeting. After that announcement 2 other single members made known their intention to also leave. One (a gutsy
single woman in her 70s) has gone off on her own and the other joined up with us. In addition to all of the
discomfort with our disenfranchisement, a single woman who was accompanying one of the leaders decided that
the trip with him was not going to work and wanted to return home. After spending the night with us on the sofa,
Joe took her to the bus station in Navojoa. So, when all was said and done, the group leaders have gone on with
4 rigs and 5 people and we are traveling with 6 rigs and 10 people. One of the couples that will travel with us had
their refrigerator fail and returned to Tucson for it to be fixed. We will meet them in Mazatlan this weekend.
The newly happy, relieved caravan stayed in Alamos a second night and then headed for El Fuerte by way of
Navojoa. El Fuerte is also a colonial town on the west edge of the Sierra Madres and is a popular place from
whence to catch the train into the Copper Canyon. We boondocked in the village of Las Cabras, 50 kilometers
from Highway 15 on the road to El Fuerte from El Carrizo.
The comisario of Las Cabras, Rogelio Guerrero, would like other RVers to know that they are also welcome to
boondock here for 25 pesos per night (about $2.25US). I wrote out the words he will put on a sign on the road...it
should say "Las Cabras....RV dry camping...25 Pesos". It is a very nice wide area near the highway with easy
access for any kind of a rig with a large thorny tree which affords some shade and a focal point. It is just dirt so a
little dusty, but for 25 pesos you can't beat it. The money derived from this venture will go to the local primary
school. Las Cabras is located at 14 kilometers from El Fuerte and 50k from El Carrizo on the road from El Carrizo.
If you care to put out the word, Rogelio will appreciate it. Rogelio himself is a farmer who has been
comisario/mayor for 12 years because no one else wants the job. He is a very lean, soft spoken, dignified man
who looks much older than his 50 years. His hands tell the tale of years of hard work.
We stayed in Las Cabras for two nights and went into El Fuerte to look around. While we were gone from our
encampment, we hired a local woman, Jenny, for 10 pesos/hour to watch our rigs to keep the kids from climbing
on them etcetera. While in El Fuerte we went to the museum at the old fort, shopped for some produce, and Kirk
and Kathe bought machetes. They are getting ready for all the coconuts to be opened and jungle plants that will
need to be hacked out of the way as we get into the jungles farther south.
The reorganized group consists of 3 trucks with either 5th wheels or regular trailers, a small van conversion, our
class A motorhome and another smaller class A motorhome. We are so happy to be traveling with this really
compatible group!!!! The people with the trucks and smaller rigs are very generous with getting the group into
towns and searching out great spots to stay. We have created a common purse, maintained by Colleen, for group
purchases such as watermelons, firewood, and guard services.
We left Las Cabras this morning, January 11th, destined for Topolobampo a coastal town not too far from Los
Mochis. We drove out to Maviri Beach where we are camped in the parking lot of a large beachfront restaurant.
We ate lunch there at the restaurant though it was a little pricey, walked down the beach, oohed and aahed over
an incredible sunset, carried a few women off a lancha that couldn’t get all the way to the beach because of the
shallow water and then headed back to our rigs for our nightly campfire in a washing machine tub that Kirk
brought…we are really enjoying the nightly campfires. While sitting around the fire we got talking to the Valdez
family (mom, dad, twin daughters, and grand-daughter) and they ended up inviting us to their home in Los
Mochis. After a few minutes of talking they decided that maybe we would prefer to visit their beach house in San
Ignacio, outside of Los Mochis instead.
Tomorrow morning we are leaving here early to meet them at their city house at 8:00 am and then caravan out to
their beach house for 2 nights. They own a business that puts on parties for children and will take a couple of
days off to spend with us. We are very excited at this invitation and sad that Joyce and Larry won’t be back from
Tucson to enjoy it with us. We will take lots of pictures!!!!
We arrived at their home in Los Mochis shortly after 8 am after having the group get separated traveling through
town. We had to go back in the Valdez’s car to get the ones we lost. We discovered that they were just getting up
and weren’t packed and ready to go…I think this is a cultural difference….we felt compelled to be there at 8:00 as
arranged and felt bad that we were 11 minutes late and they weren’t even out of bed yet. Later around a fire I was
talking to Marisol and she told me that her dad told her that Americans are very prompt.
We were invited in to their large and rambling home with a central courtyard with a swimming pool and to their
business that is attached to their home. Most of what I saw were accoutrements of fantasy characters such as
Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and many others; their business is called Mundo de Mickey (Mickey’s World).
The whole family, three generations, works in the business either doing the photography, booking parties, making
costumes or actually doing the singing and dancing in costume for large birthday and other parties. They also
have several employees.
From their house several of us walked to the local grocery store and Ken went with Enrique Valdez to the butcher
shop to make the purchases of fish, shrimp and steak for a large BBQ that night at their beach house. After going
to the store and a few false starts to getting going, we were finally on the road at 11:00 or so. Enrique, the dad,
and 4 year old Alexia, Solangel’s daughter rode with us to provide directions; Marisol rode with Kirk and the rest
were to follow later.
We had looked for San Ignacio on the map and found it easily not too far from Los Mochis. It looked to be about
30 miles away and it was, but, contrary to the map, the road was not a straight line but a series of dirt roads and
roads across mud flats and through washes that took us around the edge of the bay. It took us 2 ½ hours to go
20 miles as the way was rocky, bumpy, circuitous, and complicated by many alternate dirt roads. At some point
Joe started setting waypoints on his GPS so we could find our way out again if we wanted to leave before the
family did.
We finally arrived and set up camp near the home of the velador (night watchman) for a stay of two days on an
idyllic bay in a private encampment of contiguous beach homes with no electricity other than that provided by
generators. Any water they had for home use was either collected in cisterns from the rainfall or hauled in. We
unloaded our kayak, the BBQ and the bicycles, set up the satellite dish and prepared for a stay of at least two
and maybe several days.
Colleen and I went for a kayak ride around the point and took Alexia with us. A panga was just pulling up on a
beach to clean the day’s catch of Baquete, a red fish that I don’t know the name of in English – it’s not a red
snapper because they call that Pargo. As they were cleaning the fish, dozens of pelicans gathered politely nearby
in the water waiting for them to finish. While the pelicans waited, dozens of frigate birds started to congregate
above our heads and swoop down toward the sand where the fish guts were near the fishermen. This got the
pelicans agitated and moving toward the beach to get their share. We ran the risk of being bombarded with frigate
bird poop and fish guts as the birds wrestled midair over choice pieces, but hung in right there. The frigate birds
never touched the ground in their forays for the offal and the pelicans desperately wanted some of the bounty but
were so polite they were mostly missing out. What a great scene!!!!
We paddled back and dropped off Alexia. Kirk and Joe had just paddled over in Kirk’s Sea Eagle, an inflatable
that has a sail and a motor to use with it when you want. We challenged them to a race from a dead stop and with
our practiced and synchronized paddling we soon left them in the proverbial dust. The bet was that the losers had
to BBQ the fish. Kirk and Joe soon gave up the race but are willing to take us on again later when they have had
more practice and without paddles…they think the only way they will win is to use the motor and the sail…I guess
we get to use our hands.
We started cooking at 5:00 (we had told Enrique that dinner would be at 6:00) and had to go get them at 6:15 so
we could eat while the food was hot off the BBQ. This difference in sense of time will probably provide other
challenges during our trip. The rest of the family had still not arrived. We had a great meal with each ‘righold’
providing a contribution. Afterward we built a fire in the washing machine tub and sat around swapping
stories…eventually other members of the family arrived. During the conversation, Marisol mentioned that if it rains
no one can get in and out of this village. We turned in around 9:00.
During the night it started to rain and after checking the internet for the weather report we decided to pack up and
get moving out of there. Within the hour, at 9:15, we were on our way after offering our regrets to the Valdez
family (most of whom were still asleep). Fortunately Joe had marked the waypoints and we thought we could find
our way out through the maze of dirt roads. What used to be dirt roads were now covered in goose grease and we
had a heck of a time slipping and sliding our way back to the highway. It took us 2 hours to go 20 miles. I had no
idea what it might be like to drive a 30,000 # 38’ motorhome up and down hills with the rear end of the coach
trying to catch up with the front of it. It was a harrowing trip and we all made it out safely. We were exhausted!!!
We will now use this as our benchmark for future tough roads….If we can make it out of San Ignacio we can go
anywhere!!!
We continued south after getting back to the pavement and took the free road to save the tolls. We spent the
night behind a Pemex station just south of Culiacan and continued on the next day to Mazatlan. We are camped
on a paved street that dead ends at the ocean and glad to wait here for Larry and Joyce who got their refrigerator
repaired and headed south. In Hermosillo they discovered that the refrigerator wasn’t working again and turned
around for Tucson. It has now been repaired again and tomorrow, the 15th, they are heading our way again.
You didn’t have to wait long for this episode because I wanted to get it all down while the memory of the trip to
San Ignacio was fresh.
We camped on a cul-de-sac 100 yards off the beach just north of town near Playa Bruja. We were told that this
has been an on-again off-again boondocking area and that the police sometimes kick people out of there.
While there we went into town to walk around, took our laundry to be done, did some shopping and generally just
hung out. Lee Jacobs and her husband came and visited us there. Thanks to them we had precise directions to
our boondocking spot. Larry and Joyce made it to Mazatlan in record time, just about 10 minutes after the police
informed us that we could not stay another night. Ken and I went to a nearby RV park and made arrangements for
the group for $14/night at Playa Escondida RV Park.
The park was a run down RV park with deteriorating facilities, a few long term residents toward the front of the
park, and nothing to recommend it except as a place the police wouldn’t kick us out of. The next day we washed
the final remnants of the mud from the road out of San Ignacio off of our rigs, filled our fresh water tanks with
potable water and then started the process of dumping the holding tanks. What a disaster!!! The drains were
mostly plugged up and we had poop everywhere!!! We finally did manage to get all the rigs dumped and then
headed off south.
Along the road Kirk had a blowout on a rear tire on his truck. There are generally no shoulders on the roads we
travel and this one was true to form. Kirk’s truck and trailer were now blocking half the road. While most of us went
ahead to a wide place where we could pull off, Joe stayed behind with Kirk and some of us went back to help
divert traffic. It took a while, but the tire got changed and we continued on toward Mexcaltitan. We got to the
northern turnoff for Mexcaltitan, an island village, and called it a night behind another Pemex station. In the
morning we headed west toward Mexcaltitan and had one of the most delightful drives we have had so far. It was
around 9:00 in the morning and we drove on a 2 lane road with marsh and mangrove on both sides and hundreds
of birds, large and small, very close to the road. We saw egrets of various kinds, herons, storks, roseate
spoonbills, hawks, eagles and falcons as well as lots of smaller, colorful songbirds. What a treat!!
We arrived at the end of the road and arranged for a tour of the area via boat for 60 pesos per person and all
climbed aboard a fiberglass panga for 3 hours that also included a visit to the island itself. This island is said to be
the birthplace of the Aztec people. Looking at a picture taken from the air it looks like a mandala or a Mayan
calendar to me with its central zocalo and streets radiating out from the center.
After returning to our rigs we headed back out the same road to the main highway with San Blas as our
destination. We got held up for a long time at a bridge construction project and were not going to be able to make
it all the way to San Blas before nightfall. As we were let through the blockade at the bridge, the men directing
traffic stopped Joe from continuing. Via the CB radio I talked to them and convinced them that they needed to let
Joe through with us as it would be a half hour before he got through otherwise. We knew that the road off the
highway might be narrow, steep and twisty, so we pulled off the road to stop for the night alongside the side road
in to San Blas.
Just about the time we got ourselves situated and a fire going in our laundry tub, the watchman for the closed
mango packing plant we were parked in front of, came out to ask us to move inside his gate where we would be
safer. He was quite insistent (and quite drunk) and so we packed it up to move inside his gate. The velador lives
there with his daughter who appeared to be about 16 years old; his wife recently died from diabetes. They were
both intrigued with our casas rodantes (rolling homes) and got a tour of the rigs. We spent a peaceful night and
headed out at 8am the next morning.
After arriving in San Blas most of us hung out in a parking lot while Larry and Joe went to find a place for the
group to stay. They were gone quite a while and, after some more forays into various areas, we settled on staying
on a beach in front of a restaurant called Las Cumbres about 4 miles south of town. Larry and Joe found the
perfect spot. As I write this I am looking out the window at the high tide as it pushes the flotsam up the sand about
40 feet in front of us. Colleen, Joyce and I tried kayaking out through the surf, but managed to swamp the kayak
before making it beyond the breakers. We are looking forward to calmer waters that aren’t such a struggle to
paddle through.
While here we have eaten at the restaurant frequently to ‘pay’ for our stay in this beautiful spot. We also went
walking in town, went on another boat ride through the mangroves to La Tovara, a fresh water pool where we
went swimming. On this boat ride we saw lots of different birds and several crocodiles. There were two large crocs
that live near the pool at the end of the boat ride that make me a little nervous to be swimming there. We have
also done a few maintenance chores so our rolling homes don’t fall apart around us.
Tonight is our last night here on this beach and we went to dinner at the restaurant where the shrimp a la diabla
without ‘pajamas’ were spectacular. I made a joke to the women who cook here about why we were not ordering
the shrimp dish. None of us like to order shrimp with the shells still on so I explained that we didn’t like shrimp with
their pajamas on. In our honor they removed the pajamas from the shrimp tonight and they were great.
When we left San Blas we were headed for Puerto Vallarta and we found a great boondocking spot on a cliff
overlooking the ocean near Punta Mita several kilometers north of Pto Vallarta. We had originally thought to
approach from the road that goes through Sayulita, but that turned out to be an interesting side jaunt through a
very small town square with lots of onlookers as we extricated ourselves. The map showed a heavy red line for
both approaches to Punta Mita and so we chose the shortest route. Maybe the cartographer was optimistic that
someday the road would be more than a goat track through very narrow streets. We ended up about 5 miles west
of the main highway on the south road that angles out to Punta Mita. It was an overlook point that allowed you to
see from one end of Bahia Banderas to the other so at night we looked south to the lights of Pto Vallarta.
We find these supposed free camping spots via word of mouth from travelers that we meet or we have heard from
others who publish trip notes such as the ones you are reading or we just see something that looks likely. This
particular one was littered with trash that we all spent about an hour picking up and burning so it looked quite nice
when we were finished. While we were involved in our clean-up efforts two young men happened to stop by; it
turned out they were the sons of the owner of the land we were camped on. They were very welcoming and
grateful for the trash pickup. They told us to stay as long as we liked and sent the local police to assure us we
would be safe there. The police stopped by on a regular basis to say hi.
We stayed for two nights and went in to Pto Vallarta to check out the town. It was another large tourist town and
we were glad that we were camped a few miles from it. We also swam on the beach in front of our clifftop spot. We
are going from one beautiful spot to the next and always eager to see the next beach or town.
Heading south once again we stopped at Punta Perula (N 19° 35’, W 105° 7’) where we found a beach access
road used by the local fishermen to get to the beach with their boats. It was right alongside the Punta Perula RV
park where one of our members decided to go for the full hookups for the night. As are most of the RV parks
down here, this one was filled with RVs from the US and Canada with people who come back to the same villages
and parks year after year. We arranged our vehicles in such a way as to not block the access for the fishermen
and set up for a two night stay. While there we walked in the village, swam, took a side trip to another
recommended spot where we met some Americans who gave us some more tips on good places to stay as we
continued down the coast.
I included the latitude and longitude reading because there are readers of these notes who use the GPS to find
spots such as the ones we are using on our way south. A couple of readers are authors of books that may find
some updated information to add to their latest version. I will continue to include the readings wherever we use
the satellite dish as I need the readings to set it up anyway.
By the way, the satellite dish is working great though the signal is getting weaker as we get closer to the limits of
the footprint of the particular satellite we are using (SatMex5). We generally set it up in front of our motorhome
where we can cable it to the steps or a tree and the three other members of the group who have purchased the
router and WiFi cards park nearby. With their WiFi cards they can access the net at the same time we do and can
then keep up with their email and online bill paying etc. We are using the DirecWay elliptical dish with the Hughes
satellite. The service costs $59.99 a month for unlimited access and then we also have a service where we plug a
telephone handset into the computer and can call the US for 3.9 cents a minute. If you are interested in having
this service, I recommend that you contact Ron Brundage in Gila Bend, Arizona at (928) 683-6004 for more
information. This isn’t who we purchased the system from, but Ron sells the newer DW6000 system for less than
what we paid for the older DW4000 system. As we get farther south we will have to change to a different satellite
and we may be off the air for a few days while we get it sorted out. Fortunately for me, another member of the
group, Larry, is a whiz at dealing with equipment such as this and is very generous with helping with the setup and
troubleshooting problems.
From Punta Perula we went to Cuyutlan to a large parking lot (N 18:55, W 104:4) that was right on the beach near
an area that we suspect fills up on the weekends and holidays with hundreds of Mexican families who head for the
beaches just like we do. Just south of the parking lot were dozens of large palapas (wood pole structures with
palm frond roofs to provide shade) with hundreds of plastic chairs under them and dozens of rolled up umbrellas
planted in the sand along the beach. Each area had an open-air kitchen associated with it with their seafood
specialties detailed on hand lettered signs. Shrimp and fish meals are generally in the 40-80 peso range (9.5
pesos to the US dollar), and beer and soda pop are 10 pesos each.
We only stayed one night and then continued south to Maruata (N 18:16, W 103:20) where we camped at the end
of an abandoned airstrip in front of a military outpost at the east end of town. This beach is one where the turtles
come to lay their eggs. In the daylight you can see evidence of the tracks of the large turtles who come ashore to
lay eggs and the scaled down version of the tracks left by the newly hatched baby turtles who are making their
way to the ocean. What a treat!!!! At around 8:00 pm we headed out down the beach with flashlights to see if we
could find any turtles and we were rewarded with our efforts by seeing 4 turtles that made their way in to above
the high water mark to lay their eggs. This particular sea turtle is the black turtle and probably weighs in the
neighborhood of 35-50 pounds, about 30 inches long. The military walked with us along the beach with their
machine guns both to protect us and the turtles as part of their duty assignment.
We only stayed one night on the airstrip and then got ready to leave at our accustomed travel time of 9:00 am.
We got ourselves all lined up on the airstrip and headed toward the village to get back to the highway. As we
approached the village we were stopped by many tarp covered shops that had been set up in the early hours of
the morning for what was probably a weekly market event. One enterprising shopkeeper had strung a rope and
tarp across the road out of the village. In order to continue, the two larger rigs had to exit with a person on the
roof to help move the tarp and rope along the length of the rig as it passed underneath. We were sorry that we
were leaving instead of enjoying the market, but kept on anyway.
On the way from Maruata to Playa Linda near Ixtapa, Kirk had another tire go out on him. This time the tread
separated and he was able to limp to a place to get off the road and change to his new spare. Kirk will be getting
all new tires in Acapulco so that he doesn’t continue to have tire problems. When he started the trip he put new
tires on his trailer, but thought that he could make the trip with the existing truck tires. He now knows that these
roads are hard on tires and will soon have all new ones.
Traveling down here in a caravan is an interesting exercise. Yesterday we were traveling down a road that was
steep, twisty, not well maintained, frequently next to rugged canyons, with no guardrails and only about 22 feet
wide with no shoulder. It took us 1 hour to go the first 25 miles. Since our rigs are 10 ½ feet wide and other large
trucks are equally wide, there sometimes are just inches between our mirrors as we pass in opposite directions.
Because of the bad road we got strung out too far yesterday and, when Kirk had his tire problem, those of us that
stopped with him were out of radio contact with the others. This caused some tense moments when our
frustrations got the better of some of us (me included) and we had some group dynamics repair work to do after
we got settled in at Playa Linda. Fortunately we are all willing to deal with making the repairs and moving on with
things.
Playa Linda (N 17:41, W 101:39) is a free camping spot just down the street from Club Med Ixtapa. It is a large,
sandy, peninsular area with ocean on a couple of sides and a lagoon with beautiful egrets just behind where we
camped. On the side of the lagoon is a sign warning us of the crocodiles. It provides easy access (if you can
figure out where the access is) for large rigs and there is plenty of room. There was a club nearby that played
music with a loud bass, but earplugs solved that problem. The egrets were a bit quarrelsome and noisy too.
We were sorry to leave Playa Linda but continued south to Acapulco. We had heard of an RV park in Pie de la
Cuesta north of town so all stopped there and Colleen and Joe went out to try to find a boondocking spot along
the sand spit. They were gone for 2 hours and came back with the information that there wasn’t really anything
suitable. We all hung out on the grass at a Pemex station in the shade and I tried to figure out why my engine won’
t shut down. No matter what I did, the engine continued to run. Finally, after about 1 ½ hours the engine decided
that it had run long enough and turned off. Luckily we were coming in to a large town where I was likely to find
assistance.
When Colleen and Joe came back with no success, Ken had already decided that he was going to an RV park at
the other end of Acapulco Bay and we all decided to go there too. We headed off behind Ken and Carolyn like a
bunch of ducklings to hopefully find our way around the city to the Diamante RV Park. Well, guess what, we ended
up going right through part of the city at rush hour. I can’t even begin to describe with any accuracy what it is like
to take RVs through a very busy Mexican resort city at rush hour all trying to stay together. At one point there was
a Volkswagen that was trying to sneak past me on the right as I tried to move over to the right lane. Mary, behind
us, warned me that it was there and I just decided I would squash the ‘bug’ and continued on over. Size does
matter sometimes!!!! This route took us up a steep hill and then down the other side with an equally steep slope.
Steep downhills are a piece of cake for us with the exhaust brake, but the others’ brakes were heating up. How we
managed to find the RV park without any scrapes and all staying together is a wonder to me.
It was almost dark as we arrived and had to maneuver into spaces with lots of shrubbery. The engine wouldn’t
shut down again and so I went to find a local mechanic who lives right outside the park to get his assistance. He
very kindly left his dinner to come to our aid. Eventually he pulled the battery cables to cut power to the fuel pump
and there was blessed quiet as the engine immediately shut down. His name is Tomas and Colleen is calling him
Santo Tomas since he came to our rescue.
Today was a very long day…bad roads, dozens of topes (we launched off of one with no damage), our first boo
boo to the rig as I went down too steep of an entry to a pull-off spot and cracked the fiberglass shrouding under
the front of the rig, long wait to find a stopping spot, engine wouldn’t shut down, arriving at dark….we were all
pooped.
So, we are at the Diamante RV Park (N 16:47, W 99:48) where we are hugely outnumbered by people from
Quebec. French is the dominant language and it is fun to practice my very rusty French. Yesterday I spent the
day on the telephone both to the US through our computer and from the park phone to local Caterpillar and
Freightliner repair facilities and today, January 31st, at 10:30 a mechanic from Freightliner is due to come to the
park to look at the problem. It may be a fuel shutoff solenoid that is bad…we’ll see. We are planning on staying
here in this park for at least 5 days as we all get some needed down time for sightseeing and repairs.
This is the end of the January trip notes…they have been pretty long as we are doing a lot. We have passed the
2000 mile point in the trip which is expected to be about 10,000 miles in all. I am in the process of redoing the
pictures on the website http://www.whirledvision.com so go check that out in a couple of days; I also am posting
the trip notes there in case you are interested.
Hasta later, Kathe
Copyright - All Rights Reserved
2005
2005
January 2004
Around the World with Kathe and Colleen