After San Carlos, we headed to Santa Ana. We stayed at a nice desert campground with full hook ups. The caravan had a final potluck dinner - which gave us the chance to eat up any remaining meat, dairy, and fresh fruits and veggies. We had a campfire and debriefed by sharing our favorite memories and moments. It was a fun way to close out the caravan. Our departure time for Nogales was 8 am. We stopped by the banjercito to turn in our truck and trailer Temporary Import Permits and Traveler's Visas. About 15 minutes down the road, we reached the border crossing. There was a bit of a line, but it didn't take terribly long to reach the front. After a brief inspection of the truck and trailer, we were on our way! We stopped at Walmart to restock on food and then drove about 20 minutes to Patagonia Lake State Park. As it happened, the Four Corners Unit had an Airstream Rally going on this weekend! We met up with ou...
The morning started with a 9 am tour. We were picked up at the campsite by five "Pulmonias". They are open air Volkswagons. Jude picked the car with the coolest rims and it just so happened that the tour guide landed in our car. Each one seats 3-4 people plus the driver. Our guide was so wonderful and told us all about the city! She said that Mazatlan first got small Pullman Motor driven taxis years ago. These small open air taxis arrived in the winter and people nicknamed them "Pneumonia". At some point, they were swapped for VW's but the name stuck - so hundreds of "pneumonias" drive around the city transporting tourists wherever they would like to go. It is a really fun way to explore the city - and a relief to not have to drive our big trucks around. Our first stop was the malecon - a beachside walkway filled with vendors and paper mache statues celebrating upcoming Carnival. Many of Mexico's cities have large m...
We had a long journey to Los Alamos. The roads were really bad - full of pot holes, topes (speed bumps) and vibradores (rumble strips). Our microwave continues to not want to stay in place and we had a friend whose upper cabinets came unbolted. Yikes! The day was 6 hours and we arrived at a less than favorable “campground”. It was a dirt lot full of garbage and broken glass. It was 90 degrees so we pulled put the generators to cool the trailer off. We had no services. Carpooling into town, we found a lovely restaurant for dinner and then the rest of the crew headed back while I joined half of the caravan for an evening walk around the city. I’m feeling the weight of the final part of my pregnancy and sitting in the car for so many hours had my legs feeling restless. A troupe of minstrels led us around the city singing and dancing. The town square was lively on the Sunday evening and many people from the town joined in the festivities. A 33 year old donkey name...
He’s a perfect mix of you! Bet he’s glad to be rejoined and has some fun summer memories to share with everyone.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are beyond flexible! Jude looks good after spending the night in Atlanta!
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