We are back in Mazatlan.

Thursday March 1, 2012

We hit the road at about 7:30 am yesterday on our trek back to Mazatlan.  The weather was a bit cloudy and that is good because the first part of the drive takes us up the mountain to Tepic.  The first part of the hill is windy as you climb towards Compostela.  The curves are sweeping and when you come down into the valley you have probably climbed to 3500 ft.  before you arrive in Compostela which is at 2700ft.  Along this stretch of road from Las Varas to Compostela there was a huge smell of diesel and it was apparent why when we came around a curve and saw a tanker truck in the ditch on the downward lane. The double fuel tanker had flipped.  Travelling too fast and over he went.

The next part of the hill is much windier, the road is much narrower and you come into Xalisco just before Tepic.  Once again you climb high over a mountain before coming into the valley where Tepic is.  Tepic is at about 3000 ft but once again you have climbed over another mountain before coming down into another highland valley.

The air temperature started to climb as we hit Tepic and Eric said the air conditioner was blowing hot air on him.  Great….it had quit.  I tried turning it off and on a few times but….no dice….dead in the water!  Lovely.  In with the earplugs….open the windows and sweat.  The truck outside temperature gauge was reading 31C…hot!

This part of the drive from Los de Marcos to Tepic took us two hours to go 100 kms and that is the same amount of time it took us on the motorcycle.  We stopped for fuel at a Pemex in Xalisco and then on through the small streets of that town…and out onto the highway at the south end of Tepic.  You have to stay in the left lane so you can make the left turn towards Mazatlan and if you miss it you will be in downtown Tepic.  No bueno!  We decided to stay on the toll road for the first part and pay the first toll before we got onto the Libre or free road.  The first part of the free road leaving Tepic is very windy and we wanted to avoid that part.  There is a long downward grade on both the toll and free road when you leave Tepic heading north.  Coming south it is a long climb into Tepic. When the first exit to the free road came up after the toll booth we exited.  We’d ridden the free road on the motorcycle on the previous trip south and it is actually in better shape than the toll road. 

A quick stop in a Pemex by Acaponeta for the sandwiches I had made the night before and onward.  On the free road you pass through small towns such as Esquinapa, Rosario and Ville Union.  Esquinapa is not bad heading north but a little tight heading south.  Rosario has a really narrow bridge but in the end neither town was a problem. 

We took the same alternate route on the northish end of Mazatlan that we had taken heading south and managed to avoid some of the construction on the main highway.  We hit the toll road on the north end of the city, took the exit to the Playas and were back in Las Jaibas by 3:30.  Not a bad day at all.  Parked and pretty much set up by 4:30.  All in all a good day except for the air conditioner in the truck. 

Well….that’s not the only thing that turned out to be broken.  When I went to use the toilet in the rig I looked up because it seemed a bit breezy and the lid on the vent was gone. 

Eric got up on the roof this morning and although it may have been bumped by a branch it looks like it just separated and blew off.  The plastic has been destroyed by the sun and is hugely brittle.  We have three more of these so they are likely in the same shape. 

Measuring up for a plywood cover.

Manny and Eric having a look.

Eric will figure out a patch up for it and we’ll replace it when we get back to the states.  Some people use Max Air covers to protect them but since we are already max height they would likely be too tall for this rig.  Another little project. 

Oh yeah, and the always on lights on the truck have quit as well.  Not the fuse, not the bulbs, and the plastic bases are a bit melted so that will take future investigation.  Poor Eric….that’s quite a few projects. 

A look at the always on lights.  Not working.

Glen stopped by for a conflab .

We are happy to be back in this park and everyone is happy to see us as well.  There’s no place like home!

While Eric was busy dealing with repairs I managed to get the vacuuming done and unpacked most of our stuff.  This afternoon  I was back playing Thursday afternoon cards with the gals….Hand and Foot and tonight I even went with them and played bingo.  A real social butterfly!!  We all drove up to the end of the road to Cerritos and the Last Drop for bingo, pizza and beer.  I’m happy to see all my gal pals again and I even managed to get a one hour walk on the beach in.   The pizza was good, there were lots of laughs and I didn’t win.  Home by 7:45….a big night!

Tomorrow we are off to find something to patch the vent so we don’t have an open skylight when it rains.  Eric had the whole thing open but he had to put the screen back in when he saw a Grackle (bird) looking down the hole at him!  No birdies in the rig. 

No Birdies in the rig!

P.S. there is an out of order blog (A ride up the Valle de Banderas and a good Mexican lunch) that I posted after (We are leaving Los de Marcos tomorrow)