Plans!

We have plans! As you know so well we do not make plans too far ahead as we never carry through with them. Norma has been wanting to go to San Miguel de Allende on the way home so she can buy San Miguel shoes. I was sort of OK with it but I have seen San Miguel many times and there is no longer an RV park there. We would have to either boondock at the Botanical Gardens or stay in an RV park some distance from town. Our friend Les lives there and it would be great to see him but he is leaving in a day or two for a vacation in Canada. So MY reasons for going to SMA were quickly disappearing and whatever Norma said about it, her real reason was SHOES.

On Friday we started wondering if they sold San Miguel brand shoes in Puebla. I bombarded Google with search terms and sure enough, there was an outlet store downtown. We jumped in the car and headed down. There it was, a half a block from the Zocalo, the small  retail store! Norma headed into the store while I headed to the Zocalo and the Italian Coffee Company where I sat... and sat...and sat. Norma finally showed up with a shopping bag full of shoes. Three pair at under $40 CAN each. What a score! One third the price you pay in the USA for SMA Shoes (if you can find them)! Today I went for a few groceries while Norma watched curling and right there in the mall not five blocks from the RV park was ANOTHER San Miguel Shoe store! I came home to get Norma and she bought another two pairs before we went for dinner in the food court! She is now officially shoe shopped out!

We can now plan a different route North. Veracruz is experiencing some great weather and we have not been there for a few years. That is where we are going! Beach time!

The other day we followed Mex 140 to visit the Pueblo Magico of Huamantila and when we turned off the really nice toll road the signs pointed straight ahead to "Veracruz". We had discovered an alternate route! The old route was on 150D through Cordoba. That road is very rough and contains many very seep hills. It was where we shook the fender off the dolly last year,

I emailed my Blogging friend John of the Blog Viva Veracruz and Viva Puerto Escondido and asked about the road. John and Anita live half a year in the State of Veracruz and half a year on the Pacific shore. If anyone knew about that road, John would. He answered back imediatly, "We take 140 when we go to and from Xico (xalapa) - it is a good road - but dam expensive - in the long run worth the avoidance of wear and tear as well as jangled nerves. ;-)"  We are used to road tolls and the saving in damage to the vehicles makes it worthwhile. That is the way we will go! Thanks John and I am sorry we will have to go yet another year without meeting!

The RV park is just south of the city of Veracruz and is right on the beach. From there we will head up to the Emerald Coast before cutting over to San Luis Potosi and turning north towards Saltillo. Somewhere along the way I am thinking of getting a new timing belt installed in the Honda.

We leave in the morning and may spend the night on the road somewhere before Veracruz. Google Maps says it is 3 1/2 hours but they do not understand Mexican roads. I would guess double that. Here is our route. The top route is the way we are going and the bottom route is the old, jar your teeth out route.