Off to Mexico

December 05, 2006

We stayed the night in a Wal Mart parking lot in Nogalas AZ. This has got to be the most busiest Wal Mart in the world. There was 12 Rvs, about 10 Trucks in the lot waiting to go into mexico or using this lot as a pit stop.
What made this Wal Mart busy was the shoppers. That lot was so darn full!!! I mean people shopping until after 11 at night!! Then the workers come to claim the carts at four in the morning. Needless to say it was not a good sleep night. We have learned that if you park in that lot, Make sure you park your rig in the lot closer to Wendys hamburgers. Otherwise with the holiday shoppers you will have cars pulled up to your RV door with them leaving and coming until late into the night. (At least late for us) Then you get the cart retreaval in the early AM and the teens having fun beeping their horns and yelling out the car windows. All in the name of fun, but when your old like me, beauty sleep is at a primium. One must take this all with a smile however as the workers are just doing their job and you are parking for free in their lot. The store knows there stuff however as the canadians in the lot were filling up carts with groceries. The US is very strict about what comes in so they left there home with not a lot of groceries. Also they said that they go to Mexico every year and there are certain things they like to take with them, so they get them here. Light beer and Caffine free coke was the big ticket items. We did not fill up. We love mexican beer, dont do caffine free coke, and want to experiance things on our own. We bought a cooked chicken for dinner that night. That made Panchos night!! He LOVES chicken.
We crossed at Nogalas Az/Mx. (they are called the same town name on the US side and MEX side). Our cross was pretty darn good. We got an early start at six in the morning, that is when they open, then drove to the check point to register and get our papers. That took a long time. Almost two hours. We got a ten year permit on our RV and Chuck needed to fill out a check sheet of what we had in the trailer. Chuck had read ahead on what others have posted on RV net and had all our copies handy and ready. Although in the process of this stuff, he did have to go back to the Trailer and get the original paperwork as they will not accept copies of ownership of vehicles. Unless you have a note from a finiance company that you can take your vehicle into mexico (good luck on that) you can not take your vehicle in. Having a clear title is a must. Yes, we had a clear title. Two guys there did not and they were not giving them permission to enter with there vehicle.
Anyway, we are on the road by eight o'clock, freezing our toes off. Yeah, it was so cold that our toes were cold in our shoes, AND our hands and fingers were so frozen Chuck was shaking as he tried to do paperwork. Oh, I forgot to mention. At the Wal-Mart parking lot we stayed in the night before we met some really nice people Sharon and Richard and their two dogs. We are traveling with them by the way. They had there ten year permit already so they did not take half as long as we took. They went and sat in there motor home while we finished paperwork. Yeah, since I was not needed at the paperwork place, I snuck in there warm motor home with them while Pancho made friends with Britney and Casey their other dog.
We went on the toll roads to San Carlos. Actually the whole trip was very good. The first toll road cost us $121.00 in Pecos, that works out to about $11.00 US. The second toll road was 90 Pecos, about $8.41 US. Unfortunally for the toll road people, the girl in the booth pushed the button to soon as we were passing and hit our RV. Chuck tore that sucker in half and kept going. He was not happy she did that, and in his rear view mirror he could see them looking at the crashed up gate. Oh well, should of paid attention!! Our RV was not dented up. In Hermosilla we were besheased with three men running to our truck and jumping up to wash the windows. Chuck told them NO, and one started to climb onto the truck, Chuck was on him just like Pancho, both of them barking and growling, they guy got off and we drove off. Another adventure down.
So the rest of the way to San Carlos was great. Nice roads (little bumpy in places) and the topes are well marked.
Although it was strange to see dead goats and cows on the side of the road instead of cats and dogs. People who drive at night seem to meet those animals. Trucks here start early in the morning around 4:30 and it is still dark. Park at a Pemex not to close to the off ramp if you can, or you WILL be up early. (Personal experiance here)
The town of San Carlos is very nice. Beautiful cold pacific ocean with a rock and sand beach. (Mostly sand). We thought we were going to boondock on the beach where some canadian's had told us they had before, but a very nice policeman came and told us it was not allowed, so we had to leave. But before he came, we had two hours of sand, beach and sea. Pancho liked digging in the sand and just had a ball running and playing with the other dogs. Brittney is a Griffon and is a water dog, She swam and swam and loved the water. Pancho got his feet wet, but that was it. Being this was his first ocean, I expected that, he will be doing better as we get more ocean time. After we left our and went to the Pemex station, we got in Sharon and Richards car and went searching the town. The houses there are beautiful with some of those houses way, way out of our price range. We checked out too RV parks. One is over $400.00 a month. This is in town and a wonderful park with beautiful palm trees and pool and a little motel behind it. very nice. The other one is a country club type of place that is $600.00 a month. Hot tub, pool, and all the country club stuff like tennis, massages, ect. available. Personally, I love the older park better in town. Very clean and pretty within walking distance to town. On the way back we stopped for Tacos at a little place across from the Pemex station and had some really good fish tacos and Carde Asada Tacos. She fixed them as you ordered them. Very very good. We were very happy as we came back to our RV for the night. We went to bed at eight o'clock.
I think we are parting ways with Sharon and Richard today as they only want to travel about a hundred miles today. We want to travel at least two so we get to Matazlan the next day. We will probley meet up with them again on the outside part of PV and travel down the coast with them some after January. They are meeting their kids the week before christmas in PV.
Our RV tire is flat and chuck is changing it as I write this. I guess I should go out there and see if I can get in the way. I call it helping, but he seems to feel I get in the way. Strange how married couples preceive these things is it not!!! So I will write more in a day or so.





A note to any who actually click on the link to our location, no we did not drown. By the time I noticed the incorrect corrdinates I lost my internet connection so could not correct it. Sorry!






















Pancho on his way to Mexico. He is getting sleeply.....
















BOOM!!! he's OUT!! Notice his little head has to be held in my hand. He really needs comfort and human contact!!















Pancho and his friends playing on the beach here in Mexico in San Carlos Mexico. Below is the mom and dad of Panchos friends. They are Richard and Sharon. The pups are Bailey and Casey.
















This is Richard and Sharon and me with Pancho in San Carlos Mexico. Our first Mexico beach stop.














This would be a wonderful house would it not?? It is right on the beach in San Carlos.
















December 06, 2006
Our new friends went their own way today heading for other parts of Mexico they want to see. We hope to run into them again soon as they have said they would like to stop here for a couple of days before heading onto PV. I hope they can find the place ok, or get the opptunity to see this blog before heading out so they can find it. More on that later on day three, today it is day two, Yeah, I am living in day four today, so I am just a wee bit behind in this.
Anywho, on day two we traveled on the Cota roads (toll) and was amazed at how many there are. You will spend a bit to get here, however, as Chuck said, In the States we pay road taxes, here they must have toll's to help maintane the roads. Either way, it is all good. That evening we pulled into a Pemex and saw some Canadians we had seen in Nogalas and camped at the Pemex by us outside of San Carlos. So we pulled up by them (safety in numbers) and met. They were nice people. They have a happy hour every night so we joined them in a cocktail. I got a buzz off of one glass of wine and that was enough for me. Chuck had some sort of Cocktail. One of the couples stopped at two cocktails (until after dinner) and the other ones never stopped!! ha ha ha....just filled the glass and kept it with them. So we all decided to go to dinner at the restaurtant there at the Pemex as by now I am starved. On our way there, Dianne fell on her face but hard. Scrapped up her nose really bad and lost her wine in her cup. So home she goes to clean up and nurse herself. Man, she fell like a rock to. It was pretty scary as she was scrapped and blooded. You know us older people do not bounce back as easy as younger, and she is probley in her 60's I am guessing. So the rest of us head for dinner, and after awhile she and her sweetie come in. She has cleaned up nicely and is in good spirits. We figure she is going to have a couple of shiners in the morning. Dinner was great and an enjoyable night. They decided to join us on our trip and come to Villa Celeste. We go to bed early....again....hoping for a good nights sleep.













December 07, 2006

Morning. Not a great nights sleep. Pemex stations are busy places. But a lot better than the very busy Wal-Mart in Nogalas. We waited and waited but no movement in the other trailers, so finally at 8:30 I go and rouste them up. We get out of the parking lot after awhile, deciding to have breakfast down the road. Off we go. Lots of Toll roads later, we hit the Libra road (free road) that bypass's a very expensive toll to Mazaltan. This expensive toll road is $200 paseo's for a car (about $19.00) so for a fiver with duel tires on our truck, we know it is going to be close to forty bucks. I want to spend that money on new shoes for me, so the free road it is. Dianne (the lady who fell) is not sure about the free road and wants a guarantee from me that it is a nice road. I of course can not guarantee anything as I have never been on it, so I tell her she does not have to follow us, she is free to travel anyway she wants. Her friends decide to come with us, so she and her husband do to. The road was a little bumpy at first. Not bad as we have been on worse roads back in the Eastern United States. We drive and drive until we get to the town of La Cruz. Now granted, we have a road map, but no city maps and the signs telling you want way to go are not available. (We later see them laying on the side of the road) We take a turn I think is where we need to go and of course get lost. Look, we are dealing with me here, Navagation has NEVER been my strong point. Hell, I am still trying to find my strong point!!! Anyway, will miracles never sceace!!! Chuck decided to stop and ask for directions since we have two others following us. Turns out Vern has no problem with asking for directions to so off the two of them go to a building. Low and behold, it is a Police station!! How lucky can you get!! THEY should know the way to the Cota!! So they try and tell the guys, Vern comes back to our truck for the map and tells me to follow him so maybe I can understand what he is saying. With much hand gueste's and broken words I THINK I got it. So off we go. About a mile down the road, the police are pulled to the side of the road and want us to pull over. So we do. This is when it is apparent to the local police that the signs are down, So they ask us to follow them. Now, How wonderful is that!! I know of NO where this has ever happened to me in the states (but then again, we spoke the same language) and these wonderful Police give us an escort to the freeway. Lucky for us they did to cause we would of been SSSSOOOO lost without them. It was a seriers of roads we would not of taken. Thats when I realized I did not understand as much as I thought. But now I reflect back and realized that if the signs would of been visual, it would of been fine. Anyway, these wonderful guys get us all to the freeway and off we go. So we got a police escort out of town. With smiles even!!!
So now we are thinking the rest will be a breeze. Me so funny. Yeah, right. We see the sign that says Celesta RV park, but have read that there is another entrance to take, and to take that next one as it is an easier route. We NEVER see the other exit. So we end up pulling over about five miles down the road in a rest area. The canadians who are following us decide they are going onto Mazatlan instead of turning around and trying to find this turn off. We don't blame them a bit and tell them see you later. We intend to meet up with Vern and Bev and have lunch in Matz. sometime soon. They are planning on staying in the city. Chuck finds a green angel truck and tries to talk to the guy about a route to get back. Dianne decides to ask the guy about Mazitzalan the same time. After awhile Chuck finally gets his information, Dianne gets her information and everyone is happy. We all say good-by and head our seprate ways.
Chuck and I get off at Km 63 and make a loop back onto the freeway. Now, I have got to tell you all that it is different here than in the US to get on a freeway. They have dirt roads besides the overramps that are places to make turns on. We did not get this until we had to see it with our beedey eyes. They are used for on and off the freeway turns. It works and it is simple. We have actually thought the US should take some hints from Mexico. Those Topes do wonders to slow people down!! Ok, on to finding our way here. For those of you who might come here. Turn at Km78. It is a dirt turn off. Your going to think...what the hellllll???? But that is IT. Do go slow. You will then come to paved road. Follow it through town and there will be a sign saying the way to the RV park. Do the dirt road, become one with it, be its friend. That will take you to the park. The park itself it very nice. Better than what I expected. It is pretty, friendly and splended. It is a bit of a turn getting in the gate, however, they are working on making it wider. It takes awhile to hand chip all the concrete away from the fence and rebar. Noe, the owner guides you into your space and you back in. All are back in spaces. We are at the top of the park, at the bottom of the park is a place that is closer to the beach. I am happy were we are, I can walk to the beach. Those spaces are all taken at this time. The park has Wi-Fi althought the signal can be a bit of a pain at times. Noe is working on that. If this guy says he is working on it, then he is. Him and his wife are trying to run a park that is enjoyable to us so we come back year after year. I think they will be successful with that as this place is very beautiful, clean and quite.
The park has a pool, nice tv room with a large screen tv. We watched Survivor last night. It has over 300 channels including all HBO, STARS, ECT. No expense spared there. Surrounding the pool is steps, gardens with palm trees and Palpas with hammocks. Over on the end that the other's are parked closer to the beach, there is a Palpa with chairs, tables on a very nice concrete pad so you can enjoy the view. The beach itself is beautiful. The water is warm, the beach clean and sandy. They had a beautiful sunset last night, and I will try and get pictures and post them. Last night we were just to tired for picture snapping. So tonight will be picture time if the sunset is a beauty.


Note. On this map it shows the end as Elota. It does not show a road going accross to La Cruz on Hwy 20. Celestino Gasca is about 12 miles south of there and is where we are.










This is a picture of where we are staying looking up from the beach were we like to hang out.
Under these Palpas are our hammocks. Love them hammocks!!!














See, this is where Pancho and l Like to be in the warm afternoon. I have a book there to, but I have learned I should bring a pillow also.















This is the pool area.














Entering the beach from the park.















I have found that at that point there is where the best fishing is.
















December 08, 2006.


Today we are having a good day. We had a wondeful sleep last night as the ocean lulled us to sleep. The weather is perfect. We are in shorts and short sleeves. Sleep was great as the night did not get so cold THAT more then a light blanket was needed. Today we are headed to Las Cruz so we can get diesel, propane and maybe I can find some shoe's. The beach is still there as beautiful as ever. I will write more later today. Richard and Sharon showed up this afternoon and will be here for a couple of days. We all took an afternoon walk on the beach with the dogs and had a great time. AH! All is well.......

December 09, 2006

Still no Internet access but Noe assures us that it will be soon. We did not get much done today, but we enjoyed the day anyway. Ended up having cocktails under the palapa watching the sun set, then returned to the rigs. Dee prepared dinner for Rickard, Sharon and I then we had a wonderful game of Mexican Train which Dee won. Damn this is a tough life, but someone has to do it so it might as well be us. A poor working stiff would not be able to handle this kind of stress. So don't try it......We will let you know how bad it is whenever we get a chance. Richard and Sharon will hit the road again tomorrow and journey further South. We will stay and hold down the fort.

December 10, 2006

Very slow day here at the park, . No workers today as it is Sunday. There are 3 of us here on the upper end of the park and the lower half is full. The lower half has room for 5 rigs. We took a short jaunt into Celestino Gasca and got some fish hooks an a Pasada filled with pumpkin (Mexican Pastry), not bad. I replaced all the connectors, which were pretty corroded on the parks Sat system hopeing that that was the problem with the Wifi but it wasn't. It appears that the modem is the problem. Noe is going to Culicān tomorrow the get a new one. We barbaqued a fish that had been given to Dee by a fisherman for dinner. It was not bad, but we sure have had better. Probably just the way we fixed it, Oh well,, maybe next time.

December 11, 2006
Ok, later Chuck will post the picture of me and my first Mexican fish.





Frank and Dianne showed up today. We are so happy they are here and safe!!! We really was starting to get worried about them. We all took naps later on in the day, then went into la Cruz to get new fishing line for me. The stuff I had kept snapping and I lost three hooks and two weights today. The last hook I put on I did not put a weight on. I was thinking if I do it that way, maybe I would not keep losing them. That turned out to be a farce. I was casting out and before my hook and bait hit the water, my line broke and off it all sailed. At first I was thinking what a great cast, then I realized what was happening. My line must be to old. So new line was needed.
One the way back we went grocery shopping. Not many mexican people have seen women with tattoo's, so I was stared at a lot. Kids would come up and look, so I smiled at them and talked best I could. One girl who was 11 was so cute, she kept following us around laughing and smiling. Dianne translated for us and we had a new friend.
On the way from the grocery we stopped at the best place to eat ever. It is here in our little town at a restaurant that is pretty cool in itself. I love the place. It is sort of a shack with a palapa and there house on the back. If it is day light you can sit under a palapa and have a view of the ocean on the ledge. However, it was dark when we got there and so we sat outside under the regular palapa. The food is amazing. Carmen shows you the fish and you pick it out. There is no such thing as a little fish in this place. All fish are measured in kilo's. One kilo is 2.2 pounds american. Our fish was at least two kilo's. So for dinner we had over four pounds of bar-b-qued fish and two pounds of boiled shrimp. There were four of us and we took at least half the fish home. Lunch tomarrow.
So another day in paradise has passed. WE are going to get ready for bed and sleep in hopefully tomorrow. We got home to late for chuck to put the line on the fishing poles. So tomorrow is a sleep in day, after that, we fish.
So until we write again in a day or so, take care of your loved ones and remember to tell them how important they are in your life.
Much love to our friends and family, and to those who are reading our blog and do not know us personally, maybe someday we can meet.
Chuck, Dee and Pancho
The Ramblin' Ramseys