Plans are made to be broken

 Hello from San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico. I know, I know we were supposed to stop in Santa Ana at the little RV park there. So, thinking that, we got a late start leaving Amado. Left the RV park a little before 10 o'clock. Stopped in Rio Rico at the Pilot for gas. Surprise, our RV Rewards credit card worked AND we got our discount. Wonder what will happen on our return trip in March. So all filled up off we went. The new overpass at exit 4 is complete. Took the Truck Route and missed all the small businesses on the old road. 

Got to the border and in the truck lanes, following him through. Had a weird experience though. We were about where the truck is in this picture when we heard  " Hey, hey. Stop, stop." Bill stopped - couldn't see the person yelling. Then person said, " Your not supposed to be here. Did they (??they?? what/who they?) "let you through? Who let you through? This isn't for passengers."  WTH? Passengers? Bill hollered, "We always go this way."  Unknown person said, "Well go on then, but don't do it again."  Still no idea what that was about, no other way for an RV to go through. Even without the tow car we couldn't go through the cars way - would not be able to get around the barriers and sharp turns. And there was no THEY any where to tell us any thing.  Weird!  Crossed the border about 15 to eleven. 

Continued on down the road. Oh, someone standing in the middle of the road must be a tope. 

The highway is good but hate passing these big double trailer semis. 

Surprise the north bound side of the toll road is finally finished. No more detouring on the short but horrid mostly dirt windy piece of highway that had the sharp curve with all the memorials on it. Won't miss that. 

Lots of new things. Around Magdalena. 

Construction through Santa Ana is finished, new entrance to town.  Prettier than the picture shows. 

As I mentioned we were going to stop in Santa Ana - it was right around noon - Bill was feeling good so we kept going - another 190 miles! Saw several pickups loaded way beyond capacity. How do they manage to get all that stuff to stay together and not start falling off?

The toll booth right before Hermosillo. Not as big a mess as last year. But really busy. 

Glad I remembered that you enter the Bypass from the left lane, it comes up quick.   

On the bypass we went under a couple of these bridges to no where, no roads to connect to them in sight.  

There is a lot of construction at the split to San Carlos. Traffic was backed up. We should have stayed to the left and taken the route that said "RETORNO" it went right by the worse of the construction. 

Got to Totanaka at 4 o'clock. 5 1/2 hours 288 miles. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it is for us, seems to feel longer each year. got settled in and headed to La Palapa for fish and chips. So nice there. 

As we were leaving the sunset was beginning. 

They had a band, Friday night. They weren't bad, but neither of us likes the loud volume. Age I guess. They played some Buffett music and some really old country songs. 

Walking to the car. 

We were both exhausted. Bill went to bed about 7:30 I made it to 9:30.  

Forty six dollars in tolls today. Don't mind paying when the roads are good. going to be here for a week. This weekend is Day of the Dead.

Will do another blog on KM21 later this week. 

Hope it is fixed this time.

Called RV tech first thing yesterday morning. Just before I went to bed, went into the bathroom and stepped into a cold puddle of water. Oh Boy!  So got ahold of them at 8:00 a.m. The owner came by and checked it out. Needed a part so they came back around 4:00 to fix it. Right on time and all is fixed. The first fix put pressure on another part that burst. Hope that is the end of things going bad. 

Spoke too soon Bills shaver quit working so another trip to WalMart to buy a new one and get a couple of other things I'd forgotten. Also to Denny's for breakfast.

Then home - straightened out cupboards and paper work and pesos so we'll be ready to go today.

Yep, today is border crossing day. We are only going 100 miles today to Santa Ana to the little RV park there. So we aren't in a hurry to leave. Will fill up with gasoline at the Pilot here in Rio Rico. Wonder if the card will work and if we get the discount...When we cross the border we should be able to just drive on down without any stops. We'll see. At least most of the highway is in good condition.  I'll take pictures and post as soon as I can. Can't remember if there is WiFi at the RV park where we stop today. Tomorrow we will go on to San Carlos and Totanaka - WiFi there. Will stay there a few days. Don't want to be on the road for all of the Day of the Dead celebrations. 

Will post again when I can. 

Busy Day Today

 Didn't get quite as cold last night and today was prefect in the high 70's.

We decided to get all our paperwork for Mexico done. So jumped in the Jeep and headed south. Our first stop was in Nogales to get our vehicle insurance. Then headed across the border. Paid our first toll on the Mexican roads today. Even before the Mexican customs. While passing through customs we stopped as Bill wanted to know if we would have to unhook the car from the motorhome to pass  like we did last year. He was told that we would not have to unhook. Had that verified by an officer. But we shall see. Then on to KM21 to get our Tourist Cards 56 Pesos each. To get the TIP for the Jeep we had to have a copy of Bills Tourist Card to go with the copy of the registration, his drivers license and passport. Also, of course, had to have the originals of all of the above. So while he was in line I went to the copy kiosk and got copies of both our cards and an extra for agent. I like copies of our cards and passports.  It only took about 10 minutes to get all our paper work done, but were there for about an hour. Lots of people in front of us missing some of the required documents. Oh well, it is all done now so when we cross on Friday we will just drive right straight through. On the way back we stopped at IHop for lunch.

Yesterday I washed all the sopping wet towels from the bathroom floor. I gathered my laundry, soap and quarters and headed to the laundry room. Only to find that the machines didn't take quarters. They took a card??? Looking around I discovered the machine that dispensed the CARDS. Put in five dollars (the smallest bill it would take) and get the card. But it only took me a dollar fifty for the wash and a dollar fifty for the dry. Three dollars. No refunds from the machine...Guess I'll go to the office tomorrow to see how that works. Using the card machine one can add money to it but not get a refund. Sign of the times getting more complicated.  

Tomorrow we'll start getting everything ready to travel again. And start thinking in Pesos again instead of dollars. Looks like the weather will be nice for at least a week.