(see below map for details)
Travel Log, April 1st - 30th, 2005
Part 1
(see below map for details)
Days - 246 to 275
Total Miles Traveled this month - 1,089
Total Miles Traveled to April 30/05 - 7,312
Wow, what a month!! This month, we did so much that we had to separate the Travel Log into more parts than usual!! We left the US and travelled to Kino Bay, San Carlos, Alamo, El Fuerte, Copper Canyon, and finally Mazatlan... just to name the highlights!! We loved the month of April and look forward to sharing it with you.
For the first part of April, we left the US and we were so happy to be back in Mexico. You can't imagine just how exciting it was to be on the mainland of Mexico and heading south!! We had a bit of a challenge getting our coach AND two scooters across the boarder, usually only one vehicle is allowed per person with a Drivers License and we had three! But, we got in all sorted out and were allowed to bring in all three vehicles. We went on to visit Kino Bay and San Carlos and stayed right at the beach in both places. We met some great people and really enjoyed our travels...
 Nogales, Sonora, Mexico Here is the border crossing at Nogales, AZ (and Nogales, Sonora, cities
by the same name on each side of the border). It was great, really organized
and lots of parking. From this picture you can see why we were happy
to be coming into Mexico and not leaving Mexico, look at the traffic and
line ups in the opposite direction! We had read, and we were told, that each
person entering Mexico could have one vehicle and that vehicle had to be
registered in their name. Well, we obviously have three vehicles, each of us have a
scooter registered in our own name and then our coach, which is registered
in both of our names. So, we were a little worried about getting all three
vehicles across the boarder. However, a
very friendly lady working at the boarder came out to the coach to look at the scooters, saw they
were not motorcycles, not ATV's and she saw that we didn't have a tow vehicle, so she approved
them! Thank goodness, all that worrying for nothing :) |
 South of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico Oh, it is soooo good to be back in Mexico and to be travelling again!
We just love our trip! We were in the US for much longer than we
originally planned. We got mail, looked at some used motorhomes, did some shopping, got Tiki's rabies shot etc...
It was all fine, but
we were ready to head south again. |
 South of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico It was neat to see the railroad tracks again, there are no
trains on Baja, AND we planned to do some train travel in the next short while... we
will be parking the coach at an RV Park and taking the train to Copper
Canyon... |
 North of Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico This was something that took a bit of getting used to. How many
of these people do you think are wearing seat belts? This happens
all over Baja and Mainland Mexico...we stopped worrying about them and
just waved and smiled at them. Aren't they cute! This was on a
Sunday and we suppose that they were all on their way to church on this
morning. They were so
friendly and excited that we were waving and taking their picture... |
 Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico Here we are in beautiful Kino Bay....ahhhh look at those gorgeous
sunset colours...how beautiful, we plan to stay here for a week or so...We
were uncertain as to whether or not we were going to like Kino Bay though.
When we
first got there, the streets were packed, and we mean packed, with people, vehicles and loud music. We quickly learned it was the
last day of the Mexican holiday, Semana Santa (Holy Week) which coincides
with their Spring Break and the last day of the weekend. So, between those two things, they were
having a great party time. Mexican's flock to the beach on their
Spring Breaks and most weekends. Sometimes, we head out during those times
as it can get kind of loud and crowded :) |
Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico |
Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico |
 Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico
We decided to go and get some drinking water, and go into the hills up behind Kino Bay.
We had a great time... and so did Tiki!! The blue water jugs are
filled with Agua Pura, which is purified water for drinking. The
jugs fit perfectly in the front of our scooters and we have used them so
much. We are sure glad we bought them before we left the US back in
the fall. |
Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico |
Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico |
 Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico
Kino Bay was much more built up than we were expecting. Many Gringos
and wealthy Mexicans have built beautiful homes here. We found it a
bit too developed for our liking. Also, the road into Kino Bay was
long (100 km), narrow and full of pot holes!! Plus, there was so
much oncoming traffic as everyone was leaving the beach at the end of the
holiday. We had been told how so
many people really liked Kino Bay, but maybe we had built it up too much in our
minds. We enjoyed our stay however and we are not sure we would go
back there... |
 San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico We really enjoyed San Carlos, it was a really nice little town. We were
able to find a beach-side spot to boondock. We love free!!
Hindsight tells us we should have stayed longer... but I guess we were
anxious to move on.... |
San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico |
Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico |
Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico |
 Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico On this morning, we thought it was neat to see the shadow of the coach in the sand to
our right... And look at that view!! |
 Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico How's that for a sunrise!! |
 Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico This is a great book, one we would never want to travel in Mexico without!
It is called 'Mexican Camping', written by a Mike and Terri Church. It is a wonderful book, with lots of information,
directions and locations of RV Parks all over Mexico and Belize. |
 Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico Our sweet Tiki loved being at San Carlos. He loved going for walks on the beach
and swimming in the ocean. Well, he doesn't actually swim. He lies down
in about an inch of water and rolls from side to side... it is so funny and cute.
He
has been a pleasure to travel with (for the most part) and we are so glad he could come with
us. He wins over everyone's heart, wherever we go! |
 Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico This was so cool. We were sitting inside the coach one morning, looked out
and saw this really neat powered parasail go flying by! It sure looked like fun! |
Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico |
 Boondocking at San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico What a place!! What a sunset!! |
Guaymas , Sonora, Mexico |
South of Guaymas , Sonora, Mexico |
 South of Guaymas , Sonora, Mexico Again, here are a bunch of kids in the back of a truck. They look like students
as they are all dressed the same. They too, loved to wave and have
their picture taken... |
 South of Guaymas , Sonora, Mexico Take a moment and look at each of these beautiful happy faces... aren't
they wonderful!! |
 Pemex station at Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico We often stayed at Pemex gas stations (as previously mentioned) and it is a
great, safe place to boondock. This particular Pemex had lots of truckers.
The guy in the center holding Tiki is Miguelito. He was such a
sweetheart and he and Barry took a real liking to each other. They
were able to communicate with Barry's little bit of Spanish and his little
bit of English. They taught each other new words from each others
first language while talking about Mexico, Canada and the road conditions
ahead of us.. They exchanged gifts, pictures and email addresses. He gave us a couple of Mexican
music CD's and we gave him an English/Spanish dictionary and our cordless
phones from our 'Mexico Bag' (stuff we no longer need, but don't want to
throw out)... |
 Pemex station at Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico This was also at the Pemex, what a wonderfully huge tree. It
provided so much shade and a lot of people sat under it while
we were here. There was a recessed cement bench around the perimeter
of the tree... |
 Pemex station at Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico
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