Lo de Marcos

We left Mazatlan on Friday November 22 for our final day of driving to Lo de Marcos.  When we arrived in the late afternoon it was hot and humid.

Saturday afternoon the veggie truck and the bread lady stopped by to sell us their goods. Saturday night those of us staying at Savage RV Park headed to the restaurant Las Glorias at the town square for taco night.  Friends from other campgrounds had the same idea so it was like a welcome home party! Cheap meal at less than $2CAD per taco and we only need a couple each as they are very filling. 

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed our first time swimming in the ocean for the season.  It was wonderful! Gentle waves so no boogie boarding but perfect for just floating around. In the early evening we headed to a Grey Cup party at the home of a fellow Canadian. 

Monday a man from the local nursery dropped by with a wheel barrow of Poinsettias, miniature Xmas trees, calla lilies, peace lillies, roses, oregano, rosemary and mint plants.  We purchased a large Pointsettia for our patio along with a pot of rosemary and mint to plant in our garden.  Bev also has basil seeds to germinate for her herb garden.

Bev is joining 5 others to take Mexican cooking lessons on Friday morning.  Should be fun.

We're getting back into routine.  Walk in the morning, beach time from 2 to 4 in the afternoon, happy hour, etc. 

Many of the activities like baseball, stretch classes, etc will not start up until the second week of December when the majority of the snowbirds will all be here.

The manager of our campground is urging us to put up our Christmas decorations.  His wife has decorated the posts of the palapa with a wreath and other small decorations.  But we Canadians bring the strings of lights. Guess that will be our next group activity once the humidity drops a bit.

We are happy to be back in our winter home.  

Our travel buddies

A photo of our travel buddies when we celebrated our first day in Mexico for the season at Charlie's Rock restaurant in San Carols

Mike Holoiday, Liz & Mike Rickards, George & Judy, Mavis

In Mexico

Our little caravan of 4 RVs crossed into Mexico at Nogales on Saturday Nov 16^th.  It was the fastest timing in the 5 winters we have crossed here!  There was no lineup to purchase our tourist visa cards!

We were snuggled in that afternoon at Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos (near Guaymas) on the Sea of Cortez by 3:15 pm.  Heaven!  The daytime temperature was about 81F with low at night of 67F. We spent 3 days in the area: shopping, dining, exploring.   Recommended restaurants Charlies Rock across the road from Totonaka and Soggy Peso on the beach just before the Paradise Hotel north of San Carlos.

Monday Nov 18^th was the Mexican National Holiday called “Revolution Day” so we stayed put to avoid running into local parades as we drive south.  4 of our friends went golfing for the morning while others went shopping. Fresh Christmas trees were for sale at the Home Depot in Guaymus for $50 to $60 depending on the size!

2 days later, we arrived in Mazatlan.  Hot and humid but perfect for cooling off in the swimming pool!  (86F with 82%  humidity) There are many Canadians here at the Las Jaibas RV Park (mostly from BC). We caught up with 2 other couples who also winter in Lo de Marcos who had been a day ahead of us on our journey south.  We went out our first evening, Wed Nov 20^th, to the Fat Fish Restaurant to celebrate Mike and Mavis’ 42^nd wedding anniversary.  The Fat Fish restaurant specializes in 2 for 1 bbq rib meals (full rack each) for $180p. (current exchange rate is about $13p per CAD). The meals include a tossed salad for an appetizer with coleslaw, baked potato, and garlic bread as sides for the main course.

The Pacific Ocean at Mazatlan is warm (about 85F) so doesn’t do anything to cool one off.  Walking on the beach is best scheduled for early in the morning before it gets too hot.

FYI – gasoline at the PEMEX stations in Mexico is currently about $1 CAD per litre.

Tucson

Friday Nov 7th we left Deming, NM with temperature outside at 49F (9C).  We stopped to shop in Bowie AZ for pecans and wine.  By the time we arrived at Lazy Days in Tucson, AZ at 12:30 pm it was 80F (27C).  Wonderful!

We spent one night at Lazy Days and then moved to Rincon Country West Resort in Tucson for 5 days.  This is our first visit to this resort and the pull-through sites are quite pretty. The photo below shows our site with our RV (on the right) next to our friends Mike and Mavis from Enderby, BC.

Lots of birds in this area. A Road Runner comes for a visit once or twice a day. 

Bad news. One leveler jack is not working right and I have ordered a used replacement from a place in Missouri. It is a coincidence that we have stopped in at this place a couple of years ago to look around. Colaw RV Salvage run a salvage operation for RV parts and offer a good way to save a lot of money. 

Deming, New Mexico

We left Dallas the morning of Tuesday November 5th and stopped for the night at a Walmart at Pecos, TX. We met an interesting couple from Calgary who were in the midst of doing a circle tour before they settled for the winter in Yuma, AZ.  They had driven their toy hauler (holding a motorcycle for their alternate transportation) to Florida, then along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.  They headed out to Carlsbad NM to visit the caverns the next morning as we left for Deming, NM.

On the drive to Deming we stopped at Las Cruces for gas.  It was the cheapest we've purchased to date at the price of $2.85/gallon with our discount at Pilot/Flying J. That's about 80 cents per litre in Cdn $.

We stayed at the LOW-HI Ranch in Deming for 2 nights.  Great price and very social group (Loners on Wheels Club owns the ranch).  The weather was sunny and cool:  19C high in daytime with low overnight of 3C. 

Our breakfast amusement on Thursday morning was watching a cat stalking a Road Runner who was sunning himself on a low fence rail in front of our RV.  The Road Runner ran from one end of the rail to the other to avoid the cat then flew up to the top of a bush where the cat couldn't reach him. 

Cat acting like Wiley Coyote

We visited the Rock Hound State Park in the area and did a short hike on what appeared to be their longest trail. There is a pretty view of the valley from the camping area in the park. We were disappointed that the Visitor Center was not open despite being there during the hours posted. Luckily we only paid $5 to enter the park.

One of the unusual grasshoppers we encountered at the Rock Hound State Park.

Big, fat grasshopper.

Thursday night we went out to the movies. $7 each to see Bad Grandpa. Enjoyed a good laugh.

Final day in Dallas area

On Monday November 4th we drove 1 1/2 hrs southwest from our campground to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.    This is an endangered species research and conservation center near Glen Rose, Texas. The facility has over 1,000 animals from 50 species.

You drive for 9 1/2 miles along a scenic trail through the park viewing the animals roaming at large on 1,800 acres of land.  A visitor can purchase a bag of pellets to feed the animals along the drive through the park.  Some animals will come up to your car window looking for the food, but many wait for you to toss it on the ground for them to eat.  It was amazing to see many species of antelope, deer, ostrich, emu, zebra, giraffe....

We were given a leaflet to help identify the wildlife we saw.

Bison were one of the animals you were not allowed to feed

female Blackbuck

male Blackbuck

Ostrich

Blesbok

baby Wildebeest feeding

Wildebeest

Emu

Emu coming to our car window for food

Bev's photo of Emu as taken above

Dama Gazelle

Fallow Deer

Zebra coming to feed

Big teeth but so gentle taking pellet.

a young zebra among the herd

Giraffes getting handouts

giraffe coming to Vic's window looking for pellets

Licking the post...check out that loooong black tongue!

Arabian Oryx

Scimitar-horned Oryx

Aoudad

This one left a sprinkling of mud on the window sill.

European Red Deer

Waterbuck

We were able to view 5 Cheetah in the special compound for the Cheetah propagation program.

There was also a special compound for Black Rhinos. We were about 5 minutes too late as these were being rounded up and put in a corral for the night.

The drive took us 4 hours but we found it delightful to see these exotic creatures up close.

Link to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

A week in Dallas

We left Cave City, KY on Mon Oct 28th in light rain -- a good traveling day!  That night we stayed at a Walmart Supercenter in Little Rock, AR.  We were parked next to a couple from Quebec who were on their way in their motorhome to spend the winter in Mission, TX.

Tues, Oct 29th we arrived at Traders Village RV Park in Grand Prairie, TX (a suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth area).  We booked a site for a week.  The first 3 days we were here, we wore shorts and t-shirts but now the weather has cooled a bit so we're back to jeans and a sweater or light jacket.  Luckily we did not have any of the wind and flooding that went through Austin TX that caused so much damage.

We have been busy shopping and touring around the DFW area.  Our visit to the American Airline Museum was a disappointment.  Luckily we paid only $4 each entrance fee as seniors.

Saturday Nov 2nd we spent 5 hours walking through the Traders Village weekend Flea Market.  3,500 vendors.  Lots of them selling tools, cowboy boots, saddles, clothing, shoes, purses, fruits (4 qts of strawberries for $5), veggies, furniture, flooring,.....We bought two avocados for a buck and a twirly lawn ornament for three bucks. Big spenders huh?

Traders Village, Grand Prairie

Sunday Nov 3rd we spent at the Texas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race. It was a real bummer when our favorite driver 24 Jeff Gordon blew a tire and hit the wall. That ended his chance to win the race and ultimately a chance at the season championship. Real bummer. Looks like Jimmy Johnson will win it as his car is always better than any other lately.


A side note - the gas prices have been lower as we travel through the states of Arkansas and Texas.  Thanks to our Pilot/Flying J card we get a 4 cent discount per gallon.  We've been able to purchase gas at $2.95 and $2.91 per gallon.