AHHHH Beautiful Bucerias!

We were so glad to finally reach home on Sunday. The drive was great, absolutely no problems. All those worries about the border were so overrated!!
After we left Madera California we continued east towards the Lake Havesu region of Arizona. That is where our friend and Bucerias neighbour Barry lives during the summer. His wife Marilyn stays in L.A. to work from September-November for the school board. They will arrive here Nov. 16. Anyway, Barry is a wine connoisseur and has been buying and collecting very high end wines for years. He stores them in a cellar somewhere near his home in California. He had asked us to take a case down to Mexico for him. We were happy to do it because he is so good to us here and helps us with lots of things. We managed to get 15 bottles of wine, four bottles of Marilyn's coffee flavouring and her SEWING MACHINE in the car! OMG the van was riding inches above the pavement. We had a lovely evening with him and were back on the road early the next morning.

We stopped in Tucson Friday afternoon for a Costco cheese run. What a nightmare! Friday afternoon, rush hour, Costco 12km off the highway and when we came outside were treated to a wind/thunder/lightening/rainstorm. We still had an hour to drive until we reached the border and our hotel for the night. It was not a pleasant drive.

However, the next morning we were over the border by 6:30 and had a completely uneventful drive. We stopped overnight in Guasave at a no tell motel which was clean and somewhat nicer than the place we stayed last year. The redeeming quality about these "sex hotels" is that you get a secure garage attached to your room so the car is safe from thieves and vandals.

The very best thing about the drive this year was crossing the border Saturday morning. What a difference it made in the volume of traffic. When we reached the first city, Hermosilla, around 11am, we breezed through in about 15 minutes vs the usual 30 or more. Then on Sunday we reached Mazatlan at 9:30 and there was so little traffic. I HATE driving through Mazatlan as it is confusing and busy and dirty and just awful. Sunday morning we got through in half the time. So, if we do this drive one more time as I have always wanted we will definitely plan the days the same way.

I will do another post in a day or so detailing our first few days here, but right now I am very tired and need to get some sleep!

We are thrilled to be back in Beautiful Bucerias!