We are in Cabo San Lucas, at the Villa Serena RV Park (map). We had a very pleasant drive down from Los Barriles, including our first fuel stop, where we put in 385 liters, or just over 100 gallons, for 2,000 pesos, or just under 200 dollars. Less than $2 per gallon is the least we've paid for diesel in quite a long time.
Yesterday was also our first opportunity to drive unescorted -- those that needed fuel were cut loose early to drive the 25 miles to the Pemex on their own. We did wait for the rest of the group there, after which we became the impromptu tailgunners for the giant conga line of rigs as we proceeded through San Jose del Cabo.
After arriving here and getting settled in, the group gathered to carpool into town for a sunset dinner cruise. The cruise was great, sunset was beautiful, the food was good, and, of course, all the drinks were included. By the time we headed back to port, half the group was dancing on the deck -- retirees gone wild. None of our group opted to do the pour-it-right-into-your-mouth tequila shots, however.
Today is a free day, and we are thinking about riding down to one of the nearby beaches for some swimming and snorkeling. Home Depot is also right across the street, and I want to walk over just to check it out. Tonight is an optional potluck dinner, and I've got sausage thawing to make jambalaya. Tomorrow we have a glass-bottom boat tour, including snorkeling and an hour or so on Lovers' Beach, followed by lobster dinner right here at the Villa Serena restaurant.
In other news, we seem to be having trouble staying on-line here. Either there have been problems at Hughes, or we are so close to the edge of the satellite footprint that our transmit signal is not getting through consistently. We are on the Mexican satellite, SatMex5, but our size dish has low thresholds. Hover your mouse over the 50dBW button on the Ku1-Band tab to see the footprint -- it's very close to the southern tip of Baja.
We get questions over here at Our Odyssey, and sometimes they come in as comments on the blog -- impossible to answer via email, and we never know if the original poster will go back to the comments to find the answers. Reader "Spyderman's Adventures" asks if we know what the charge was to put Odyssey on the ferry. The answer is that we don't know what the tour company paid, but you can find the retail fare on the ferry web site at http://www.bajaferries.com (works only with Internet Explorer -- I could not get it to work with FireFox). On the navigation bar at top, click "Tarifas" and select "Vehiculos" to get a chart of vehicle fares. You will then need to go back to Tarifas and select Pasaje to find the fares for any occupants, plus the charge for cabin accommodations if desired (highly recommended for the westbound crossing, which is overnight).
By my reckoning, our crossing in Odyssey would be $8,120 Mexican Pesos, which is about $745 US Dollars at the current exchange rate. (6,000 pesos for Odyssey, 680 pesos each for the two of us, and 760 pesos for the cabin.) The note about no pets on board, by the way, does not apply to pets traveling in your vehicle -- just be aware that you will not have access to the vehicle or the car deck under way, so the pets need to go it alone.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
Half way there...
It seems hard to believe, but yesterday was day 19 of our Mexican adventure, the half-way point. As seems fitting for such a milestone, Louise spent most of the morning doing laundry right here at the RV park, but now we won't have to do it again until we are stateside. We spent the afternoon relaxing around the pool, and taking a drive on the beach with our neighbors John and Maria in their Jeep. They also hauled us over to the grocery store across town -- tourist prices, but a nice store and we needed some provisions. At dusk we walked several blocks back into town to local eatery Tio Pablo's. Another tourist joint, full of gringos, but the food was tasty and I got to have another delicious salad. (Can you tell I really missed salads over on the mainland?).
Today we had another relaxing morning, and, around midday, we were invited along on another Jeep trip. Nine of us, in two Jeeps, drove up into the hills, past the village of Santiago, and into the international Biosphere Reserve of Sierra de la Laguna. We paid a small fee to traverse private property into the reserve, parked at a small trailhead, and hiked perhaps half a mile down a steep and rocky trail through the thicket, to a wonderful fresh water rock pool under a thirty-foot waterfall, where we all swam and frolicked for about an hour, diving off the granite rocks into the deep and refreshing water. What a treat. The place is called Sol de Mayo, and I could tell you where it is, but then I'd have to kill you. Click photo to see short video.
A big thanks to John and Maria (again) and Bill and Mary Lou, whose Jeeps provided the transportation.
Of course, we had to climb the half mile back up the aforementioned steep and rocky trail, but the whole thing was well worth it. We rewarded ourselves for a successful and injury-free descent and ascent by stopping for a delicious lunch at the tiny hotel and restaurant Casa de Huespedes Palomar in the village of Santiago, a recommendation from the more experienced group of hikers that arrived at the falls just as we were leaving. What a wonderful place. If you come here by car, I understand one of the six guest rooms here can be had for about $20 per night.
Overall, we have had a very relaxing stay here in Los Barriles. Tomorrow we are again on the road, heading to Cabo San Lucas. And, consistent with our half-way milestone, we will have to make our first Mexican fuel purchase en-route.
Today we had another relaxing morning, and, around midday, we were invited along on another Jeep trip. Nine of us, in two Jeeps, drove up into the hills, past the village of Santiago, and into the international Biosphere Reserve of Sierra de la Laguna. We paid a small fee to traverse private property into the reserve, parked at a small trailhead, and hiked perhaps half a mile down a steep and rocky trail through the thicket, to a wonderful fresh water rock pool under a thirty-foot waterfall, where we all swam and frolicked for about an hour, diving off the granite rocks into the deep and refreshing water. What a treat. The place is called Sol de Mayo, and I could tell you where it is, but then I'd have to kill you. Click photo to see short video.
A big thanks to John and Maria (again) and Bill and Mary Lou, whose Jeeps provided the transportation.
Of course, we had to climb the half mile back up the aforementioned steep and rocky trail, but the whole thing was well worth it. We rewarded ourselves for a successful and injury-free descent and ascent by stopping for a delicious lunch at the tiny hotel and restaurant Casa de Huespedes Palomar in the village of Santiago, a recommendation from the more experienced group of hikers that arrived at the falls just as we were leaving. What a wonderful place. If you come here by car, I understand one of the six guest rooms here can be had for about $20 per night.
Overall, we have had a very relaxing stay here in Los Barriles. Tomorrow we are again on the road, heading to Cabo San Lucas. And, consistent with our half-way milestone, we will have to make our first Mexican fuel purchase en-route.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Los Barriles, on the east cape.
We left Playa Tecolote yesterday around 10. I could have used another two or three days there, but we will come back. I never did get to sample the restaurant -- they were closed by the time I walked over.
The drive down from La Paz was beautiful. The road was mostly in good condition, with a few washouts and some mud in the vados from the September hurricane. Some of our caravan found it a bit challenging, but we thought the road was not unlike many of the back roads of California, Nevada, or the Pacific Northwest. In other words, curvy, hilly, and narrow, with minimal shoulders.
We have been told that most of Baja is essentially the same, as far as the road is concerned. So if this is the worst Mexico has to offer, we have concluded the horror stories are greatly exaggerated. Actually, we sort of expected so -- we have the sense that the folks decrying the condition of Mexican roads on the various bulletin boards and other forums seldom venture far from the Interstate in the US. Anything less than two lanes in each direction, with a broad shoulder for breakdowns or just goofs, constitutes hazardous driving. By contrast, we try to stick to two-lane blacktop, even when the Interstate is parallel and a hundred yards away.
We are now in the small town of Los Barriles, on the east coast, at the East Cape RV Park (map). The entire town is full of American ex-pats, including the park owner. Prices at the local businesses are clearly marked in US dollars, and everybody speaks English. I'm afraid we left the "real" Mexico (whatever that is) behind when we boarded the ferry.
Louise was finally feeling a little better last night, and we walked over to the closest local eatery for dinner. The food was quite good, if highly Americanized, though we have definitely moved into the realm of tourist pricing -- dinner was $30, whereas a similar meal on the mainland would have run us half that.
The RV park is also pleasant, although struggling back to its feet from the hurricane. There is a nice pool and hot tub, and the grounds are nicely landscaped. There is also a coin laundry (US quarters), and Louise is taking advantage this morning, We have yet to visit the beach, which is two blocks away; perhaps this afternoon.
We are here for two more nights, before heading further south to los cabos. Today we will relax a bit and perhaps walk around the town, and we hope to take a pleasure cruise on the gulf tomorrow, if the fishing charter guy doesn't book the boat for another day of billfishing.
The drive down from La Paz was beautiful. The road was mostly in good condition, with a few washouts and some mud in the vados from the September hurricane. Some of our caravan found it a bit challenging, but we thought the road was not unlike many of the back roads of California, Nevada, or the Pacific Northwest. In other words, curvy, hilly, and narrow, with minimal shoulders.
We have been told that most of Baja is essentially the same, as far as the road is concerned. So if this is the worst Mexico has to offer, we have concluded the horror stories are greatly exaggerated. Actually, we sort of expected so -- we have the sense that the folks decrying the condition of Mexican roads on the various bulletin boards and other forums seldom venture far from the Interstate in the US. Anything less than two lanes in each direction, with a broad shoulder for breakdowns or just goofs, constitutes hazardous driving. By contrast, we try to stick to two-lane blacktop, even when the Interstate is parallel and a hundred yards away.
We are now in the small town of Los Barriles, on the east coast, at the East Cape RV Park (map). The entire town is full of American ex-pats, including the park owner. Prices at the local businesses are clearly marked in US dollars, and everybody speaks English. I'm afraid we left the "real" Mexico (whatever that is) behind when we boarded the ferry.
Louise was finally feeling a little better last night, and we walked over to the closest local eatery for dinner. The food was quite good, if highly Americanized, though we have definitely moved into the realm of tourist pricing -- dinner was $30, whereas a similar meal on the mainland would have run us half that.
The RV park is also pleasant, although struggling back to its feet from the hurricane. There is a nice pool and hot tub, and the grounds are nicely landscaped. There is also a coin laundry (US quarters), and Louise is taking advantage this morning, We have yet to visit the beach, which is two blocks away; perhaps this afternoon.
We are here for two more nights, before heading further south to los cabos. Today we will relax a bit and perhaps walk around the town, and we hope to take a pleasure cruise on the gulf tomorrow, if the fishing charter guy doesn't book the boat for another day of billfishing.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Finally on the beach -- Playa Tecolote, north of La Paz
We are finally in Baja California Sur, with much to report since my last post. We are parked more or less right on the beach, at Playa Tecolote (map). Most of the rigs are parked on the sand -- we opted to keep our drivers on the little bit of pavement that's here. But our picture window is overlooking the beach, with the water just a couple dozen yards away.
The big news, of course, is that Hurricane Paul is once again Tropical Storm Paul, and will most likely pass (well, what's left of it, anyway) quite a bit south of us. It's overcast and a bit rainy here, but that is probably the worst of it for us.
Backing up to my last post: we did, finally, make it to the beach in Mazatlan. It was a short walk from the campground, and actually quite nice. We walked down there with Opal Saturday afternoon, not long after I posted, to watch the sunset. We resolved to come back during the day Sunday for a swim in the fairly impressive waves, and maybe to have a cocktail under a friendly palapa at the adjacent hotel.
We never made it -- Saturday night I came down with a second round of la turista, and by Sunday morning Louise was also feeling the effects. Several other folks were also under the weather, so we are guessing that this particular bug came from Daniel's restaurant in Copala. I neglected to report it, but we spent Saturday morning on yet another bus tour, this one into the Sierra Madre to the town of Copala, where mostly what we did was eat lunch at the aforementioned restaurant, famous for its coconut cream pies. Along the way we made stops to see bricks being made by hand, furniture being made by hand, cement tiles being made by hand, and bread being made by hand (do you sense a theme here). These latter two items were in the little village of Malpica. Of course, plenty of opportunities to be hawked goods at all stops.
In any case, I was flat on my back all day Sunday, so we never made it back to the beach, or anywhere else. First thing yesterday morning, we cleared out of Mazatlan, and began the long drive back to Los Mochis and on to Topolobampo. We did take a partially different route, involving the libre road from Mazatlan to Culiacan, which was quite beautiful. I was in pretty good shape to drive, probably because the ciprofloxacin was still in play and helped me through this second bout. Louise was uncomfortable all day.
A small drama unfolded at our first rest stop -- a wheel caught fire on the toad on one of the other rigs. It turns out that some kind of malfunction in the toad braking system, possibly the break-away system engaging prematurely, had applied the front brakes and they had dragged for quite some distance. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the damage was done -- the front wheels, tires, rotors, calipers, and even the tie rod ends were all cooked. My infrared thermometer only goes up to around 550 Fahrenheit, and the wheels were hotter than that. One of the tires went flat while we were all looking at it, so we ended up with an hour-long stop dealing with all the issues. It made our problems look small in comparison. On the bright side, at least he did not lose the car.
As we threaded our way through Los Mochis, we drove right past the rail yard, where another piggyback had just arrived, for Tracks to Adventure. They were using the same CB channel as we were, so there was some brief confusion as we passed, but it allowed the wagonmasters to exchange greetings. I'm sure they were heading down to Mazatlan, where, it turns out, the campground managed to get the pool filtration working and a guy out to clean it all up, just as we were pulling out. Clearly, Tracks has more pull -- another gripe for Fantasy.
After a very long day of driving, we arrived at the ferry terminal in Topolobampo right around 8. Too late for the planned rig-side margarita party, but in enough time to get staged out on the dock (map), get the dish up, and check the weather reports. We also had a snack, since dinner aboard ship would be close to midnight.
Around 9:30 or so the ferry California Star arrived. This is a huge vessel, 186 meters long and 25,000 Gross Tons. Then we watched in horror as she unloaded. The ramp turns out to be much steeper than we anticipated, with an inflection mid-ramp. Making matters worse, we were expected to transition to another ramp inside, to ascend to the next deck. Our tension mounted as loading time approached.
The loaders were very professional, and, by directing us in at an extreme angle, we were able to make the main ramp. We could not, however, make the second ramp to the upper deck. The loaders wisely decided to put us on the lower deck, where we were first on, and where our company later would be tractor-trailers of all stripes, as well as quite a few tractorless trailers dropped there by spotters.
After a tense hour or so, we finally made it to the restaurant deck, where we had a group buffet dinner and a cocktail before turning in to our stateroom. The California Star is an Italian vessel with an Italian bridge crew, and the dapper captain invited us for a tour of the navigation bridge, which rivaled anything on a modern cruise ship. Our stateroom was also cruise-ship comfortable, if a bit spartan, with four bunks (we used the two lowers, and left the uppers folded in) and a full bath.
We turned in before departure, so we did not notice some other vehicle (not in our group) apparently get stuck on the self-same loading ramp, delaying our departure for several hours. So we were a bit surprised to still be in open water this morning at 7:30 when we showed up in the restaurant for breakfast. We ended up docking around 9, and were unloaded soon after.
Unloading proved more of a challenge than loading, and we did end up grounding the tail on the ramp. Normally, we land on the skids, with no damage, but since we were debarking at such an extreme angle, we landed on the bodywork. The sharp metal tread lines welded onto the ramp made short work of some of our body filler and paint, so we have some touch-up ahead of us. It's not really visible, though, unless you bend down to look.
We've had a relaxing afternoon here on the beach, though Louise is still sick. I will walk over to the little palapa restaurant shortly to get myself some dinner, and I hope we are both back in fighting trim in the morning.
The big news, of course, is that Hurricane Paul is once again Tropical Storm Paul, and will most likely pass (well, what's left of it, anyway) quite a bit south of us. It's overcast and a bit rainy here, but that is probably the worst of it for us.
Backing up to my last post: we did, finally, make it to the beach in Mazatlan. It was a short walk from the campground, and actually quite nice. We walked down there with Opal Saturday afternoon, not long after I posted, to watch the sunset. We resolved to come back during the day Sunday for a swim in the fairly impressive waves, and maybe to have a cocktail under a friendly palapa at the adjacent hotel.
We never made it -- Saturday night I came down with a second round of la turista, and by Sunday morning Louise was also feeling the effects. Several other folks were also under the weather, so we are guessing that this particular bug came from Daniel's restaurant in Copala. I neglected to report it, but we spent Saturday morning on yet another bus tour, this one into the Sierra Madre to the town of Copala, where mostly what we did was eat lunch at the aforementioned restaurant, famous for its coconut cream pies. Along the way we made stops to see bricks being made by hand, furniture being made by hand, cement tiles being made by hand, and bread being made by hand (do you sense a theme here). These latter two items were in the little village of Malpica. Of course, plenty of opportunities to be hawked goods at all stops.
In any case, I was flat on my back all day Sunday, so we never made it back to the beach, or anywhere else. First thing yesterday morning, we cleared out of Mazatlan, and began the long drive back to Los Mochis and on to Topolobampo. We did take a partially different route, involving the libre road from Mazatlan to Culiacan, which was quite beautiful. I was in pretty good shape to drive, probably because the ciprofloxacin was still in play and helped me through this second bout. Louise was uncomfortable all day.
A small drama unfolded at our first rest stop -- a wheel caught fire on the toad on one of the other rigs. It turns out that some kind of malfunction in the toad braking system, possibly the break-away system engaging prematurely, had applied the front brakes and they had dragged for quite some distance. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the damage was done -- the front wheels, tires, rotors, calipers, and even the tie rod ends were all cooked. My infrared thermometer only goes up to around 550 Fahrenheit, and the wheels were hotter than that. One of the tires went flat while we were all looking at it, so we ended up with an hour-long stop dealing with all the issues. It made our problems look small in comparison. On the bright side, at least he did not lose the car.
As we threaded our way through Los Mochis, we drove right past the rail yard, where another piggyback had just arrived, for Tracks to Adventure. They were using the same CB channel as we were, so there was some brief confusion as we passed, but it allowed the wagonmasters to exchange greetings. I'm sure they were heading down to Mazatlan, where, it turns out, the campground managed to get the pool filtration working and a guy out to clean it all up, just as we were pulling out. Clearly, Tracks has more pull -- another gripe for Fantasy.
After a very long day of driving, we arrived at the ferry terminal in Topolobampo right around 8. Too late for the planned rig-side margarita party, but in enough time to get staged out on the dock (map), get the dish up, and check the weather reports. We also had a snack, since dinner aboard ship would be close to midnight.
Around 9:30 or so the ferry California Star arrived. This is a huge vessel, 186 meters long and 25,000 Gross Tons. Then we watched in horror as she unloaded. The ramp turns out to be much steeper than we anticipated, with an inflection mid-ramp. Making matters worse, we were expected to transition to another ramp inside, to ascend to the next deck. Our tension mounted as loading time approached.
The loaders were very professional, and, by directing us in at an extreme angle, we were able to make the main ramp. We could not, however, make the second ramp to the upper deck. The loaders wisely decided to put us on the lower deck, where we were first on, and where our company later would be tractor-trailers of all stripes, as well as quite a few tractorless trailers dropped there by spotters.
After a tense hour or so, we finally made it to the restaurant deck, where we had a group buffet dinner and a cocktail before turning in to our stateroom. The California Star is an Italian vessel with an Italian bridge crew, and the dapper captain invited us for a tour of the navigation bridge, which rivaled anything on a modern cruise ship. Our stateroom was also cruise-ship comfortable, if a bit spartan, with four bunks (we used the two lowers, and left the uppers folded in) and a full bath.
We turned in before departure, so we did not notice some other vehicle (not in our group) apparently get stuck on the self-same loading ramp, delaying our departure for several hours. So we were a bit surprised to still be in open water this morning at 7:30 when we showed up in the restaurant for breakfast. We ended up docking around 9, and were unloaded soon after.
Unloading proved more of a challenge than loading, and we did end up grounding the tail on the ramp. Normally, we land on the skids, with no damage, but since we were debarking at such an extreme angle, we landed on the bodywork. The sharp metal tread lines welded onto the ramp made short work of some of our body filler and paint, so we have some touch-up ahead of us. It's not really visible, though, unless you bend down to look.
We've had a relaxing afternoon here on the beach, though Louise is still sick. I will walk over to the little palapa restaurant shortly to get myself some dinner, and I hope we are both back in fighting trim in the morning.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Preparing to batten the hatches
I did not expect to post today, but there is some news.
First off, we found out this morning that there has been a change of itinerary. Apparently, the ferry can not accommodate all of us tomorrow night. Rather than split the group, the decision was made to postpone the entire group for one full day, so we will remain here in Mazatlan tomorrow, and leave for Topolobampo early Monday morning.
Frankly, I'm a little ticked about this. As I've already written, I've been disappointed since before we left the US that we are not sailing from right here in Mazatlan, as originally advertised. Instead of spending a relaxing morning here, followed by a nice afternoon sail from Mazatlan, we will have another all-day drive to Topolobampo, which is next to Los Mochis -- in other words, right back the way we came. To the tune, by the way, of another $110 worth of diesel and probably $25 in tolls, while Fantasy pockets the ferry fare difference (the Topolobampo ferry is about $385 cheaper than the Mazatlan ferry for Odyssey and the two of us).
So it merely adds to my frustration that we will spend another day here in the RV park from hell. I call it that because, in addition to the problems we had just getting in to it, there is a litany of problems:
So you can imagine that I was not too happy to learn we were stuck here another day. I was even more upset when I found out that this was not merely an extra day -- that day would be withdrawn at the other end. We are supposed to boondock on the beach at Playa Tecolote for two nights -- a part of the trip we were very much looking forward to. Alas, it is not to be: the extra day we spend here will be deducted from our Playa Tecolote stay. This is strike three for Fantasy -- their head of operations will be getting an email from me detailing my unhappiness, along with an accounting of the money I feel they owe me due to the bait-and-switch. (Well, OK, I know it isn't really bait-and-switch, and that circumstances change, and itineraries are subject to change with no notice blah blah blah, but, hey, they haven't even acknowledged the customer service issue, let alone made even any palliative gestures whatsoever.) At the very least, they could have said that they were sorry about the unexpected itinerary changes, and that they would include some kind of de minimis compensation. Like just extending the damn trip an extra day, instead of robbing our beach time to keep us at the Mazatlan mosquito emporium.
All of this, of course, pales in comparison to the really big news, which may render the whole rant moot: Tropical Storm Paul. (I wanted to get the rant out, though, because I want to clearly delineate that for which I hold Fantasy responsible from that which is clearly out of their hands.) TS Paul will likely be Hurricane Paul by the time we experience the outer bands, which looks inevitable no matter when we leave Mazatlan or which ferry we embark (though note that some forecast models have the storm weakening or dissipating in 48-72 hours, which, of course, is what we are hoping). The additional downside to the ferry delay is that, while tomorrow night's ferry will almost certainly sail, Monday's ferry might well be canceled. To make matters worse, probabilities are that we would be better off in Baja than on the mainland, and any storm damage to ferry facilities at either end could mean an end to the ferry for this trip at all.
I will be keeping an eye on the storm tracks throughout the night. I have also alerted the staff, who are, presumably, looking into the situation and mulling over what the contingency plans will be. As always, I will keep the blog updated as best I can. If we get into any 30kt winds ourselves, I will have to stow the dish, not that it would be on line anyway with that kind of rain.
First off, we found out this morning that there has been a change of itinerary. Apparently, the ferry can not accommodate all of us tomorrow night. Rather than split the group, the decision was made to postpone the entire group for one full day, so we will remain here in Mazatlan tomorrow, and leave for Topolobampo early Monday morning.
Frankly, I'm a little ticked about this. As I've already written, I've been disappointed since before we left the US that we are not sailing from right here in Mazatlan, as originally advertised. Instead of spending a relaxing morning here, followed by a nice afternoon sail from Mazatlan, we will have another all-day drive to Topolobampo, which is next to Los Mochis -- in other words, right back the way we came. To the tune, by the way, of another $110 worth of diesel and probably $25 in tolls, while Fantasy pockets the ferry fare difference (the Topolobampo ferry is about $385 cheaper than the Mazatlan ferry for Odyssey and the two of us).
So it merely adds to my frustration that we will spend another day here in the RV park from hell. I call it that because, in addition to the problems we had just getting in to it, there is a litany of problems:
- The spaces are too short for us. We had to caddy-corner into a space, and we are 9" from another rig in the back. We can't open our tailgate.
- The power constantly varies between 78 volts and 110 volts. It's unusable for air conditioning, or much else, and we have had to run the generator several hours each day -- so why pay for a campground at all?
- The water pressure is so low, that we can get no more than one quarter to one half gallon per minute. Filling the tank was a painful process.
- The sewer connections are anywhere from 20' to 25' from many of the spaces. Everyone came in with full tanks, including us, and there is no dump station. We can't get any closer to the sewer -- we are backed up against a palm tree and another rig. Fortunately, we were able to dump using our macerator pump and 50' hose -- the first time we have actually had to use the macerator in a real-world situation (we had used it before only to test it). I always thought that I would need the macerator in some weird place like a forest service site (to pump into a pit toilet) or while long-term parking at someone's house -- not in an actual campground, fer cryin' out loud.
- It's not convenient to anything. Even the beach is a long walk (and, no, we still have not made it there).
So you can imagine that I was not too happy to learn we were stuck here another day. I was even more upset when I found out that this was not merely an extra day -- that day would be withdrawn at the other end. We are supposed to boondock on the beach at Playa Tecolote for two nights -- a part of the trip we were very much looking forward to. Alas, it is not to be: the extra day we spend here will be deducted from our Playa Tecolote stay. This is strike three for Fantasy -- their head of operations will be getting an email from me detailing my unhappiness, along with an accounting of the money I feel they owe me due to the bait-and-switch. (Well, OK, I know it isn't really bait-and-switch, and that circumstances change, and itineraries are subject to change with no notice blah blah blah, but, hey, they haven't even acknowledged the customer service issue, let alone made even any palliative gestures whatsoever.) At the very least, they could have said that they were sorry about the unexpected itinerary changes, and that they would include some kind of de minimis compensation. Like just extending the damn trip an extra day, instead of robbing our beach time to keep us at the Mazatlan mosquito emporium.
All of this, of course, pales in comparison to the really big news, which may render the whole rant moot: Tropical Storm Paul. (I wanted to get the rant out, though, because I want to clearly delineate that for which I hold Fantasy responsible from that which is clearly out of their hands.) TS Paul will likely be Hurricane Paul by the time we experience the outer bands, which looks inevitable no matter when we leave Mazatlan or which ferry we embark (though note that some forecast models have the storm weakening or dissipating in 48-72 hours, which, of course, is what we are hoping). The additional downside to the ferry delay is that, while tomorrow night's ferry will almost certainly sail, Monday's ferry might well be canceled. To make matters worse, probabilities are that we would be better off in Baja than on the mainland, and any storm damage to ferry facilities at either end could mean an end to the ferry for this trip at all.
I will be keeping an eye on the storm tracks throughout the night. I have also alerted the staff, who are, presumably, looking into the situation and mulling over what the contingency plans will be. As always, I will keep the blog updated as best I can. If we get into any 30kt winds ourselves, I will have to stow the dish, not that it would be on line anyway with that kind of rain.
Playa Escondida, Mazatlan
We are at the Playa Escondida RV Park, in Mazatlan (map), where we are about to spend our third night. The place is an absolute dump, but it is across the road from the beach (or so we are told -- we have yet to make it there).
When last I posted here, we were in Los Mochis, having just debarked the train. The rest of that day was a much needed day of rest, along with a handful of errands, followed by dinner at the Santa Anita hotel downtown. Dinner was a much vaunted, and delicious, affair involving fresh shrimp, for which Los Mochis is famous. Nevertheless, I was barely able to get through it, and, as it was, I left one bacon-wrapped crustacean on my plate -- I had come down with a case of "la turista." I will spare you the gory details, other than to say that I had a miserable night, and I was in no shape to drive the following day. (Also, let me say that the Santa Anita is not to blame -- the bug takes a few days to show up, so I picked it up somewhere on the train.)
Consequently, Louise had to drive the entire next day, a marathon all-day session which began with a somewhat coordinated departure from the RV park in Los Mochis at 7:15, and ended 260 miles and eight hours later here. I helped by maneuvering Odyssey out of one park and into the other, but I turned the controls over to Louise within the first mile and did not take them back until just outside the driveway here. One of her longest driving days ever, and here in Mexico, to boot! It was absolutely essential, though -- I had to run upstairs several times during the journey.
Speaking of maneuvering into this park, the one and only entrance turns out to be a steep affair that we were expected to approach head-on after a left turn across a widely divided road. Making matters worse, a telecom crew had trenched clear across the driveway to bury some ducts, and had to hurriedly backfill the wide trench with loose dirt. After looking the situation over, we chatted with the wagonmaster about the possibility that Odyssey might not be able to make the grade (more specifically, the angle-of-approach), or that we might end up with drive wheels in the loose fill at exactly the wrong moment.
The decision was made to hold us till last, to give us as much time as we needed, and also to get the fill as compacted as possible by the 19 other rigs. We also decided to proceed half a block past the park, to a retorno, then hit the driveway on a right turn from the opposite direction, to reduce the angle-of-approach. All of which added up to us making the driveway with no front-end scraping, although we had to gun it at the end and dragged the tail over the street. We may have to back out, reversing the process, to avoid grounding the nose. We'll see.
I should also note that the telecom trenching has a good part of the street in chaos, and I managed to hit a temporary construction warning as I swung Odyssey around the retorno. In the US, this would have been a plastic traffic cone, or maybe one of those plastic stick thingys with the heavy bases, or even a rubber barrel. Here in Mexico, it was a giant welded-steel post on a heavy welded-steel cross pedestal, with a sheet metal sign attached painted in alternate orange and white stripes. This monstrosity would surely have destroyed the right headlight, and/or the right side bodywork, had it not been for our equally beefy, welded tubular steel crash bars, which deflected the sign like so much papier maché. I did put a small chip in the powder coat on the crash bars (adding to the handful of existing chips from rock strikes), which I touched up with a magic marker. I also had to walk back and re-erect the sign -- who knows how long the Mexicans keep you in jail for defacing warning devices. But the crash bars saved my bacon.
Our first night here was also the "Mexican Fiesta" party, which involved an all-you-can-eat Mexican buffet and a floor show at the locally famous El Cid hotel. Also included were unlimited drinks. Despite being sidelined by the aforementioned disease, I was emboldened by two doses of Immodium and the fact that I was midway through a course of ciprofloxacin, and I did not want to miss out on the festivities. Plus, I was hungry -- my system was pretty much empty. So off we went to El Cid in "spiders," a photo of which Louise has already posted. The food was decent, the cheesy hotel-style fiesta floor show was mildly entertaining, and the never-ending margaritas and cervezas made it all worthwhile. We gave away the souvenir terracotta shot glasses that they hung around our necks with little ribbons, but not before downing the ceremonial tequila shots after dinner.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned drugs, I had another miserable night, which again did not stop me from dragging myself out in the morning yesterday for the Mazatlan city bus tour. I was really hurting by tour's end, but we both enjoyed it. As cheesy as they often are, we find the drive-around-the-city sorts of tours, where someone points out the major sights, and a key stop or two is made along the route, to be a great overview and introduction to an unfamiliar city.
The bus drove us through the Zona Dorado ("golden zone" -- wherein the tourists leave their dollars), the older tourist district now somewhat faded, and along the malecon (which doesn't translate directly but is a sort of concrete boardwalk along the oceanfront) up to where the cliff divers jump off a 45-foot high rock into some wicked looking surf for a handout of a few pesos. We also drove past the lighthouse high on a rock island, and finished with a 90-minute stop at the ornate cathedral and central square, where we were free to wander the streets and into the 107-year-old market.
This latter entity is a common building housing a variety of market stalls, many selling crafts and other dry goods, including the usual tourist trinkets, T-shirts, and souvenirs.. Moving further into the interior of the market, though, reveals an eclectic collection of greengrocers, taco stands, fruit vendors, and carnecerias (meat sellers). Locals outnumbered tourists by a wide margin in this area, and we walked away with several pounds of fruits and vegetables for less than $3. I was too miserable to eat, but Louise had a nice lunch at a mariscos (seafood) stand for about $1.50, which included a ~20oz bottled Pepsi for me.
We were thankful to have the rest of the afternoon free, and we used it to tidy up a bit around the house, and set up and fill the hot tub. (There is a pool here, but it is in a state of nearly complete disrepair, and the water is a rich jade hue that obscures the bottom -- no filtration has happened any time in the recent past.) I was feeling up to eating a hearty dinner, and I grilled up a steak and a handful of giant shrimp that Louise bought at the shrimp market, the final stop on the bus tour en route back to camp. The rest of the shrimp are in the freezer -- half a kilo, or a little more than a pound, of nice-sized shrimp was less than $5.
Today was a much-needed "free" day. Sign up sheets were passed around yesterday for optional tours today, but we skipped them -- although we did sign up to have the coach washed and waxed for 500 pesos (about $46). Instead, we met up with Ken and Lee, American ex-pats living here in Mazatlan, occasional readers of this blog, and people with whom we have been communicating since earlier in the trip, after some postings Louise made on RV.net, one of the on-line forums in which we lurk.
Lee and Ken were most gracious hosts, taking us for a nice afternoon meal at one of their favorite local restaurants, Mariscos el Memin (not another tourist in the joint), a drive through some of the neighborhoods that are never on the bus tour, a quick stop at Wal-Mart for some necessities (I ran out of contact lens fluid, and, besides, we had to check in at our home park), and a visit to their lovely house, in a well-kept middle class neighborhood where they are the only non-Mexicans. We really enjoyed this very different perspective on the city -- intimate, yet distinctly American -- and were able to appreciate why they settled here. They were also good company and we enjoyed getting to know them. I like to think they also enjoyed getting to see Odyssey up close and in detail.
I am mostly fully recovered from the bug, and I'm looking forward to what, I hope, will be my first solid night of sleep since we arrived here. Tomorrow we have another bus tour, and then one more night in this miserable park.
When last I posted here, we were in Los Mochis, having just debarked the train. The rest of that day was a much needed day of rest, along with a handful of errands, followed by dinner at the Santa Anita hotel downtown. Dinner was a much vaunted, and delicious, affair involving fresh shrimp, for which Los Mochis is famous. Nevertheless, I was barely able to get through it, and, as it was, I left one bacon-wrapped crustacean on my plate -- I had come down with a case of "la turista." I will spare you the gory details, other than to say that I had a miserable night, and I was in no shape to drive the following day. (Also, let me say that the Santa Anita is not to blame -- the bug takes a few days to show up, so I picked it up somewhere on the train.)
Consequently, Louise had to drive the entire next day, a marathon all-day session which began with a somewhat coordinated departure from the RV park in Los Mochis at 7:15, and ended 260 miles and eight hours later here. I helped by maneuvering Odyssey out of one park and into the other, but I turned the controls over to Louise within the first mile and did not take them back until just outside the driveway here. One of her longest driving days ever, and here in Mexico, to boot! It was absolutely essential, though -- I had to run upstairs several times during the journey.
Speaking of maneuvering into this park, the one and only entrance turns out to be a steep affair that we were expected to approach head-on after a left turn across a widely divided road. Making matters worse, a telecom crew had trenched clear across the driveway to bury some ducts, and had to hurriedly backfill the wide trench with loose dirt. After looking the situation over, we chatted with the wagonmaster about the possibility that Odyssey might not be able to make the grade (more specifically, the angle-of-approach), or that we might end up with drive wheels in the loose fill at exactly the wrong moment.
The decision was made to hold us till last, to give us as much time as we needed, and also to get the fill as compacted as possible by the 19 other rigs. We also decided to proceed half a block past the park, to a retorno, then hit the driveway on a right turn from the opposite direction, to reduce the angle-of-approach. All of which added up to us making the driveway with no front-end scraping, although we had to gun it at the end and dragged the tail over the street. We may have to back out, reversing the process, to avoid grounding the nose. We'll see.
I should also note that the telecom trenching has a good part of the street in chaos, and I managed to hit a temporary construction warning as I swung Odyssey around the retorno. In the US, this would have been a plastic traffic cone, or maybe one of those plastic stick thingys with the heavy bases, or even a rubber barrel. Here in Mexico, it was a giant welded-steel post on a heavy welded-steel cross pedestal, with a sheet metal sign attached painted in alternate orange and white stripes. This monstrosity would surely have destroyed the right headlight, and/or the right side bodywork, had it not been for our equally beefy, welded tubular steel crash bars, which deflected the sign like so much papier maché. I did put a small chip in the powder coat on the crash bars (adding to the handful of existing chips from rock strikes), which I touched up with a magic marker. I also had to walk back and re-erect the sign -- who knows how long the Mexicans keep you in jail for defacing warning devices. But the crash bars saved my bacon.
Our first night here was also the "Mexican Fiesta" party, which involved an all-you-can-eat Mexican buffet and a floor show at the locally famous El Cid hotel. Also included were unlimited drinks. Despite being sidelined by the aforementioned disease, I was emboldened by two doses of Immodium and the fact that I was midway through a course of ciprofloxacin, and I did not want to miss out on the festivities. Plus, I was hungry -- my system was pretty much empty. So off we went to El Cid in "spiders," a photo of which Louise has already posted. The food was decent, the cheesy hotel-style fiesta floor show was mildly entertaining, and the never-ending margaritas and cervezas made it all worthwhile. We gave away the souvenir terracotta shot glasses that they hung around our necks with little ribbons, but not before downing the ceremonial tequila shots after dinner.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned drugs, I had another miserable night, which again did not stop me from dragging myself out in the morning yesterday for the Mazatlan city bus tour. I was really hurting by tour's end, but we both enjoyed it. As cheesy as they often are, we find the drive-around-the-city sorts of tours, where someone points out the major sights, and a key stop or two is made along the route, to be a great overview and introduction to an unfamiliar city.
The bus drove us through the Zona Dorado ("golden zone" -- wherein the tourists leave their dollars), the older tourist district now somewhat faded, and along the malecon (which doesn't translate directly but is a sort of concrete boardwalk along the oceanfront) up to where the cliff divers jump off a 45-foot high rock into some wicked looking surf for a handout of a few pesos. We also drove past the lighthouse high on a rock island, and finished with a 90-minute stop at the ornate cathedral and central square, where we were free to wander the streets and into the 107-year-old market.
This latter entity is a common building housing a variety of market stalls, many selling crafts and other dry goods, including the usual tourist trinkets, T-shirts, and souvenirs.. Moving further into the interior of the market, though, reveals an eclectic collection of greengrocers, taco stands, fruit vendors, and carnecerias (meat sellers). Locals outnumbered tourists by a wide margin in this area, and we walked away with several pounds of fruits and vegetables for less than $3. I was too miserable to eat, but Louise had a nice lunch at a mariscos (seafood) stand for about $1.50, which included a ~20oz bottled Pepsi for me.
We were thankful to have the rest of the afternoon free, and we used it to tidy up a bit around the house, and set up and fill the hot tub. (There is a pool here, but it is in a state of nearly complete disrepair, and the water is a rich jade hue that obscures the bottom -- no filtration has happened any time in the recent past.) I was feeling up to eating a hearty dinner, and I grilled up a steak and a handful of giant shrimp that Louise bought at the shrimp market, the final stop on the bus tour en route back to camp. The rest of the shrimp are in the freezer -- half a kilo, or a little more than a pound, of nice-sized shrimp was less than $5.
Today was a much-needed "free" day. Sign up sheets were passed around yesterday for optional tours today, but we skipped them -- although we did sign up to have the coach washed and waxed for 500 pesos (about $46). Instead, we met up with Ken and Lee, American ex-pats living here in Mazatlan, occasional readers of this blog, and people with whom we have been communicating since earlier in the trip, after some postings Louise made on RV.net, one of the on-line forums in which we lurk.
Lee and Ken were most gracious hosts, taking us for a nice afternoon meal at one of their favorite local restaurants, Mariscos el Memin (not another tourist in the joint), a drive through some of the neighborhoods that are never on the bus tour, a quick stop at Wal-Mart for some necessities (I ran out of contact lens fluid, and, besides, we had to check in at our home park), and a visit to their lovely house, in a well-kept middle class neighborhood where they are the only non-Mexicans. We really enjoyed this very different perspective on the city -- intimate, yet distinctly American -- and were able to appreciate why they settled here. They were also good company and we enjoyed getting to know them. I like to think they also enjoyed getting to see Odyssey up close and in detail.
I am mostly fully recovered from the bug, and I'm looking forward to what, I hope, will be my first solid night of sleep since we arrived here. Tomorrow we have another bus tour, and then one more night in this miserable park.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
For RVers Only
Footage of RVs other than Odyssey being loaded onto the Copper Canyon train. Click here for video. (Thanks, melackey, for pointing out that the original link was wrong. It's fixed now!)
Walking Opal
Curious how we walked our dog while we were loaded on a five-foot-tall flatcar? Click here to watch the video.
Los Mochis "Copper Canyon" RV Park
Once again we were up before dawn, ready to unload at 07:00. After an hour or so of fiddling with chocks, straps, and ramps, we rolled off the train without a hitch. The unloading process turns out to involve four groups, onto the two ramps. Our group of five rigs was first, followed by the five rigs on the front of the other half of the train. While the second group was unloading, a locomotive came to pull the first half back, cut off the five front (now empty) cars, and move the next group of five up to the ramp.
The wagonmaster decided to bring each group over to the RV park separately. A good choice, since keeping the caravan together in Los Mochis traffic would have been impossible. Any time we got a green light, two or at most three rigs would make it through before it turned red again -- just getting all five of us here was a challenge. In any case, we are at the RV park (map), waiting on the rest of the caravan to arrive. The wagonmaster unhooked his truck and went back to the rail yard to fetch the second group.
A quick word about the map links. These links are "hybrid" views on Google Maps, which means satellite imagery overlayed by street maps. Unfortunately, Google does not have street detail for Mexico, so most of the maps have shown no streets, or, perhaps, one major highway. Some of the satellite detail, though, has been impressive. For example, zooming the above link in to the second-highest level (the highest zoom level is "unavailable") will show you a detailed view of the RV park, with the pointer very close to our actual space. In this view, the park is empty -- the white rectangles are the miniscule concrete pads provided between sites. If you zoom yesterday's link in to the same level, you will see the tracks and the concrete loading ramp in the rail yard. Several of the links from the train ride have detail down only to the fifth or sixth zoom level, which is to say, no detail at all. But at least one of the earlier links shows the siding, and several of the links from Chihuahua show the RV parks in detail, down to our actual sites.
Now that we are safely unloaded from the train and relaxing again on terra firma, I will share some observations about the train ride. First, let me say that I am very glad we did it -- it is a unique experience, and will make for many good campfire stories (the tales growing taller each year, no doubt). That being said, I will also say that I would not do it again. There are many reasons:
Now that I have said that, I also need to say that the Copper Canyon is not to be missed. The scenery is breathtaking, rivaling the Grand Canyon, or Yosemite. The geology and flora reminded us of the Sierra Nevada, but on a much grander scale. Visiting this area is also a study in contrasts -- first class tourist accommodations within sight of people living in a kind of poverty that simply does not exist in the United States. It is also a revealing view into European impact on Native American cultures -- the Tarahumara have been relegated to these lands, barely suitable for subsistence farming, and live in a kind of limbo between their ancient ways and the modern world -- their homes and life resemble more abject poverty than a dignified Native American lifestyle.
We were very happy to have had the chance to make this visit, and hope to return there some day on our own time and schedule. We know we have only scratched the surface of this vast treasure. In fact, in all of our travel in Mexico thus far, we have encountered only one disappointment: Trash. There is no environmental ethic in Mexico, and even places of such majestic natural beauty as the Copper Canyon are treated by the Mexicans as one giant rubbish can. Trash is everywhere -- on the street, along the train tracks, in the canyons, and even on private property. Only the tourist establishments and major retailers seem to do any kind of cleanup at all. Recycling, of course, is non-existent, although, to their credit, Mexicans still re-use their beverage bottles.
We are looking forward to the rest of our journey, now in coastal Mexico. Tomorrow, we will drive to Mazatlan, considered the first stop on the "Mexican Riviera" -- we've been there twice on cruise ships. On this visit, a couple of our readers, who have settled there, have offered to show us around.
The wagonmaster decided to bring each group over to the RV park separately. A good choice, since keeping the caravan together in Los Mochis traffic would have been impossible. Any time we got a green light, two or at most three rigs would make it through before it turned red again -- just getting all five of us here was a challenge. In any case, we are at the RV park (map), waiting on the rest of the caravan to arrive. The wagonmaster unhooked his truck and went back to the rail yard to fetch the second group.
A quick word about the map links. These links are "hybrid" views on Google Maps, which means satellite imagery overlayed by street maps. Unfortunately, Google does not have street detail for Mexico, so most of the maps have shown no streets, or, perhaps, one major highway. Some of the satellite detail, though, has been impressive. For example, zooming the above link in to the second-highest level (the highest zoom level is "unavailable") will show you a detailed view of the RV park, with the pointer very close to our actual space. In this view, the park is empty -- the white rectangles are the miniscule concrete pads provided between sites. If you zoom yesterday's link in to the same level, you will see the tracks and the concrete loading ramp in the rail yard. Several of the links from the train ride have detail down only to the fifth or sixth zoom level, which is to say, no detail at all. But at least one of the earlier links shows the siding, and several of the links from Chihuahua show the RV parks in detail, down to our actual sites.
Now that we are safely unloaded from the train and relaxing again on terra firma, I will share some observations about the train ride. First, let me say that I am very glad we did it -- it is a unique experience, and will make for many good campfire stories (the tales growing taller each year, no doubt). That being said, I will also say that I would not do it again. There are many reasons:
- The loading/unloading process is harrowing and not for the faint of heart. If you haven't see the video, look here.
- Strapping the coach down was also a nail-biting experience -- we never knew if the jouncing of the coach en route was doing any damage, straining against the cables. Not unlike the nail-biting that occurs when you need your rig towed.
- The ride was uncomfortable. The rail car transmits way more vibration and movement to the coach than the coach experiences when driving down the road. This effect is exacerbated by the fact that all the air needs to be out of the suspension, so you are traveling on the stops. Louise lost more water out of the fish tank while on the train than on any road we have traveled.
- Ferromex does not bother trimming trees along the route -- they just let the trains whack them off. Since we were taller than the locomotives, we whacked some branches ourselves.
- The ride is painfully slow -- great during the most beautiful stretches, but excruciating otherwise. On the other hand, the trackage is so bad in places that you wish they were going even slower.
Now that I have said that, I also need to say that the Copper Canyon is not to be missed. The scenery is breathtaking, rivaling the Grand Canyon, or Yosemite. The geology and flora reminded us of the Sierra Nevada, but on a much grander scale. Visiting this area is also a study in contrasts -- first class tourist accommodations within sight of people living in a kind of poverty that simply does not exist in the United States. It is also a revealing view into European impact on Native American cultures -- the Tarahumara have been relegated to these lands, barely suitable for subsistence farming, and live in a kind of limbo between their ancient ways and the modern world -- their homes and life resemble more abject poverty than a dignified Native American lifestyle.
We were very happy to have had the chance to make this visit, and hope to return there some day on our own time and schedule. We know we have only scratched the surface of this vast treasure. In fact, in all of our travel in Mexico thus far, we have encountered only one disappointment: Trash. There is no environmental ethic in Mexico, and even places of such majestic natural beauty as the Copper Canyon are treated by the Mexicans as one giant rubbish can. Trash is everywhere -- on the street, along the train tracks, in the canyons, and even on private property. Only the tourist establishments and major retailers seem to do any kind of cleanup at all. Recycling, of course, is non-existent, although, to their credit, Mexicans still re-use their beverage bottles.
We are looking forward to the rest of our journey, now in coastal Mexico. Tomorrow, we will drive to Mazatlan, considered the first stop on the "Mexican Riviera" -- we've been there twice on cruise ships. On this visit, a couple of our readers, who have settled there, have offered to show us around.
Los Mochis, Sinaloa
Well, we made it. We are at the unloading ramp in the Los Mochis rail yard (map). Tomorrow morning, we unload the train.
This morning's portion of the trip was the most scenic, as the train descended into the canyons, through many switchbacks and tunnels. The latter part of the day was spent traversing the flatlands of Sinaloa, which was a different kind of scenery. It was cold this morning, so we spent the first half of the day in the penthouse, taking in the scenery from the big window. By the afternoon, it had heated up into the 80's, and we sat out on the back of our flatcar.
Tomorrow we will unload and head over to a campground here in Los Mochis. We are also planning to visit the ferry dock in Topolobampo with the wagonmaster, to make sure Odyssey will not have any problems loading the ferry.
This morning's portion of the trip was the most scenic, as the train descended into the canyons, through many switchbacks and tunnels. The latter part of the day was spent traversing the flatlands of Sinaloa, which was a different kind of scenery. It was cold this morning, so we spent the first half of the day in the penthouse, taking in the scenery from the big window. By the afternoon, it had heated up into the 80's, and we sat out on the back of our flatcar.
Tomorrow we will unload and head over to a campground here in Los Mochis. We are also planning to visit the ferry dock in Topolobampo with the wagonmaster, to make sure Odyssey will not have any problems loading the ferry.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Bahuichivo and Cerocahui
We are on a siding in Bahuichivo (map), where we arrived about 2:30. We had a free morning in Barrancas Divisadero, and we walked down to the eponymous hotel on the canyon rim for an excellent full breakfast. Our train departed Divisadero at noon.
We did not see much of Bahuichivo -- there is not much town here next to the train station (and perhaps not much town at all). Today's activity was a bus tour (how did you guess?) to nearby Cerocahui, with its Jesuit mission (San Franciso Javier) and mission school. The bus brought us to the Hotel Mision, which was also our dinner stop, and we opted out of the organized tour of the mission school. Instead we enjoyed a quiet walk around the town square and into the mission church , reconstructed in 1940 but looking very much as it must have in the 1860s. Dinner was, essentially, American fare at the hotel.
It's late, so only a short update tonight. Tomorrow we have a long day on the train -- we depart here at 6:30am, and arrive in Los Mochis, on the coast, at 8pm. There is one 15-minute stop to walk the dog, so we will have three meals aboard Odyssey, while under way. We are looking forward to a full day's train ride.
We did not see much of Bahuichivo -- there is not much town here next to the train station (and perhaps not much town at all). Today's activity was a bus tour (how did you guess?) to nearby Cerocahui, with its Jesuit mission (San Franciso Javier) and mission school. The bus brought us to the Hotel Mision, which was also our dinner stop, and we opted out of the organized tour of the mission school. Instead we enjoyed a quiet walk around the town square and into the mission church , reconstructed in 1940 but looking very much as it must have in the 1860s. Dinner was, essentially, American fare at the hotel.
It's late, so only a short update tonight. Tomorrow we have a long day on the train -- we depart here at 6:30am, and arrive in Los Mochis, on the coast, at 8pm. There is one 15-minute stop to walk the dog, so we will have three meals aboard Odyssey, while under way. We are looking forward to a full day's train ride.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Divisadero
We are on a siding in Divisadero (map), the local equivalent to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Today's train ride was short, but scenic, cresting the continental divide and taking in the first breathtaking views of the canyons. We also traversed a complete loop in the tracks, one of only three such loops in North America.
As we parked here on the siding, our train was split in two to allow passengers access to and from the several passenger trains that came by (our siding is closer to the station than the main line). We had a delicious lunch from one of the many street vendors at the station, and browsed the many market stalls set up on the main plaza. Afterwards, we had another bus tour, which took us to several spectacular canyon overlooks, and then to the Mirador hotel, where we enjoyed a canyon rim walk followed by cocktails and dinner.
Tomorrow we have the morning free here, and we begin our descent after noon.
As we parked here on the siding, our train was split in two to allow passengers access to and from the several passenger trains that came by (our siding is closer to the station than the main line). We had a delicious lunch from one of the many street vendors at the station, and browsed the many market stalls set up on the main plaza. Afterwards, we had another bus tour, which took us to several spectacular canyon overlooks, and then to the Mirador hotel, where we enjoyed a canyon rim walk followed by cocktails and dinner.
Tomorrow we have the morning free here, and we begin our descent after noon.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Creel and the Tarahumara
Today was our first day under way aboard the train -- what a trip! Since we are the first rig in the line-up, we have an empty car in front of us (the "buffer" car), and we have a mostly unobstructed view out our panoramic upstairs window, cracked though it may be. Ahead of the buffer car are our two locomotives, the second of which is facing us. So it always looks like we are facing down a freight train. Adding to this illusion is the fact that part of the crew has been riding in the second locomotive, so they are facing back at us through their windows. (The rest of the crew, including the armed security detail, is traveling in an old-fashioned caboose, complete with wood stove, at the rear of the train.)
The price we pay for the magnificent view is that we get more than our fair share of diesel exhaust. It was mostly tolerable, except when we forgot to seal up all the windows before hitting the 4,000' long tunnel, an oversight which quickly set off the smoke detectors. We also have an area on our car in front of Odyssey, and we spent some of the ride sitting there in our lawn chairs.
The scenery today was magnificent, even though the best is yet to come. Louise took some photos and video for posting later. We departed La Junta just before 8am, and arrived here on a siding in Creel (map) close to 1pm, a journey of about 71 miles, and a couple thousand feet in elevation. After the train was parked, we had a brief lunch at a local hotel, followed by a bus tour of the Tarahumara Indian region adjacent to the town. We ended our day with dinner at the same hotel.
Creel is actually a thriving town, based principally on a heavy tourist trade. It is easily accessible by good paved roads, and by the railroad, which supports quite a number of passenger trains. It is a major jumping-off point for tours of the Copper Canyon area. The railroad, by the way, is the Chihuahua Al Pacifico, known locally as "Chepe," and has a rich history of its own.
Tomorrow we will make our final transit of the Continental Divide (the rail line crosses it three times), and from there it will be downhill to the Pacific.
The price we pay for the magnificent view is that we get more than our fair share of diesel exhaust. It was mostly tolerable, except when we forgot to seal up all the windows before hitting the 4,000' long tunnel, an oversight which quickly set off the smoke detectors. We also have an area on our car in front of Odyssey, and we spent some of the ride sitting there in our lawn chairs.
The scenery today was magnificent, even though the best is yet to come. Louise took some photos and video for posting later. We departed La Junta just before 8am, and arrived here on a siding in Creel (map) close to 1pm, a journey of about 71 miles, and a couple thousand feet in elevation. After the train was parked, we had a brief lunch at a local hotel, followed by a bus tour of the Tarahumara Indian region adjacent to the town. We ended our day with dinner at the same hotel.
Creel is actually a thriving town, based principally on a heavy tourist trade. It is easily accessible by good paved roads, and by the railroad, which supports quite a number of passenger trains. It is a major jumping-off point for tours of the Copper Canyon area. The railroad, by the way, is the Chihuahua Al Pacifico, known locally as "Chepe," and has a rich history of its own.
Tomorrow we will make our final transit of the Continental Divide (the rail line crosses it three times), and from there it will be downhill to the Pacific.
Please give me feedback on videos
I usually use blip.tv to upload the videos, but just couldn't get it to work tonight. Since Google now has video, I thought I'd try that. Please let me know if you can see the video in the post below this one. Does it load faster than the previous videos? How does the quality compare?
Click on "Comments" below to let me know what you think...
Thanks!
Click on "Comments" below to let me know what you think...
Thanks!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Loaded and on the siding in La Junta, Chihuahua
This morning's drive was short but challenging -- the highway was under construction for a good part of the route, and dodging construction equipment, speeding oncoming traffic, and impatient Mexicans passing from behind required intense concentration.
After last night's excellent dinner, consisting of soup, pork chops, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and cupcakes, we had our loading briefing. I suggested to the wagonmaster that we would like to load early, so that, if we had any difficulties, we would have plenty of time to resolve them. By this morning, he had decided that we would be first on, ahead of his own rig.
When we arrived at the loading area, the train was not yet ready. After a wait of about an hour, the loadmaster carefully directed us on to the train. The train was divided up into three cuts of cars, consisting respectively of six, six, and eight cars. We had to cross five cars before arriving on our assigned car, and Louise captured some video of Odyssey crossing the makeshift bridges between cars, which I am sure she will be posting shortly. It turned out to be a good idea to load us early, as chaining Odyssey down to the flatcar proved quite a challenge, with our low clearance and dearth of attachment points.
We are now securely cabled and chocked on the flatcar, which will remain here on the siding in La Junta (map) until tomorrow morning's departure at 07:30. After we were completely secured, we walked into town for a nice lunch. It turns out there is a festival in town, celebrating some type of founder's day (October 12th). We caught a glimpse of the parade as we arrived this morning, and, after lunch, we strolled the streets, which were jam-packed with vendor booths (reminiscent of the large, and mostly Hispanic, flea markets we remember from California) and carnival rides.
In about an hour we will walk back into town as a group, for the post-loading margarita party and dinner.
After last night's excellent dinner, consisting of soup, pork chops, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and cupcakes, we had our loading briefing. I suggested to the wagonmaster that we would like to load early, so that, if we had any difficulties, we would have plenty of time to resolve them. By this morning, he had decided that we would be first on, ahead of his own rig.
When we arrived at the loading area, the train was not yet ready. After a wait of about an hour, the loadmaster carefully directed us on to the train. The train was divided up into three cuts of cars, consisting respectively of six, six, and eight cars. We had to cross five cars before arriving on our assigned car, and Louise captured some video of Odyssey crossing the makeshift bridges between cars, which I am sure she will be posting shortly. It turned out to be a good idea to load us early, as chaining Odyssey down to the flatcar proved quite a challenge, with our low clearance and dearth of attachment points.
We are now securely cabled and chocked on the flatcar, which will remain here on the siding in La Junta (map) until tomorrow morning's departure at 07:30. After we were completely secured, we walked into town for a nice lunch. It turns out there is a festival in town, celebrating some type of founder's day (October 12th). We caught a glimpse of the parade as we arrived this morning, and, after lunch, we strolled the streets, which were jam-packed with vendor booths (reminiscent of the large, and mostly Hispanic, flea markets we remember from California) and carnival rides.
In about an hour we will walk back into town as a group, for the post-loading margarita party and dinner.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Among the Chihuahuan Mennonites
We are at a campground in Cuauhtemoc (map), owned and operated by Peter Lowen, third generation Chihuahuan Mennonite. This afternoon, we had a brief introduction to the Mennonites of Chihuahua by way of a half hour film and a musuem dedicated to their history and changing culture. Tonight, we will enjoy a traditional Mennonite dinner.
When the Mennonites immigrated here from Canada in 1922, they negotiated certain concessions from the Mexican government, exempting them from military service, the taking of oaths, and participation in the public school system. Consequently, they run their own schools, and Low German is generally spoken at home and in the schools, although instruction in High German, Spanish, and English is now included in the more liberal parts of the community.
After dinner tonight we will be briefed on procedures for loading the train -- tomorrow is the big day, loading onto the flatcars after a short drive to La Junta.
In preparation for the train ride, which will take us into freezing night-time temperatures, we taped up the exterior cracks in the upper windshield, to try to keep excess moisture from getting in there, freezing, and spreading them any further. I also replaced one broken leveler toggle switch, and changed the hydronic system from summer loop to winter loop.
We are very excited about the train ride and the reportedly spectacular Copper Canyon.
When the Mennonites immigrated here from Canada in 1922, they negotiated certain concessions from the Mexican government, exempting them from military service, the taking of oaths, and participation in the public school system. Consequently, they run their own schools, and Low German is generally spoken at home and in the schools, although instruction in High German, Spanish, and English is now included in the more liberal parts of the community.
After dinner tonight we will be briefed on procedures for loading the train -- tomorrow is the big day, loading onto the flatcars after a short drive to La Junta.
In preparation for the train ride, which will take us into freezing night-time temperatures, we taped up the exterior cracks in the upper windshield, to try to keep excess moisture from getting in there, freezing, and spreading them any further. I also replaced one broken leveler toggle switch, and changed the hydronic system from summer loop to winter loop.
We are very excited about the train ride and the reportedly spectacular Copper Canyon.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Turistas en Chihuahua
The city of Chihuahua is full of big statues of, um, little dogs. Each has been embellished by a different artist. This one is called "Canis Major," and is covered with constellations.
Monday, October 9, 2006
Tilting at Windmills
We are at the Del Fresno RV Park, behind a Pemex station on Mexico 16, between Chihuahua and Cuauhtemoc (map).
Today has been an extremely long day, starting, as it did, at 06:00 when we dumped our tanks and lined up to depart the Hacienda resort. By 07:45 we were at the Aduana facility on the Mexico side of the Santa Teresa port of entry. It took a good two hours to get everyone processed though Migracion and the Banjercito, and then we had a full day's drive ahead of us to get here. It was a lovely drive, especially the short segment on a libre, or free road (most of the drive was on Cuotas, or toll roads), but it was 6:30 when we finally pulled in -- a full twelve hours from when we set out.
After "social hour," a group gathering involving chips, alcohol, and a few announcements, most folks retired to their rigs for dinner. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones adventurous enough to "go out" for dinner. Our choices within walking distance of the campground were fast food at the Pemex, or a small restaurant, attached to a hotel, by the name of "Sancho." How appropriate, it turns out, as it was a rather quixotic notion to think we would find decent grub in this immediate vicinity. Our first clue should have been that we were the only patrons in the establishment. They spoke no English, but we muddled through ordering some enchiladas and a couple of beers. The food was barely edible, but will hold us till tomorrow, and dinner, complete with beer, was only $12 for the two of us.
We are very, very happy to be, finally, in Mexico. Louise has taken some fantastic photos and video clips, which she will be posting shortly. Tomorrow we have an early (08:30) bus tour of Chihuahua. Kind of a busman's holiday, I guess.
Today has been an extremely long day, starting, as it did, at 06:00 when we dumped our tanks and lined up to depart the Hacienda resort. By 07:45 we were at the Aduana facility on the Mexico side of the Santa Teresa port of entry. It took a good two hours to get everyone processed though Migracion and the Banjercito, and then we had a full day's drive ahead of us to get here. It was a lovely drive, especially the short segment on a libre, or free road (most of the drive was on Cuotas, or toll roads), but it was 6:30 when we finally pulled in -- a full twelve hours from when we set out.
After "social hour," a group gathering involving chips, alcohol, and a few announcements, most folks retired to their rigs for dinner. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones adventurous enough to "go out" for dinner. Our choices within walking distance of the campground were fast food at the Pemex, or a small restaurant, attached to a hotel, by the name of "Sancho." How appropriate, it turns out, as it was a rather quixotic notion to think we would find decent grub in this immediate vicinity. Our first clue should have been that we were the only patrons in the establishment. They spoke no English, but we muddled through ordering some enchiladas and a couple of beers. The food was barely edible, but will hold us till tomorrow, and dinner, complete with beer, was only $12 for the two of us.
We are very, very happy to be, finally, in Mexico. Louise has taken some fantastic photos and video clips, which she will be posting shortly. Tomorrow we have an early (08:30) bus tour of Chihuahua. Kind of a busman's holiday, I guess.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Mexico, here we come
We are at the Hacienda RV resort in Las Cruces (map), the rendezvous point for our 38-day Mexico Piggyback/Ferry caravan adventure. As our friends Ron and Judie commented on yesterday's post, we are hoping all the bad luck and mechanical troubles are behind us, and we have a nice, relaxing trip.
Today is actually the first official day of the tour. Yesterday we met the waggonmasters and tailgunners, signed more paperwork, and did a survey about the mechanical condition of the rig. This morning we had a nice continental breakfast provided by the campground (more on this in a moment), followed by a two-hour briefing and get-acquainted session, where we met the other 17 couples on the tour. We have the afternoon free to do final preparations, and tonight's group activity is a pizza party at 5pm. Tomorrow morning we will leave here at 06:45 (we opted for the second wave -- the first group leaves at 06:00), en route to the Santa Teresa port of entry.
The Hacienda resort turns out to be fairly nice. The sites are not really remarkable, crushed gravel with modern service pedestals, and no vegetation to speak of (although we are at the end of a row, and so have a small picnic table and some bushes on one side of us), and fairly close together, The club house, however, is reminiscent of the lobby area of a nice hotel, with comfortable chairs, a reading room, laundry facility, conference rooms, and the aforementioned breakfast area, where continental breakfast is served daily (though we will leave tomorrow before service starts). Breakfast items included cereals, bagels, toast, hard boiled eggs, and fruit, similar to what is provided now at many business hotels.
There is no pool, but later we will check out the large hot tub. Today's meeting was in their new rally facility -- basically, a permanent tent structure -- which was too close to the freeway, making it hard to hear what was being said. We all would have fit nicely into the indoor, air conditioned conference rooms in the main building -- I have to assume that those rent for more money.
My next post here will be from Mexico.
Today is actually the first official day of the tour. Yesterday we met the waggonmasters and tailgunners, signed more paperwork, and did a survey about the mechanical condition of the rig. This morning we had a nice continental breakfast provided by the campground (more on this in a moment), followed by a two-hour briefing and get-acquainted session, where we met the other 17 couples on the tour. We have the afternoon free to do final preparations, and tonight's group activity is a pizza party at 5pm. Tomorrow morning we will leave here at 06:45 (we opted for the second wave -- the first group leaves at 06:00), en route to the Santa Teresa port of entry.
The Hacienda resort turns out to be fairly nice. The sites are not really remarkable, crushed gravel with modern service pedestals, and no vegetation to speak of (although we are at the end of a row, and so have a small picnic table and some bushes on one side of us), and fairly close together, The club house, however, is reminiscent of the lobby area of a nice hotel, with comfortable chairs, a reading room, laundry facility, conference rooms, and the aforementioned breakfast area, where continental breakfast is served daily (though we will leave tomorrow before service starts). Breakfast items included cereals, bagels, toast, hard boiled eggs, and fruit, similar to what is provided now at many business hotels.
There is no pool, but later we will check out the large hot tub. Today's meeting was in their new rally facility -- basically, a permanent tent structure -- which was too close to the freeway, making it hard to hear what was being said. We all would have fit nicely into the indoor, air conditioned conference rooms in the main building -- I have to assume that those rent for more money.
My next post here will be from Mexico.
Saturday, October 7, 2006
A long, excruciating day
Yesterday was the day from hell. As you recall, we woke up behind a Big-O tire store. At 7:30 they parked us and one of the commercial techs came over to discuss what we needed. As it turns out, Mesilla Valley Commercial Tyre [sic] was unable to do the work. Specifically, once they de-mounted the tires, they had no way to recover or replace the Equal balancing powder, nor did they have a spin-balancer that could accommodate our wheels. They suggested we go over to Goodyear instead.
A quick call to Goodyear, one exit further west on the freeway, revealed that they could get us in right away, so we headed straight over. They rotated our drivers, dismounted the four rib tires and flipped them over, then cross-rotated them as well. As they were reinstalling the last wheel, the right side tag, we discovered a major problem: they had placed their jack halfway back on the A-frame, instead of out next to the wheel, the dire consequence of which was that the A-frame is now bent. There is about a 1" deflection right in the middle of the leading arm.
I have to say, when we saw this, we both literally became sick, with a queasy feeling in our stomachs. We knew instantly that this was a major problem, one which could derail our Mexico trip, and ground us in Las Cruces for months.
I immediately put in calls to Neopart and to Jim at Chappaqua transportation. Our parts contact at Neopart was out, but her backup felt that the A-frame was not going to be available, even from Germany. Certainly, there was none in stock. She also checked with one of the mechanics (a person who had worked on our coach back in 2002), and he felt we should not operate the coach until the A-frame was inspected and repaired.
Jim had a different take on the matter, and, frankly, we have more confidence in his opinion and expertise. Chappaqua runs a fleet of Neoplans, and Jim is the head mechanic, and he's seen everything. When we decribed the damage, he related that he had seen coaches with exactly this issue before. Since it is on the tag axle, he felt the coach was perfectly safe to drive, but he confirmed what we already knew: the bend in only one of the arms would cause a skew in the alignment of that wheel, resulting in tire scrubbing and excess wear.
Jim also informed us what we already surmised, which is that replacing the A-frame is a major job involving a lot of hours. Happily, he mentioned that he had a couple of A-frames in the shop, although he cautioned us that it was a long shot that one of them would be the correct fit for our coach.
Steve at Goodyear was very understanding and accommodating, and he offered to pay for the repairs, whenever we can get them done. In order to make it through our Mexico trip, and then to whatever facility could do the work from where we end our tour in San Diego, we asked him to do an alignment on the tag axle -- we felt there was plenty of adjustment in the tie rod to compensate for at least the toe portion of the skew. He agreed, but told us there were no shops in Las Cruces that could do heavy-duty alignment. He sent us to Firestone, in El Paso, 45 miles away. (We were planning a 50-mile or so shakedown of the tires anyway, so this effectively doubled that.)
It was around 1:00 when we arrived at Firestone, and the alignment mechanic was just going to lunch. They started around 2. It turns out that their fancy computerized laser alignment system will not allow them to align a tag axle without first aligning the front and drive axles. They called Steve at Goodyear and cleared the charge for a 3-axle alignment with him, and got started. The computer only had settings for a US-built three-axle Neoplan, but we decided that was good enough (the last two alignments we had were seat-of-the-pants, so the computer was a step up).
The computer alignment sensors turned out to be finicky, and the whole process took a lot longer than anyone expected. Jacking each wheel multiple times to adjust the sensors was cumbersome, especially with everyone hyper-sensitive after the damage that happened at Goodyear. Their standard charge for a three-axle alignment is $195, but he worked on us for five solid hours, which I figure to be between $350 and $500 at typical shop rates.
The machine revealed a toe problem on the steer axle, which was easily corrected. It also revealed that our drive axle is off of straight by 0.23°, which is tending to "steer" us to the right a bit. We are now speculating that this is, in part, responsible for the heavy shoulder wear on the right front tire. In any case, Firestone was not equipped to correct the drive axle alignment, nor was it part of the issue caused by Goodyear, so the axle is still out of alignment (as, we believe, it has been since we bought the coach). We have the adjustment setting (one side or the other needs to be moved 5/32 of an inch), so next time we are in a shop with the right pit and lifts we can get this fixed.
As we suspected, the tag axle was toed in quite a bit. The adjustment turned out to be laborious and cumbersome -- turning the tie rod tended to drag the clamps around, to which were affixed the mounts for the steering dampers. So he would rotate the rod a quarter turn, then have to bang the clamps/mounts back a quarter turn with a hammer, and so on. After half an hour or so of this, he was able to get the toe down from 0.40° to 0.26°. No one knows what the correct setting is, but probably it's in the neighborhood of 0.10°. We had him stop at 0.26°, since we're just going to have to realign it all anyway after the A-frame is replaced, and 0.16° out is close to the acceptable range (the toe changes more than that just from moving the air bags up and down).
By the time we left Firestone it was 7:00. We didn't get out of there, though, without one last spectacle: everyone was fried by the end of the day, including the mechanic, who was also clearly tired of crawling around on the floor to jack our wheels. Instead of jacking the steers up to remove the turntables that were placed under them for the front alignment, he instructed us to simply back off them. Bad advice: the turntables exploded, sending synthetic ball bearings everywhere.
Tally of yesterday's destruction: Odyssey -- damaged; Goodyear -- out thousands of dollars on a $225 tire job; Firestone -- out hours of labor and two heavy-duty turntables on a $195 alignment. (The bill for the alignment went straight to Goodyear.) Big-O and Camping World, who both refused to do the job, now look like shrewd businessmen.
By the time we backed out of the shop, it was getting dark, and we just came back here (map), to the Wal-Mart near the mall and the Olive Garden, where we went for dinner, much in need of comfort food and multiple glasses of wine. We are in the same spot we had when we passed through here a few days ago, and, while we had the place to ourselves then, we were joined last night by two other coaches that pulled in late at night. Who knows, they might even be on our caravan.
As long as we are back in El Paso, I will look for a fuel filter for the genny, plus we need oil for the Detroit. And we have an exchange to make at Costco, which opens in half an hour.
Tonight, we will be at the Hacienda RV resort, in Las Cruces.
A quick call to Goodyear, one exit further west on the freeway, revealed that they could get us in right away, so we headed straight over. They rotated our drivers, dismounted the four rib tires and flipped them over, then cross-rotated them as well. As they were reinstalling the last wheel, the right side tag, we discovered a major problem: they had placed their jack halfway back on the A-frame, instead of out next to the wheel, the dire consequence of which was that the A-frame is now bent. There is about a 1" deflection right in the middle of the leading arm.
I have to say, when we saw this, we both literally became sick, with a queasy feeling in our stomachs. We knew instantly that this was a major problem, one which could derail our Mexico trip, and ground us in Las Cruces for months.
I immediately put in calls to Neopart and to Jim at Chappaqua transportation. Our parts contact at Neopart was out, but her backup felt that the A-frame was not going to be available, even from Germany. Certainly, there was none in stock. She also checked with one of the mechanics (a person who had worked on our coach back in 2002), and he felt we should not operate the coach until the A-frame was inspected and repaired.
Jim had a different take on the matter, and, frankly, we have more confidence in his opinion and expertise. Chappaqua runs a fleet of Neoplans, and Jim is the head mechanic, and he's seen everything. When we decribed the damage, he related that he had seen coaches with exactly this issue before. Since it is on the tag axle, he felt the coach was perfectly safe to drive, but he confirmed what we already knew: the bend in only one of the arms would cause a skew in the alignment of that wheel, resulting in tire scrubbing and excess wear.
Jim also informed us what we already surmised, which is that replacing the A-frame is a major job involving a lot of hours. Happily, he mentioned that he had a couple of A-frames in the shop, although he cautioned us that it was a long shot that one of them would be the correct fit for our coach.
Steve at Goodyear was very understanding and accommodating, and he offered to pay for the repairs, whenever we can get them done. In order to make it through our Mexico trip, and then to whatever facility could do the work from where we end our tour in San Diego, we asked him to do an alignment on the tag axle -- we felt there was plenty of adjustment in the tie rod to compensate for at least the toe portion of the skew. He agreed, but told us there were no shops in Las Cruces that could do heavy-duty alignment. He sent us to Firestone, in El Paso, 45 miles away. (We were planning a 50-mile or so shakedown of the tires anyway, so this effectively doubled that.)
It was around 1:00 when we arrived at Firestone, and the alignment mechanic was just going to lunch. They started around 2. It turns out that their fancy computerized laser alignment system will not allow them to align a tag axle without first aligning the front and drive axles. They called Steve at Goodyear and cleared the charge for a 3-axle alignment with him, and got started. The computer only had settings for a US-built three-axle Neoplan, but we decided that was good enough (the last two alignments we had were seat-of-the-pants, so the computer was a step up).
The computer alignment sensors turned out to be finicky, and the whole process took a lot longer than anyone expected. Jacking each wheel multiple times to adjust the sensors was cumbersome, especially with everyone hyper-sensitive after the damage that happened at Goodyear. Their standard charge for a three-axle alignment is $195, but he worked on us for five solid hours, which I figure to be between $350 and $500 at typical shop rates.
The machine revealed a toe problem on the steer axle, which was easily corrected. It also revealed that our drive axle is off of straight by 0.23°, which is tending to "steer" us to the right a bit. We are now speculating that this is, in part, responsible for the heavy shoulder wear on the right front tire. In any case, Firestone was not equipped to correct the drive axle alignment, nor was it part of the issue caused by Goodyear, so the axle is still out of alignment (as, we believe, it has been since we bought the coach). We have the adjustment setting (one side or the other needs to be moved 5/32 of an inch), so next time we are in a shop with the right pit and lifts we can get this fixed.
As we suspected, the tag axle was toed in quite a bit. The adjustment turned out to be laborious and cumbersome -- turning the tie rod tended to drag the clamps around, to which were affixed the mounts for the steering dampers. So he would rotate the rod a quarter turn, then have to bang the clamps/mounts back a quarter turn with a hammer, and so on. After half an hour or so of this, he was able to get the toe down from 0.40° to 0.26°. No one knows what the correct setting is, but probably it's in the neighborhood of 0.10°. We had him stop at 0.26°, since we're just going to have to realign it all anyway after the A-frame is replaced, and 0.16° out is close to the acceptable range (the toe changes more than that just from moving the air bags up and down).
By the time we left Firestone it was 7:00. We didn't get out of there, though, without one last spectacle: everyone was fried by the end of the day, including the mechanic, who was also clearly tired of crawling around on the floor to jack our wheels. Instead of jacking the steers up to remove the turntables that were placed under them for the front alignment, he instructed us to simply back off them. Bad advice: the turntables exploded, sending synthetic ball bearings everywhere.
Tally of yesterday's destruction: Odyssey -- damaged; Goodyear -- out thousands of dollars on a $225 tire job; Firestone -- out hours of labor and two heavy-duty turntables on a $195 alignment. (The bill for the alignment went straight to Goodyear.) Big-O and Camping World, who both refused to do the job, now look like shrewd businessmen.
By the time we backed out of the shop, it was getting dark, and we just came back here (map), to the Wal-Mart near the mall and the Olive Garden, where we went for dinner, much in need of comfort food and multiple glasses of wine. We are in the same spot we had when we passed through here a few days ago, and, while we had the place to ourselves then, we were joined last night by two other coaches that pulled in late at night. Who knows, they might even be on our caravan.
As long as we are back in El Paso, I will look for a fuel filter for the genny, plus we need oil for the Detroit. And we have an exchange to make at Costco, which opens in half an hour.
Tonight, we will be at the Hacienda RV resort, in Las Cruces.
Friday, October 6, 2006
Sleeping with the enemy...
We are parked on the street behind Big-O Tires (map), a dealer I located by going to Michelin's web site (go figure) and asking it for heavy truck tire dealers in Las Cruces. Right next door is (cue Darth Vader theme music) Speedy Auto Glass. Speedy, you may recall, is the outfit that screwed up the installation of the upper windshield, as well as the two glue-in side windows.
At any rate, Big-O (actually, Mesilla Valley Commercial Tire) will be doing our tire rotation first thing in the morning. You may recall that I was going to ask Camping World to do this (and they happen to be the second-closest Michelin "heavy truck" dealer, according to the web site), however, after talking with two different managers, they refused -- something about liability blah blah having to do with (get this) dismounting the tires and turning them around on the wheels.
Somewhere along the line, CW picked up on this 20-year-old advice and is sticking to it, even though almost every major truck tire manufacturer now recommends modern radials be rotated in any pattern needed to minimize or even out the wear. Since we can't rotate steer and tag wheels onto the drive axle and vice-versa (or even move the outer drivers to the inner positions), one shoulder of each of these tires has been the "outside" shoulder since the tires were new, 30,000 miles ago. Our steering geometry has the outside shoulders wearing faster than the rest of the tread, and no amount of moving wheels around will change shoulders unless we flip the tires around on the rims.
Tomorrow morning we will have the four singles flipped, and rotate all eight wheels. And we won't bother to stop in to Camping World for tire work again, unless it's a dire emergency.
Careful readers will remember that our tires are Bridgestones, and thus may be wondering why I consulted the Michelin web site. It turns out that Bridgestone does not post their dealer directory on the web (although they have a 24-hour 800 number to locate a dealer, who pointed me to a Petro truck stop 30 miles away, in Texas). While I was over at the Bridgestone web site, I was also disappointed to discover that they have broken out their brands into different web sites. Previously, Bridgestone and its other two US truck brands, Firestone and Dayton, were all represented on a unified site called TruckTires.com. Thus it was possible to, for example, enter a size and application (e.g. 12R22.5 Traction Tire) and get a list of all the matching tires across all three brands. No longer. This adds considerably to the time it takes to research such matters on-line.
Not wanting to go to Petro (our experience with interstate truck stops is that they don't really want to work on coaches, and are inexperienced in doing so), and abhorring the idea of having to call a number, traverse a phone tree, and speak to an agent just to get a complete list of dealers ("Is Las Cruces one word?... C-R-U-Z-E-S, is that right?" -- I am not making this up), I decided to try one of the other brands that we had originally considered, knowing that commercial tire dealers will work on pretty much anything you bring in. Who would have thought that the French would build a better web site than the Japanese?
We should have our errands wrapped up tomorrow, and will then head over to Hacienda ahead of schedule, to have some down time before the caravan.
At any rate, Big-O (actually, Mesilla Valley Commercial Tire) will be doing our tire rotation first thing in the morning. You may recall that I was going to ask Camping World to do this (and they happen to be the second-closest Michelin "heavy truck" dealer, according to the web site), however, after talking with two different managers, they refused -- something about liability blah blah having to do with (get this) dismounting the tires and turning them around on the wheels.
Somewhere along the line, CW picked up on this 20-year-old advice and is sticking to it, even though almost every major truck tire manufacturer now recommends modern radials be rotated in any pattern needed to minimize or even out the wear. Since we can't rotate steer and tag wheels onto the drive axle and vice-versa (or even move the outer drivers to the inner positions), one shoulder of each of these tires has been the "outside" shoulder since the tires were new, 30,000 miles ago. Our steering geometry has the outside shoulders wearing faster than the rest of the tread, and no amount of moving wheels around will change shoulders unless we flip the tires around on the rims.
Tomorrow morning we will have the four singles flipped, and rotate all eight wheels. And we won't bother to stop in to Camping World for tire work again, unless it's a dire emergency.
Careful readers will remember that our tires are Bridgestones, and thus may be wondering why I consulted the Michelin web site. It turns out that Bridgestone does not post their dealer directory on the web (although they have a 24-hour 800 number to locate a dealer, who pointed me to a Petro truck stop 30 miles away, in Texas). While I was over at the Bridgestone web site, I was also disappointed to discover that they have broken out their brands into different web sites. Previously, Bridgestone and its other two US truck brands, Firestone and Dayton, were all represented on a unified site called TruckTires.com. Thus it was possible to, for example, enter a size and application (e.g. 12R22.5 Traction Tire) and get a list of all the matching tires across all three brands. No longer. This adds considerably to the time it takes to research such matters on-line.
Not wanting to go to Petro (our experience with interstate truck stops is that they don't really want to work on coaches, and are inexperienced in doing so), and abhorring the idea of having to call a number, traverse a phone tree, and speak to an agent just to get a complete list of dealers ("Is Las Cruces one word?... C-R-U-Z-E-S, is that right?" -- I am not making this up), I decided to try one of the other brands that we had originally considered, knowing that commercial tire dealers will work on pretty much anything you bring in. Who would have thought that the French would build a better web site than the Japanese?
We should have our errands wrapped up tomorrow, and will then head over to Hacienda ahead of schedule, to have some down time before the caravan.
Thursday, October 5, 2006
What's with all the Bar-B-Que shacks?
We are in Las Cruces, at yet another Wal-Mart (map), adjacent to yet another Bar-B-Que joint. (We skipped this one, opting instead to eat in last night.) If you zoom the map in, you can tell we are actually directly across the freeway from the Hacienda RV resort, at which we will be joining up with our caravan on Sunday.
This particular Wal-Mart also happens to be next door to an International/Cummins/Fleetguard/Allison dealer, where, yesterday, I picked up a gallon of TranSynd synthetic transmission fluid. Our tranny seeps fluid, and needs to be topped up periodically, and, while I would guess that standard ATF is widely available in Mexico, there probably is not a gallon of this synthetic stuff in the whole country. At $30 per gallon it's pricey stuff, but our tranny runs several degrees cooler on it, and, as close as our cooling system is to capacity, that makes a difference. On ATF, our retarder would cut out on overtemp at inopportune moments -- with TranSynd, it seldom does.
I also stopped back in today to pick up spare primary and secondary fuel filters, one of the checklist items for the Mexico trip. We are also right across the street from the Kubota dealer, yet, despite my best efforts at researching cross-references, neither the Fleetguard dealer nor the Kubota dealer could come up with a fuel filter for the genny. It has a Baldwin on it now, but none of the Baldwin dealers in town has one in stock.
We left the Wal-Mart parking lot briefly this morning, to go pressure-wash Odyssey on a nearby cul-de-sac in an undeveloped parcel. In a few minutes, we will pack up and move a few blocks, to the Big-O Tire dealer, who will be doing our tire rotation tomorrow morning.
That should wrap up all our errands, and we will settle in at Hacienda until the tour starts.
This particular Wal-Mart also happens to be next door to an International/Cummins/Fleetguard/Allison dealer, where, yesterday, I picked up a gallon of TranSynd synthetic transmission fluid. Our tranny seeps fluid, and needs to be topped up periodically, and, while I would guess that standard ATF is widely available in Mexico, there probably is not a gallon of this synthetic stuff in the whole country. At $30 per gallon it's pricey stuff, but our tranny runs several degrees cooler on it, and, as close as our cooling system is to capacity, that makes a difference. On ATF, our retarder would cut out on overtemp at inopportune moments -- with TranSynd, it seldom does.
I also stopped back in today to pick up spare primary and secondary fuel filters, one of the checklist items for the Mexico trip. We are also right across the street from the Kubota dealer, yet, despite my best efforts at researching cross-references, neither the Fleetguard dealer nor the Kubota dealer could come up with a fuel filter for the genny. It has a Baldwin on it now, but none of the Baldwin dealers in town has one in stock.
We left the Wal-Mart parking lot briefly this morning, to go pressure-wash Odyssey on a nearby cul-de-sac in an undeveloped parcel. In a few minutes, we will pack up and move a few blocks, to the Big-O Tire dealer, who will be doing our tire rotation tomorrow morning.
That should wrap up all our errands, and we will settle in at Hacienda until the tour starts.
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Before and after
Here is the generator wiring panel as built:
Here is what we found a few days ago. Note the blue wire on the bottom is now completely black and charred. Scary!
Here is what we found a few days ago. Note the blue wire on the bottom is now completely black and charred. Scary!
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Inching our way to Las Cruces
This morning found us at another Wal-Mart, this one a bit further along I-10, and conveniently sharing a parking lot with Home Depot (map). This was important, as our big project yesterday was to replace the fried wires on the genny mains. While we were at Home Depot, we also took the opportunity to remove the U-Line ice maker, and install Mr. Freeze in the bay. By mid-day, someone had already contacted us about taking the U-Line, and he picked it up today right after lunch (at the adjacent Dave's Famous Bar-B-Que -- quite good actually).
This Wal-Mart was also a short walk from Leo's, a local Mexican restaurant where the food was delicious, and the Margaritas sweet, the way I like them -- we had dinner there last night. It was also a short walk from the post office, where I needed to pick up some Priority Mail supplies, and just a few blocks from a UPS store. This afternoon, we shipped out six of the seven items we listed for sale on eBay (I am awaiting payment on the seventh, or I would have sent that one too).
We made a pilgrimage this afternoon to the Albertson's we found on our first visit to El Paso, and stocked up on essentials for our trip, including plenty of margarita mix. Tonight we are at Camping World, located within American RV & Marine (map). We stopped in to see if they had an auto-transformer (they do) for stepping up under-spec voltages. We are contemplating purchasing one, in anticipation of sub-par electric service in Mexico. Frankly, there have been a few times here in the US when it would have come in handy. They are an outrageous $360, though, so we are sleeping on it. I already knew they did not stock the ladder we were hoping to buy -- we're going to head into Mexico without it, on the theory that a suitable ladder will be found among the 23 other rigs on the trip.
They have a campground here, where, for $25, we could get power and water, but boondocking in the parking lot is free.
Tomorrow, I will call around to see if I can find someone to spin-balance the tires. If not, I will have Camping World rotate them, at least.
This Wal-Mart was also a short walk from Leo's, a local Mexican restaurant where the food was delicious, and the Margaritas sweet, the way I like them -- we had dinner there last night. It was also a short walk from the post office, where I needed to pick up some Priority Mail supplies, and just a few blocks from a UPS store. This afternoon, we shipped out six of the seven items we listed for sale on eBay (I am awaiting payment on the seventh, or I would have sent that one too).
We made a pilgrimage this afternoon to the Albertson's we found on our first visit to El Paso, and stocked up on essentials for our trip, including plenty of margarita mix. Tonight we are at Camping World, located within American RV & Marine (map). We stopped in to see if they had an auto-transformer (they do) for stepping up under-spec voltages. We are contemplating purchasing one, in anticipation of sub-par electric service in Mexico. Frankly, there have been a few times here in the US when it would have come in handy. They are an outrageous $360, though, so we are sleeping on it. I already knew they did not stock the ladder we were hoping to buy -- we're going to head into Mexico without it, on the theory that a suitable ladder will be found among the 23 other rigs on the trip.
They have a campground here, where, for $25, we could get power and water, but boondocking in the parking lot is free.
Tomorrow, I will call around to see if I can find someone to spin-balance the tires. If not, I will have Camping World rotate them, at least.
Monday, October 2, 2006
Errands in El Paso
We spent the night at one of the several Wal-Marts here in El Paso (map). We spotted this one, conveniently located a short walk from and Olive Garden, as we were en route to Costco.
The Costco stop was occasioned by the fact that I can't very well go to Mexico without ice for the margaritas (I mean, c'mon now). Seeing as how I have not gotten around to fixing the U-Line ice maker that broke about a year ago, we opted to just go ahead and get one of these. Costco had them for $170, and, even though they don't actually have a freezer to keep the ice frozen, as does the U-Line, at least we'll have ice in Mexico.
The story on the U-Line, by the way, is that it came with the bus, in the original conversion. We resuscitated it, cleaned it up, and installed it in one of the bays (it had originally been in the kitchen, but we felt it took up too much space there), where it dutifully made ice for about a year. We only used it occasionally, and, one day, when I went to fire it up, it wasn't working. More specifically, the freezer was not coming on. I'm pretty sure the compressor and plumbing are fine, and either the thermostat, or one of the microswitches is broken or jammed, keeping the unit from coming on. Probably an easy fix, but, as noted, I haven't gotten around to it in a year. The U-Line is free to anyone who wants to tinker with it (it's a $700 or so unit), on the condition that you need to come get it here in El Paso or Las Cruces by this Saturday.
This morning I changed the oil and filter in the genny, something that was overdue, weighing heavily on me, and absolutely needed to happen before Mexico. While running the thing yesterday, the main breaker tripped off again, and, when I went down to inspect the connections for tightness, found the main feed to the generator subpanel has one hot wire burnt to a crisp. Today we are off to Home Depot to rewire the feed.
The Costco stop was occasioned by the fact that I can't very well go to Mexico without ice for the margaritas (I mean, c'mon now). Seeing as how I have not gotten around to fixing the U-Line ice maker that broke about a year ago, we opted to just go ahead and get one of these. Costco had them for $170, and, even though they don't actually have a freezer to keep the ice frozen, as does the U-Line, at least we'll have ice in Mexico.
The story on the U-Line, by the way, is that it came with the bus, in the original conversion. We resuscitated it, cleaned it up, and installed it in one of the bays (it had originally been in the kitchen, but we felt it took up too much space there), where it dutifully made ice for about a year. We only used it occasionally, and, one day, when I went to fire it up, it wasn't working. More specifically, the freezer was not coming on. I'm pretty sure the compressor and plumbing are fine, and either the thermostat, or one of the microswitches is broken or jammed, keeping the unit from coming on. Probably an easy fix, but, as noted, I haven't gotten around to it in a year. The U-Line is free to anyone who wants to tinker with it (it's a $700 or so unit), on the condition that you need to come get it here in El Paso or Las Cruces by this Saturday.
This morning I changed the oil and filter in the genny, something that was overdue, weighing heavily on me, and absolutely needed to happen before Mexico. While running the thing yesterday, the main breaker tripped off again, and, when I went down to inspect the connections for tightness, found the main feed to the generator subpanel has one hot wire burnt to a crisp. Today we are off to Home Depot to rewire the feed.
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