Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Mazatlan to Tepic

After saying goodby to our friends we got a bit of a late start today. We drove the quota (toll) road from Mazatlan to Tepic, about 170 miles away. As we left Mazatlan, I noticed I had about 3/4 of a tank of gas, maybe a little less, plenty for the trip (I thought). This is a great highway but the only things that break the monotony are toll booths, not gas stations. the road started going uphill as we got about 75 km from Tepic and with 40 km to go, my gas warning light came on! Like I said the road was uphill and the Ford engine was gearing down to keep us moving. I tried to keep my speed up to avoid dropping down another gear but at many points the traffic did not co-operate. By the time we pulled into Tepic we were running on fumes!

We are now parked in the same toll booth on the Tepic - Guadalajara highway that we parked in two years ago. There are more trucks here this time and no other RV's. One truck pulled in for a good half hour and sat idling with his cab and reefer unit right beside our window. He did it on purpose as there was lots of other parking available. He was just trying to make some point or other. Anyway, he is gone now and we can breathe again. We will make a light dinner and watch some of the shows we recorded on Starchoice. I love the fact we can store about a hundred hours of programing and then watch them without having the dish hooked up.

We have about a three and a half hour drive tomorrow and we will be in Villa Corona where all the hot springs are. Not that we really need them, the temperature hut 88 on the road today. Great signal on my Telcel Banda Ancha (Wide Band) here. Life is Good.

5 comments:

  1. Yes life is good!

    We actually had to get off the autopista from Tepic to Maz one night in the dark. I know we should not have been travelling at night but we had no choice. The road had just opened and we had to repay to get back on the toll road from the small town we refueled at. GRRR!!! n When we got to Mazatlan all the Pemex stations were full of overnighting trucks so we ended up at the first toll booth just outside of Maz on the way to Culican. First thing we saw in the morning were headless chickens running about!!

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  2. So THAT is where the "Heads rolling in the streets" rumor got started!

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  3. Hi Croft. Thanks for that info. on the PVR. Are these shows you recorded from home? If it is I better start filling it up - only a couple of weeks till we leave.

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  4. That running uphill is nasty! We had a similar occurrence when we left San Diego headed East. The road isn't terribly steep but it sure goes up for a long time. I think about carrying a 5 gallon can in the back of the truck but procrastination is my friend!

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  5. Some are from home Ray but most are from the road when we set the dish up.

    You might want to practice setting the dish up using the PVR before you leave.

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