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We left yesterday, Sunday morning, from the house around 9:30. We're on vacation and I am attempting not to keep a schedule. The recommended route to San Miguel de Allende is via Saltillo but we always choose the route heading south on Hwy 85 from Monterrey to Linares where we turn right to Galeana up through the mountains and down to San Roberto and on to Mahtehuala.
We ran into a small glitch after passing Galeana. Although the drive is winding, mountainous and full of pines, we encounterd about 15 kms of road construction. In rural areas, for some unknown reason and I will ask someday, they take out the whole road instead of doing one side and then the other. Well, it was gravel, dirt and bit of washboard. No rig damage, we took it slow and made it just fine.
Coming down into the valley we caught Hwy 57 which runs from the northern border of Mexico all the way to Mexico City. Beautiful drive, excellent four lane highway with lots of new truck stops along the way. Restaurants including local Mexican fare as well as; Domino's Pizza, Subway, McDonalds, a couple of fried chicken houses and more. Large parking areas, well-lit and excellent for boondocking with pay showers and some with wifi.
It was a long day, we took turns driving but it was a lot of fun. Arriving to Dolores Hidalgo, home of Mexican Independence and also the Ruta 2010, we pulled into a gas station and as always we paid with a debit card. No problem there, but the gas jockey didn't know how to print out the ticket and worse I couldn't get my factura (invoice) that I need to deduct my expense from my taxes. It took about 20 minutes and my eyes were shutting on their own. That's when we decided to stop for the night here in Dolores Hidalgo versus going the extra 35 minutes to SMA and hunting down the rv park.
We drove around a couple of times looking for a policeman or transit but to no avail. We always like to get a thumbs up for staying somewhere when we boondock. We came across the university and asked the guards. They said there was no problem and they welcomed us with open arms. They even insisted we park right in front of the school doors so they could keep an eye on us.
It turned out to be a pleasant evening with happy hour, snacks and a small dinner of mac and tuna. We watched local tv and off to bed. Waking up this morning it is 11C, just what I wanted. If I weren't such a prude (yeah right) I would go outside and run around naked. I love this weather versus the 40C we are having at home.
Today we will go into "el centro" and look around Dolores Hidalgo and then head out for the rv park in SMA.
On a side note, coming through San Luis Potosi, we were pulled over by transito. They said it was illegal to use the overpasses with a trailer and we should be using the lateral. They wanted to take the license plate off the truck, issue a ticket and have us pay on Monday. Fine we said, just tell us where we can spend the night. That took care of that. They gave us a warning and then told us how to get to SMA, "go over the next four bridges and turn left". We smiled at each other, got in the truck and went on our way.
You are making me "homesick" my friend! What beautiful country you traveled through, although you covered much more ground than we like to do in a day. I hope you went to Hidalgo's church for a visit and next door to see the actual bell he rang that morning.
ReplyDeleteKeep the posts coming!