Osuna Family Trailer Park, Santa Ana to Hickiwan RV Park, Why, AZ

 Yesterday morning was a lot cooler than the night before.  It was a hot 36C late in the afternoon and about 13C in the morning.  We got some sleep overnight because we have earplugs.  You just can't have too many barking dogs in Mexico!  Plus the people parked next to us in the van got up early and let their little mutt bark it's guts out for about 20 minutes before they left.  How polite!  Anyway we were up and ready to go by 8:15.  Only a couple hundred miles but when you have Mexican paperwork to turn in and a stop at the border it's best to leave early. 

 Turn left to head down through Santa Ana and then onward to the border.

 Downtown Santa Ana and it's quiet this morning.  The road has been repaved which is a treat as it was deeply rutted in the past.

 It's spring and the palo verde is in full bloom.  The desert is really green so they must have had a fair bit of rain over the winter.

 Altar and the lights are quite an art statement.

 Pitiquito where we used to turn in our TIP,s (temporary importation permits) now a Federalie Police Station.

 The saguaro cacti start to appear.

 South of Caborca and the road is now asphalt.  From Santa Ana to Caborca it's cement in the northbound lane.  Not potholed but not very smooth either.  This stretch from Caborca to the border is the only area where we drive partly on the paved shoulder.  Only two lanes and vehicles pass down the middle.

 At somewhere near km 120 the road started to get rough.  It wasn't very good (lots of filled potholes) for a good 50km.  The very heavy trucks destroy pavement on a regular basis.  Up ahead you can see the new facility at San Emeterio where we will turn in our TIP's.  At the old facility there was an immigration office for tourist visas as well but now that's only at the border.

 We made a big U turn where the trucks enter at the north end of the facility and headed back to the bus entrance.  This is where they told us to return to when we came south in November.

Now for the fun part.  We were told we could go through the bus stopping area and continue out back where they would come outside to do our paperwork.  We parked out back and went inside to give them the paperwork and the young woman behind the counter informed us that their machine that read the stickers couldn't process them from that far away and that we'd have to go back around and park out front where the buses stop which is the same place that they told us to move out of last fall.  So after a discussion with the clerk and another male worker we drove back out to the highway went north U turned where the trucks come in and came back to where the buses park.

 Here we are.  First they wanted us to pull in like the buses do in an angle park.  If we did that we would have been sticking way out and would have had a hard time making the tight turn to leave so we parked as you can see.  They didn't like it but they let us do it. 

 Both the young woman and her co-worker spoke decent English although she seemed new to the job and Eric had to remind her to remove the sticker from the windshield of the truck.  No sticker....no money returned!  She wanted Eric to do it but he told her she should do it.  Now for the motorcycle.  When Eric opened the door to the RV garage and showed her where the motorcycle was she left and went back into the building and when she returned she said Eric had to unload it.  She gave no explanation and I heard Eric say " Absolutely not!"  He told her that he'd been doing this for ten years and no one had ever asked him to unload the bike.  He showed her where the numbers on the bike were and that she could take a picture.  Eric went into the building and talked to the boss and she sent Eric back out with the male co-worker to have a look.  On the way out the guy explained that they wanted a picture of the bike with some of the building in the back ground.  A new policy!  Eric said " Why don't I just open the tail gate and you can get a picture of the bike with the building in the background."  The guy said yes, that would be fine.  They didn't explain what they wanted so Eric had a hard time accommodating them.   Now he needed pictures of the numbers which are on the front of bike on the frame.  In the past they've always taken a picture of the sticker.  The stamped numbers are obscured by the tie downs.  Eric had to undo the front tie downs so he could get the second picture.  When it was all over he explained he needed pictures of the two numbers even though they are the same which is similar to what they do with the truck.  If any of this had been explained at the beginning it would have simplified things.  The guy said his big big boss has changed the rules and there was nothing he could do.  We left as friends and Eric shook his hand and thanked him for explaining things so we know for next year but....Eric was really mad even though he was really polite about it all.   I wonder if it's being handled the same at the Nogales crossing or if it's different at each crossing.  Frustrating.  Did I mention that it was 36C and everyone was really hot while this was going on.....in more ways than one!

 We stopped behind the building and had lunch before continuing on.  The wild flowers are starting to appear.

 Coming into Sonoyta and it's quiet here too. 

 Turn right for the border.  At the border we parked the truck where the army usually checks us (didn't this time) and walked in to immigration to turn in our tourist visas.  There were two couples ahead of us but it didn't take long.  I was ready at the border.  Nothing in my fridge that shouldn't be there...I hoped.  Last year the cranky US border guard (the first one in 9 years) made us get searched.  This year the nice young man asked us where we'd spent the winter and then had a little chat about El Chapo and Pablo Escobar!  He'd been to Colombia and thought it was great but he wanted to go to Mazatlan and see where El Chapo was caught.  He looked north american but had a Spanish accent and in the end he didn't ask us anything about anything.  Sweet!

 Why 27 "miles!"

 Lots of cacti.

 When we made the turn in Why to head east to the RV park the edge of the road was covered in wild flowers.  Orange, yellow, blue and white....mother nature sure has good color sense!

 Beautiful.

 We parked in front of the office and there was no one around so Eric called the contact number on the door.  The manager was over at that building in the distance on the right cooking up "fry bread" for some sort of food event.  The Indians have taken over the management of the RV park and some things have changed. First they seem to like the rustic look of natural vegetation throughout the park.  As a gardener I don't disagree with the wild look but it has it's place and it's place isn't around the RV sites!  Just looks messy. 

 However a good thing is that they have fenced out the burros.  We thought they were cute when we first came but once you are wading through burro poop and they are peeing all around you it soon gets old. 

 You guys stay over there and fight and carry on.  It's spring so the teeth and heels are flying.  They walk the fence looking for a way to get in.

Nope...we give up, time to move on.

There has been improvements in the washrooms with new sinks/faucets and faucets in the showers.  It only costs $19 US here so the price is right for a quiet stop. 

36C yesterday and today 22C with a cold north wind...quite a change.  This morning I got the laundry done here in the park, $2.75 a load and the facilities are good.  Then it was off to Olsen's IGA  market in Ajo for some groceries.  I'd carefully gotten rid of everything before the US border and I needed to stock up.  Eric tried to get a hair cut at Rueben's but it was too busy.  Have to wait until we're in Bullhead City.  I stopped at the bakery....closed on Wed/Thurs....rats.  At least the grocery store is good and I stocked up.  Got lots of  different chili powders as they have a huge selection of spices.  The prices after Mexico (in US dollars) just kill me but...what can you do.  So a good day except Eric seems to have either really bad allergies or a cold....time will tell.
                                        
    Took a picture on my Samsung S7 cell phone on the way into town.  Through the window, zoomed and at speed...not bad.