What a day Part 1 San Carlos to Amado, AZ

 ARRGG - I went to bed last night at 9:00 forgot to set bedroom clock so got up when I woke up ONLY four thirty! Bill was already up! I see naps in our future. 

We were up early our last day in San Carlos, all ready for a nice trip home. We left the campground about 8:00. No wind, the sun was far enough up it wasn't in our eyes. A perfect day for driving. 

Oh! I almost forgot. On Sunday afternoon late we decided to walk across the street to have an early dinner at Charley's Rock. With the topes in the street in front of the RV park now crossing is so much easier. Walking towards the restaurant I noticed a hole in the sidewalk, Just as I said to Bill "Watch out for the hole" He fell down next to me. Yep, hit it just right to turn his ankle and go kerplop. First thing he said was I'm okay! Luckily there was a couple just walking by us and the guy was a BIG man. He grabbed Bill under the arms and had him on his feet before I could react. So - this year both Graces took a trip!  IEEE we are getting to old to be doing this. Any way - he actually is fine. His ankle is a little bruised and swollen but not hurting. I hope our sons aren't reading this, they might think we shouldn't be let out of the house alone any more. 

But back to yesterday. Leaving. 

Got out to the road north and stopped at the Gastop station. They had fixed most of the potholes going into the station  which was very nice. Filled the RV. When I say filled I mean REALLY filled. We have a 40 gallon (I thought) tank and we took 42 gallons of gasoline? Hum...They also washed our windows. Thank you. So actually got on road at 8:30

Most of the construction is done at the junction where the road from San Carlos meets back up with the road to Hermosillo. Signs easy to read. 

As we got to the road that goes to Kino there was a Federal check point - the guys in beige pants and black shirts. Just waved us through. 

First indication we were nearing the Hermosillo bypass. On the lower right of the picture you can see the off ramp bridge. 

Slow way down it is a sharp turn on to the bypass. 

Uneventful trip on it. Toll for RV and Jeep was 298pesos, up about 9 pesos. A bridge to no where. No dirt road or sign of buildings any where.

Getting off the bypass. Good road all the way from San Carlos to here. 

A couple of miles and another toll booth - 160 pesos less than when we came down??? Saw quite a few people walking along this stretch of road. Where are they from and where are they going. It is a darn long walk without any places to stop. 

The road from Hermosillo to Santa Ana could use some help, in a few places a lot of help. And it seems to be getting it. A lot of new pavement and a lot of paving going on. 

Just before Santa Ana there was another Federal check point, same guys and again we were just waved through. It was only 11:30 when we got to Santa Ana so of course we didn't stop there. Nice new arches on both ends of town. 

On to Magdalena and through the toll there - one of the cheapest ones 85 pesos, went up a couple of pesos since we went through in the fall. Roads now were good.  

We continued blithely on. Around the curves and up and down the little hills. Through the little towns with the topes. Until the last tope in Cibuta. Loud sound, felt like something was pulling us backward and sideways. Cars passing us were yelling at us and pointing to the back. And this is what we found when we got out. The Jeeps nose was kissing the back bumper of the RV!! OH OH NOT GOOD.

We contemplated the mess UNDER the Jeep. To me at first it looked like the underside of the Jeep was torn off. Would the Jeep run? Got the keys and Bill got in and Jeep started and he managed to back it up some. Then we could see what was the problem. The light bar that was welded to the under side of the jeep and held the tow bar had broken off. One tope too many. As we were standing there thinking S##T and wondering what to do a Volkswagen with a young man in it stopped across the street. He motioned to us that he was going to help. He made a Uturn and pulled up behind us. He was a mechanic with tools with him. Bless him! Had Bill back up until the whole mess was out from under the Jeep. Then we went to work  separating the light bar from the tow arms. 

We could never had managed this. The whole mess was very heavy and awkward to manhandle.

He got everything separated. The Blue Ox tow bar is fine. Got it folded up and out of the way. Then he disconnected all the wiring from the light bar and bracket and put the whole mess in the Jeep. We were good to go. He wanted 300 pesos we ended up giving him 750 we were so thankful for his help. 

Now we were ready to go. About 10 miles from the KM21. So...I had to drive the Jeep. No problem. Got my purse and passport and remembered to get some pesos for the final toll booth and off we went. 

Going to end there as the rest from KM21 to getting into the US was a keystone cop episode. Will leave it for tomorrow. 

We will be in Amado at least a week. Need to find someone to weld thing back together cause I don't want to drive the rest of the way home. Will do some Walmart and Denny's today and try to find a welder.