The Mexmobile Made It!

After almost 5000 kilometres we finally arrived in Sayulita Thursday afternoon. The Mexmobile ran well, except for some minor issues.

As I mentioned earlier the A/C compressor seized after about 30 minutes of use. We didn't think this would be a big problem since, in our experience the weather along the coast is not too hot at this time of year. However, this area of Mexico has been experiencing hotter than normal weather. By 9am on Thurday morning the temperature was already 30C. By the time we reached Saylita the temperature was in the upper 30s and very humid. A/C in the Mexmobile would have been nice to have.

It didn't cool down much at night either. We had to resort to using the rooms air conditioning for the first time last night. Today is a little cooler but still quite muggy. We are not complaining though!

On the way down we didn't venture much off the most direct route. One side trip we took was to the town of Alamos, in southern Sonora. It is a charming little gold mining town in the mountains located about 50k off highway 15 (the main north-south route). In the tourist season it is quite busy but the tourist season has not yet started so there were only a hanfull of gringos in town. We found a nice older hotel on a secondary plaza, Posada deDon Andreas. The owner, Jorge, was very accommodating and we enjoyed our stay.

Here's a few night shots of the plaza and local street. We had a beer on the porch of a small bar overlooking the plaza and watched the kids chasing each other around the park. Very pleasant!







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It is Saturday morning now. Linda and I are taking the bus into the town of Mescales to pick up the motorcycle from the storage unit. Better get going before it gets too hot....

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Location:Miramar,Sayulita,Mexico

Zion, Vegas, San Carlos

It's been a great week, other than the worrisome car problems that seem to have sorted themselves out. Oh yeh! The A/C compressor seized up after working well for about 30 minutes. We can do without it.

We spent a wonderful day in Zion National Park. We camped at an RV campground in Sprindale, just outside the main entrance to the park.




Springdale main drag.
Cars are not allowed in the park unless you have a reservation at the only hotel in the park. There is a free shuttle bus that runs into the park. The next morning we chose to bicycle into park, about 10K to the trailhead for the Angels Landing hike. This hike is rated as very difficult. It is quite steep and falling form some section of the trail would mean certain death but the risky parts are aided by chains fastened to the rock.




The climb goes up this ridge and the peak is 1400 ft above the valley floor.




View of the Virgin River valley in Zion NP from Angels Landing
From Zion we drove into Vegas to cheer on Jenny and her friend, Nicole who had entered the "Warrior Dash", a 5k obstacle race. What a hoot! 3000 plus people competed in this event, with 500 crazies starting heats starting every 30 minutes. Jen and Niki's heat started at noon. By noon the temperature was approaching 30C and there is no shade in the desert.




The "before" shot...




The "fire jumping" shot... Zoom in, that's Jen and Niki jumping the fire.




The "finishing line" shot




Two happy chicas...
Linda and I had planned to continue south after watching the race but we changed our mind, drove back to Circus - Circus, camped at the associated KOL campground and went out for a celebration dinner with the athletes. After too many margaritas and a big meal, we left the girls to enjoy their evening and staggered back to the campground.
We didnt get an early start the next day but it was mostly and interstate drive through Pheonix and Tucson. We finally stopped for the night about 40k north of the border. Early today we crossed into Nogales and drove about 425k into Mexico.
Once across the border it is quickly evident that one is no longer in the USA. Linda and I commented how comfortable we felt to be in Mexico. We had expected to cross the borde and almost immediately be on the highway. But this wasn't the case. We drove over the border right into the heart of Nogales. Luckily we has some experience exiting Mexico at the this border crossing so we found our way the immigration offices, etc.
We are currently camped on the eastern shore of the Gulf of California in San Carlos. The campground is pretty empty but it is still early in the tourist season.




Tomorrow we are continuing south. If we get an early start we might push through to Mazatlan.
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Location:Mexico

Southbound Again

We are currently camped just outside the entrance to Zion National Park in Utah. We are here, biking and hiking, for 2 nights before heading to Vegas to watch Jenny and her friend, Nicole, participate in The Warrior Dash. Then it's off to Mexico via Nogales.

We left Fernie last Monday afternoon. After stopping at Montana Shipping to pick up a few items that we had purchased for the trip, we drove to Whitefish. The border crossing went smoothly but we had a couple of issued that caused some consternation.... Firstly the new rear shock and other important items I needed for the motorcycle were not waiting for us at Montana Shipping! Secondly, the van engine would not restart in Whitfish. The starter motor would not crank the engine fast enough.

Luckily both of these situations were resolved quite quickly...

The engine problem was a loose battery connection. Easily repaired. Then I Skyped the MC parts supplier. The order had been delayed because the shock that i had ordered had not arrived from their supplier. As luck would have it, the company that makes the shock is located in Henderson, Nevada. Henderson is the suburb of Las Vegas where the Warrior Dash is taking place. So... the balance of my order is now enroute to Ricor Shocks in Henderson and the shock along with the rest of my order, will also be waiting for me to pickup at Ricor on Friday. I have to say that the guys at Pro Cycle, in Oregon, were a very helpful.

After overnighting in Kalispell, we got an early start. The trip was uneventful until we reached northern Utah. There had been a fierce south-west cross wind blowing all the way down I15. The van (and I) had been struggling with the wind all day. A few hours north of Salt Lake City the wind seemed to intensify and sudenly the old van started complaining. The engine started stumbling and we had difficulty maintaining 75 kph. For a while I though we were going to be stranded on the highway but we managed to make it to the next interchange and into a gas station.

At this point it is fair to say that I was not a happy camper! The thought of being stuck in northern Utah for several days and and large repair bill were not exactly "happy thoughts". Anyway... To make a long story short. We filled up with gas and went for a test drive, to try to diagnose the problem. To my surprise the van seemed to running normally now, so we decided to head back out on the interstate, knowing that there was another interchange a few miles down the highway. By now it was starting to get dark and the wind speed had diminished somewhat. Once on the highway the van seem to be running well. The engine did start to complain at one point, on a rather steep grade, but once over the hill she settled down and ran normally until we found a Walmart overnighting spot on the southern outskirts of Salt Lake City.

I believe that the problem may have been cause by a combination of running the gas tank too low (and picking up some water or dirt from near the bottom of the tank). This in combination with a headwind that created more drag than the engine could handle.

This morning I put some methyl hydrate in the tank to absorbe the water ( if in fact there is any) I also poured some carb cleaner in the tank as well. I modified my driving style as well... Gearing down and taking it easier on the uphill stretches. The van ran well today. ( the tail wind help too)

We ate looking forward to biking and hiking tomorrow, after long days in the van.


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Location:Zion Shadow Cir,Hurricane,United States