Went to El Mirador at sunset Friday night.

Took a drive out to the look out point at sunset Friday evening. Usually there are some spectacular sunsets here in San Carlos, but this year there haven't been any clouds. Went any way just to watch the sun set. This is the back side of the mountain that is usually in my sunset pictures from here. 

The sun was just going down. A lot of people had the same idea as us. This is really a pretty area. 

A couple of more pictures

I've taken pictures of these painted metal dolphins several times in the past, but they are still pretty enough to include again. 

Different angle looking at the mountain. 

Another dolphin. 

Just liked this one. 

On the way home looking back at the mountain.

Yesterday, Saturday, we stayed home all day - my request as there were two NASCAR races on and the Internet cooperated so we/I could watch them on our Dish Anywhere service. With a good Internet connection we connect to our TV and receiver at our house and can watch any thing we could watch at home. Both races were pretty intense and lots of action. 

Later we went out to dinner. Walked over to the Italian restaurant next to the campground. So humid last night everything was wet to the touch. Today is another race so will watch it too. Then have to decide if we leave tomorrow or Tuesday. It is a holiday weekend here - but hopefully all the traffic will be north of us . 

A couple of RV with towed cars came in yesterday on their way to Mazatlan but didn't get a chance to ask them if they had to unhook. Still can not get my Mexican MiFi working, it won't pick up a signal. Well didn't care for end of race. My driver missed the final race by one point. Oh well, next year. He didn't have a good car but managed to finish 2nd. Just not good enough. 

Friday and we managed to keep busy

 Already been on the road 14 days. Sometimes it seems longer so much has gone wrong already. Right now almost everything is taken care of. This is a big RV park in San Carlos  And it is almost empty. One Canadian rig came in day before yesterday. They shipped their 5th wheel and truck to US then flew there to pick them up. Cost them over US$4000. And now the border is going to open. Bad timing for them. I'd be sitting  nickels. We would spend more time here but it is almost impossible to fill the water tank in the RV. Water pressure from the park is so low it takes not hours but days to fill the tank. So that will play into when we leave here.  

We had to take a trip into the bigger city of Guaymas today to see about getting Mexican MiFi. Usually during tourist season this center divider has the weeds trimmed. So guess they better get busy, by Nov 15th there will be lines of RV stopping overnight or staying here. 

When we first started coming here this little hill only had one hole in it. Now there are two and the one on the right gets bigger every year. 

Looking back at San Carlos. This is a pretty drive. (forgive any typing errors I miss my little finger is too sore to use today.)

We originally went to the TelCel main customer service office in Guaymas thinking we would/could buy a new MiFi. Last year they were advertising them. This year they acted like they had no idea what we were talking about. We still have old  one -its battery died last year so no longer worked. Had it with us - so it was suggested we take it to a repair place and have them put a new battery in it. So that is what we did. Had to waste some time so we walked around the stores a bit. Saw these cute baby cowboy boots. And the two pairs of woman's boots. I like the pair in the back with the embroidered flowers on them.

Going into the big Ley store - kind of like a Walmart - have everything.  They are serious about Covid protocols. Masks are mandatory every where. At one time they wouldn't let over 65s in, no children and only one person per family! #'s 3, 4, and 5 are no longer enforced. Also have temps taken and have to walk through sanitizer #2.

Thiss same bread we buy at Albertsons at home is cheaper here. Here US$2.90.

Just thought these were cute.

Sirloin about 3.99 a pound. Haven't bought beef in a while so not know if that is good or bad. 

Nice supply of veggies. 

Yellow peppers about 70 to 74 cents each,. 

Always surprises me to see nuns in their nun dresses. Don't remember last time I saw one in US.

Day Of The Dead is in a couple of days, 

So go a new battery in the old MiFi and it powered up, so back to TelCel to buy some GBs for it. Plastic dividers between clerks and customers. Also every other window is not manned. Spots on floor where customers have to stand. Again the temp check and mask mandate and walk through sanitizer to get in. Bottles of hand sanitizer every where. BTW Covid cases are very low here. So now have GBs and new battery. Clerk checked it out and it worked.  I hope it works in Mazatlan - or we will be without Internet for a while. 

Back in San  Carlos we went out to lunch on the beach (see header) All restaurants  here use degradable straws. The only problem is, they start degrading before you finish your drink. I went through two drinking my ice tea.
So now back in RV. The MiFi is charging, but...there is not a strong enough TelCel signal here to use it. It will come up on the laptop for a few seconds then loose all its bars.

A couple RVs from the US came in here this afternoon. They were towing cars. I asked them if they had to unhook and drive them through. Nope - she said they got to the check point before the military showed up in the morning. So get through the area early maybe. Also heard about another RV towing a car that did not have to check. Guess we were just unlucky. 

Watched the truck race this morning. Lots of action. Will watch the Xfinity race later today, should be good too.

We will be here until at least Monday morning, we don't have to leave until Tuesday. Mainly because I want to watch the NASCAR race tomorrow too. And right now we are able to get a little water from the parks spigot. Also this is a three day weekend - Day of the Dead. Lots of people out and about. 

Another day another dollar, but who cares when you are in Paradise.

Wrote this yesterday, but this a.m. got up at 5:10. Got up at 5:30 again this morning, need to stop going to bed early. Turned the furnace on so Bill won't freeze when he gets up. (He is cold if it is under 80 - it gets down to about 50 here at night.) Hopefully the welder gets here this morning so we won't have to sit in RV most of the day. My toes hit the riser of the patio slab. Hands landed on slab, knees skinned down side and landed in dirt. Hope that is my fall for this year. I seem to do it to my knees at least once a year. 

The welders taking down the broken arm piece. Luckily the electric wire just unplugged. It is fine. 

The awning hanging down over the door. Luckily today there is no breeze at all. 

Well hooray - after lots of plugging and unplugging the HDMI cord we got the Dish Anywhere working. Took a while to remember how to set it up. But it is only as good as the wifi here in the park which is highly unreliable. So we shall see. 

I am able to use my little finger to type today, My left hand palm is still pretty bruised and my poor deformed finger is getting more bruised. My shoulders are pretty stiff , that started last night. Not sore just feel it when I move them. My knees luckily are fine. One is a little swollen and has some bruising. But doesn't hurt. 

This finger has been deformed for years. 

The welder and his workers came about 2:00. He had the new brackets for the Jeep and installed them. Now it will be much easier to hook the safety cables. 

Hear they are working on the awning. Took three guys and quite a while to get the fixed piece back on and the wiring working, I was taking the pictures through the screen so they are a little blurry. 

Putting the electric cable back in place. 

The big test. IT WORKED. Even the worker said Thank God!

Not putting it out again until we are settled in Mazatlan. The fix of the awning and the new brackets on the Jeep cost 2000 Pesos a little less than US$100.

To celebrate we went out to dinner at the Italian restaurant that is right next to the campground. Forgot to take pictures. I had spaghetti and Bill had Chicken Picota - both were very good. Outside seating, excellent service. Nice breeze - ocean view. 

Also yesterday he took all the keys we had to have replaced over to the Locksmith next door and had extras made. 

The Dish Anywhere is working fine - as long as the park's Internet is working, so sometimes fades in and out. Altogether yesterday was a very good day. 

Today we are going into Guaymas to try to get a MiFi for here in Mexico. 

First full day in San Carlos - and just when you think every thing is great.

I forgot to mention - at no time nor any where have we been asked about Covid vaccinations. 

I wrote this yesterday.

I woke up about 5:30 and got up. That's what happens when I go to bed early. Here we are parked in Totonaka RV. We paid for a week, but might or might not leave sooner. 

There are maybe 20 other RVs here now. They can't wait until about the third week in November when there should be an influx of Canadians. Those from the US will continue to dribble in. 

We went out for breakfast. Nice close place with outdoor seating. It is obligatory to wear a mask every where, except when you are actively eating or drinking. Our view from outdoor table. It was about 81 at 10:00 with a soft breeze. 

Bill had ham and cheese omelet; potatoes, fruit and tomatoes. I had French toast, bacon, scrambled eggs and fruit. 175 pesos.

We both had coffee. 400 pesos with tip. Very good, except for the flies - oh well, we were outdoors so they were expected. 

My little finger - the deformed one - is getting more and more black and blue. But I'm now able to use it to type if I don't put a lot of pressure on it. 

And just when you think every thing is great - this happens. No wind nothing - just shake, bang and crash. Part of the mechanism arm broke in half. 

Broke right at the arrow. Electrical wire pulled apart too.

And the light bar on the front of the Jeep got busted yesterday when the Jeep swerved hard. So welder is here fixing it. One down one to go. Glad we had a nice breakfast with a nice view. Oops now he is taking pictures of something under the light bar of the Jeep.

They are going to make a couple of new connections for the safety cables on the front of the Jeep and they took the piece of the awning bracket with them to weld it back together. Will bring them back tomorrow. Mean time awning is flapping around sometimes hanging down sometimes on the roof. No way to secure it. Kind of un-nerving. 

So up at 5:30 again. Turned the furnace on so Bill won't freeze when he gets up. 

Hopefully we get the awning bracket back and it works. And the new piece, it will just make them easier to hook to, for the safety cables. Also will try to get our Dish Anywhere set up today - though the parks Internet comes and goes but at least it will work part of the time. 

From Nogales to San Carlos

We had quite a day yesterday! Long post. Mainly at the beginning and at the end. More about both later. Very cloudy morning when we left Amado. In fact we encountered some rain drops. Luckily just a few, enough to make windshield dirty. 

There is still construction on the 19, mainly yesterday just before exit 12 where we wanted to off to get gasoline at the Pilot. Took us over half hour to go 2 miles. We stopped at the Pilot - we have a Good Sam RV Plus credit card which gives us somewhere around 5 cents a gallon off. This truck was making a delivery there. I just liked its looks.

A closer picture of one of the faces. We left the gas station at 9:30  We ARRIVED in San Carlos at 4:30 - only a 287 mile drive! More about the reason later.

Got to US border just before 10 a..m.  Again if you have an RV go through the TRUCKS lane. 

Very important. The weather was still very overcast and our front windshield has a slight tint so pictures taken out of it are not real bright. 

You come out and just go around the nice big lane around the curve. Once around the curve stay to the left always. 

Takes you right here where you join up with the cars. 

All tolls booths are open and collecting tolls. Make sure you have pesos to pay them, they do not take dollars. We spent just over 700 pesos in tolls to San Carlos.

He coming up on the Mexican Customs stop. Stay to left of barriers, slow down going between sign post and barriers, it is narrow. 

Watch out for this first tope then there is another one just after it. They are both marked but... (Notice the red X - more about it later.) Continue ahead following red line. 

If you are in an RV you must go to the Right - there are markings on the road. HOWEVER if nothing changes from yesterday until you get here STOP before entering the lane, especially if one of the guards is holding there hand up to you. That is not an arrow on the picture it is an indication where you should stop. 

Seems like this year there is a new law. Every vehicle that goes through this check post MUST DO SO UNDER THEIR OWN POWER. That means you CANNOT tow your car or pickup through this area. YOU MUST UNHOOK  then drive the car/pickup through the car lanes and the RV through the truck/bus lane and then REHOOK ON THE OTHER SIDE. 

Well we drove right through the bus lane even though a guard had run over and was waving at us to stop and back up - yah sure. So what happened next. Lots of discussion first. (Remember Bill speaks excellent Spanish) They would not budge. The law is - under own power period. So we were clocking the lane. No where to unhook. So we had to drive around the buildings back into the north bound lanes and find a place just past the exit where all the trucks come out and pull over and UNHOOK the Jeep. 

Got some army guys to stop both north and sound traffic for us and went back to south bound lanes - remember the red X that is where we went to the south bound lanes again. I took the car through the car lanes, just waved me through. Bill went through the bus lane. The border people had already check the original registrations against the vin number on both vehicles. So this time they just went in RV looked right and left and got out. So ... Bill got in RV and went down highway a few yards to where he could pull off and I followed him in the Jeep. Rehooking - the first time.

Notice I said the first time. As we started back on the road the jeep was swerving all over. Pulled over immediately. The hitch had not engaged completely. So because of the angle of the jeep - had to completely unhook and rehook. Just what we needed. So finally on the road south again 

OUR ADVICE TO ANY ONE PULLING A TOAD. DO NOT HOOK UP UNTIL YOU THROUGH THIS POINT. ONE OF YOU DRIVE THE TOAD FOLLOWING THE RV. WOULD HAVE MADE IT A LOT EASIER. 

So to continue on little town of Cibuta has THREE topes, slow down when you come to the vibradores. (the little silver bumps on the roads.) 

There usually is a big tope when you see someone standing in the middle of the road selling something or asking for a donation. 

A nasty tope that is hard to see if not expecting it. Most are marked, but with some the marking is right next to the tope. To late to slow down then. Some are marked 500m before...

There is still some construction going on. Well marked.

This pretty area with all the trees and curves and hills is still under construction. 

Imuris has topes see the guys in the middle of the road. Tope there, they are selling birds in small cages. 

The toll booth at the Magdalena bypass. Open and collecting. 

I put a picture of the Santa Ana sign because just the other side of it is a big tope. Watch for it. There is also another one just after going around the curve in town.  Also about Santa Ana, we were thinking about stopping in Santa Ana at the Punta Vista RV Park, so we called to see if it was open. Dora - Edgars sister is running it and it is open. She is hopping to get lots of business this year. We did not stop though. We got there about noon. 

Saw many many pickups l

We saw many, many pickups loaded to the hilt on the road. Most had California license plates. Still not too many cross country busses on the road, a few more than last year. 

If you see a Pemex gas station, or any other gas station slow down a lot of them have vibradores in front of them. 

The military check point for trucks heading north. Zillions of trucks in line. It must take them a whole day to get through. 

The toll booth right before Hermosillo - it is before the bypass of course. Don't know what the problem was but it was really backed up. The guy in the picture was having vehicles change from one lane to another. Took about 20 minutes to get through.

All cars in lane 3 were changed to lane 2. Our lane 4 was not moving at all. 

Don't argue with these guys. 

So people in our lane s

So people in our lane started to try to change lanes.

Then other people decided to drive down the middle lane - don't know where they thought they were going. 

Finally our lane started moving again. After we paid the barrier did not go up. The guy had to come out of the booth and move it so we could go through. Start watching for the bypass. Stay in LEFT lane.

Here it is. You enter the on ramp from the left highway lane. 

A couple sections of the bypass are rough washboard, but mostly very good. Hard to pass though, be careful. Toll booth is expensive cost up RV and car 265 pesos.

On highway to San Carlos. If going there be sure to keep to right heading to Guaymas.

After getting to Totonaka RV park we parked in our spot. I was outside "helping" Bill back in when I decided I needed to check how my bone density was holding up. So I stubbed my toe on the patio and promptly fell over. Came down on my knees and hands. Guess the density is okay, nothing broke. My knees are a little skinned up. My right hand and arm are fine. My left hand not so good. Big bruise on palm of hand and my poor deformed little finger took the brunt of the fall. It is black and blue and sore - so am typing using one hand and only one finger on left hand. Have typed a couple of strange words. The left arm is a little sore too. Nothing to be concerned about, a few swear words now and then take care of it. 

So any way. We didn't get to San Carlos until 4:00 . A six and a half hour day. Got set up and went to Griegos La Palapa on the beach for dinner. Funny when we walked in one of the waiters saw Bill and said, "Welcome mister three fish and chips. Good to see you back."  Our first meal there every year is fish and chips and Bill orders two for himself and then one for me. Thus 3 fish and chips. The last storm push too much sand up on the beach - the tables out there cannot be used until some of the sand is moved.

Good to be sitting here enjoying our meal and the ocean and fine weather.

We were both in bed by 9:00 last night.  And so ends our first day in Mexico. Today RELAX!