Catching up.

Here it is Monday morning already and I've not told you about our experences on Saturday.  Seems we were lucky to be in Pahrump for the annual police/fireman/emt relay run.  This race has been run for 60 some years and it is run from Baker, Calif. to Las Vegas, NV, 120 miles through the desert and over the mountains, note that is plural.  The runners left Baker early Saturday morning in waves with the slower runners leaving first so that the faster runners would be able to catch up.  There are 20 runners per team with 20 passes of the relay stick at the 20 check points.  These are spaced apart based on the terrain, some 4 miles, some 6 miles and some 10 miles is distance.  Each runner has to have a follow vechicle driving behind them for medical and to carry the water and to also protect the runner from oncoming traffic.  Remeber, this race is on the highway and traffic isn't stopped and the roads are only two lanes and narrow.  We drove over the pass to Shoshone, Calif. for lunch at a little cafe to wait for some of the runners.  Now remeber, the ones coming though now are the ones that left leater and have already caught up with the slower runners and passed them.  Going back over the hill to Pahrump we passed about 6 runners climbing the mountain into Pahrump.  I couldn't even walk this "hill" no less run it.  (or course neither of us can run anywhere anymore)  We went back to the coach and at Happy Hour fixed a drink and drove down the road to watch a number of the runners come through at dusk.  It was interesting to talk to a couple of the next leg runners as they waited their turn.  We had wondered if there would be any woman runners and we were next greeted with about 7 woman runners, all from different teams, pass us as they slowly climed a small hill.  Now one of the hills is at 5000 feet and they go from sea level as the southern part of Death Valley so this is quite an endeavor.  Not for the faint of heart or body.

Sunday we packed up the coach and headed towards our great National Parks in southern Utah.  The trip was about 6 hours, an hour longer than we had planned on due to a bridge being out and traffic down to one lane and that took an hour to get by.  We arrived in Glendale, UT and set up camp just in time for Happy Hour and a rest.  This campground should be less dusty than the last one we were in.  It is hard to believe that the coach had started out clean in Pahrump only to look like it had just arrived back in the states from Alaska and thousands of miles or road grime.  We will be taking day trips from this campground into Zion, Bryce and other interesting sites.  The only bad thing is that there  is no cell service and we are both lost without it, something we have become very used to having always.

One of the places that we wanted to visit was the North Rim of the Grand Caynon but it is closed until mid-May, still covered with snow.  The temp here this morning was 33 (feeling like 27) when Rich walked Teddy but it is supposed to be 84 in Zion this afternoon.  Layer time for sure.

Summary of Copper Canyon 17 Day Piggyback Caravan

Here is our happy group of 22 couples that went on the 17 day caravan to Mexico. We all gathered at Mission RV Park in El Paso, Texas, a few days before Valentines Day, our day of departure, to get acquainted and begin our feeding frenzy. We even did some tours in the El Paso area, the War Eagles Air Museum and the Indian Cliffs Ranch that is home to the Cattleman’s Steakhouse.After we crossed over the border, which was a piece of cake thanks to the pre-planning done by Tracks to Adventure, we began to notice how the Mexican’s use color. They paint their houses many bright colors and they all live very close together. They do have beautiful courtyards behind their walls that include gardens of fruit and vegetables.

You can see how narrow the streets are as we wind our way through the town of Chihuahua.

Each day was filled with more wonders than the previous as we awaited the day that we would board the trains. It took almost all morning for us to be loaded onto the train, parking with our drivers side wheels only inches from the edge. We were to remain here for the duration of the train trip, 4 nights and 5 days of dry camping without being able to even put out our slides. Each ramp onto the rail cars was measured for each coach and moved accordingly. Scary looking but done with precision, or at least as much precision that could be obtained in Mexico.

This is our Wagon Master's rig as we connect to the engine on the first day. You can see how close his tires are to the edge. We did have railing on the passenger side so that we could walk. They also asked that we pull in our stairs when not using them so that the train personnel could pass without hitting their legs, esp. at night when it was pitch dark.

The contrasts from the working farms to the rugged mountains of the Copper Canyon, the passing the Continental Divide several times and the high altitude was all hard to believe when we seemed to travel such a short distance. I guess that with us all being used to the driving and this time just sitting back and letting the train do it we were really able to see the changes, even at 25 mph.

The Taramahara Indians are a very resourceful tribe. They have change little and still live very primitive lives and make money by selling baskets to the tourists along with woven wraps, bracelets and some children's toys.
Our last day on the train was the longest and the most interesting as far as geology goes. We went from a very high elevation to sea level, through the treeless mountains to the fruitfull valleys lush with produce of vegtables and fruits to the Sea of Cortez with its bounty of fresh shrimp, which a vendor delivered to our camp as soon as we were set up.

After 4 days in Mazatlan we began our trip north and back to the USA. We were sorry to be leaving as this meant that we would be parting ways. There are a few things that people have asked. Did we feel safe? Yes, never was there a time when we were the least bit concerned. The Mexican people are very friendly and know that the RV tourist brings money to town. We were cautious about the water and filled up with only 5 gal water jugs in Mazatlan as they had a long funnel to make filling our tanks easy. I would bring a funnel next trip and get all my water that way. We really enjoyed the fresh shrimp and fish in the coastal towns and the fresh fruits in the agricultural belt and in Mazatlan. Next trip I would bring packages of useful things like face cloths, hand towels, baby wipes, bars of soap, small bottles of hand disinfectant. I think you get the picture. These are things that they don't have and that would not take away from their culture but just might make life a little better.

There is much more that we did and if you are really interested there is much more to read on our "Blog". A "Blog" is really nothing more than a log of what we did day by day. You can get there by going to http://www.monacosinmotion.org/ and clicking on Copper Canyon Blog. Or you can go directly http://www.mimcaravanmexico.blogspot.com/ and while you are at the Blog, don't forget to click on the web album(s) so that you can see first hand our wonderful pictures of the trip. www.picasaweb.google.com/mimmexico/MexicoCaravan and www.picasaweb.google.com/mimmexico/MexicoCaravanII. I hope you'll go and enjoy reading about how much fun we did have.

Day 17, March 1. 2007

As you can see, this was an early start day as we had to cover 266 miles to the border. We drove hard with just a few stops as we were all ready to get back to the USA and a little anxious about crossing the border. Why, I don't know. We are going home! We got the to Aduana/Frontera office and they came on board to remove our holograms of importation of our vehicles. About 10 more miles up the road we passed through Mexican customs. Glad we didn't have to get in the truck lanes as they had very, very long lines. American customs was a piece of cake. Handed out our passports and they were handed right back and we were directed to a holding area for agricultural inspection. He just came on board, asked if we had any chicken, eggs or plants. I told him that they were cooked. He looked into the freezer at the same time and said, "You've been through this drill before!" I said yes and he turned around and walked out and told us to have a nice day. We drove about 40 miles up the road to a nice campground to add water, dump and do some laundry. Many passed over the border and headed on their own way. We got to say some quick good-byes over the CB radio but it will be strange not following in a caravan this morning when we leave and I really will miss "Thumper" checking our tires in the morning. This is what we affectionately called our tail gunner.

Many few friendships were made and old ones better cemented, so until the next time, Happy Trails and don't forget to visit our two photo albums.

www.picasaweb.google.com/mimmexico/MexicoCaravan

and www.picasaweb.google.com/mimmexico/MexicoCaravanII.

Day 16, February 28, 2007

The drive from Los Alamos to San Carlos on the coast of Sonora, Mexico, was only 160 or so miles. This is the entrance to the RV Park that we stayed in there.

Los Alamos was a town built of old money from the gold and silver days and has and is being refurbished to it's original condition and was very modern in comparison to the many towns that we had already been in. San Carlos is new money, mostly brought in by the Canadians and Americans.

There are MANY new homes being built in this small fishing/yachting town and we were told that the cost of building at this time was about $105/square foot. Each house had about 10 Mexicans working on it and there had to be hundreds being currently built all over San Carlos. We just wondered where they were living as we didn't see the typical Mexican housing anywhere that we went. This was the view from the back of the RV Park.

We had our farewell dinner right there in a lovely room at the RV Park. Mike is saying a few last words and then we ate. After dinner most of us went back to our coach's to get ready for departure.

Day 15, Tuesday, February 27, 2007

After a short day of travel most of us took a walking tour of Los Alamos. This is an old silver and gold mining town and we are standing in front of an old chapel. We had a tour guide that explained the history of the town and it was most interesting.

This is the alter of the chapel. Like everything else in Mexico, what you see outside does not indicate what you will find inside, as is evidenced by the beautiful courtyards behind tall walls.

Here is just one such courtyard.

The bougainvillea was just lovely hanging over the many walls.

After the tour we all came back and fixed a dinner of things that could not be taken back over the border into the USA. I'm sure there were some strange combinations.

Day 14, Monday, February 26, 2007

Travel day for us today leaving about 8 am and we once again crossed over the Tropic of Cancer. Of course, this time was going in the opposite direction. We had traveled this road 4 days ago when we headed down to Mazatlan so the sights were familiar but still very interesting. Especially the farming going on in the area and the harvesting. We got through our first inspection, this one for agriculture. None of us was stopped nor boarded for a search. Great!

Bragging Rights !

Four men from the group went out fishing and Cliff caught the catch of the day. Only some of the fish was taken home and the rest was given to the crew.

We finished off the day with a pot luck dinner. How a group can get together such an array of food on short order is beyond me, and all of it great!

We'll leave in the morning about 8:30 am and head to Los Alamos, a new place to visit. Maybe there will be vendors there???

Day 13, Sunday, February 25, 2007

A number of folks went out on this boat to Stone Island on a tour. It included a bouncy ride in the Sea of Cortez to see some "pirate" caves on two of the islands and then a very small island with some sea lions resting. The sea lions come here in the winter from North America and Canada waters to have their babies. It was quite windy and therefore chilly.
















The Holland America ship Ryndam was in port and was expected to leave at 5 p.m. tonight. It is a small ship in comparison to the mega ships that they are building today but made our little vessel seem very small indeed.

Some went horseback riding, others snorkeled or took a banana boat ride to view the turtles, or a horse drawn carriage ride. All this was include in the tour price of $20 per person. Very reasonable.

We are all back now and getting our coach's ready for travel in the morning. We will be heading out about 7 a.m. and it will be a long drive back to Los Mochis where we will gather for a pot luck dinner.