Havin’ fun…

So, after Stacy and I hung around Mazatlan for a couple weeks, she sweet talked me into taking her back to Puerto Vallarta, so she could grab all her stuff that was still there. She’d paid for the apartment for the month and there were still a couple weeks left on it.

Back on the road…heading to Puerto Vallarta.

Before we took off to PV, I’d had my favorite mechanic work on my Parking Brake. It had burnt out 20 odd miles south of the Alaska/Canada border. My mechanic Lamberto had removed the drive shaft, taken the brake shoes and drum to refurbish them then after replacing, we went to work on the hydraulic control and the problem of the PB applying while driving. He’s not a hydraulic guy so he called in a specialist. After several hours working on it, he finally decided it was a bad valve. Took that off, and since he either didn’t want to look or had looked and couldn’t find a replacement in Mexico, serviced it. Cost me a couple hundred US. Anyway, the first 100 miles or so on the road, it seemed to work OK, but then I started seeing the damn PB idiot light start flashing again. Which meant that whenever it would start doing that, I’d have to downshift to get it to go out (and release the PB). As soon as I got to PV, and had some time, I crawled under the rig and lashed up the PB actuator so the new brake pads wouldn’t be burnt out. So, no PB again.

Stacy enjoying the ride.

As usual, the weather was fine and the roads are crap. Choose to NOT take a long cut down to PV because the route has lots of trees dangling into the roadway and I didn’t want to damage the new paint job.

Some of the local countryside.

Turns out that Stacy is easy to travel with. Not a bother having her along. I’ve traveled with some women that should be left at home, but having Stacy along was a treat.

Heading west from Tepic on Mex200. Back on a two lane road. For miles and miles.

It’s tiring on some of these Mexican highways since they religiously follow the topography of the countryside and mountainsides. Or so it seems. Can be a white knuckle experience sometimes where the curves and hills make passing difficult for people behind me. They seem to be more patient then most Americans though. And I try to pull off to the right to let people pass whenever I can…but finding places to do it is difficult. Especially at speed since such places are often hidden until you’re right on top of them.

We stop for a late lunch. Somewhere on Mex200, 50 miles from PV.

The store & restaurant wasn’t too old and quite pleasant really. Sadly, they are probably in trouble like so many other Mexican business that depend on tourists.

The store restaurant & store. We were the only tourists.

Lots of goodies. We bought stuff to snack on.

The restaurant.

After enjoying a nice lunch off we head. A couple hours later, we’re rolling down the main drag, 4 lane, into PV and these people pull up and point to the back of my RV, then drive on. Nowhere to pull off. Then at the next light, someone who speaks English pulls up to the drivers window and tells me that my bike is falling off. So, we stop at the next traffic light and I jamb it into park. Release the foot brake and it keeps rolling. Dammit! PB is worn down already. So, I have Stacy jump over into the drivers seat and I jump out and go back and look. Damn! The bike is being ground down by the road and the front tire is ruined. Thankfully, the rim is still OK, so I get it back in place and tighten it back down. Meanwhile a traffic cop has wandered over and asks us, politely, why the hell we are parked in the road. So, I have to explain it all, and he finally has heard enough and sends us on our way. Something else to fix now. And I’m worried I’ve ruined my new set of brake pads. (Turned out that my mechanic in Maz hadn’t tightened them much so it was just the surface that had been worn off. Still lots of pad left).

We arrive at the RV park and I get all set up. Funny thing about it was it took several minutes to find a place for my big rig where the coconuts had already been removed. The owner has to hire someone to climb up the trees and drop them and business had been off so much that she’d been putting it off. Luckily, she finally remembered one spot where it had been done so I soon had a nice place to park without having to worry about an 8 pound bowling ball falling on the roof in the dead of night, damaging the roof.

But Stacy was antsy to take me to her apartment (and neighborhood) to show me around. I’m bushed after that drive down Mex200 so decline. She takes off anyway. Fine by me. Gives me the time the next day to lash up the PB actuator so it won’t drag. Problem with the RV park was that the WiFi only worked in the central court office. There’s no web site for the park but it’s the ‘Puerto Vallarta Trailer Park’ on Francia. Price was OK, and I paid for a week. Get a free day that way.

Next post will be about the fun we had in PV. Stay tuned.