On the road again my friends! The bus and its wide eyed crew departed Berkeley, Ca November 1st around 10 p.m. after a grand jubilee! We drove into the cool Northern California night headed toward the next year of our lives on the road, on the bus, on our Alibi! Around midnight the bus was light up by a large fireball backfiring from our tail pipe! The bus began to loose speed so we pulled over onto an off ramp in the dark. We were out of gas! Oh lordie! Clearly an operator error on my own part mainly because I had been highway driving with the choke 3/4 way out! Ha oops! Luckily there was a gas station on the horizon and after a short hitch there and back we had enough gas to start her back up and continue on down the road! First night was a Truck stop parking lot and lots of jubilation and two buck chuck! In the morning when the girls went to wash up I realized I’d left the key in the AC position and the battery was dead! Quick jump back on the road!
San Diego was a gem we stayed with Denver, Brenda and the man Carter who reminded us we were “ready to roll”! Their hospitality and amazing amount of help to get our final touches taken care of were paramount! Plus we all learned in the importance of modern plumbing! Left with joy in our hearts and tears in our eyes headed east to Nogales, Arizona and quite possibly our last night stay in a Wal Mart parking lot! The 94 is a two lane windy road that runs from the beaches of San Diego to the hot deserts of south eastern California. At night and in the bus it ended up being a bit of a roller coaster ride! But we arrived at the Yuma, Arizona Wal Mart parking lot around 2 am.
After another days drive we reached Nogales Wal Mart parking lot… are you beginning to notice a pattern? But here we were greeted by three other groups of Boon dockers!!! Old timers, young families and all on the road! Going to here or coming from there, sharing information about roads ahead and border crossings and amazing beaches! At this point I noticed I had a leak in my fuel line so I got out the tools and began to fiddle one by one our Wal Mart neighbors came to offer opinions and such! Two hours and two new fuel filters we were back in business! One of our neighbors had been travelling Mexico via RV for 10 years now! “This will be our last year in Mexico” said the older gentleman “were thinking Caribbean next year!”. After hearing about our adventure his wife brought us their Mexico Camping guide, it was the accumulation of years of notes and tips and a plethora of priceless experience! This type of generosity has become a common place on our adventure so far.
Nogales morning and another dead battery! I believe it might of been the background music from our radio that killed it but so it goes… Ended up being a blessing because the battery was old and wouldn’t of made it much longer! New battery and border here we come! The Nogales border crossing was a breeze! Our only close call was not having the original title for Alibi but they let us get by with the registration and after about an hour we were on our way! Groovy baby!
The adventure continues… Our first stop was Guaymas or San Carlos we arrived around 7 driving into the glowing orange sunset of the pacific coast of Mexico! After a harrowing search for a RV park that probably didn’t exist we found one in town and rewarded ourselves with a margarita. San Carlos is touristy and Trina and I ventured out to find the local scene while Alicia and Lauren went late night ocean swimming! Simply a stopping point we left the next morning for Los Mochis down the pacific coast and along the quiet fishing villages of our new road the Mex 15D.
Arriving again in the dusk of another unforgettable sunset we headed toward topolobampo. We found ourselves on an island known as El Maviri beach, since it was dark and the road was dirt we pulled into a restaurant parking lot. There were two woman closing the joint for the evening who gladly allowed us to stay over night even offering us breakfast in the morning. We woke to a Sunday fiesta on the island! People from all over the area came out to enjoy the beach and deicious frozen pina coladas! That morning was a little rough because the night before we were invaded while we slept! Not banditos or the infamous drug cartels! Our intruders were much smaller and set out for blood! El Maviri beach empties around 6 every night, we assumed it was because people were tired from their day in the sun. We were mistaking it is the infamous Maviri knats that got us while we slept. Bitten but not discouraged we enjoyed the day on the beach indulging in the large array of local seafood! We met a new friend names Jesus! His mother in law owned a restaurant on the beach and we parked by it the second night closing all windows and burning citronella in a feeble attempt to fend off our invaders! The next day Jesus rode around town with us trying to find used motorcycles but when all searches failed we decided to visit a friend of Topolobambo via Jesus boat! Pechocho the dolphin! There is a cove near a lighthouse off the coast where this one dolphin has been living for 21 years! He told us Japanese researchers several years ago took the dolphin out to the ocean only for it to return right back to its home in the cove! We jumped in! Pechocho was swimming around with a stick in its mouth we could see it twenty meters from the boat! Jesus told us this means hes in a bad mood! Haha Yess yes! Still he swam next to the boat and around us like we were new friends!
Jesus mom made us breakfast at their house in Los Mochis far from the Maviri knats and we were back on the road to our next experience! Mazatlan is a popular beach destination for people from all over the world and I now know why! It’s a piece of paradise! The RV park was across from the beach so we decided to get schwanky with a tepid shower and groovy little pool! Trina finally got to break out the blender and we made fresh margs on the bus! After spending a relaxing day at the beach and Trina getting risky by getting a shark tattoo on the beach! Henna of course but still very intimidating! I met a new friend names Axel (his mom is a big guns and roses fan!) we ventured into the large market in town around 6 to get dinner supplies while the girls found it impossible to leave the Mazatlan sand and waves. The market was a trip with hundreds of stalls and although it was closing you got the impression this was the heart of the city! Axel and I walked through the neighborhood surrounding the market with views of the whole city. When we got back the girls had made it back to the trailer park and met out neighbors Tim and June bug from Oregon they were like the rest of us happy to be! Aside from sharing delicious fish dip and cerveza’s with us they gave us quite possibly the best tip of the trip so far: Laguna Santa Maria!
A collapsed volcano that over centuries filled in with fresh rain water creating a lake. This is in my opinion the most beautiful place we’ve woken up at so far! Once again we arrived late just after sunset to the town of Santa Maria del Oro and asked directions to the Lake! The two old timers sitting outside a store in town described the road has “loco” Hahah they were being honest! But we took the drive slow and winded down through the forests to the Lake at the bottom. It’s legend or maybe truth that Jack Cousteau once put a submarine in this Laguna in an attempt to reach the bottom, he never succeeded. We also tried to swim to the bottom but as you can imagine we didn’t come close! This place is not to be missed if ever travelling across Mexico.
Now I write you from Guadalajara where we are visiting our dear friend Andrea from Prague! It’s a big city and so far very welcoming! Tomorrow we go to a huge market that is on the streets outside town every sunday to try and buy a moto usada for the back of Alibi! It’s difficult to post from the road but I will try my best! Love to all of you Be easy and stay groovy! If you need us we will be furthur on down the road to tomorrows sunrise!
Toph
beenjamminproject 