We are back in Mazatlan.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

We arrived in the Las Jaibas RV park in Mazatlan about 2:30 p.m. yesterday.  We are now parked and will finish setting up camp today.  Many people that we know are already here and it is good to be back.  There are about 15 rigs parked and I am surprised to see so many.  Had a good chat with Sam & Rita.  Dick & Val, Mary & Glen, Hal & Helene, Bill & Jeannette, Carol & Richard etc. etc. are here as well.  There is a new man on the desk up front (Arturo) who speaks excellent English and is very professional.  He is unlikely to stay because as in the past the wages that Felipe pays are too low.  Felipe is always shooting himself in the foot with these types of things! 

Our trip yesterday was uneventful which is a good thing.  The highway is wider and has a shoulder in Sinaloa so the driving is not so nerve racking as it is in Sonora where there are no shoulders.  There was a little construction at the south end of Culiacan where you make your right turn onto the Maxipista just ahead of the toll booth but no problem.  There were many rough areas on the Maxipista (mostly where they have patched it!) and it looks like they are in process of repaving the whole thing.  The northbound lane looks very good so it should be better going home. 

Huge agriculture in Sinaloa and it is really green this year. 

Paving/patching crew on the Maxipista between Culiacan and Mazatlan. 

This isn’t a great picture (through a dirty windshield and then cropped) but you can see that the hills are covered in beautiful pink blooming trees.  I’ll get a better picture and find out what they are.

We saw very little of the federallys along the way only 3 or 4 unlike Sonora where they were everywhere.   There were at least three areas where large trucks had crashed and burned (probably at night) in the northbound lanes and meridian.  We stopped for lunch at the rest stop about 50 km north of Mazatlan but had a hard time finding a place to park.  There were a least 7 RV’s plugging it up and we had to pull to the head of the line where we were slightly in the way.  I don’t think they were amused with us as they glared at us as they pulled out.  What could we do, it was lunch time.  There was a single RV by it’s self, two together and then a group of five that had been snuggied up to us in Guaymas (for no apparent reason) where the park was virtually empty  We prefer to travel by ourselves or with another rig at most.  That way we can travel at our own speed and stop where we wish.  When you mix motor homes (with huge fuel tanks) and trucks pulling 5th wheels the motor home has to keep waiting for the smaller truck to fuel up.  Then issues arise trying to all stop together and obviously that is not an concern for some people but it is for us. Again, that is just our preference and each to their own!!!  Right.

I will say once more that we have not felt unsafe anywhere in Mexico so far and have seen many more RV’s than last year.

Big Red has been unloaded ( our new/slightly used 2009 Harley Electra glide Ultra Classic) and it looks great.  It will be fun to ride here with Sam and Rita in the sunshine and is much more comfortable for me. 

Sam has a look at “Big Red.”  Sam suggested the name for the bike and it has stuck!

We will spend a few days settling in and resting from our trip.  Again, all is well.