We left Lemon Tree RV Inn on Tuesday, December 5th. The first stop was to fill up with gas at the local Valero station as gas is more expensive in Mexico. We paid US$2.19/gallon for gas at Valero where gas in Mexico varied from $12 pesos in Reynosa to just under $17 pesos/litre (over $1 CAD/litre) in Guadalajara.
We crossed as usual at the Anzalduas Bridge, spending time to purchase visas ($1000 pesos for 2) and the TIP (Temporary Import Permit) for our HHR ($459 USD with $400 to be returned upon departing from Mexico). We traveled toll roads around Monterrey and Saltillo and then took the free Highway 54 south towards Zacatecas. We arrived at Pemex 6712 (about 1/2 hour south of Concepcion del Oro) late in the afternoon where we paid $100 pesos to stay overnight in the motel courtyard which has a locked gate at night.
The next day we headed towards Zacatecas. We spotted one of the most unusual signs we have ever seen. The sign said the the speed limit was reduced to 60 kph in the presence of Monarch butterflies. Wow.
Continuing on, we peaked out at over 8000 feet at Zacatecas and traveled on to Aguascalientes. The truck bypass at Aguascalientes is in very rough condition but they are working on it so hopefully it will be better in a few years. It is the worst road we travel on during our journey south!
On November 15th this year, the Macrolibramiento de Guadalajara toll road opened to bypass Guadalajara. We decided to give it a try. Wow, it was great -- a 4 lane highway 110 km long with no speed bumps (topes) or stop lights. The bypass starts east of Guadalajara at the intersection of Hwys 80D and 90D and travels south almost to Lake Chapala, ending west of Guadalajara near Tequila. It cost us $627 pesos for a Class A motorhome towing a car, about 200 pesos more than going thru Guadalajara. Well worth the price as it saved us a lot of time and stress by not having to go near Guadalajara.
We stopped for the night at our usual spot at the Pemex in Magdalena.
On Thursday we drove the new toll road from Jala to Compostela. It didn't save us any time but it does bypass the winding road of 68D coming south from 15D and better yet, the topes and small towns you encounter if you drive the 15 Libre.
Note: Libre roads are free. D roads are toll.
We safely arrived at our destination in Lo de Marcos shortly after 11 am. Now to set up our site for the winter.
891 miles from Mission and 2947 miles from home.
Friday, December 15, 2017
Thursday, December 14, 2017
our month in Mission Texas
Nov 9th to Dec 5th:
We always enjoy our time at Lemon Tree RV Inn in Mission. Fun times with friendly people. This was our third November at Lemon Tree. When we first arrived there were 88 people in the park for our Remembrance Day dinner. There were over 129 people with more to arrive in the coming week when we departed.
We are lucky to celebrate Thanksgiving twice each year. Canadian Thanksgiving with our family and American Thanksgiving with the winter Texans of Lemon Tree. It was a superb dinner with management providing 8 turkeys. Our contribution was Vic's turnip with brown sugar and butter. 😏
The oranges are ripening on the trees within the park and we were asked to pick some. If they don't get picked, they fall to the ground and end up in the garbage. So the two of us picked enough oranges to make 2 litres of orange juice. We also had a large bag of sweet red grapefruit to eat -- what we hadn't consumed before we left for Mexico, we turned into juice in order to take it across the border.
There are lots of activities at Lemon Tree. We don't shoot pool, play poker, golf or play bingo or horse racing but we do play shuffleboard, 500, and euchre. Plus Bev watched the game Pitch before we left so she can try it when we return to Lemon Tree in March. There is a community trailer with an exercise room, puzzle room, library and craft room. Lots to keep one busy. There were the morning exercise classes and afternoons spent in the heated swimming pool and the hot tub. The evenings were clear skies, no smoke from burning garbage (which we suffer from in Mexico) so we were able to take evening walks around the park to get in our 1 1/2 miles per day. Plus we were able to sleep with our windows open! Margarita Mondays at the restaurant next door is a popular event! And why not when they are 2 for $4.
Every Wednesday there is the weekly Community breakfast meeting, Thursday evenings is a pancake supper and Sunday is hamburger/hot dog night.
The first week after we arrived in Mission there were lots of monarch butterflies on their way south. But we didn't see them after that. There are a few other types of pretty butterflies that stay the winter.
Typical of our month stay, Vic gets work done on the motorhome. He fixed our electric steps so they come completely in when traveling, installed new gas pistons in our electric awning, started scraping the clear bra off the front of the motorhome, installed new external speakers for both TV sets (guess they don't last long with the rough roads in Mexico) and had the front wheels balanced on the motorhome (see previous blog).
We had mixed feelings leaving Lemon Tree on the morning of Tuesday, December 5th but it was time to move on to Mexico.
We always enjoy our time at Lemon Tree RV Inn in Mission. Fun times with friendly people. This was our third November at Lemon Tree. When we first arrived there were 88 people in the park for our Remembrance Day dinner. There were over 129 people with more to arrive in the coming week when we departed.
We are lucky to celebrate Thanksgiving twice each year. Canadian Thanksgiving with our family and American Thanksgiving with the winter Texans of Lemon Tree. It was a superb dinner with management providing 8 turkeys. Our contribution was Vic's turnip with brown sugar and butter. 😏
The oranges are ripening on the trees within the park and we were asked to pick some. If they don't get picked, they fall to the ground and end up in the garbage. So the two of us picked enough oranges to make 2 litres of orange juice. We also had a large bag of sweet red grapefruit to eat -- what we hadn't consumed before we left for Mexico, we turned into juice in order to take it across the border.
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| The oranges on the tree on our site weren't ripe by the time we left |
There are lots of activities at Lemon Tree. We don't shoot pool, play poker, golf or play bingo or horse racing but we do play shuffleboard, 500, and euchre. Plus Bev watched the game Pitch before we left so she can try it when we return to Lemon Tree in March. There is a community trailer with an exercise room, puzzle room, library and craft room. Lots to keep one busy. There were the morning exercise classes and afternoons spent in the heated swimming pool and the hot tub. The evenings were clear skies, no smoke from burning garbage (which we suffer from in Mexico) so we were able to take evening walks around the park to get in our 1 1/2 miles per day. Plus we were able to sleep with our windows open! Margarita Mondays at the restaurant next door is a popular event! And why not when they are 2 for $4.
Every Wednesday there is the weekly Community breakfast meeting, Thursday evenings is a pancake supper and Sunday is hamburger/hot dog night.
We enjoyed watching the wildlife too. Besides the wild bunnies and the
black chicken wandering around the campground, there were 2
gila woodpeckers in one of the trees beside our motorhome.
You can hear them chattering off and on through the day. A
couple of flocks of small green parrots fly over
twice a day -- noisy --you can hear them coming from a distance! There was a Swainson
hawk that hunts the bunnies and sometimes sat on the
transformer near our motorhome. Every evening before the sun goes down, flocks of black birds by the thousands come from west to flock on the wires and in the trees a few miles east.
The first week after we arrived in Mission there were lots of monarch butterflies on their way south. But we didn't see them after that. There are a few other types of pretty butterflies that stay the winter.
Typical of our month stay, Vic gets work done on the motorhome. He fixed our electric steps so they come completely in when traveling, installed new gas pistons in our electric awning, started scraping the clear bra off the front of the motorhome, installed new external speakers for both TV sets (guess they don't last long with the rough roads in Mexico) and had the front wheels balanced on the motorhome (see previous blog).
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| Vic steaming and scraping to remove the clear bra |
We had mixed feelings leaving Lemon Tree on the morning of Tuesday, December 5th but it was time to move on to Mexico.
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| a beautiful rainbow brightened our day! |
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Getting rid of the shakes the new way
Over the last couple of years, the motorhome has shown increasing shakes or vibrations while underway. The shakes start at about 42 mph and disappear in the high 40s. So...enough is enough.
The crew arrives...
Scott and his crew arrive at our site at the agreed time. The truck is equipped with an industrial air compressor and the biggest impact gun I've ever seen. It zips off the lug nuts like they were only finger tight.
Scott and his crew arrive at our site at the agreed time. The truck is equipped with an industrial air compressor and the biggest impact gun I've ever seen. It zips off the lug nuts like they were only finger tight.
The crew breaks the edge of the tire off the rim using a tire hammer and breaker bar.
Scott Matthews of Scott's Tire Center, Mission Texas (956-369-5121) slips in a pre-measured package of beads of Magnum Plus tire balancing compound into each tire. Surprise surprise. This stuff is made in Canada by M & R Tire Products Inc. and the head office is in Simcoe Ontario!
The final step is to swap the left and right tires to even out the tire wear.
Once the tire starts rolling down the road, the bag breaks and the beads distribute themselves around the tire to cancel out the imbalance. Magic.
Bonus.
We did not have to pack up the MH and disconnect the water, sewer, and electrical connections. We stayed put right where we were.
Risk.
Will it work? We won't know until we leave the campground and head into Mexico.
Believe it...this technology has been around for years, mostly used in the trucking industry.
Tune in the first week of December to find out the results.
Once the tire starts rolling down the road, the bag breaks and the beads distribute themselves around the tire to cancel out the imbalance. Magic.
Bonus.
We did not have to pack up the MH and disconnect the water, sewer, and electrical connections. We stayed put right where we were.
Risk.
Will it work? We won't know until we leave the campground and head into Mexico.
Believe it...this technology has been around for years, mostly used in the trucking industry.
Tune in the first week of December to find out the results.
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Now settled in Mission, TX
We arrived at Lemon Tree RV Inn in Mission on Thursday, November 9th. The weather was cooler than normal (16C) and rainy. By Remembrance Day the temperature was back up to 26C. Yippee - back to shorts and t-shirts!
Several of our friends have asked for details re the portion of our trip to the Lower Rio Grande area of Texas.
Distance traveled 2,056 miles from Thornhill to Mission.
The cost for fuel was $768.58 USD ($976 CAD)
We stayed overnight at the Walmart in Effingham, Illinois and at the Walmart in Little Rock, Arkansas.
We stayed 2 nights in Dallas at the Traders Village RV Park. With our Good Sam Club discount we paid $75.60 USD.
The next stop was Leisure Resort in Fentress (near Lockhart where we stop for smoked meat). With the 50% discount as a Passport America member we paid $22 USD.
Total cost of campsites on our way south was $97.60 USD ($123.95 CAD)
Several of our friends have asked for details re the portion of our trip to the Lower Rio Grande area of Texas.
Distance traveled 2,056 miles from Thornhill to Mission.
The cost for fuel was $768.58 USD ($976 CAD)
We stayed overnight at the Walmart in Effingham, Illinois and at the Walmart in Little Rock, Arkansas.
We stayed 2 nights in Dallas at the Traders Village RV Park. With our Good Sam Club discount we paid $75.60 USD.
The next stop was Leisure Resort in Fentress (near Lockhart where we stop for smoked meat). With the 50% discount as a Passport America member we paid $22 USD.
Total cost of campsites on our way south was $97.60 USD ($123.95 CAD)
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
What shittie weather 😢
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| Snow in Arkansas |
I remarked to Bev that this year's trip has been the worst weather overall of any year we have gone south.
First day...cloudy and cold. Heading south from Indianapolis...cloud, mist, mizzle, a little rain. From Effingham Illinois to Little Rock...rain, heavy rain bursts but warm. Then we saw snow in the fields of Arkansas.
The next leg to Dallas started cloudy but warmer. We actually saw the sun for brief glimpses.
Psst. ..I lied about the snow. It's cotton ready for pickin'.😈
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| Rain rain go far away |
The day spent in Dallas was cloudy and turning colder. We packed up in the rain on Wednesday morning with temperature about 10C and dropped to 8C by Austin. Rain all the way except for last 20 minutes of trip.
We are now in Lockhart Texas, NE of San Antonio, the home of the best BBQ in all the world. You can see a previous post about Black's and that is our gastronomic choice for tonight.
As bad as the weather has been, we are thankful we are not home. Thursday forecast is snow and -9C overnight.
We look forward to Mission tomorrow and hopefully leave behind the cool and wet.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Getting ready to head south
Getting ready to head south. The clutter in the living room is growing, ready for transfer to the motorhome.
We will retrieve the MH from the storage lot on Sunday and begin the load up tasks.
We head out after the last kids come for their Halloween treats and spend the night at the Flying J in London. We cross into the USA the next morning.
Note...I hope this post works OK as it is the first time blogging from my phone.
Vic
Saturday, April 15, 2017
a visit to Washington, then home
Monday April 3 we left Martinsville to drive to the Washington, DC area. We booked into the Greenville Family Farm Campground near Haymarket VA (about 20 miles from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's annex at Washington Dulles International Airport.
The campgrounds had all the connections for water, sewer, electricity we needed. No WIFI but great cell phone reception. Smart of us to have unlimited voice and data from Freedom Mobile, even in the USA.
We spent most of Tuesday at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles. One word describes it...AWESOME!
We joined in on a guided tour by one of the docents who really knew his stuff. He had some great insights that we would never have gotten walking around on our own.
There are 5 main attractions here. The Space Shuttle Discovery, SR-71 Spyplane, B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, Boeing 707 prototype, and a Concord SST.
The Space Shuttle is very impressive and even shows the singes of the heat of re-entering the atmosphere. It was always my impression that the heat was caused by the friction with air molecules. Not so. It was due to the massive pressure build-up on the surface. Remember your physics? Compressing a gas will result in increasing its temperature.
The docent related a neat story of the Apollo 11 command module. This mission was in big trouble because there was an problem in the command module and the crew had to return from the moon in the mission module. Before re-entry, they transferred back to the command module that did not have environmental controls. It was very cold inside. After successfully landing in the ocean, the rescue crew opened the hatch and it was still very cold inside, even after the blazing heat of re-entry.
On Wednesday we decided to head into Washington to see the Smithsonian museums. The best way is to drive to the nearest Metro station in Vienna Virginia. For $20 we rode in and returned, parking included. On the drive back to the campground, it was a 45+ minute drive in the heavy traffic. We are so glad not to have driven into the city!
We visited the Aviation and Space museum downtown. This is the original, before the collection became just to big to house everything. Although it is nice by many standards, it was bit of a letdown after the Dulles museum. There are still many interesting displays, even the Kitty Hawk, and war birds. We were done in a couple of hours and headed to the Museum of Natural History.
Boring. We trailed around for a couple of hours, not impressed by anything. We never left the main floor and maybe there was something there to see but we were pooped by now and decided to head for the hills.
The next day was wasted (rainy) doing laundry in Manassas and shopping. We found a pressure washer at Home Depot of $80. The exact same thing in Ontario is Cdn$188. I kid you not!
Sunday. We headed for home as the weather was going to be nice and warm for the next few days and we hate unloading the motorhome in the cold and rain. We stayed overnight at a WalMart in Edinboro PA, having dinner in town at a nice restaurant. The weather was a very pleasant 25C.
We were home by 2 PM the next day after crossing at Fort Erie with very minimal delay.
The campgrounds had all the connections for water, sewer, electricity we needed. No WIFI but great cell phone reception. Smart of us to have unlimited voice and data from Freedom Mobile, even in the USA.
We spent most of Tuesday at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles. One word describes it...AWESOME!
We joined in on a guided tour by one of the docents who really knew his stuff. He had some great insights that we would never have gotten walking around on our own.
There are 5 main attractions here. The Space Shuttle Discovery, SR-71 Spyplane, B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, Boeing 707 prototype, and a Concord SST.
The Space Shuttle is very impressive and even shows the singes of the heat of re-entering the atmosphere. It was always my impression that the heat was caused by the friction with air molecules. Not so. It was due to the massive pressure build-up on the surface. Remember your physics? Compressing a gas will result in increasing its temperature.
The docent related a neat story of the Apollo 11 command module. This mission was in big trouble because there was an problem in the command module and the crew had to return from the moon in the mission module. Before re-entry, they transferred back to the command module that did not have environmental controls. It was very cold inside. After successfully landing in the ocean, the rescue crew opened the hatch and it was still very cold inside, even after the blazing heat of re-entry.
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| The plane with Boeing is the prototype of the 707. |
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| The Enola Gay is the airplane that dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima |
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| Two historic planes...the 707 prototype and the Concord. |
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| B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay |
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| Aerobatics and ultralights |
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| The first flying car. None have ever been successful. |
On Wednesday we decided to head into Washington to see the Smithsonian museums. The best way is to drive to the nearest Metro station in Vienna Virginia. For $20 we rode in and returned, parking included. On the drive back to the campground, it was a 45+ minute drive in the heavy traffic. We are so glad not to have driven into the city!
We visited the Aviation and Space museum downtown. This is the original, before the collection became just to big to house everything. Although it is nice by many standards, it was bit of a letdown after the Dulles museum. There are still many interesting displays, even the Kitty Hawk, and war birds. We were done in a couple of hours and headed to the Museum of Natural History.
Boring. We trailed around for a couple of hours, not impressed by anything. We never left the main floor and maybe there was something there to see but we were pooped by now and decided to head for the hills.
The next day was wasted (rainy) doing laundry in Manassas and shopping. We found a pressure washer at Home Depot of $80. The exact same thing in Ontario is Cdn$188. I kid you not!
Sunday. We headed for home as the weather was going to be nice and warm for the next few days and we hate unloading the motorhome in the cold and rain. We stayed overnight at a WalMart in Edinboro PA, having dinner in town at a nice restaurant. The weather was a very pleasant 25C.
We were home by 2 PM the next day after crossing at Fort Erie with very minimal delay.
Corpus Christi, Houston, Martinsville
On Thursday
March 23rd we drove to Corpus Christi. We booked into the Colonia Del Rey RV Park
which was just a 20 minute drive from the USS Lexington Aircraft Carrier and close
to the bridge to cross over to Padre and Mustang Islands. The next day we spent 4 hours touring the
USS Lexington aircraft carrier and then drove up to Port Aransas to explore the area. We happened to stop at a sporting goods store just to kill time and ended up getting great bargains on swim suits. Bev really lucked out getting two suits at $20 each and a gorgeous sun dress for $5. Vic's suit were $10 each.
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| A view of the USS Lexington from the bridge to Padre Island |
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| heading for a tour of the USS Lexington |
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| Giving it a try |
We left the Corpus Christi area on Saturday March 25th to head towards Houston. We stopped at a Walmart in Dickinson (about halfway between Houston and Galveston) and unhitched our tow car to research some of the area RV Parks. We settled on Green Caye RV Park for $30 per night which was just 6 miles from the Houston Space Center.
Sunday we drove south to Galveston. We drove around Pelican island touring along the Seawall area, the East End Point, the port area and stopped at the Seawolf Park to tour a WWII submarine and a destroyer escort ship.
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| Amusement park on the pier in Galveston |
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| another glimpse of the rides on the pier |
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| one of the container ships passing by the East End point, site of the remains of Fort San Jacinto |
 |
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| on a dock in the port area of Galveston |
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| Lots of oil rigs |
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| Oil rig that can be toured |
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| The WWII USS Cavalla submarine at Seawolf Park near Galveston |
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| On the deck of the destroyer escort ship USS Stewart at Seawolf Park |
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| Huge container ship passing going into port by Seawolf Park |
Monday March 27th we spent most of the day touring the Houston Space Center which was about a 15 minute drive from where we were staying. We hoped to take the VIP Tour but it was booked weeks in advance. We will have to return in the fall and book ahead.
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| Modified 747 with Shuttle Endeavor replica |
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| Lunar Rover replica. Original is still on the moon. |
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| A real piece of the moon. |
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| Space Shuttle cockpit |
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| Space Shuttle cargo bay with Canadarm |
The next item
on our itinerary was to drive to Martinsville VA for a weekend of NASCAR
racing. It would be a 3 day drive, making it the day before the rain came.
Tuesday March 28th
we left Dickinson TX and stopped for the night at a Walmart in Mobile Alabama.
We had driven in 4 states that day:
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
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| one of the many crawfish ponds along our route through Louisiana |
The following
day we drove through Atlanta Georgia and found a nice RV park called Carolina Landing
near the town of Fair Play. (south of Greenville SC). This gave us the opportunity to dump the tanks and load up with water to last our stay in Martinsville. Nice park, nestled in the hills and trees and very quiet.
Thurs Mar 30th
we started out about 9:15 am. By noon we
stopped at a Rest Area at the North Carolina border to change into long pants
as the weather cool (14C and drizzling). Sad to put on long pants for the first
time after 4 months wearing shorts. By 2:44 pm we were in our camping spot at
the Martinsville Speedway. We had
tickets to watch the Pole Qualifying on Fri, truck race Saturday and STP 500 on
Sunday. Let the fun begin!
Alas, Friday it
rained and the practices and qualifying were cancelled.
When it rains, as it often does at this time of year, the campground becomes very slick and soft mud in many places. The guy pulling this 5th wheel trailer is in big trouble. Too much mud and not enough traction. He needed a pull forward to get into position beside his friends .
Saturday was cool and windy but dry. We were able to watch the practices, truck qualifying and finally the truck race at 3 pm. Our favourite driver, Chase Elliott won that race!
Sunday Elliott finished 3rd in the race, part of the Monster Energy Series.
When it came time to leave many RVs were stuck in the mud from the Friday rain and tow services were required. In the photos below, even one of the tow trucks got stuck and had to be towed out!
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| Mudsville. And the fun begins. |
When it rains, as it often does at this time of year, the campground becomes very slick and soft mud in many places. The guy pulling this 5th wheel trailer is in big trouble. Too much mud and not enough traction. He needed a pull forward to get into position beside his friends .
Saturday was cool and windy but dry. We were able to watch the practices, truck qualifying and finally the truck race at 3 pm. Our favourite driver, Chase Elliott won that race!
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| #23 is Chase Elliott, during the warmup laps. |
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| Turn 3. Elliott on the outside of Larson. Two of the young guns. |
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| Go #24! Chase Elliott is our guy. |
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| Vic sporting his Chase Elliott shirt |
When it came time to leave many RVs were stuck in the mud from the Friday rain and tow services were required. In the photos below, even one of the tow trucks got stuck and had to be towed out!
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| Red tow truck stuck in the mud. |
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| Big Brute tows Little Red. |
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