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Friday, November 8, 2024

Nogales,AZ to Obrego , Sonora and it was a crappy day!

 We were up at 6:30 this morning.  Packed up and then breakfast.  The Hotel Americana has always had the best breakfast...not today.  The lights over the food were either out or working at half power and the food wasn't hot. Not good and I informed the desk.  It was -2c this morning.

We left at 7:15 and we we're through the border after a quick check of registrations by a young Mexican guard who didn't seem to know what she was looking at.  We followed the convoluted route out.

At km 21 it was busy and we stood outside in the cold for about 25 minutes. Inside to fill out the tourist visas with ONE clerk working the desk.

Next importation and the same issues as last year "the trucks GVW is in the commercial zone as it's a 3/4 ton.  Pictures to take, get printed, aduana or customs guy who didn't know what he was supposed to look for went out and checked the VIN to the paperwork.  Finally done after 2 hours.  It was so easy when we hot it done in San Luis out of Yuma before the stupid over 1/2 ton GVW thing started.

Topes or speed humps heading south so watch out.
Can you see the mattresses on top of that vehicle?😁 Tons of Mexicans with trucks loaded with bicycles etc. heading south.

Nice day but the new concrete highway is bumpy as hell.

Before Hermisillo lots of grapes.  At this point I decided I should book a room at the Fiesta in Navojoa as it's Friday and the traffic was heavy. Usually we just stop and easily get a room.  Nope..full as was every motel in Navojoa.  So I started on Obregon  and the first one was full too.  Finally got us a room at the Quality Inn in Obregon. It took a couple of hours on the cell.
Working on the Guaymas bypass
As we got closer to Vicam the wind picked up and the agricultural dust was thick.

It was dusty all the way into Obregon.  We followed Google maps through the center of town right to the motel.  We pulled in with the cargo trailer not  knowing how tight the parking was.  The parking lot guy helped but it took half an hour for to turn it around in a tight space...good thing Eric knows what he's doing.  We tipped the very nice worker 100 pesos.  No ice machine so he trotted off and found me ice for our cooler which is full of butter and cheese 😋 

The highway was really busy today as were the toll booths and I'm guessing the Veterans Day stat in the USA may be part of it as people headed south.   I found a decent room but no fridge or microwave which is odd.  So..leftover cold lasagna and salad.  Tomorrow Mazatlan after a long tiring day.

Sorry for all the grumping😁 

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Yuma, AZ to Nogales, AZ

 It's Thursday at 8:15 and we're on the road to Nogales,AZ and the Hotel Americana.  No blog yesterday as we didn't do anything but get a few groceries for sandwiches.   We did eat at the Vietnamese restaurant across the street last night and it was excellent as usual.  Lots of vegetables and interesting flavours like lemon  grass.  Our stay at the Ramada Inn was a good stop. Comfortable room, good price, good bed, waffles and eggs for breakfast and three good restaurants.  Curries and Chopsicks in the motel and Saigon Pho across the street.  By the way diesel was $3.31 in Yuma!!




Long, long trains.
Right beside us!

It's a race😁


Heading south to Ajo on 85.  We used to stay in Why when we were RVing and cross the border into Mexico at Lukeville.  Now we're moteling we go in through Nogales.  I think it's easer through Lukeville but we'd have to overnight two nights in Mexico as it's too far to Navojoa.

Wide open and not much to look at.



The Saguaros start to appear.

Coming into Ajo.


Olsen market.  Just like I like Winco in Idaho...I like Olsens market in Ajo. We used to stay in Ajo in our RV...it has everything!



A really pretty little town with huge Hispanic influence.

Turn left on 86 towards Tucson.  We're taking the scenic and much quieter route today.
Motorcycles everywhere heading south...maybe a rally in Rocky Point?

A pimple peak.




Anyone who knows us knows that's the last thing we'd go to!  Tigger was hiding in the traier...he'd rather go to Mazatlan 🤣




The saguaros appear as we rise...2500ft here.

Water tower.


An immigration sto with 6" high speed bumps.  The trailer was rocking side to side.  Is that really neccessary?

We came off 86 south of Tucson and continued to North Grande Ave and the Hotel Americana. We love this old hotel and stay coming and going.  

 Tucked in for the night and tomorrow Mexico.  Wish us luck at km 21 for truck, trailer and motorcycle importation.  New Mexican regs have a red flag if a truck is larger than a 1/2 ton as it might be used as a work truck.  Why...who knows.  All I know is you can't haul a 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton. Last year it took 3 hours to get it done.  Always another rule.  

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Ridgecrest, CA to Yuma,AZ

 We were up early yesterday as we had another 420 miles to go.  A nice morning with no frost. 

One of the trailer tires was down 5 pounds so we stopped along main street at a gas station for air.  Its the dumbest thing in the US...you have to pay to put air in your tires.  I didn't have change so I went inside and the station owner took my $5 and gave me $3 change and turned on the machine.  However, it wouldn't put 5lbs in so that didn't work.  The station owner tried...no dice.  Two bucks for nothing.
A beautiful morning as we headed south.
Left turn onto 395
An observatory?

After that a big pile of nothing and all quite ugly country. 

Coming onto the 58 bypass which will take us to I40.
Hwy 58 to I40 is relatively new and concrete.


I40 eading to 95 south.  The pavement looks good but the slow lane is a washboard.


 
Windy as hell here!!
Again ugly country as we go up and down, up and down.  On every hill there are burn marks at the edge.  I guess at 120 F in the summer everyone is overheating or their brakes are burning up. 



The high Mojave desert.


Coming down again.  The wind is still ferocious!  As we traveled along they were beautifying the meridian....maybe they should be fixing the highway instead!!
We used almost a tank of fuel from Ridgecrest to Needles because of the wind so we fuel up and pay the price.
95 south, the "ribbon candy highway" and the wind is behind us😊

Straight as an arrow and the trucks and cars disappear in the dips. 
We stopped at Vidal junction and had lunch and then into Arizona and on to Parker. 
From here to?  Turn right for Parker.

We always stop at the Parker Oil products station for fuel...half the price of Needles and...they had air and water, just help yourself no cost.  Refreshing.  
From Parker on to Quartzite where everyone boondocks for the winter.  We tried it in 2009 for 10 days...not our cup of tea.  Windy, stark, nothing to do and cold....no thanks!
Heading south on 95 to Yuma and....straight as an arrow!
The Yuma proving groud.  
Coming into the east end of Yuma on 95 and there are new plantings everywhere and the citrus groves are disappearing.  We always wonder how much of agribusiness is taking over here.
Ready for winter planting.  Everything is done by laser and is all just perfect. 
Some sort of brassica here. 
Bedraggled citrus so it's probably next to go. 
The cotton is dropping into big piles and then ends up in bales. 
All new four lane highway here.  They've been working on it for years. 
It's election day today...I wonder who will win.  I'll keep my thoughts to myself!


Pretty healthy looking and I'll bet some of it ends up in Terrace, BC.
Coming in on E32nd street and it's rush hour. 
We're staying at the Ramada for three nights to shop, do laundry and enjoy a few meals out.   When we arrived there were some Mexican workers blasting music from their truck in the parking lot!  What the heck...this isn't a party venue.  Eric called the front desk and they shut it down.  We thought we were in Mexico already.  The front desk said they were " chillin" well....chill somewhere else.

A beautiful evening and we had dinner at Curries which is right inside the hotel.  "Excellent food and 10% discount if you"re staying in the hotel but we forgot to tell them! There is also a Chopsticks in the hotel and nice area where we can get a hot breakfast "gratis"which we did this morning.  Scrambled eggs and waffles.  I even learned how to run the waffle machine.  Vietnamese right across the street as well.  I did laundry this morning and learned how to use wifi machines with the Wash Connect app.  Load it with money and it connects to the machine...who knew?  Eric's pooped and resting today.  We'll do some shopping and Eric will get an oil change on the truck today or tomorrow.  A good place to lay over for a couple of days.