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Sunday, April 2, 2017

Los Mochis to Playa de Cortez, Guaymas

Up at 7am and ready to hit the road by 8:15am.  The traffic on the highway was loud last night….even with ear plugs in. 

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Whatever was growing on these plants in the field next to us is now in bags. 

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We’ve left Los Mochis and are now heading up out of town.  The road in and around Mochis is shot.  Seems they just leave it that way in the towns.  Can’t be bothered to fix it? Leave it that way to slow down traffic?  Who knows.

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Check point and they just wave us through.

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Bye, bye Sinaloa.

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The traffic is whizzing by at a 110km max and goats/sheep are grazing at the edge of the road.  There is someone watching them but this just can’t be safe.

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The ambulance and fire truck (King county on the fireman’s gear which must have been a donation) sped by with lights flashing.  Up the road there was an old truck over the edge all smashed up right next to the railroad tracks.  Lots of people standing around and cars stopped.  Possibly hit by the train which was now stopped or ….accident on the highway???

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They are concreting the south bound lanes so the south bound traffic changes sides and travels south on the north bound side.  

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It’s a divided highway so we will change sides in areas where they are working.

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Like right here. 

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Hey….that looks like new pavement.

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Coming into Navojoa and my eye always catches their sign with all the metal horse statues.

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Amazing aren’t they.

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Navojoa is the prettiest and cleanest town we pass through.

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Navojoa to Obregon and the highway is concrete until we get here.  Nasty pavement and then the fun starts.

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They have been working on the so called Obregon truck and heavy traffic route for over a year. It was bad when we came south in the fall and now it’s even worse. 

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Gravel, huge potholes and the signs aren’t adequate to direct you.  Even the Mexican truck drivers looked confused.

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Turn left here I guess.

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Can’t go left, can’t go through so right I guess.

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The south bound traffic is being detoured here and there as well.

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Turn right and you’ll make it out to the highway.

Between Obregon and the toll booth the pavement is horrible but concrete again after that.  We usually stop for lunch at the Pemex at the toll booth but today it was completely plugged up by trucks.  I might also mention that the highway has been really busy.  I’d thought that travelling on a Sunday would be as quiet as it was when we headed south but not today. 

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Just past the toll booth and we are in Yaqui Indian land.  Would you like to live in these houses?  I think not.  We stopped at a wide edge of the road for lunch and continued on. 

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We might have been able to cross over to the large Yaqui Indian centre but we weren’t sure about the drop off.

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Everyone needs a whole herd of cows next to a major highway.  What an accident that would make!

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The photo doesn’t really show it but the drop off at the edge of the pavement is huge here.   Could be 3-4 feet.

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Coming through Vicam and they are selling birds and this pottery.  I wonder who buys it.

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We’ve left the toll road and are coming into Empalme.  The road is barely wide enough for two large vehicles to pass side by side and it’s still really busy here as well.   One small error and you are over the edge. 

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Coming over the water just before Guaymas and everyone is stopped to have seafood.  It is Sunday afternoon and the only day most people get off from work so I guess we should expect it to be busy.

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Coming into Guaymas it’s a bit quieter.

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The windshield is dirty as we hit a hatch of bugs.  That means the front of the 5th wheel will be plastered as well. 

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We made it! 

It’s about 3:30pm and we are the only ones in the RV park.  I have to say that it is looking really shabby here.  Some of the sites have been half heartedly mowed but for the most part it doesn’t look very good.  I know they don’t get a lot of RVers but people won’t stay if they don’t keep it looking half decent.  Not anywhere near as nice as it was a few years ago.  Plus all the big trees between the sites have died.  Oh well….we still prefer it to Totonaka in San Carlos.

Set up and showered by 5:30 and it’s time for a beer.  We’ll stay a few days and then head on.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Heading north ….Mazatlan to Los Mochis

The weather is beautiful this morning in Mazatlan.  It’s spring and the breeze is warm, the birds are chirping and the park is almost empty.  But….it’s time to go! 

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We hooked up yesterday and Eric moved forward, loaded the bike and bicycle and other bits and pieces and then moved back to our hook-up so we could dump this morning.

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Nobody, nada nothing!

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It’s about 9:20 am and we are ready to leave the park.  Still a few rigs up front.

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Dick and Val’s 5th wheel is sitting all by itself.  They likely won’t be able to return next winter and we’ll miss them.

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Wash room and front office.  We’ll turn right and head north.   See you in November Mazatlan.

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Here we are on Mex 15D heading north. 

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Just a short distance and ….a toll booth.  This is an expensive one. 

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Agriculture is huge in Sinaloa.   Greenhouse crops and field crops as well.

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Bits of new paving here and there. 

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The corn is green and as even as a marine’s brushcut!  GMO?  Tons of fertilzer and that’s what you get.

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Fields prepared for planting and irrigation water in the ditches.

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We have gone through a few more toll booths and passed through Culliacan.  Here we are at Pemex 7474 at kilometer 44 north of Culliacan having lunch and fueling up.  One of the Federales parked at the station really liked the 5th wheel (mui bonita) and wanted to know what it cost.  Eric said $40,000.00  US dollars new….(not worth that now though.)

So….road to this point not good but not horrible either.  It has been a lot worse.  Eric did drive 90km max and mostly 80km and also in the slow lane but spent a lot of time with our right wheels on the shoulder trying to avoid potholes.

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North of km 44 the highway was horrible.  Bad pavement, potholes and we moved even more slowly until it improved for about 1km just before the next toll booth.  Accident….I think not!  Then terrible again until km 130 where it improved. 

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These grain storage silos are attatched to a feed lot.

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A truck full of sorghum.  How do they get it so even?

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Coming into Guasave where it’s really busy.

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A busy town with all the services you need.  

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Burger King, WalMart and even a McDonald’s.

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Trucks and trucks full of tomatoes.  Ones that fell out of trucks dotted the road as we travelled along.  I will really miss Mexico’s produce….the roads….not so much!

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At one point here they were feeding the cattle tomatoes that probably didn’t make the cut, then in another spot they were composting them in the field.  I think this may be tomatoes as well.  Too far away to see.

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Busy, busy intersection and the topes slow you down so the south bound traffic can cross the north bound lane and head east.

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Tractors are allowed on the highway from Culliacan north.

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We have passed Pemex 4925 heading north and then used a retourno to get back to it.  A large gated lot that we stay in going south and also heading north.  Tomorrow morning we will head south to the first retourno and then continue north.

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We arrived about 3:20pm after a reasonable 260 mile day.  We don’t like to move fast on the Mexican roads….too hard on the rig and too hard on us.  This is lonely us back in the corner out of the dust.  Last fall heading south it was a blazing hot 34C when and we had to run the A/C.   In addition to that the bugs ate us alive.  There is an irrigation ditch near by and there are lots of biting bugs.  No bueno.  Hope we are luckier this time.  It is only 27C and quite pleasant.

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Hardly any trucks here yet but when they come in the double trailors really create a dust storm.  We park on the north end of the lot because the wind blows from the north but that means we are close to the ditch with the biting bugs….can’t have it both ways I guess. 

Tomorrow off to Guaymas and the Hotel Playa de Cortez RV park.