Dec 7, Monday - Day 2 in Villa Corona

The hydro goes out to the entire facility just as Bev is about to start the coffee maker.  We put our old camping kettle with the whistle on the gas stove to heat the water to make our coffee in our manual coffee press unit and proceed to cook our pancakes on the gas stove instead of using the electric fry pan. While we much on our breakfast, we muse over the fact that this little old whistling tea kettle has seen a lot of mileage. We estimate that we have had it for nearly forty years and it is easily ten years older than that.

Vic writes…
I take a look at the leveler and find that this time there are 2 broken hydraulic lines. Instead of just replacing the lines, I need to find the root cause of why the line(s) are breaking. It seems that the pump part of the leveler assembly is able to flex about ½ inch. With all the bumps and rough roads, it doesn’t take long with all the flexing for the steel line to break. The first step of the repair is to add a bolt to the assembly to eliminate the flex as much as possible.

While under the rig, I hear a hissing sound, which leads me to the inside tire of the right rear dual tires. Maybe we’ll stay longer at this place….

The people in the park are very nice and helpful. One guy, George, has spent a lot of time in MX and offers to help. We go into the auto parts shops in the village but are unable to find the ferrules I need for the hydraulic lines. George recommends a trip to Guadalajara to a brake specialist call Frenos Unicos. During our little trip, we talk about his times in MX and he tells me about breaking his arm while surfing in Lo de Marcos in 1995 and him and his wife Carol running a campground. I ask him if he knows Jan & Dale and he says "Oh yes, I've know Zorro Plata (Silver Fox) for nearly 15 years." Small world.

In the afternoon, Bev and I head off to the big city to search out this Frenos Unicos. We spot the shop on the other side of the road but you can’t get there due to the median and no left turns. You need to find a “retorno” to do a U-turn to get back. It turns out that they don’t have the part. In my limited Spanish, I understand that I should go south past the “periferico” (ring road) to Zertuche’s. We find Zertuche’s and I see immediately that this is the spot as they specialize in hydraulics. They have the parts and we head back. We try to spot a place to have the tire fixed but don’t see a shop the fixes truck tires.

Bev read in the brochure that there are laundry facilities in the park.  Instead of doing the laundry herself, she pays the local laundry gal $50 pesos (less than $5 Canadian) to do the 3 loads of laundry for her. Bev drops the laundry off at 11 am and it is returned at 4 pm after we returned from shopping in Guadalajara for new hydraulic lines and associated parts.  This is wonderful as it cost $5.50US to do 2 loads of laundry at the facility in the Alamo campground.

We decide to relax in one of the pools.  We have been told that they are hottest first thing in the morning but the pool was still about 95F at 4 PM.  Oh, so relaxing – there is even a massage pool but we skip that, just floated in the regular pool.

When we come back we join 4 other couples for drinks and socialize.  One of the Ontario couples left this afternoon.  They are moving into the new house they purchased in Ajijic on the north side of Lake Chapala. It would have been interesting to talk to them and learn all the tribulations they went through to purchase the place.



We sense that there is a propane leak as we can smell the gas but we can't determine if it is coming from our rig or the one nearby.  We give it high priority and say manana (tomorrow).

Dec 6th (Sunday) Onward to Villa Corona

We get up at 6 AM and after packing up, we depart at 7:38 AM.


It takes us 1 ½ hours from Mexquitic to the end of the ring road around San Luis Potosi – speed bumps terrible, road rough so have to go slow. The roads are rough but the scenery is beautiful. Rugged mountains. We go from about altitude of 6,000 ft to 7,200 ft before descending into Guadalajaura.



If we didn’t resort to taking the toll road, the trip would have been much longer. Total tolls for the day were $852 pesos (about $75 Cad). Toll roads are smoother, no topes, by-pass the small towns .. true expressway, but not always smooth. We checked our fuel consumption when we filled up at the Pemex station – despite the climbs up the mountain, we are still getting 7.1 mpg which is good considering we are towing a car.

When we finally arrived at 3:30 PM, at the Villa Corona campground is great. Rate is $230 pesos/day including hydro. We are exhausted from the long day of driving – we didn’t stop for lunch. We pay for 2 nights as we need a day to relax. Mtce staff immediately sweep our patio to remove the pine needles fallen from the trees on our site. Many people here are from Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. Neighbours very friendly. When our next door neighbour saw us about to set up our Star Choice satellite dish next to his, he runs out to say just plug into his dish – we hadn’t been there 30 minutes, he hadn’t even met us before this!!!

The resort has pools filled with water from hot springs in the area. We learn the next day that the RV community social gathering is around 8:30 am in the pool.

While setting up on our site and try to level to RV, we discover that one of our levellers isn’t working, but luckily we don’t need it to level our rig so we’ll need to fix it next day. Yes, it is the same one as Vic repaired in Tupulo Louisiana. To hell with fixing it today. We are too exhausted to do anything but drink a marguarita and have some dinner.

The park has WiFi access in a patio area just outside the office where most RV residents use Skype to call home to family. We use the area to catch up on our email, only to find out that we still cannot access our Rogers email accounts. We were fine in Texas but as soon as we reached Mexico, the server disconnects us as soon as we enter our passwords – funny it always worked when we flew to Mexico for our 2 week vacation in February. We’ll have to investigate.

Dec 5th Saturday – Day 2 in San Luis Potosi

In the morning, I finish off the chimney repairs and install the “new” vent cover. Good as new.

The roof is another story. There are numerous rips and tears all along the edge. There is no way we can proceed without getting the roof sealed. Luckily I have a roll of white duct tape and set about to seal up the rips. The tape won’t stick to the roofing material so we try soap and water, without success. I resort to using a can of aerosol brake cleaner to get the roof clean enough for the tape to stick. Then I use roofing sealant to seal all the edges of the tape to hopefully keep everything in place. Time will tell if this cobbled together solution will last long enough to get us through the winter.

During all this repair process, Bev has been talking to the owner’s wife who can speak a little English and to her daughter, about 10 years old. The daughter has been taking English in school and is very eager to put her lessons to use. She asks to look inside the RV and Bev obliges. She is in awe and gushes to her mother about the RV. Later on she returns with her cousins and asks if they can all look inside. This time the daughter gives the tour, pointing out “bedroom”, “bathroom”, etc in English. Then she suddenly sees my radio controlled airplane hanging from the bedroom ceiling and exclaims “avion” to her cousins. They are all excited to be able to look around.

I tell Pedro that we are leaving early in the morning and ask him what we owe for the two days. Wisely he offers US$15 and I give him 180 pesos. I could have suggested zero but considering the damage was done while off of his property, I can understand his point. From my perspective, his is partially responsible for not having his gate open and for having a misleading sign. If he had asked for full rate, I would have flatly refused.

It turns out that Pedro and his wife Susan also own a restaurant down the road towards the city. We opt to eat out and try out their restaurant. As we enter, we are greeted than none other than the daughter, who is gushing over us. She is so excited to see us and use her English. We both enjoy our meals in the lovely restaurant and we are the only customers. The food was excellent and inexpensive. I am sure this is their low season, as there would be no way they could keep a nice place going for long.

Dec 4 Ups & Downs and a Real Downer

Ciudad Victoria sits at an elevation of about 900’ but just to the west the hills blend into mountains. Our day starts out 9C at about 9 AM. The planned route will take us on Hwy 126, by-passing a section of Hwy 110, which looks on the map as a really squiggly line, with a few switch-backs thrown in. We climb up the mountains in the morning mist and rain, trying to get a view of what should be spectacular…if only we could see it.


Up we climb to about 3600’ and the mountains open up into a wide, mostly flat valley. As we descend into the valley, we enter whole new weather system, sunny and warmer at about 18C.

Entering a tunnel

Down into the valley. Sunshine ahead!

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of industry or farming here. In some spots, there are roadside vendors selling dried snake skins and some sort of animal skins. Who would ever buy this stuff is beyond me.

Nice view of some flat-topped mesas.

We are surrounded by mountains.

By 10:45 AM we are climbing back up towards 3600’ again and the temp drops down to 12C. We stop at a Pemex  to fill up at 7.7 pesos per liter, equivalent to about 68 cents Canadian. Fuel mileage is holding at 7.1 US mpg, which we consider very good considering the mountain climbs we have done.

We turn onto Hwy 57 about 120 km from San Luis Potosi, our first 4 lane divided highway since being in Mexico. In San Luis Potosi,, we take the north east ring road, by-passing the city centre, to get to our campground in Mexquitic. This road is terrible…tope after tope of various shapes and sizes. At times we would hit topes that were spaced exactly the length of our wheelbase. You have to come to a near stop and crawl over the topes. It makes for very slow progress. Combined with the ups of the topes, there are potholes too. By the time we are able to turn off the ring road and onto Hwy 49, we have just about had it.

As we approach the campground, we see that the gates are closed but there is a sign that say “abierto” or open that seems to point down the road. We spy a lane that looks to lead to the rear of the property and start down. There is big tree right in the middle of the lane and I choose the left side. Bev is concerned that it isn’t wide enough but I know we can make. We didn’t. It was wide enough but not high enough. We hear scraping and crunching sounds from above, as a low hanging limb takes its toll.

When we get into the campground, we find that there is extensive damage. Our new awning material is scratch and scraped, the rear awning arm has been ripped right out of the roller. The rear spring assembly is hanging out. The roller has a big dent in it. The vent cover for the refrigerator is bashed in. The rubber roof covering is ripped just about from the front to the rear, all along the right edge. What a disaster! I am livid and let the campground owner know it too. Now it is simply a matter of damage control to get things back operational so we can continue our trip. There is no such thing as a RV repair shop in Mexico.

To start the repairs, we need the bracket that holds to rear awning arm to the RV. I go one way, following our path of destruction, while Pedro, the park owner, goes the other. I return empty-handed but Pedro, luckily returns with the missing and crucial piece. Pedro removes the spring assembly and walks off somewhere while I start to repair the awning arm. He returns 15 minutes later with the spring assembly all straightened out. I am able to get the spring re-installed and riveted in place. At least the awning is now useable.

Now I address the vent cover. It is in pretty bad shape and I think the only solution is to duct tape the pieces together but Pedro has different ideas. With my limited Spanish and his non-existent English, he directs me to a forlorn-looking house trailer, with flat tires. I somewhat understand that the trailer owner has not paid for the rental and owes Pedro, so I guess he is claiming ownership based on some lien. There is a very good condition vent cover on the roof that is exactly the same as mine and he says take it. I don’t argue.

The chimney part of my fridge vent is broken in several places and the mounting points to attach to cover are broken. Pedro comes up on the roof to take a look and says something like “Awh-ha PVC” and walks off to his little workshop. He returns with plumbing PVC cement and primer, along with thin aluminum wire. I am able to “sew” and glue the pieces all back together into a function chimney. By this time, it is getting dark so all work stops for the day.



I should have taken pictures of all this but it wasn't even on my mind. I was just too upset and exhausted from the efforts to get things fixed. No doubt some of the exhaustion was due to the altitude. I am not acclimated to working at 6000'.

Dec 3 Thursday Eagle Has Landed

We awoke to another cold morning at 9C. Brrr. The people around here say this is really cold and never happens in Texas. How is that? Just because we are here?

We got packed up and pulled out of the park before 9 AM, and on into Mexico just after 9:30 AM. The toll across the Pharr Bridge was US$20…much more than I expected.

In Mexico is where the fun stuff begins. The first attendant can’t speak English and we are not good at Espanol, so he gets on his cell phone and calls for another guy who can. Nice guy…talks about his visit to Niagara Falls… guides us into the office and says you need to visit the Migracion office and get a FMT, or Tourist Card. It doesn’t quite work the simple way though. The guy at the counter gives you a form you have to fill out. Then you take the form to the Banjercito (sort of like an officious cashier, behind a glass enclosure). We were prepared with copies of our passports, driver licenses, vehicle ownership certs but we needed to have copies of the FMT form with our Passports. You walk across to the other side of the office to another booth that where a guy sells Mexican car insurance and does copies on the side. The back to the Banjercito to complete the paper work. We pay for the FMT cards (262 pesos each). The vehicle import permits are 641 pesos for the RV and 385 pesos for the car. If you want to work out the cost in Cdn $, divide by 12. We have paid for everything but its not over yet. You need to go over to the Migracion booth, where the guy will now stamp your FMT after you show him proof that you paid the fee. We are now done at the border and can proceed. All in, this procedure has taken just under an hour…and this was a very quiet time with no lineups. There is no search of the vehicle, just a check that the vehicle stickers match the VIN of the vehicles.

But the border crossing isn’t finished yet. About 30 km down Highway 97 we hit the "aduana"…customs office. The officer checks our FMT and vehicle import permit, then comes inside and looks around the RV, and says good-bye. Pretty simple and we are back underway.

A few kms down the road is where we get our first unfriendly Mexican welcome…a stone chip in the windshield about the size of a dime, on the driver’s side, just below my sightline. I can’t understand where the stone came from other than from a pickup truck that passed us and was 300 meters in front when the bang came. Bummer!

The highway is something new to us. Yes, it is paved, and mostly smooth, so it looks somewhat like a wide two lane highway (not the 401 here folks). There is a centre line that is solid where you can’t pass and dashed where you can. Then there is this wide shoulder with a dashed line. Not really wide enough to drive on but you straddle it so people can pass you on the left. When there isn’t anyone behind, you can move over towards the centre. It takes a bit getting use to it.

Then you have to learn a new language for turn signals. When the vehicle in front of you puts on its left turn signal, that means it is safe for you to pass! I bet you want to know what the right signal is for. It is not safe to pass. When the vehicle in front approaches a hazard, or a road work crew, he will turn on his flashers to alert you that he will be slowing down for some reason. In Mexico, drivers are trying to help out those behind them. What a concept!

The driving is very similar to what we experience in southern Texas. Miles and miles of flat farmland and you can see forever. Later on, the flatness gradually disappears and we get into rolling hills, then a big hill that taxes the big old 454 Chevy engine. Followed by a roller coaster ride down the other side, with the tranny downshifted. This is just kids stuff…bigger hills and mountains will come.

We roll into Ciudad Victoria (ciudad means city) and into the Victoria RV Campground to meet the owner Rosie. She is quite a nice character that speaks English very well and fills us in on the local info of where to shop, where to get Internet access. After getting parked and set up, we head off to the Soriana superstore…sort of like a Walmart SuperCenter but with a great liquor and wine section, and much better food. We stock up on things we couldn’t cross the border with, like meats and veggies and check out with a bill of 807 pesos. Now you are already dividing by 12 and come to the conclusion that 70 was a little much. But consider we walked out with a 700 ml bottle of Jose Cuervo Tequilla that also comes with a bottle Sangrita mixer, a 750 ml bottle of Appleton’s Rum, and a 750 ml bottle of Malibu Coconut Rum. Now you can consider the food was free and we paid for the booze! The Jose Cuervo was 129 pesos, the rum as 100 and the coco rum was 135. Four bananas were 7.4 pesos…about 74 cents. A little steep when you consider they come from Mexico. But 6 limes cost only 2.2 pesos…about 20 cents. 6 tomatoes (.5 kg) cost 8.5 pesos.

On our way to the food store, Bev spied an AutoZone up the road. Very surprising to see one in Mexico so after dropping off the food at the RV we make a visit and pickup a windshield repair kit. All the packaging is in both English and Spanish so we don’t even have to speak to someone and show our language ineptitude.

As a treat, we go out to dinner at Martin’s restaurant where there is free Wi-Fi.

Dec 2 Wed. Not a rainy day!

It turned mostly sunny and a slightly warmer...around 20C. That allowed us to get ready for crossing over tomorrow.

This afternoon, we went to the DQ for our last treat...at least for the next few months.

Dec 1 Another Rainy Day

Yesterday it rained all day. It also rained all night. Guess what today is like! Rain all day. In fact, we are having a thunderstorm right now. What shitty weather.

The weather is delaying our departure to Mexico as we need some dry weather to dry out the outdoor stuff and do the vehicle check (oil levels, air pressure, etc.)

Today wasn't wasted as Bev got the laundry done while I installed a replacement AC voltmeter so we can now see what the house AC voltage is. It is important to know if it goes too low as it could harm some appliances. I also removed the windshield cover, broke down the outdoor BBQ table, and put the BBQ in storage.

We also got the propane tank filled. There is a couple of different vendors that come around with a propane trunk to service the RVs in the park. Very handy for us and a captive market for them. Under half a tank cost $26.25. I didn't make a note of the unit cost or how many gallons/pounds he put in.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be better, so we should get our preparations done and get underway on Thursday.

We plan to go out for dinner to Peter Piper Pizza...our first dining out. Really splurging this time.