Week Four 12/28/08

Week four:

Sunday December 21, evening had a great dinner out at Pueblo Bonita, Lobster for both of us compliments of the timeshare showing. NO does work. On way home, stopped at a recommendation of our tour host called “Heathers Place”. Live entertainment featuring a husband and wife team doing Patsy Cline and Elvis. Both really good and fun. We also observed a table next to us getting a lot of attention for autographs, turns out a very famous Mexico entertainer, “Pablo”, we have no clue, but Shari managed an autograph as she “petted” his back while signing. He was very nice and good looking. We’ll have to do research on his fame. Also met a couple from our resort, Jerry & Nancy from Calgary Canada, and shared a table enjoying their company.

Monday / Tuesday Dec 22 & 23, hit the road at 7:00am, easy drive out of town at that hour. Overnight in Cuidad Obregon at a Quality Inn. Pulled over for one check point, minor inspection, then on our way. Weather good, traffic not bad, but with kids off school for Christmas, more activity along Hwy. Most going south. Noted several pickup trucks from California loaded down or maybe overloaded with stuff that they had tarped down heading south, probably “green carders” going home for the holiday. Close watch for cattle, goats, kids, bikes, etc. Back to Kino Bay RV park around noon. RV still where we left it, so that’s good. Unpack & rest. Pool and Hot Tub!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
Christmas Eve, the park had a Happy Hour, Gift Exchange, snacks, and then sang Christmas Carols. One of the guests told the Christmas Story, in a way we had not heard before, and it was really nice. Gift exchange was fun.

Christmas Day, dinner in the club house, turkey & ham, all bringing a dish to pass. Stuffed ourselves, but really good. Nice turnout. AM Bob walked 5-6 miles. Then we both did the pool and hot tub. After dinner a short sunset walk.

Friday December 26, AM “Walk away the Pounds” exercise class followed by “Water Aerobics” in the pool. Bob played golf in the PM, the “desert course”. Grilled steaks for supper.

Saturday December 27, Nice sunny day, but bad winds came in from the north making it pretty uncomfortable outside. Mexican market guy, Martin, came to park with his eggs and produce, so we did our part, $6 for a bag full. PM Bob walked his 5-6 miles, then we did hot tub with an afternoon bloody mary, virgin for Shari. PM joined group for dinner out in Old Kino, small mom & pop place “Ponchos”, Mexican family run. The whole family was involved in the cooking and serving. We were told Poncho has 5 daughters. Great menu of authentic Mexican food. We did Burritos and Chili rellenos, they were great. Served by the youngest daughter, not more the five years old, really cute big smile. The 12 mile dirt road back a first for us at night, but worth it.

End of week Four

Week Three 12/20/08

Week Three December 14, 2008

Sunday Dec 14
Up bright and early Sunday to hit the road by 7:00am to Los Mochis, MX our half way point to Mazatlan. Sun just coming up so required a key to unlock the gate leaving resort. The 10 mile “washboard” road much faster w/o trailer, 30min’s verus the hour plus to get in. Arrived in New Kino proceeding to Old Kino. Got lost again in Old Kino, but quickly got directions, think we’ve got the route down now, first time recall was in the dark. Got short cut directions from people in the park for a quicker way to get to toll road 15 heading south some 60 miles of rural roads. Interesting agricultural communities. We quickly realize how blessed we Americans are viewing the “living standards” of these people. Anything that serves as a wall or roof can be a dwelling.

Once on the toll road, pretty nice 4 lane hwy, but lots of toll booths, probably ten to Mazatlan at anywhere from $6-$9 each. Pricy! But, provides safe travel, Then numerous small villages slowing traffic by the use of “Topes”, ie; speed bumps. Also, mini speed bumps called “vibrabores”. There are also Militia check points to control drug traffic. So can’t make as good as time as hoped. Seldom a shoulder on the hwy, so surface a pretty severe drop. Lanes are narrow. Lots of traffic concerns, cattle, horseback, bikes, cycles, pedestrians, dogs, etc., all in and out at a moments notice, some slow some fast, need heads up all the time. Passed one accident, truck & car.

Arriving in Los Mochis, tired around 5:00pm. Looking for Motel, quickly realized most don’t accept VISA or checks. Low on Peso’s and the local exchange on US dollar is 10 to 1 verus banks 12 to 1, so not cost effective to use American dollar. Looked for ATM machine to get Peso’s, but found being a Sunday, all were out of cash. Finally 4th try gave us $1500 Peso’s. Hungry, looking for restaurant. Found one off the hwy, we the only customer’s. Sunday slow or economy?? Waiter very nice, limited English, but after taking our order, gave us a brief Spanish lesson on the basics. Chicken and gravy dish, quite good. Back to motel, very interesting. Like a drive in storage area, truck in front, unit in back, curtains closes to enclose truck. No windows inside. Everything locked down, even ash tray glued to the table. But did feel safe with security outside. Room, basic sleep & shower.

Monday December 15, again an early start to Mazatlan. Arrived around 12:30pm,. “The Inn at Mazatlan”. Truly a “five star” place. Check in normally 4:00pm, but room was ready. Parking for truck “tight” but available and secure. Greeted warmly & help unloading, our room awesome ocean view, one bedroom, two full baths, kitchen, living room. Lunch ocean side. Afternoon, checked out the property, 5:00pm a welcome happy hour by staff. Evening walked the avenue and found restaurant we went to last time we were here where we had lobster.

Tuesday December 16, 8:30am breakfast appointment to tour property. Very nice complimentary buffet, gift package, low pressure sales presentation, but good knowledge about the property, declined any purchase. PM drove downtown to the open market. This is a 400,000 population community, so lots of traffic, and driving a little crazy! Area has really grown since last visit. The open market is an incredible sight, especially the meat and produce area. Raw meat carving in the open. Pointed to “fresh testicals” on display, vendor smiled. Purchased a couple NY Strip steaks and two chicken breasts. We had parked down by the beach, as the market center very crowded and little parking. Walked several blocks to market. Got disoriented down town, and trouble finding our way back to truck. Got directions, but took us several blocks away from our truck. Oh well, finally found. Went to Wal-Mart for shopping, then stopped for truck wash. Back to resort, quick swim & hot tub. Beautiful sunset with lots of beach activity .and para sailing Grilled steaks in on the George Foremen, not like our Wisconsin steaks, but ok.

Wednesday December 17, hung around resort. Breakfast across the street at Ricos, then got e-mails caught up. Tried to connect with George the man we met that owns a home a block from the Resort. He is from Alaska but lives here now. He has a beautiful home and offered to give us info about the area and places to see. He was not at home when we stopped, will try again. Shari pedicure, Bob to the pool. Spent day relaxing pool side and walking the beach. Dinner across the street at Mr. Aces, both a nice seafood meal. Live entertainment & cordial staff. Evening entertainment down by the pool, completing a Mexican Fiesta party sponsored by the resort. Enjoyed Mexican dancers and music.

Thursday December 18, breakfast pool side at the Inn. Then jumped into “Big Red” for a self guided tour of the north side of Mazatlan and the marina. Marina nice, with boats from all around the world. Observed a couple of “Island Packet” sail boats. Lots of new condo construction. Then took the shoreline road south, lots of monuments along the beach. Hit a detour and forced into the downtown area, not good for Big Red. Streets narrow, sometimes clearing by the width of a “finger nail”. Made it ok, but glad to be out of there. Back to the Inn for a 4:30pm three hour guided city tour by trolley. Guide bilingual Spanish & English. Trolley full, lots of families, mostly Mexican. Educational and informative. Stopped for a “Cliff Diving” performance. Ride up “Ice Box Mountain”, the “Beverly Hills” of Mazatlan. Stopped for an awesome view of the city with city & Christmas lights illuminated. Cruise ship in harbor as well. Allowed to enter the Cathedral in the midst of a wedding. Beautiful! Active city square across the street. Back to the Inn by 8:00pm. Pizza in.

Friday / Saturday December 19-20, Beginning to plan our departure from Mazatlan back to Kino Bay. “The Inn at Mazatlan” was a fantastic resort. Sometimes seemed like staff out numbered customers, good for us, but not sure about the economics, maybe cause a week before Christmas. Weather has been awesome, mid 80’s, sunny to partly cloudy, light breeze, no rain. Sorry Wisconsin! The city streets seemed very busy, but shops pretty empty. Locals say the economy is good here. A well as the housing market.
Hawkers on the street peddle everything. Timeshare presentations offering $200-300 in gifts or cash for a 90 minute showing. Some say they could pay for entire vacation doing one showing a day, just be sure to say “NO” at the end. Vendors say “NO” means “New Owner”. Well, we did two here for $320 in cash & gifts, low pressure and good value with a “NO” answer. Recommend Mazatlan as a good vacation spot. Beautiful area. Very friendly people. Back to Kino Bay, two day road trip. Concerns for safety in Mexico travel have proved unnecessary for us so far, but driving does require special attention.

End of week Three

Week Two 12/13/08

Sunday December 7, took a road trip to the famous “Tombstone Arizona” home of the legendary Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Jumped on an early trolley tour of the city, hosted by a very comical but informative host. Lunch at the “OK Corral Café”, specializing in Buffalo Burgers. Self guided walking tour in the PM, then on the way out of town stopped at the famous “Boothill Grave Yard”. Lots of descriptive head stones regarding hangings, gun fights, murders, suicide, etc. Down town the typical “gun fight shows” entertaining the tourists. In that regard, the tourist level was very low, signs of the economy. Seemed like every resident was out in costume with no one to entertain. Most have regular jobs. What are these folks going to do. What about those Packers! Awful!!

Monday December 8, a domestic day, cleaning rig and laundry. A little rain in the AM. Met some folks that had just returned from Kino Bay Mexico, our destination tomorrow. Saw our kayaks and conversation lead to Kino Bay.

A great visit and sounds like we will have a great time down there. Also, another couple stopped by our RV, destine for Kino Bay a week or so later than us, saw our name on the list of folks headed that way, so joined us in the conversation with our neighbors just returning from there. What a great coincidence. Both couples Canadian. Exchanged cards, knowing we will connect with at least one. Lots of good information, relieving a lot of concern about boarder crossing and legal unrest. A great visit!

Tuesday December 9, departed for Kino Bay Mexico about 8:00am. Stopped for breakfast in Nogales, state side, Denny’s, and got directions from our waiter to the boarder crossing. Very nice and helpful. Even suggested a seafood restaurant in New Kino Bay to check out. Boarder crossing confusing and costly. Three permits required for vehicle, trailer, and tourist visa, $130 approx. Took about an hour, and difficult because agent was non English speaking, so some confusion. Once on the toll road, pretty easy until Hermosillo, capital of Sonora. Tolls costly also. Directions there became confusing and quite frankly thought we were lost numerous times. Stopped for directions, but language became a problem. Trying to get to Kino Bay. Under estimated time and wound up traveling in the dark, a no no in Mexico! Got into Old Kino totally lost, looking for an RV park. Stopped for directions with no English speaking people. Finally, a young Mexican fellow observed our dilemma and asked if he could help. Not real fluent in English, but we were able to communicate our issue. He directed us to an RV park of a friend of his. Very grateful as it was approaching 8:00pm, he guided us by his truck. Gave him 50 pesos for his kindness. Really nice guy. Tired, settled in and will make way to our Western Horizon Resort tomorrow for our 5 week stay, just some 10 miles from here. Wow! What an experience. There are really some nice people in the world. Thought for a while we were going to spend the night on the road.


Wednesday December 10, woke up not sure where we really were having been guided in by our Mexican friend late last night. Beautiful sunny day, so walked the park and behold we were right on the sea. Park full, mostly Canadians settled in for the winter. Lovely park called “Islandia” pronounced Icelandia.. Learned we are in “Old Kino Village”. Still need directions to the road to our Western Horizon Resort. So wrote out from our English to Spanish dictionary our needs. Went to office to settle up for the nights stay, $150 peso, ie; $15. Host spoke pretty good English, so got directions to restaurant and road with a crude map. After several passes, turn a rounds, a wrong GPS Lat & Lan, and more directions through the village, found the restaurant El Pargo Rojo highly recommended. Met a Canadian couple that had crossed the boarder about the time we did. They got lost also, spent the night in the restaurant parking lot. Beside that, he lost his wallet, thinks somewhere around the boarder. OH BOY!! They invited us to join them for breakfast and had a very nice visit. They are headed for Puerto Vallarta.

After breakfast found our road to the resort. WOW! What a road. More like an ATV Trail. 10 miles of “washboard”. Traveled 6-8 mph, Shari’s bra stuck to the cab roof!
Approaching the resort, the Sea of Cortrez viewed beautiful blue water bordered by mountains. Got registered and selected a site with a great view of the water. Settled in and grilled steaks for supper.

Thursday December 11, Checked out the RV park and beach. Very nice resort club house, swimming pool, hot tub, etc. Even a golf course laid out in the sand. Funny! Began cleaning up the RV from the dirt road in. Then joined the group for a Sea Food Gumbo dinner with a dish to pass. Met a lot of people, all very nice. Lot’s of really good food.

Friday December 12, joined the morning “Walk away the Pounds” exercise class, then followed with a water aerobics in the pool. Wow, two hours of exercise. Then invited to play golf at 1:00pm. Played 9 holes on this “homemade” golf course in the desert. Fun!
Greens were “sand”. But could use a broom to smooth the surface. Also, allowed to use a tee on the fairways, else every shot would be out of a “sand trap”, fun! No “gimmes” on puts, as you never know for sure where the ball will go! Interesting, plus $0 green fees, fun! Nice people. Hot tub after Golf.

Saturday December 13, breakfast up at the club house. Spent the day planning our trip to Mazatlan. Staying at the “The Inn at Mazatlan”, a very nice RCI Resort. 600 miles from here, so we will overnight in Los Mochis, and yes we must travel the ten miles over the “washboard” road, but this time w/o the trailer, so hopefully better.

End of week two

Week One 12/6/08


Left Oshkosh Sunday 11/30/08 at 7:00am just after the 4+ inches of snow on the 24th, the first measured fall of the winter . Weather cold, but roads OK. I think we looked like a "carnival" leaving town with our 5th wheel, truck, bikes, and kayaks, but the toys are fun. Headed towards Rockford, IL, down hwy 39 then 55 to St. Louis. Snow flurries in Madison, but road conditions OK. Spent the night in Cahokia RV Parque just out of St. Louis on the Illinois side, Cahokia, IL. Dark entering park, so after hours registration. About 4 inches of snow on the ground. Covered 443 miles and spent a comfortable night in the RV, fireplace on and heaters going.

Monday 12/1, again an early start 7:00am, wet snow fall on the ground. Out of snow by noon and into Oklahoma. Found a very nice RV park 60 miles west of Tulsa, OK on old "Historic Route 66", Oak Glen RV Park in Chandler, OK. WIFI in the park, so got updated on E's, and a couple of SKYPE calls. Temp high 48 degrees and diesel prices have gone down to low of $2.46 a gal. Covered another 460 miles today, highway 44 toll road most of the way.

Tuesday 12/2, left Chandler, OK heading towards Amarilllo, TX on hwy 40 and sometimes historic route 66. Temps hit mid 70's on the road today, observed numerous coyotes along the hwy, alive and road kills. Covered 300 miles finding a very nice RV park called Amarillo Ranch RV Park. Indoor pool and hot tub. Noticed signs along way advertising the "Beef Capital of the World" and found "The Big Texan Steak Ranch" just a mile from our park with limo service to the restaurant from our park, so a steak seemed in order for tonight. Their advertisement included a "FREE" 72 oz. steak if you can eat it in 1 hour, with 2 sides. Not for us, but low and behold someone was there trying. A young lad from South Korea, they put up in front on a stage with lights, camera, and a digital timer. Realize 72 oz's is 4-1/2 lbs. If he finishes in one hour it's free, not finishing cost is $72.00. Ouch on both ends! We heard on the news this restaurant was going to be featured on the Travel Channel. Our meal was great, we shared a sirloin for two. Live entertainment around the tables with a "Waylon & Wille type format. Fun! Well we left before the steak guy finished, but with 30 mins left looked like a full plate yet. I can't imagine.

Wednesday Dec 3, left Amarillo, TX in heavy winds, you know those Texas winds. Some thoughts about staying put, but after further review, traveling southwest with strong north winds, thought we would proceed with caution. Turned out no problem, some challenging gusts, but generally OK. Crossed Texas panhandle into New Mexico, observing very large cattle, dairy farms, range antelope, and huge open prairie. Took the local route following hwy 60 / 70 SW thru local agriculture country. Interesting life style, and clearly being impacted by the local economy. Heaven only knows what is to come. Temps from our high of yesterday at 75, now mostly in the 40’s. Went through Roswell, NM without evidence of any “outer space objects”. Entered the mountain range near Alamogordo, NM, very pretty, not a cloud in the sky, temps in the 50’s, not bad for mountain country this time of year. Settled into RV park about 5:15pm, Edgington RV Park, husband & wife operated, near Alamogordo, NM, very friendly and welcoming.

Thursday Dec 4, beautiful morning 8:00am start. Continued on hwy 70 southwest towards ST. David, AZ. Not far along the way, we found a National Monument Park, “White Sands Dunes”. Took a side track 8 mile scenic tour. Very beautiful fine white sand dunes, very much like silica sand. Twenty, thirty plus feet high. Maintenance crews plowing sand from wind much like snow. Great visit! Continued on towards our destination, stopping at “Texas Canyon” to observe some magnificent rock formations. Arrived at Western Horizon Resort in St. David at 4:30pm. Office closed, but night host had all the paper work with site assignment. Quick tour of park. Nice club house, pool, hot tub, activity center, etc. Plan a 4 day stay here before heading to WHR-Kino Bay Mexico.

Friday Dec 5, breakfast up the road at a local place called “Patton Place”, run by a former short Wisconsin resident from Phillips, WI. Not what you would call first class, but the food was good and the conversation fun. Economy bad here also. He also runs a heating & air conditioning business with no orders on the books. Ouch! Fun visit. Then went to tour Benson and surrounding area. Found an RV truck wash for our departure wash before going into Mexico. Then went up to Sierra Vista and Huachuca City supporting US Army Fort Huachuca. Found a municipal golf course, maybe a round on Monday. Also toured an RV park we are scheduled to stay at on our return out of Mexico. Stopped and inquired about Kartchner Caverns State Park. Picked up a brochure for a possible visit, they say it is great. Beautiful cloudless day, temps mid 70’s. Grilled pork chops supper.

Saturday Dec 6, lay low day. Stayed in the RV park. Shari and I walked for an hour around the park. Afternoon read books, Bob walked desert for 1-1/2 hours. PM Steak dinner in the activity center. Beautiful clear blue sky, temps in the 70’s.

End of week One