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Week 5

Day twenty eight, Sunday 12/16/2007

I drove 282km from Manzanillo, Mexico, N19 06.266 W104 20.057 to Tepic, Mexico, N21 31.275 W104 55.508

Down town Manzanillo.

The Walmart where I purchased oil.

The Hotel I stayed at in Manzanillo.

There were a lot of run down houses along the beach area. Beautiful view, bad house.

Typical village with dirt streets.

This area was up in the mountains between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. There were small pine trees here. I never did find a forest like we have here in the states.

I passed through Puerto Vallarta. 

Arriving in Tepic just before dark, I got a room for $60.00 with no internet, and no restaurant. I walked down the street until I found a grocery store. I purchased half a grilled chicken and some rolls for dinner. I took my food back to the hotel and ate.

Hotel in Tepic.

As I have been doing for most of the trip, I left Tepic without breakfast. I don't seem to be finding restaurants that serve breakfast.

I changed the oil here in the parking lot.

It was very foggy as I was leaving Tepic.

I drove slow for hours.

Another bridge to nowhere.

Crossing the tropic of Cancer.

Looks like a field in the Midwest with a Dekalb seed sign.

One of the Car's many fans posing at the car.

After leaving Tepic I knew the way home, as I had driven this road just a few weeks earlier. I continued through familiar terrain arriving in Navojoa about dark. This room cost $39.00 with internet. I walked down the street to the same Italian restaurant I ate at on the way south and ate dinner.

Hotel in Novajoa.

 I felt good about making it home now, just a couple of more days and I will be out of Mexico. 

A clean room with internet.

Now I know I am going in the right direction.

I stopped here in Guaymas for a late breakfast at a McDonalds.

Looks like grape vines.

Today's journey ended in Santa Ana across the street from where I stayed last time. The room was $40.00 and they had internet.

 I ate dinner at the same restaurant as before.

An early morning start back to the USA. 

 I left Santa Ana before daylight, heading toward the USA. I crossed the border at Sonoyta, near Ajo, Arizona. In my haste to get back home I neglected to clear the car with Mexico Customs. The Customs building was along the road thirty kilometers before the border.

There were no cars ahead of me in the line going into the USA. 

After crossing into the USA I stopped at Ajo, Arizona.

I stopped to see the monument for a guy I knew in El Cajon many years ago. He moved to Ajo and became the airport manager, when he died the Ajo airport was named for him. 

A flag pole and a monument is more than I will ever get when I am gone.

I continued on through Ajo. I stopped in Gilla Bend for lunch, arriving in Yuma in the late afternoon. I stayed in the same Motel 6 and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant across the street.

An old picture of when Eric and I flew his Navion to Alaska in 1978.

Eric taking a look at Bernie's ground looped Cessna 180 in Circle Alaska. Picture taken in 1978

Eric doing a high speed pass at a grass strip near Barrett Lake in San Diego County in the early 1980's. His airplane was not built for short grass fields, so he did not land.

Goodbye Eric.

I did have breakfast this morning, at an IHOP just down the street from the Motel 6 in Yuma.

Yuma, Arizona area.

Sand dunes west of Yuma.

Up the mountains toward home.

I stopped for lunch and gas at the Little Acorn Casino arriving home about two thirty in the afternoon.

Fog in Boulevard, almost home.

I'm home and the car is in the garage. But the trip is not yet complete, there is still the paperwork.

Friday, 12-21-07 I drove the car to Tecate Mexico to get the Customs paperwork done that I had neglected to do when I crossed into Arizona two days ago. They would not do it, telling me I need to go to Tijuana. Still trying to get the Car permit taken care of, I drove toward Tijuana but instead tried the Otay border crossing. They too said I had to go to Tijuana. I came on home after waiting for over two hours in the line to get across into the USA at the Otay crossing.

Sunday, 12-23-07 My wife and I drove my truck to the Tijuana border and walked across to the Customs office, trying to get them to close the permit without seeing the car. They would not do that, I I must bring the car to Tijuana. 

Patty and I walked across the border to Tijuana. 

We had to get into this long line to get back into the USA.

By the length of this line you can see that not all Mexicans are sneaking into the country. A woman in front of us said she does this everyday to get to her job in the USA.

Monday, 12-24-07 The day before Christmas and the last day before my Mexico car insurance expired, I drove the Model A across the border into Tijuana to the Customs office.

There was little traffic and the paper work was completed in a matter of minutes. The line to cross back into the USA was hours long. I decided to drive east using the new toll road to Tecate and cross there. 

When I arrive in Tecate only six or seven cars were in front of me. I crossed the border with no problems and came on home. 

It took me four days to get the car permit taken care of at Mexico's Customs office, when I could have driven 30kms back down the road to the Customs building before I crossed the border at Sonoyta, into Arizona four days ago. I will not make this mistake again.

Tecate, Mexico