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.
 |
| 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).
 |
| 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.
 |
| a beautiful rainbow brightened our day! |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)