The Emerald Coast!

Friday Nov 30,2007

Yesterday was a long day of driving insufferable roads and then stretches of wonderful autopistas over rolling hills covered with orange groves. We left La Pesca and the deserted beach in the early morning. We wound the sometimes torturoous roads to the bypass around Tampico and followed the Church's book to the letter. The directions were good and made it around Tampico in about an hour or more. The truck traffic is unbelievable. There is nothing much in the way of RV stops south on Mx 180. We had decided to stay at Cerro Azul and the Condado Western. Hah! Such a stop. There has been weeks of rain and the roads were cleared of numerous mud slides. The yard of the hotel was a swamp and we couldn't get into the back field behind the motel so the senora let us park in the mush in the front yard. We were not prepared for the clientele that constantly came and went out of the little rooms. A car or truck would pull in to the tiny "garage", a curtain was quickly drawn across the entrance, a hand stuck inside the curtain collected the fee and the curtain was drawn tightly again, securing the car inside from prying eyes. A few hours later, the car would back out again and be on it's way. At 3;30 that morning as we were laying in bed trying to sleep, some "boracho" hit the back of our coach with a big Bang! and before we could get our wits about us, he sped off! Pop stumbled around and found the flashlight and we went outdoors and checked. He had hit the Blue Ox hitch square dead center and never touched the coach!

We got out of that swamp early morning and headed for the coast. Arrived at this lovely oasis of De alba Campground and plan to rest here to renew our fragile nerves! Hope to go see the ruins of El Tajin maybe tomorrow and the voladeros (flying men) that perform there at the temple. It is only about 35 miles so, a nice day trip. Today we rest!

Into Old Mexico!

Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007

Left the land of Pharr, Pharr Away in the cool morning breeze. Crossed the International Bridge and took the Hwy2 freeway into Reynosa. Very tricky retorno as you are getting into the heavy traffic going into the city. You have to crossover the medium and get back in the east bound lane...there is no turn off access going west for Hwy 97 going to Ciudad Victoria which is south! Watch the signs! The highway itself once you take the narrow ramp becomes a good 2 lane straight as an arrow highway. It meets the 180 autopista coming from Matamoros and becomes 180 and 110. We chose to take the 110 to get to La Pesca for the first night. What will eventually be a good road is in the middle of major reconstruction and for about 50 miles we bumped and rattled along at about 15-25 mph on a good stretch. We got into Soto la Marina and breathed a sign or relief when we saw the turn off to the gulf was a fully paved new road. For about 30 miles it winds through the hills down to the ocean and along the river and lots of inlets. What looked like fish farms line the swampy areas on the left side. The town of La Pesca is a typical dusty little fishing town. We really slowed for the topes (speed bumps) about every 500 ft. Drove on through town looking for the lighthouse. We could see it in the distance and found a deserted beach area that goes for blocks with old palapas standing starkly in the sand. We did not care to drive onto the sand so we parked in the calechi roadbed to one side. The gulf is out the front window. Pat made ham and mac and cheese. I did salad, pico de gallo, and guacamole. Kids, those margaritas somebody put in the freezer hit the spot! Thanks! We finally feel like we are really out of Dodge!

And away we Go!

Nov 26,2007: We took the Pigtail (jeep) acrossed over the bridge at Pharr today and got our permits and papers. We just laughed when the young "Tramitador" asked for our marriage license! But he said no problem when I told him I hadn't seen it in years. I have never seen so many trucks backed up going north across the bridge...hundreds of them! We went on over to Progresso to buy some medications. didn't linger. Had a genuine Gonzalez burger in Donna that was delicious. Spent the next 3 hours running here and there for last minute items. Did our Peso changes (got 11 to$1).
We had noticed a vibration in the motorhome coming down from Houston and Pete and Doc discovered they had diagnosed it correctly. The joints in the drive shaft were shot so they disconnected it and put a new one in this afternoon. Doc said he should have replaced them both but Pete is one tracked minded of late so he only did one. We hope to leave and cross the border in the morning headed for our first night in Mexico. We hope to make it to LaPesca on the coast east of Ciudad Victoria. We will probably dry camp on the beach if it isn't rainy.
Stay tuned for more! Thinking of you guys back home.

Rain, wind and cold

It is now 2 days after Thanksgiving and we are in theRio Grande Valley at the Tropic star RV park. It turned so cold when we got to Shreveport to spend Thanksgiving with our families! Spent last night with Pauline/Chuck in Santa Fe, Tx (outside of Galveston) and left early this morning. Very windy and rainy all the way south. Got into the Valley about 4 PM. Had dinner early right next door at a Mexican restaurant. Pop really tired and he got a chill the short while he was outside. But the coach is nice and warm and the TV and internet work fine so he is a happy camper. Not a whole lot of folks here yet as the park is very sparsely populated. The stores and parking lots are so full of cars! We will get our Mexico papers Monday and cross over probably on Tuesday. Will review our maps, etc. tomorrow.

Preparation to leave!

It is a week before Thanksgiving and we are getting the Dreamcatcher ready to travel. This will be our 5th winter in beautiful Mexico. There has been horrendous flooding in the Ithmus area around Villahermosa and we do not know as yet how it will impact our travel plans. Hopefully, the main roads will be passable on our way to the Yucatan. We are headed for the Costa Maya and the PaaMul area. Plan to rendevous in the RGV with our friends, Doc and Pat from Michigan. They have a 36' 5th wheel and a big Dually Ford, "Big Red". Ours is a 40' Dutch Star Newmar DP. We have a 2004 Jeep "toad".

I will try to post every few days, depending on our travel parking. We can't always get the internet satellite working right (trees, buildings, etc). The Adventure begins SOON!