Day 5....are we there yet????

Up nice and early and on the road again. What can I say. I probably would not recommend this drive for a fun family vacation. There is not a lot to see or do along the way. If we drive again, this is not the route we will take. We get to Guadalajara around 3:30.....now it is looking a lot nicer.....green grass and palm trees. That's more like it. We are not far away now......only 40 minutes or so. It is nice to recognize things along the road. The drivers are still crazy but I am starting to get used to it now and just decide to go with the flow. There don't seem to be any sort of road rules so anything goes. After a short time we come over the final hill and there it is.....Lake Chapala. We made it we find the rental and wait for my dad to answer.....he has been here on his own since August 1st since he decided to fly with their cat Angel (smart guy). The rental house is surrounded by a 15 foot wall with 2 big metal doors in the parking area. He opens the gate and we pull in and.......the van does not fit in the parking area.....CRAP. After numerous attempts and angles, still no luck. We park across the street in the hotel parking lot and go for dinner at the hotel, La Nueva Posada, which is only 2 doors away from our rental house - and have a lovely supper on the terrace, by the lake with a Mariachi serranading everyone - this is what it was all about. We met the owner on our way out and had a nice chat - they're from Pickering and have been here 37 years. We explain our parking dilema and ask if it's ok for us to park in their parking lot overnight. She says she will check with her son tomorrow (who actually owns the hotel) but it's fine for tonight. We then talked to another neighbour who told us of a vehicle lockup just a  block away and for only $30 a month, our vehicle will be secure so we go up there and in no time, the van is tucked away for the night and we head off to our first night's sleep in our new temporary home. During the night the heavens opened again and we had an amazing thunder storm with lighting and torrential rain - this is the rainy season after all, but by morning, the sun is out and it's lovely and warm.

Day 4 continues......

We have to solve the photo problem with this site, but in the meantime will continue with text.Well I can honestly say that there is not much to see in northern Mexico.....barren desert with a few shacks along the side of the road. It seems like every woman has a road side "cafe" that I would not eat or drink in if I was paid and every man owns a tire shop right next door. YUP this is it for miles and miles. It is hard to imagine that people actually live in these places because there is literally NOTHING around. We drive for hours thru this and see lots of scrawny cows, horses, donkeys, sheep and goats just randomly grazing at the side of the road and then we hit the mountains and see nothing but cows, horses, donkeys, sheep and goats just randomly grazing a the side of the road. At least the gas stations are clean (for the most part).

The mountains are at least more scenic. But there is nothing around. We also seem to be the only ones that know what a speed sign means. The limit is 80 and 18 wheelers are blowing past us on winding 2 lane roads in the mountains......granted the speed signs don't make any sense at all. one sign will say 110 and 10 feet past that one is a sign saying 40 and 20 feet past that 80?!?!? say what?!? So as if we don't stand out enough.....we are the bright red van with Ontario plates on it, 2 bikes hanging off the back, a luggage case stuffed to the brim on the roof being driving by some pasty gringo and we are the only ones clawling thru the Mexican wilderness at a snails pace following every speed limit posted.

We have not seen anywhere to stay all day but finally around 8:00 pm we come to a town called Matehuala-Saltillo and find an amazing motel called Motel Real Villas. Each room has it's own garage so we can pull right in and not have to unload the bikes and everything. This is also the first time we bump into someone that speaks English which is nice. The room is 580 pesos for a single room with 2 double beds (that is less than $58). Not too shabby. And the room is sparkling clean - the whole place is only a few months old. We are hungry at this point but don't want to venture outside the walls to try and find a restaurant so we order some room service salad and quesadillas for Trev and I with Carona and a hambuger and fries for my mom. Then sleep since all the channels are either in spanish or porn. No T.V. tonight. The beds are typically Mexican, which means HARD AND UNCOMFORTABLE but we're not trying to sleep upright so its' somewhat of an improvement.

Now we are told that if it is called a Motel in Mexico then it is used usually by the hour if you know what I mean and if it is a Hotel it is a nicer place. But I still highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself driving thru central Mexico.

Day 4 English anyone???

Well this is interesting.....turns out no one and I mean NO ONE at the border speaks English. We pulled up to the first check point and  the most anyone could ask was what kind of dog that was and how old is he? They, as if we speak Spanish....we say no and they smile, shrug their shoulders then waive us thru. We get to the next check point and the same thing....them....Spanish? us......no....smiles, shrugs and waive us thru, and BAM......we are in Mexico. But wait......we have to get our visas and the permit for our car since you have to import your vehicle. Now not only does no one speak English but none of the signs are in English either. So we get some help from a local for 1 dollar who tells us thru a series of gestures that we have to go straight down this road and it is there. So we follow his detailed instructions and there are signs that appear to say permit on them with an arrow indicating it is ahead. 1 sign......2 signs.....and then a 3rd sign with a u-turn arrow on it. Thing is, there is more than 1 lane heading back. I take a stab in the dark and take one of the lanes and of course it is the wrong one. Now here is where it gets interesting. There is only 1 way to turn around and wouldn't you know it it is a one way street and I (of course) am heading the wrong way. Lucky for me the policia are right there to pull me over and explain (yes you got it, in Spanish), the error or my ways. He does not speak English and I do not speak Spanish but it turns out bribing is universal. Even with the language barrier I got the gist of it. He can give me a ticket which involves me having to actually go to a ticket office and wait for hours (according to him) and pay mucho dinero oooooorrrrrrr I can pay him and he will let me go. I opt for number 2 on one condition.....he shows us the way to the passport/permit building. Agreed. So with our police escort we get to where we need to be. I am beginning to think they have done this on purpose because there is NO WAY we would have ever found this place on our own.

It is 104 degrees outside so I wait in the van with Flash while Trevor and my mom go inside. I figure once they are done getting their visas I will go in and get mine. After about 20 minutes Trev comes out with a form for me to sign and that is it.....we ALL have our visas. They didn't even ask to SEE me. They then have to move on to another window, another Spanish-speaking individual to get the vehicle permit, then another window to pay for everything and finally, with all our paperwork, but lighter in the peso department, we are 'official'.

We got thru 2 more check points and at the last one it is with the Federali (cops with machine guns). At this one they ask to see the permit for the car and that is it.....now we are officially in Mexico. NO CHECKS AT ALL. HORRAY!!!! And all this time we were so worried that we didn't have enough copies of all our documentation, birth certificates, marriage certificates, paperwork for the dog (which cost us $300 Canadian). Oh well! We're here and that's all that counts. Guadalajara here we come!

DAY 3....DAMN, how big is Texas?

The answer is BIG!!!!! It took 9 hours to get to Loredo which is where we are going to cross over to Mexico. Not much exciting today, but man, are we making good time. It was about 7:00 when we got into town and we need to get insurance for Mexico before we cross the border so we need to spend the night and get that first thing in the morning. Canadian insurance is only good for Canada and the U.S. At least we will be crossing over to Mexico early since we will most likely get pulled in there. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly. The route through the US has been really awesome, hardly any traffic at all and each city down the road easy to navigate to between the GPS and the Canadian Tire Auto Club route. Let's hope Mexico is as easy - but I have my doubts.

DAY 2 Driving, driving and more driving.

packed in pretty tight

can you say tourist??

trevor....master van packer!

We did not get on the road until about 4:00. We spent the morning packing and having a last breakfast with friends. We got to the Cananda/ U.S boarder just after 5:00 pm and the heavens opened (started to pour). We did get pulled in, which we were expecting. After signing a few papers the border patrol said one of us had to go with them out to the van but once we got there and I opened it up she took one look inside and said "your pretty packed in there eh?" I said "yes" and that was the extent of our vehicle check. From this point we drive thru the night until 3 a.m. and we stop at a rest stop in Illinois for 2 hours for a nap in the car before hitting the road again. It's 6am and we're sitting in a gas station somewhere in either Illinois or Missouri! - trying to sleep in the van is all but impossible, but unfortunately necessary - we have to make up some time. Met a poor traveller outside Denny's where we had breakfast. He didn't ask for money but did ask if we had any spare socks. Shelley said all she had was a pair of girls socks and he was welcome to them and he gratefully accepted them, plus a banana. He told us his story (true or untrue we don't know for sure, but most of it sounds legitimate to us). He certainly doesn't have much and is so grateful for what we gave him - he never stops talking. Seems like we were the first people who actually spoke to him, everyone he has tried to talk to just ignores him and walks on. We also gave him $5 and told him to go get some breakfast, but he said he was going to buy some more socks at WalMart (he'd been wearing his for about 6 days along with a pair of slippers he found in the garbage. Makes you feel lucky with what you have when you see someone in his predicament. Last seen he was putting his filthy socks and slippers in the garbage and heading for WalMart.

Our GPS is quite something - most of the time she keeps us on track but every once in a while, she will suddenly tell us to make a turn - we do a lot of arguing with her! We have taken to calling her names, Mary Beth, Betty-Ann, Mary-Lou each time we talk about her, but for the most part - we seem to be getting where we need to be. We've decided when we reach Mexico, the names will change to Spanish ones (Juanita, Rosa etc. - it adds a bit of humour to our journey and lightens the mood when we're tired and uncomfortable - which is most of the time.

By 5:00 p.m with sore backs and behinds and swollen feet, we had made it to New Boston in Texas. We found a hotel/motel that allowed pets with  no trouble at all. Just an extra $10 for Flash. We had a pork chop dinner at the diner next door and they are not kidding when they say everything is bigger in Texas. The meals were massive.....2 porkchops, mash potatoes, salad and veggies. Needless to say Flash was loving his dinner of left over pork chop that night. I needed to get some shampoo since this motel did not have anything like that in the room and made a new friend along the way. A tan boxer came over and we thought he was interested in Flash but apparently it was me he liked. I went in the first store and the dog just waited. No shampoo so I headed off to another store and Trev decided to take Flash back to our room, but the dog decided to follow me.....across a 4 lane highway. I went in the store and took my time and a lady asked what kind of dog that was that I had outside......it was sitting by the door just waiting and as soon as i came out it got up and started following me again. I guess it is my animal magnetism!! :) anyway I went back to our room and last I saw he was sitting across the parking lot just waiting......I kind of felt bad but no room in our van for another dog!!

And were off.....well sort of!

June 16 to August 18, 2011 - Joan here - This moving lark is for the young. I have never been so exhausted in my life. After months of purging and packing I just want to be in Mexico with all this behind me. People ask me am I not sad to leave behind the house I've lived in for 34 years - at the moment I'm just glad to see the last of it and to be here in London, temporarily, til Shelley and Trevor sell this house. We are living in their spare room while they go through the same motions we have just been through. It's difficult parting with your 'stuff' - not knowing what you may need in the future or knowing what will or will not fit in the back of the van, because if it doesn't fit, it doesn't make the move.

Colin and Angel (the cat) flew down to Mexico on August 1 to take over the rental house. He has no car down there so has to walk everywhere, whether it be for fun or when stocking up on groceries and necessities (like rum and coke LOL). Fortunately people there are very friendly and helpful and he gets lots of rides home from WalMart with his load of goodies.

The London house is emptying out fast after a contents sale and a yard sale - what is mainly spoken for by friends. We have an area taped off in the middle of the dining room which represents the carrying capacity of the back of the van, minus my seat. Flash (Shelley and Trevor's 12 year old smelly basset hound will ride beside me on top of a very large amp, a sucky bag full of bedding and his cushion. Everything else is in boxes, small suitcases or cardboard boxes and there won't be an inch to spare. We constantly pack and repack trying to save more space. Some items survive the change, some don't.

I'm now reduced to sleeping on a single-size inflatable mattress on the living room floor (my larger inflatable queen size bed got a hole in it and died. There are no chairs left so seating is on the floor, on the hearth or my walker. Trev says he feels sorry for me when he comes through to let Flash out during the night and I'm on the floor, almost 65 years old and living like a college kid. My old bones don't like it though and right now spending almost a week in the back of the van actually sounds comfortable. I must have lost my mind to make this change. Why didn't I just keep my house - and my very comfortable bed - and just continue to put up with the Canadian economy and its winters. Oh yes, the beautiful weather year-round, the cheaper economy and the excitement of starting again even at my age. Colin is loving it in Mexico and calls every night to tell us of his days and who he is meeting.

Shelley here - August 19th 2011....day 1. Well we were hoping for an early close on the sale of our house so that we could get on the road today. There was a major glitch when Primus cut the telephone off 24 hours early, but after a quick angry cell phone call, service was resumed PDQ (pretty darn quick). But we did not get out of our house till after 6:00 p.m. so progress........London to Byron (which is a suburb of London) . We couldn't get everything in the van and with the buyer actually sitting in the yard drinking wine with her buddies, which was a bit distracting. It was hard to take our time and get it done right (don't even get me started on this!!) Anyway, we called on our AMAZING friends and neighbours who took our extra stuff and our garbage away so we could try again the next day at our friends house. Day one over.....tomorrow will be better. At least we get to sleep in a real bed and sit on real chairs for one last night - thanks Jodi and Dan.