Hotel Gandara Hermosillo

... d met in Mississippi at our campground in Columbus, stopped by for a visit. They were returning home to Ft Worth after purchasing two Rail Road cars from an estate in Sacramento.
What a unique sight. They're the rail cars that railroad repairmen used to ride on the rails to do any needed repairs. Apparently, there are quite a few clubs of enthusiasts who get together and travel on seldom used tracks, mainly in Idaho, Montana and Oregon. How neat.

We did it!!!!!

We made it to downtown Yuma by 7 a.m. this morning to view the Balloon Ascensions that started at 7:15 a.m. It was something to see. We were able to walk around on the field among the participants. It was chilly there this morning, but warm again this afternoon.

... the day before yesterday that we saw the whole schedule. We hope that we can view them from our campsite that is 7 miles out of town.

The weather here is warm, in the high 70"s today. It is very dry here, that works good on Bonnie's sinus', but, we are getting static shocks all the time.

It was a rather tricky drive getting outside of Prescott, Az. That's a road we'll never take again in our motorhome. The road isn't something I'd recommend even if driving a car. Craig earned his stripes that day. Drove thru Quartzite; it looks the same as usual ...

... they'll have to do for now and the juice was good) I headed off for Nogales and Mexico full of trepidation.
The weather was a mixed bag, cool and overcast all morning.
I arrived at the US border about 10:30, they were so keen to get rid of me they never took my exit pass so I had to go back and pass it through the bars.
On the Mexican side they were very helpful and the first part of the entry went without a hitch ...

... the border crossing and so I sayd goodbye to modern USA and Hola to Mexico. Unfortunately the officers gave a permit to stay for 30 days in Mexico only why I will have just a little time to visit the country. The trip on the "Hassle- Free- Highway" to Hermosillo was no problem but because I have to get used of the mexican conditions I checked in to a 45$ Hotel. The first day in a new country used to be not very successfull in this matter.

... their families, and to hear it directly from them, shredded any last doubts we may have had. Over the course of an entire day we visited 1) a tiny street vendor, 2) a polished corner store, 3) a small tienda in a street marker, 4) a tire sales and repair shop, 5) a glass maker/artisan, and 6) a family tortilla making operation run from a small house - all built partly or in whole through microcredit loans, often several ...

... there? Apparently they are a huge attraction and tourists pay $5 USD to sit in the wagon behind the donkey and hold a sign that reads "Sitting on my ass". Being on a budget, we did not want to fork over that amount of money (it's one night of camping after all) so we tried our best to take a picture without the proprietor noticing. I think we got a few good ones! Once we were done cruising the strip we headed back to the highway. Unfortunately a man on a bicycle ...

... hotel is full they will send you to one of these guest houses. Katie and I were more interested in exploring on our own than paying for a tour, so our second night we ended up in a different hotel which, although nice and very clean, wasn't quite the social or economic value of Casa Margarita's. The next morning I managed to get us into a guest house run by the sister of Margarita, but only after agreeing to go on one of these tours. Luckily the Señora who lived in the guest house ...

¿Qué onda muchachos? Greetings once again from south of the border, and my apologies for an extremely overdue entry. You can blame it on my being converted to the Mexican style of life down here, where the professors always arrive late and the students are slow to update their friends and family. Rest assured Ryan and I have been healthy and well and have successfully escaped the grasp of death on several occasions. Well, things haven't been that crazy, but lots has happened ...