Here we are, on the road: Puerto Penasco, Mexico

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Lorraine's Report

It’s that time again, time to write for the blog. We are here in Mexico at Playa Bonita RV Resort in Puerto Penasco. We are just a short distance away from the beach. It has been sunny, with the temperatures in the lower 70’s during the day and 50’s at night. Some days the wind blows a lot while other times its calm. The beach is just a short distance from our coach.

We were in Gila Bend, AZ on Sunday and Monday, to stock up, clean up and wash everything up for this trip.

Tuesday we went to Organ Pipe National Park with Richard and Patsy Kind, Mark and Sue Didelot and Connie and Manuel Esparza. What a beautiful park. We took the 20 something mile loop and toured it all. All the different cacti in that park are so majestic and beautiful. When we finished the tour, I cooked spaghetti dinner for all of us.

That was sure was a great national park, but I thought the time you could run your generators could be more conducive for the rv’ers. Generator times were 8-10 in the morning and 4-6 in the afternoon, not enough time if your batteries were really low to charge them. Now this park was dry camping, no hook ups or water and the sites were narrow, with lots of cacti on each side of the pad. We got several deep scratches from the hanging branches on the side of the coach that Chuck is having sanded down and painted here in Mexico.

Wednesday morning all thirteen motor coaches met up by the US/Mexican border and started our drive into Mexico. We were seventh in line and I felt very safe. The Mexican border town was very poor looking with bars on most windows. That is very common all over here in PP.

Thursday was go shopping and exploring day for everyone. We all met up for lunch at Mary’s, a local restaurant that Linda #1 said had good margaritas. They had very good shrimp cocktails and great shrimp tacos. We all wound up back at the rv park for 5:00 o’clock happy hour and shared all adventures with each other.

Friday, a group of eleven from our group went out on a local charter. They left at 8 am and were back around 1:30. The cost was about $50 if you fished and $25 if you went along for sightseeing. It turned out the guy that promoted the fishing trip sub-contracted this trip out. They ran out of the bait that was catching the fish after a half hour. The wind was blowing and I guess it was rough seas, so several got sea sick. They ended up catching around three and a half pounds of fish for the trip. Several of the guys that stayed behind went into town and bought ten pounds of fresh fish for the fish fry that evening.

The gals that stayed behind went shopping in the morning down town, then had a great lunch. After that Manuel, Connie, Sue and I went looking for a beauty salon. Manuel, Connie and Sue wanted hair cuts, Connie and I wanted a manicure, as did Manuel.

Well, we went into one here and hair cuts were as much as back in the states, so we left. We went back to one we saw while looking for the first one. We went in and they said they could do all of us. That was about 1:40. They took Connie first for her pedicure. Around 3 pm, none of the rest of us had anything done. About 3:20, several gals came in and one took Sue in for her hair cut. One gal was a good hair cutter. A short time later, they took Manuel for his pedicure, then they cut his hair. They brought Connie out from her pedicure and cut her hair. By then, it was close to 4:15 to 4:25 and I asked Connie to tell them I did not want my pedicure. They were so slow, and I felt they wouldn’t be done in time to get back for our five o’clock happy hour. I should have gone shopping or sightseeing instead of wasting my afternoon in a tiny non-air conditioned shop. You live and learn.

Saturday we went back to what is called “Shack’s Fifth Avenue”. It is a street with a bunch of small shacks that sell souvenirs to tourists. Patsy was looking for a metal wall hanging for her coaches’ bathroom wall. She saw one earlier in the week but had to measure to make sure it would fit and it did, so she bought it.

Saturday was Sue Didelot’s birthday. Patsy baked her a cake, Connie made up some green tea and Trader Joe’s cake, and I took the last of the ice cream and we had a little party for her in the afternoon. Then that evening we all (25 people) went to the Playa Bonita Hotel’s restaurant for Sue’s birthday dinner. They had Mexican buffet for $8.75 and $2.00 margaritas for happy hour. There was a band, people were dancing, the food was good, a fun time was had by all.

So that brings us to today. It’s Super Bowl Sunday, so I decided to put on a pot of chili for the entire group. There’s suppose to be happy hour, then chili at half time. We went for a ride with our little group this morning. Then some of them went back out sightseeing and bought more shrimp to take back to the states.

I miss having our car here, so we could come and go as we like.

Well, that has been our week here in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Till next time…we’ll see you down the road.

Lorraine

Sunday 2/1/09
Chuck's Report

Here we are in Mexico, having a good time. We are here with 12 rigs, most of whom were with us in Quartzsite for part of our time there. We are having a ball here, daytime temperature is in the 70s, nighttime in the high 40s, with a sea breeze almost all the time. We are having our regular 5:00 get-together with snacks enough for dinner. Sometimes we break out and play cards or something, pretty relaxing.

We left Gila Bend on Tuesday and headed towards Ajo, Az. to pick up our insurance papers. Everyone traveling to Mexico is required to have Mexican liability insurance and we had to purchase comprehensive to cover our rig too. There isn't much in the little town of Ajo but we managed to find a Dairy Queen for lunch. Not very fast service there, however, so would suggest next time you are in Ajo, don't stop at Dairy Queen.

We traveled a bit further and in Organ Pipe Catus National Park for one night as it's only about 20 miles from where we cross over into Mexico. While pulling into our site, I managed to put a new long scratch on the side of the coach, damn. And I wasn't even towing the car so can't blame it on that, just wasn't watching close enough. Another not so smart move on Chuck's part.

We got to Organ Pipe early enough so we took a car trip on a 20 mile scenic route with two cars. We rode with Mark and Sue, Manuel and Connie had Richard and Patsy ride with them. There are sure lots of catus in this area, different kinds too. It's pretty rough country with it's own style of beauty but don't think I would like to live here. The weather is nice this time of the year but it gets too hot 8 or 9 months of the year.

Next morning, we were to meet up with the rest of our group at the border in Lukeville, Az. We pulled into a large parking lot on US side and waited until everyone was ready. With some last minute instructions from Mike, we took off as a group for the border, just a few hundred feet South. I think only two people were even questioned at the border, they just waved the rest of us on through.

The 70 miles to Puerto Penasco (also called Rocky Point) was pretty un-eventfull. We are located at the Northeast portion of the Sea of Cortez. We passed through a couple of small towns and lots of desert and catus to get here. We traveled pretty much as a group, doing the speed limit but there still were lots of folks that had to pass us, once Mark had to almost pull off the road to avoid a car passing and one coming. All of the road is paved and in good condition, just like back home.

Once we got to town, we got spread out a bit more due to the stop lights and stop signs. As long as you could keep the rig in front in sight, we did fine. The roads in town had sand blown on them, a couple of places we had to travel dirt roads. Once we got to our campground (Playa Bonita Beach) and checked in we got to our spot and set up. Some of us had to go to the beach and check it out, Lorraine told us the water was cold, I believed her and didn't try to go in.

Since then, we have been to two sections of town for shopping. One area is affectingly called Shacks Fifth Ave. with lots of vendors (see picture below). The other are is called Old Town, this is on the East side of the harbor from where we are. Here is where the fish/shrimp vendors are located. You can buy fresh from them, we bought some shrimp and the ladies fixed them in different ways for a good feed.

On Friday a group of people were going fishing on a charter boat. I was going to go along with them but had the paint guys working on our rig so I elected to stay and supervise. There are a couple of other rigs getting work done. One of them is having the whole bottom section repaired and painted. These guys are doing a great job so far, can't tell where the damaged area was. Lorraine didn't want to go fishing either so she went into town to Shacks where she bought a gift for our daughter. Ha, ha, I know something you don't know, Susy.

They finished up with painting and buffing our rig on Saturday afternoon. I think they did a good job and the money was right too.

Three of the guys brought their four wheelers and invited some of us to go out riding with them. So we spent part of Saturday morning riding, what fun. I enjoyed this a bunch and wanted to have Lorraine try also. We set up a ride for her, Sue and Patsy for Sunday morning.

Saturday was also Sue's birthday. In the afternoon we went to Richard and Patsy's where we had cake and gave Sue some presents. That evening, everyone in our group got together and walked or rode to a restaurant just up the beach for dinner. I think everyone had the Mexican Buffet, it was ok. After dinner, Lorraine played cards, I learned a new game called Pegs and Jokers. After a couple of games, Lorraine and I decided to head back to our rig and call it a day.

So today is Superbowl Sunday. Lorraine, Sue and Patsy got their chance to ride the four wheeler this morning. Lorraine was riding for just a little bit (with Richard driving) before she decided it wasn't for her. Even with a much more sane driver (me) she still wanted to return to the rig so we came back. The game starts at 4:00 our time and we plan on watching it on our outside TV with anyone who cares to come over. Lorraine has been busy making chili for half time.

We also made a trip into an small town to the West of us after the four wheeler ride. There are lots of unfinished houses here, don't know if they are still working on them or if our economy is so bad they just left them unfinished for awhile. Also, there isn't any water system in town, all the building have tanks on their roofs and get water delivered to them. Some of these house look like they could be million dollar house and they don't have running water. I don't think I would like to live like that, having to be aware of all of your water usage at all times. Nice looking places but not for me.

So that was our week. Once again I have added lots of pictures, we were busy with our friends again. We will be here until Wednesday then head back to Gila Bend and Yuma for next week. Not sure where we will be parked in Yuma, have a couple of ideas and we will work that out before we get there.

So until next time, here are some pictures.

Chuck

Sue is surprised at her birthday party with a kiss from the waiter.

Sue being fed a shot of Tequila. She didn't know this was coming either.

Here we are after Lorraine agreed to dance with me, I don't think I stepped on her toes one time!

Nice sunset while we were eating at the restaurant.

A picture of the group at dinner.

Mike giving Sue a birthday present, wooden flowers he bought from a vendor on the beach.

Bet Sue wishes she had a real bottle that big, the band is singing Happy Birthday to her in Spanish and English.

The whole gang before we headed over the restaurant for dinner on Sue's Birthday. What a group and what fun.

Just to prove Sue did have a birthday cake. Happy Birthday, Sue!

A picture of our side of the loop we are parked, we are the second rig.

I put another scratch on the side last week. They do repairs plus painting for a very reasonable price right in the campground. Here is where they are working our our rig. Turned out real nice plus they buffed out all the tree scratches on that side too.

A picture of the harbor in town.

Lunch in town, no I wasn't drinking.

A picture from where we were eating lunch across the harbor to our campground.

Some of the stuff in a vendor's site.

More stuff. One of the shop owner said he had all the junk we didn't need for sale, know what, he was right.

More boats in the harbor.

Lorraine getting her feet wet in the water on the first day here. I took her word that it was too cold. Nice beach with very fine sand however. I was surprised at the tidal action, it looks like about 10' of water level change.

Here is the beach and a shrimp boat, view from our coach.

We drove through town to get to the resort, I think there were nine stop lights or signs so we got a bit staggered.

We waited just across the boarder for everyone to get through.

I wish I could remember what I was saying, everyone was paying lots of attention.

Some of the catus in Organ Pipe Catus National Park. We took a 20 mile drive through here.

A dying Organ Pipe Catus.

This catus seems to want to hug someone. Lots of different shapes on these catus.

Closeup of needles on a catus. I had one attach itself to my shoe, hard to pull the needles out.

One of them had some flowers. After the wet winter they had, they say there will be lots of flowers this spring.

A view of the desert. This is where the illegals travel, pretty rough area to travel though on foot. They really must want to be in the USA badly to go through this stuff.