I apologize for my late blogging but I was too tired when we arrived in Nogales and last night when we arrived in Yuma I had no internet. So here I am sitting in the Ramada Inn lobby doing the blog.
We were up early Thursday morning and after a light breakfast we were on the road by 7am.
Ah the lovely roads of Sonora. However the first stretch is already showing some damage to the concrete which will be impossible to repair.
First up...another toll booth. By the end of the day we would be up to another 1100 plus pesos and almost $90 Canadian but...the roads were good and there were two expensive bypasses at Obregon and Hermisillo.
The Obregon bypass comes up quickly without much warning so you have to keep your eyes open.
Lots of money was spent on this one.
We are now into the Yaqui territory and soon to pass through Vicam. For all the years that we've been coming south the Yaqui's have been fighting to regain their territorial water rights. The highway through Vicam was broken pavement and the Yaqui people had road blocks and stops where a donation was required to help them with their long legal battle. Good news for them is noted below.
We could see contruction of the huge water lines as we passed through.
Vicam ahead and the beautiful concrete highway is now being constructed through Vicam. A relief for them and us as well.
No broken pavement.
All the "lovely merchandise" is still for sale but no birds in cages thankfully.
Doesn't that look great. The road north is complete but the south route is still under construction.
Up ahead....a truck full of watermelons heading for the border. Luckily this isn't Sinaloa or they'd all bounce out!!
Interesting hills
We are diverted around the bridge that fell down around San Carlos. How did that happen???
This was a convoy of a huge oversize load of machinery that looks to be destined for a mine.
Gigantic and not much room to get by.
We are now on the Hermisillo by pass and there was one lane traffic due to a single vehicle truck accident...cell phone? Fell asleep?
There was also a mine in the distance...perhaps the machinery was going there.
Just north of Hermisillo and the vineyards start to appear and every year there are more.
Green and beautiful...
Time for lunch so we stopped at one of the few remaining Pemex fuel stops on the southbound side. A large truck of very green hay destined for somewhere.
The saguaro cacti are starting to bloom. Very warm in the mid 30's C.
It is all pavement and not concrete from Hermisillo to Santa Ana for some reason. Most of it was in good condition and here it was great and ever so quiet compared to the concrete....not that I'm complaining about the concrete.
There was a crew painting the drainage ditches for some odd reason.
The military check point and there was no long line of trucks for the first time ever since we started coming to Mexico. It was kind of creepy actually. No issue and we weren't stopped.
Coming into Santa Ana where we used to stay in Edgar and Anna's Punta Vista RV park. Their niece is still running it but sadly they have both passed away. Lot's of good times visiting with them.
A nice neat little town and here you would head west if you were going to the Lukeville border crossing. In the past few years we have been using the Nogales/ Mariposa crossing.
Bye bye.
Back to concrete highway from here to the border.
Hey...there's the watermelon truck!!
Another impromptu roadside check and we were waved through once again.
Imuris just north of Magdalena where there are a couple of large copper statues.
It really is pretty country and today has been mostly cloudy which has helped with the driving.
North of the border we stopped to turn in our TIP or temporary import papers for the motorcycle, truck and trailer. We are allowed 180 days in Mexico. We post a bond based on the age of the vehicle and it is returned to our visa if we turn in papers and leave on time. Last year they had new regulations and they wanted Eric to unload the Harley so they could take a picture. He refused and said he could just open the back door. We spent a lot of time getting that straightened out and in the end they took a picture through the door. This year, no muss, no fuss, no bother and the extremely efficient woman collecting the papers had us out of there lickedy split!! We put our lives in our hands and then crossed the highway and turned in our tourist visas. Lots of people never do this but we always do.
And now for the border crossing. Last year we ended up heading into Nogales, Sonora but this year we got it right.
Heading down the long hill to the USA border and you have to be on your toes and make sure you end up in the concrete barricaded lane.
We are sitting on the hill and in the background is ...." THE WALL"
Finally after over an hour waiting in the heat we are at the border.
We had a really nice border guard who wanted to know what was in the trailer. A motorcycle...okay let's have a look. A nice guy who chatted with Eric about motorcycles. Turns out he had the same Triumph 900 GT pro that Eric has but...he didn't like it and bought a Yamaha. He was a fairly slight guy and Eric wonders if the Triumph might have been too much bike for him. Eric would've liked to stay and chat for awhile but ...onward. We were then asked by the next guards if we had anything to declare....nothing and again nice guys who were interested in where we'd been and where we lived.
So here we are...all checked in and Eric's relaxing on his couch. We were both exhausted by the day even though everything went tickedyboo! Started at 7am and got in at 5pm. Beer, a shower, chili for dinner and bed. Tomorrow was another day.
