Back in the rank and file

We are at the El Tripui trailer park, in Puerto Escondido (map).  It is very cramped here, and getting everyone in was extremely tight.  Many folks had a challenge extending their slides.  The park does have 50-amp 220-volt power, and I am told there is a pool.

We had another pleasant and quiet evening at Playa El Tecolote.  We woke this morning to find high tide lapping at the chairs and tables of the two nearby restaurants.  By 8am, we were breaking camp.  Fortunately, the ferry was on time this morning, so most of the ferry traffic had already cleared by the time we passed the terminal.  Between the beach and the terminal, we heard our wagonmaster on the CB (he's got a huge amplifier and a great antenna), some 15 miles distant, albeit a mostly straight shot across water.  They were just leaving the campground, which put us just about an hour behind them.

We have since been told that the sewage smell returned again last night, and also that getting everyone out of the very squeaky campground this morning was a real circus, so we were very glad we spent the two nights at the beach.

We had a pleasant drive back along the malecón, and, as we rolled into town, we found ourselves in the middle of another caravan, from Tracks to Adventure.  I'm sure they were very confused to find a rig in their line-up with Fantasy stickers.  We ended up passing them all, one and two at a time, as we rolled through and out of town.  We heard them on the CB long afterwards, so they remained just behind us for a good distance.  No sign of them here, so I suspect they stopped for the night either in Ciudad Constitución or in Ciudad Insurgentes, the two other cities through which we passed today.

We ourselves stopped in Insugentes at one of the Pemex stations there, and put in 500 liters of diesel, which will carry us for the rest of the trip.  Although, at Mexican prices, I am thinkng of topping up again in Ensenada or Tecate.  Just another ten miles down the road, at the very outskirts of Insurgentes, we ran into our own caravan, who had made a comfort, lunch, and fuel stop at the very last Pemex in town.  And thus ended our independence, at least for a while -- the group stopped at the top of the grade about 20 miles south of here to stage, but there wasn't room for all the rigs, so we were sent on ahead.

What a spectacular 20 miles those were!  We descended a grade from about 1,400' down to sea level, through a beautiful canyon.  The road was twisty and narrow, with several switchbacks and roundabouts, and we had the retarder on the whole time, but what a view -- one of the most scenic stretches of road on the whole trip.

Tomorrow we will be on the beach at Bahia Concepcion.