Nuevo Leon - The Scenic Route

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Unfortunately, the highway numbers don't appear on my or on the Guia Roji with the exception of major roads. On the map below (click it to enlarge), I have marked the three-week trip in black, the scenic route in red, and the by-pass from Reynosa, Cadereyta to Allende and then down the Hwy85.

The scenic route is from Santiago or Allende, to Linares. Linares to Iturbide, to Galeana, and on to San Roberto. From San Roberto you can connect to Hwy 57 South to Matahuala and San Luis Potosi or Hwy 57 North to Saltillo.

This is the road we took from Aramberri to San Roberto. Because of the truck problem we tried to avoid the 7000ft climb. It was much flatter with less curves, although it turned out the truck seemed to do better on the climbs afterall.

From San Roberto, the scenic route, which we took part of on the way to Zaragoza, truly is a worthwhile drive. From Linares over the mountains to San Roberto is only about a 2.5 hour drive. Lots of winding curves on a newly repaved and upgraded two-lane highway. If you are going to Saltillo and know the Hwy 40 route already, this is an alternative. BTW, construction has started on an autopista from Monterrey to Saltillo cut straight to avoid the curves that have proved so dangerous over the years.

What's Up On The Swimming Pool

Turns out the worker didn't come last Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Here in Monterrey they closed some businesses and schools because of the hurricane. He said he didn't know if it would rain or not. What was my mistake? Being the nice guy I am, I gave him some money up front. "Cuando el gato no está, los ratones hacen fiesta" (when the cat's away, the mice will play). So he came yesterday and almost had it all cleaned up. He said he would come today but I knew that it being Sunday it wouldn't happen. So I got in there this morning and scrubbed it down with acid, cleaned it up and emptied out all the crud at the bottom. I used a 15 dollar pump from a swamp cooler connected to a garden hose to get out the last of the water on the bottom. I just need to brush it down with chlorine this afternoon.