We are home….Yahoo!

First things first.  I never spend much time figuring out the blog settings.  Eric has commented that it would be nice if the pictures were bigger.  I did that then the printing was too small. Fixed that and then the text at the right was fragmented.  Fixed that.  Now of course all my old postings will look really odd.  I thought that it would only change things from this point on but it changed all the settings except the pictures which remained the size they were when I created the post.  Oh well I guess that’s the cost of progress.  If anyone reading this knows something more about this….let me know.

Onward.

We left Los de Marcos at 8:30 am their time and 7:30 Mazatlan time. Actually you only have to go north about 2 or 3 miles and the time changes.

It looked a little stormy when we set out and it was quite cool.  We weren’t dressed warmly because we knew it would warm up. Coming through Las Varas. 

The policia were out in full force watching the traffic speed as the school children were on the street.  Good to see!

Always driving through the tree tunnels. 

Heading up the mountain from Las Varas to Compostela.

  P.S. ….the camera is going in to get cleaned tomorrow.

The ride from Las Varas is slow and winding and to add to the difficulty of the ride the sun was in our eyes and there was a huge amount of shadow on the road. This is where you gain most of your altitude.  Really hard to see and very slow and besides that we were cold.   We were moving slowly but since there are always slow moving vehicles the other drivers are used to it.  They are much more tolerant and careful with their passing than they usually are on other roads.

 

See all those wiggly lines…well they aren’t fun.

 

That’s Compostela off to the right.

We were now not too far out of Xalisco which is just south of Tepic when I took this picture.  The road from Compostela to Xalisco is very narrow and I just hung on and didn’t take pictures. 

The gravel truck carrying who knows what up ahead has a huge amount of black exhaust….horrible to follow on a bike. 

Fields of ????

More horrible smoke from another truck.

Cane truck pulling out….always something to pass.

 

Now it’s a tractor with discs on the back.  Another pass but at least they are moving slowly.  

Just coming into Xalisco …this is the University of Technology.

At this point we stopped for fuel and a bum break.  It had warmed up and we weren’t cold so that was a plus.  The ride through Xalisco is just plain nasty.  The street is one way with no parking….well that’s just a suggestion..right!  Vehicles parked here and there, topes, Mexicans trying to pass you when you slow down for a tope, cutting you off…well you get the picture. 

So no pictures until we stopped for lunch just south of Rosamorada.  We picked a restaurant across from the Pemex station and then tried to order.  No printed menu, rapid Spanish from the senora running it and in the end we had huevos rancheros and it was good.

Here is Eric waiting patiently to eat.

This picture was on the wall….all Mexican film stars?

Who are these guys?

Objet d’art.

We were on the free road coming home and since I took pictures heading south I didn’t take anymore heading north.

We were sitting at an light in Esquinapa when I spotted this fellow kitty corner to us at the Farmacia Similar.  They were doing a promotion and he was waving at us.  When I got out the camera he gave us the “Hawaiian hang loose” sign.  Funny.

On to Rosario where stopped for fuel, water and another bum break.  At this point we were both feeling beat up by the topes, roads and heat.  I just felt completely “tenderized.”  250 miles on  Mexican roads has nothing in common with 250 miles on a road north of the Mexican border. 

The traffic through Rosario, Villa Union and Mazatlan was light and we were back in the park and home by 3:30.  Were we happy to be home….you bet.  The weather was warm, I left cold beer in the fridge and there were leftovers in the freezer.  We were set.

PS…….Tuesday

This is the extent of Eric’s activity today.  He is prone.  I baked some bread and that was it for me.  Nice to see everyone here and find out what happened while we were away.