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| Sunrise November 21, 2021 -San Carlos, Mexico *click on any picture to enlarge |
We just finished our first full week in Mexico and it has been amazing! We initially thought our first stop would be for just a few days in San Carlos, Mexico at Totonaka RV park. Giving us time to rest before we headed back on the road to venture a few days drive further south to the Puerta Vallarta area. But after a couple days in San Carols, we decided we’d like to stay for a month to fully explore the area. So we’ll be here until at least December 17th. Temperatures are beautiful here 25 to 30 degrees, sunny dry heat. Then cooling off nicely to 12-14 degrees overnight. Perfecto!
Now that we’ve settled in, I’ve got some time to start updating this blog. My plan for now will be post weekly updates. But, no promises…I’m finding it WONDERFUL not to have any kind of schedule 😎
The journey here began on a miserable wet day on Nov 7th. The US land border opened 12:01 EST on Nov 8 which meant we could cross at 9:01 PST on Nov 7. Not may people realized that which meant ZERO line up when we arrived shortly after 9 p.m. It had to be the smoothest border crossing ever. Within 5 minutes and after answering a few questions we were through! Our first stop was Silver Reef Casino only 20 minutes drive from the border where we spent the night in their parking lot for free!
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| First night in US - Nov 7, 2021 Silver Reef Casino, Washington |
Border crossing destination: Nogales, Arizona
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| HoseHey enjoying the view from the window in the bunk over the cab And HeyZeus, Sweety and Heffay - travelling is no problemo! |
Day 2 - Nov 8
- Departure Silver Reef Casino, Washington 8:45 a.m. - destination Portland, Oregon. Decided not to take the Snowqualmie pass in Washington due to winter road conditions.
- Stopped at 4 p.m. - French Prairie Baldock Rest Area - Aurora, Oregon
- 290 miles driven (467 km)
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| French Prairie Baldock Rest Area - Aurora, Oregon Beautiful huge rest area with tons of RV/Truck parking |
Day 3 - Nov 9
- Departure at 7:53 a.m. - destination Klamath Falls, Oregon
- GPS headed us through Umpqua National Forest, Oregon (click on light blue text link for more info). A gorgeous area but not too much fun driving a 61 foot long RV towing a truck. Wet and very windy roads along a gorgeous river, often with no shoulder and limited guard rails. And, the guard rails we did pass had numerous dents in them. It was a bit of a white knuckle drive the entire day!
- Stopped at 4:30 p.m. - Midland Rest Area - Klamath Falls, Oregon
- 338 miles driven (544 km)
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| Umpqua National Forest, Oregon Highway 138 |
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| Yep, that’s what you think it is! ❄️☃️ |
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| Midland Rest Area Klamath Falls, Oregon |
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| This is what it looked like in the morning - full up! |
Day 4 - Nov 10
- Departure at 8:30 a.m. - temperature 3 degrees celsius
- Destination - Reno, Nevada
- Stopped at 4:20 p.m. - Stockman’s Casino - Fallon, Nevada
- 327 miles driven (526 km)
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| I love his old casino sign. It’s not in use, but still on the property in the back |
Day 5 - Nov 11
- Departure at 8:15 a.m. - temperature 9 degrees celsius
- Destination - Las Vegas, Nevada
- This was the day I took off my socks and shoes and pulled my sandals out. And, we saw our first Joshua Tree! 😎
- Stopped at 3:45 p.m. - Amargosa Valley Rest Stop, Nevada
- Temperature - 25 degrees celsius
- 298 miles driven (480 km)
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| Someone stole my seat! |
Day 6 - Nov 12
- Departure at 7:30 a.m. - temperature 14 degrees celsius
- Destination - into Arizona
- We crossed into the Central Time Zone, setting our watches forward one hour
- Stopped at 4:25 p.m. - Mariposa County Rest Stop, Arizona right across the highway from the Area 51 Alien Center. No, we didn’t go in. Our goal was to get to Mexico, not tour the US.
- 323 miles driven (520 km)
Day 7 - Nov 13
- Departure at 7:45 a.m. - temperature 14 degrees celsius
- Destination - Nogales, Arizona
- Arrival - 12:30 p.m. - temperature 29 degrees celsius
- This was our final day of driving before reaching the border in Nogales, Arizona which takes you into Nogales, Mexico. Our plan was to spend the night in the Walmart Supercentre parking lot, as many have done before. Unfortunately, they changed their policy on allowing overnight camping, so we had to figure out an alternate plan. After enjoying our first burger from Carl’s Jr - yum! - we decided it was early enough…why not cross the border now? So…we set off asking our GPS (whom we named “Stella) to set our route. The key was to ensure we were taking the route for the truck border crossing and NOT the route that sends you straight into the heart of the busy town of Nogales. And….even after confirming the route in the GPS - Stella sent us astray. After much conversation with the confused border guards - who were looking at us like we had two heads but who were also nonetheless very helpful and friendly - we crossed into the zoo that is the heart of Nogales with our enormous rig! There was no way to turn around…our only option was to head on straight through. I’m happy to say, we made it through without a hitch. Dan is a wonderful driver. I wish I had taken more pictures, but it was a tad stressful and we both had to keep our eyes wide open. Four lanes one way through a super crowded and tightly packed “main street”. Street vendors everywhere, even a fire breather performing at an intersection!!! Four lanes with cars bumper to bumper shifting lanes all over and people weaving through the traffic. And, of course many many wide eyes watching us gringos in our enormous rig. Dan pulled on the air horn for a few guys who were cheering us on.
-Stopped at 4:30 p.m. - KM 21 Nogales, Mexico where we got our tourist visas (FMM), and our Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for the truck and our Casa Rodante permit for the RV. We spent the night in their parking lot - again no charge 😁
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| Heffay decided he wanted to take the last leg of the trip. HeyZeus promised to be his co-navigator, but failed miserably! This was the day we saw our first saguaro cactus. Enormous and beautiful. |
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| The only picture I got of our wrong turn headed straight into the heart of Nogales, MX. The picture doesn’t do it justice…it gets MUCH crazier past this point. Ah, what’s life without some adrenaline now and then though! |
Day 8 - Nov 14
- Departure at 9:15 a.m. - temperature 19 degrees celsius
- Destination - Totonaka RV park - San Carlos, Mexico
- Arrival - 2:00 p.m. - temperature 33 degrees celsius 🌞
- 502 miles (808 km - *Nov 13 and 14 together - after our adventure into Nogales, I forgot to check the mileage EOD Nov 13)
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| We made it to our first Mexican destination! Totonaka RV Park, San Carlos, Mexico |
Other details of interest:
Total miles driven: 2122.60
Total cost for diesel fuel (including DEF): $1389 Cdn
Total cost for accommodations through US and into Mexico: $0
Total cost for food: $83 Cdn (ate out only 3x)
BCAA Travel Medical for 6 months = $1311 Cdn total
BC Ferry - Nanaimo to Vancouver for 61 ft length = $380 Cdn
Mexico 🇲🇽Tourist cards (FMM) = $75 ($37 each Cdn)
Mexico 🇲🇽 TIP deposit for Truck = $606 Cdn (of which we get approx $500 back when we leave)
Mexico 🇲🇽Casa Rodante (RV) permit = $73 Cdn (permits are valid for 10 years)
Mexico 🇲🇽 RV Vehicle Insurance for 6 months - Lewis & Lewis Insurance in US = *$1358 Cdn
Mexico 🇲🇽 Truck insurance for 6 months - Lewis & Lewis Insurance = *$419 Cdn
* we get re-imbursed from ICBC for our BC Vehicle insurance once we return and show proof of our time in Mexico along with this insurance
Mexico 🇲🇽 Tolls from Nogales to San Carlos:
Toll #1 = 49 pesos for RV and 30 pesos for Truck = approx $5 Cdn
Toll #2 = 152 pesos for RV and 92 pesos for Truck = approx $15 Cdn
Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!
Footnote: apologies if you got a notification of this blog publishing earlier which was incomplete. HeyZeus decided he wanted to “help” me by walking across my keyboard while I was adding in all he photos🙀😻
Thanks for the rest of your amazing blog hon😀😀 Geez, I can’t imagine your trip through Nogales, Mexico! I think your video, where you were keeping up with the crazy cars weaving in and out and around you (the one where I didn’t see the lines in the road), was in Nogales.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the old Stockmans Casino sign is very cool! Yeah, looks like it’s been there for a long time!
Have a great day/week and I will look forward to your next post😀😘