Wednesday, February 24, 2021

We are in Arizona for a few days.

We had a long day yesterday, mostly after arriving at the campground!   The drive was 271 miles. Left  at 8:20 and got to Amado at 2:45. Stopped for gas twice. Only took 10 minutes at the border. Easiest crossing ever.

Monday evening in San Carlos, was hoping it would be better than this. But this is as good as it got. 

Got cold again during the night. Had the quilt on the bed and Bill turned the furnace on in the morning. Makes sense we are heading further north. 

We left the RV park at 8:20 but stopped for fuel at first gas station out of San Carlos. Left there at 8:40. The road from San Carlos to the Hermosillo Bypass was very good. 

For all the time we could see him, he never moved a bit. Not his feet, arms or head. Maybe it was a stuffed person???
The signs for the bypass are at about Km marker 236. Hopefully if there is a truck in front of you he will be nice and let you know when you can pass while driving on the bypass. They will turn on their left blinker to let you know it is okay to pass. 


Yes the toll booth on the bypass is open and collecting tolls. 265 pesos for the motorhome and Jeep. 
Toll both on 15D right after bypass is not collecting tolls. Only other toll booth open is the one between Km 21 and the border. It was 113 pesos.  Just waved through Military checkpoint around KM112 - where all the trucks have to stop! They have their own lanes. Line about 4 kilometers long!

Except for the vibradores by all the Pemex stations Not too bad of a drive. A few of the small towns have big topes, but they are marked. Construction is done around Magdalena. Toll booth not open. 

KM21 to return car paper work. Little white building on right side of highway surrounded by orange cones. Rough transition from highway to dirt lane. No problem. Had to wait for two cars in front of us. One who did not have his paper work or couldn't find it...

Just drove right through Mexican customs. A tope and then these barricades. 

The one stretch of road not finished is the really curvy part that goes up and down a couple of hills. The south bound lanes are done. Take the transitions slowly. Rough. Road itself gets worse every year. 
Be nice when they finish it. Looks like it took a few people over the years. 
USA border was very easy this time. Not even hard to get into bus lane, no one coming from right lane. Guard came out to move cone in bus lane and guided us in. No one else in lane. Border guard quickly came out to get our passports and open gate. One guard came in to check food. No mention of Covid. Took 10 minutes from stop to driving away. He also told us there was construction on the 19 and to take the TUBAC exit 34 and use the frontage road to bypass it. Glad he let us know, we missed most of the back up. Came back onto the highway at the Border Patrol Checkpoint. Then turned off at next exit to stay in Amado for two days. 

We stopped at exit 12 to fuel up at the Pilot. And had to wait to get out of there because of tow truck loading car blocking only way out for us. 

Then we got to the RV park. This time Mountain View where we usually stay was full so we are at DeAnza RV RESORT.  $56 a DAY.  (Not surprised there are so many open spaces here.)
Nice size spaces though. 
We got a nice level pull through. They have a restaurant you can order from. Yesterday was Mexican Day - no thanks. For some reason their water connection is below ground in a round hole. Not easy to get to or to get your hands (especially if they are older hands) in it to connect the hose. 
My hand in the hole and not touching the connection. Very awkward to do. Especially if your hands are bigger. Besides having to be down on you knees to reach it. 
Took for ever, then the water runs for a while real strong then fizzles almost out. Okay that seemed to take care of itself after a couple of uses. Their Internet is fast. But don't stream any thing, always disconnect when not using it etc. etc. The lady spent 15 minutes explaining all the rules and amenities. One amenity should be some young person to come connect the water hose. 
Found whatever we had left in refrigerator and had that for dinner. Bill was in bed early. Partly cause he was tired and partly cause it was getting cold, even with furnace on.  In mid 30s when we got up this morning. 

When we got here the jacks wouldn't work...didn't really need them for leveling. Now for some reason, thank goodness, they are working. And of course our TV didn't want to work. Ignored it for a while then gave in and called Dish Tech support. Got a very good tech, he worked with me until it was working. Turns out our cables - you know the red, white and yellow ones - wouldn't work for some reason. His solution - hook up a HDMI cable to both receiver box and TV.  Luckily we had one, use it with Dish Anywhere. Worked fine after that. He was very patient with me and explaining things and how to check and do them. Just wish our receiver box was easier to get to. Bill has to stand on drivers seat and can still barely reach it and use flashlight to see what we are doing. At one time had two remotes, phone and flashlight to fool with. Tried talking into the flashlight and pointing the phone...Glad tech couldn't see me. [And another thing my mouse for laptop quit working - just needed new battery - but almost the last straw.]
So now everything is working. We got a good nights sleep and are going no where today. Probably order dinner from the restaurant here for take out - Italian Day. Won't get groceries until we can order them from home. But already making out the order for home delivery. 
Tomorrow probably Quartzsite, Friday home early afternoon if everything goes as planned.

3 comments:

Doug and Nancy said...

Well, that's a big "PHEW" that you are nearly home!

Carol and Bill said...

It is funny is is always nice to be in Mexico, but I always feel so good when we cross into the US. Just gets rid of a little "what if?: fill in the blank.

SandyM said...

Ugh, that would be awful to stick your hand down in that “well” - you are brave!

Thankful you have had a good trip so far and enjoy some rest time before you head off to Vegas. Always exciting to return home after a trip.