Feb. 14 Day 24
We pulled out of the El Mirador RV Park in San Carlos at 7:10. The Wagon Master, Ed, was having some kind of problem with the car he is towing so the caravan started without him but he soon caught up. It is a very cool day but no clouds like yesterday. This is the nicest and cleanest park that we stayed in on the entire trip. San Carlos has a big population of snowbirds. Someone said it was about 85%. However the Mexicans are doing the service work. Guess that is because the retired Americans don’t want to work. J Highway 15 is quite rough compare to most US highways. We are surprised we did not see any major accidents while here considering the roads and the driving habits of the Mexicans. We thank God first for our safety and then for the opportunity to see this fascinating country with its diverse culture and beauty. We traveled through dry deserts, mountains, fertile crop land and along the beautiful beaches. We rode the waves of the Sea of Cortez, enjoyed walking on the sandy beaches and seeing the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Wherever we went the Mexican people were so friendly and happy to see us. The many guides we had for side trips were very knowledgeable in sharing the history and culture of the people in their area. Many of the wait staff entertained us besides serving us. All in all it was a great adventure with Adventure Caravan’s 24 day Copper Canyon by Rail tour. Thank you, Wagon Masters, Ed and Bonnie and Tail Gunners, George and Ellen, for a great trip. At 72 miles into our return trip today the caravan pulled into a roadside rest area. Just as the Tail Gunner got off the highway he announced he had blown a tire and needed some help. Most of the guys went back to his coach. The tire is ok but the control arm for the right rear wheel is broken. The coach will no doubt need to be towed to Hermocilla which is about 20 miles away. The caravan decided to drive ahead, leaving one coach to stay with George, to a Pemex station up the road. Ed has gone on into Hermcilla to get some help. We waited for some time and decided we should just go on ahead and they could join us when arrangements were made for help. Rig # 3, Ron will lead and Rig # 12, Dave, will bring up the rear. We made it through Hermocilla with no problems and stopped at a Pemex for lunch. Since we still have a long way to go, we decided to go on ahead instead of waiting here for the others to catch up. It is pretty much a “straight shot” to the border. This afternoon it is clouding up and quite cool. We need a jacket when outside. Most of the highways we have traveled in in Mexico are 4-lane but the driving lane is very rough so we are unable to go very fast. We just passed a drug inspection point for trucks and they were lined up for a little more than a mile waiting for their rigs to be inspected. Two military men with guns were stationed along the line of trucks presumably to make sure they did not throw anything out. Finally we are at the Mexican border inspection station. This is where we have to return the vehicle permits we bought. It was a simple process and we are on the way. Not far now till we will be back in the US. The next stop is the US border, in Nogales, where we have to declare what we are bringing into the country and they will check for food items not permitted to be returned to the US. We are, however stopping at one of the last Pemex stations to fill our tanks with the less expensive and more efficient diesel fuel. While there, the Wagon Master and Ron W, the coach who had stayed with George in the broken down coach, caught up with us. We learned that they did get help for George and he should be back on the road perhaps even this afternoon. We are really questioning whether it will happen that quickly. Now we are all together again with the exception of the Tail Gunner. We drove to the border. On the Mexican side they are telling us we cannot get through because the truckers are protesting. Something about the long and timely inspection lines at the American border crossing. We have seen those long lines! There are 2 crossings at Nogales, one here on the highway and one downtown called the Central border crossing. We were told by the border officials we would need to go back down south to a connecting highway and then go either east or west to another border crossing. Five of the coaches in our caravan who need to go west anyway decided to break off from the caravan and head that way. Ed and Ron B drove to the Central crossing to see if we could cross there. Ed had to speak with the supervisors of both the Mexican and American borders. Finally they agreed to allow us to get through. We were about 3 ½ hours trying to find out if we could cross at the Central crossing in Nogales. At about 7:40 pm we started toward Central crossing. It is dark and the traffic in Nogales around the border is very heavy. Ed is trying very hard to keep our 6 rigs together so that we arrive at the border crossing in one caravan. We have to change lanes frequently, which is difficult with the heavy traffic. Ed has had a very hard and long day but he is still doing a great job. When we arrive at gate 3, the gate we were told we would need to exit through do to our width and height, we found they had changed their plan due to the size restrictions of that gate. The border patrol wants us to exit through the actual entrance which normally is going south. So they stopped traffic in both directions for our caravan. We have to swing clear over into lane 5, (we are in lane 1 going north) so that we can make a sharp left turn through a very narrow opening leading to the southbound lanes. Then we have to make a complete circle turn in order to go through that exit (which is really an entrance for southbound traffic). If that is hard for you to understand, we are almost doing a figure 8. Once we complete that incredibly unusual feat we have to swing way over to the right to avoid a low hanging sign. Now we are ready for the coach to be inspected. By then the border guards have tied up traffic for so long that they just ask us a few questions and send us on our way. Oh my, what a day. Once everyone is through and we regroup we make our way on highway 19 heading for the RV park we stayed in at the beginning of this tour. All of a sudden we hear Ed ask if this road is a little rough which it is not. He says his coach is running rough and finally decides he will pull over. Two coaches stay with him and the rest of us go on to the RV park. They soon decide it is some minor problem with the engine and continue on. We all arrive safely, get hooked up and make it through the night.