On the 14th of January, 2010, I once again entered Mexico, this time at the Palomas crossing. West of Juarez. My destination that first day would be Chihuahua. Driving right down the spine of Mexico mostly in the mountains. But not the kind of mountain driving you might expect if you’ve seen and driven the Rockies in the USofA. This mountain range has huge valleys between clusters of peaks and naturally, the road goes down the middle. There were a couple places during the journey where I thought that it was 10-12 miles to the foothills. Either side of the highway. The weather was a little unfortunate to begin with, cloudy, brooding, like a petulant child wanting her way. Sometimes spilling tears, sometimes giving voice like a clap of thunder, then other times brightening up as if nothing was wrong. And the coolish temperatures reminded me that my heater wasn’t working nor was my cruise control. I know what’s wrong, the vacuum pump is bad, but I don’t know where the pump is! When I get settled, I hope to find a Mexican mechanic who can fix it for me.
The desert just South of Palomas.
A couple hours later. Dull, huh?
I was at 4,400 feet elevation at this point. I didn’t know but there was a storm moving in.
Threatening clouds in the distance, over a small chapel.
Entering Chihuahua. A city of 700,000; at 4700 feet.
Outside of Chihuahua, an RV park behind a large Pemex station.
It did rain during that day occasionally, and during the night. After it got dark, the RV park attendant (could have been the owner, I know he lived on the grounds), came by and gave me this two page registration to fill out. All sorts of questions not normally asked on a park registration. Even wanted the VIN of the RV. I wasn’t about to give them all that so next morning I just drove by the office without stopping. He could send a cop after me if it was that important. He didn’t.
A look at the RV park. Not bad. A little empty, only me and one other RV. In other, more prosperous years, I'm sure it could have been fun here with other campers.
Next morning, back on the road South, and more dismal weather.
As I passed though the outskirts of Chihuahua, up on the side of a hill, I had a really good view of the city. Very unique and interesting. The city is in a sort of bowl formed by large hills surrounding the area. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity for any pictures because everything of interest was behind, left, and down.
Down the road a few miles, we're up to 5,500 feet, and it's colder, wetter.
See the feather on the window above? Just after I got on this stretch of road, traveling at 55mph, a pair of birds flew up from the grassland. One made it, the other crashed into my windshield. No blood, but I doubt it escaped without a broken wing or two. There were several feathers that were washed away by the rain before I took this picture. I felt bad for the little bugger, they looked like a breeding pair. Strong, healthy, just no match for a 20,000 pound RV at 55mph.
During this whole trip I had my laptop up on the dash, running MS Streets & Trips 2009. With the GPS sensor. I planned the trip before leaving Columbus so I was following the prearranged map on the computer. It does pretty well in Mexico, but it doesn’t help me read Spanish street signs (which are virtually nonexistent in most villages). But the most trouble I had during this three day trip was completely wrong GPS coordinates that I got from a campsite in Villa Corona that told me via email the coordinates they sent me were from Google Earth, NOT. They put me 5 miles away. More on that later. During my next post. See ya! Thanks for reading everyone!