RE: Lukeville Crossing
Galvanized, if you're staying for a month shouldn't you stop somewhere for a tourist permit? And for those others, remember if you don't want to limit yourelves to the Sonora Free Zone, the Hassel- Free zone, a little prior preparation will be be required: there is the Temporary Importation requirement to think about.
RE: Road Tolls - What Am I?
We know from previous years that at a particular toll location, what the cost should be beforehand. If tolls haven't been changed since we last passed through, they are invariably spot on ("autobus" towing a car in our case).
On one trip we were overcharged going south from Nogales, but were undercharged by the next toll collector, about the only time we've had discrepencies. The charge will usually show on the electronic board, but it won't always be correct as to the total and the same amount as requested by the attendant, we've found.
A diagram showing what is rolling on the ground and how its towed, pasted to the side window and viewable to the person manning the register, might help. But then again, how they ring that one in is still the question. As I see it, you should be charged simply as a bus (two axles with one dual)towing a car. The dolly's axle should be a direct substitute for your car's elevated front axle.
RE: What do you do if severe weather hits while camped?
We were camped on a Mexican beach, on a large bay. For two or three hours we ignored signs of impending danger - the constant lightning actiivty across the bay - as we watched Superbowl semi-finals about twenty feet from our coach. I think everyone felt the couple of strange, but light gusts or breezes, then the winds howled and the rain pelted down. Running to get our awning up was a wasted effort, too late, it was violently ripped. The door was jammed open by awning hardware and water poured in there and through open windows.
Minutes later wee moved from rig to rig, the rain still pouring down, the wind still high, helping others more fortunate get their awnings raised, with as many as eight people making that passible.
That was our only winter storm in seven winters there. We managed to replace the awning fabric while still there through a series of four time-consuming trips to larger locations. There were no RV stores!
Being from coastal British Columbia, we only know tornados and hurricanes from visual media, but have a new Weather radio in our sights, for trips south. It is disconcerting that tornados in some regions can hit as early in the year as March.
RE: Have Your Ducks In A Row @ Border
Friends we traveled with one year had a problem at the Sonoyta crossing the first year it was moved down the road about 25 Km. Their machine didn't allow a Mastercard to work. Right behind them, mine wouldn't scan either. Our friend produced his wife's card and found out it wasn't allowed, at least not without a marriage certificate, which they didn't have, so they were charged a 400 dollar deposit on their new Powerstroke. But only US money was acceptable and everyone in our group was primed up with pesos only and the bank wasn't open. They drove the 50 km round trip back to Sonoyta for the US dollars. We got through on a second card, a Visa, which worked.
Two other rigs we had driven down I-5 with were also sent back to the border at the same time because they hadn't copied their FM-T's at the Lukeville/Sonoyta crossing, and the copier at the 25 km temp importation point didn't have ink enough in their copier. We waited for them all at Anna and Edguardo's in Santa Ana and rang in New Year's 2005 together, but there was a lot of grumbling going on. Ever since, we've crossed at Nogales.
RE: Gas Motorhome Horsepower
Don't forget you can un-hook for the big mountains. Once you wonder onto long downhills (and uphills) that are 6 % grades, every safe opportunity should be considered. Braking in your towed vehicle going down is good, but why tax your engine on the uphill portions if someone else can drive the Jeep separated?
Going downhill, you may have to go to second gear and still need to brake, depending on your gear ratios. Don't expect to keep up with car traffic on the uphill sections.
RE: Quartzite?
Each year we stop in Quartzsite when going south in the fall on our way to Mexico and in the spring while traveling north on our way home. We do miss the big events in January: venders are either unpacking their tents/stores or packing up to leave, not there yet, or gone already. On our short stays at High Jolly, just north of town, we always meet up and camp with folks we see in Mexico where we go, another 1500 miles down the road. For us its our last stop for RV items before the border, where afterward such things are either hard to find or simply impossible to find.
RE: Decent place to fuel and sleep between Blaine and Portland
The Woodburn WalMart is the first stop for us, out of Vancouver, B.C. Then a stop at Canyonville, Oregon's 7-Feathers Casino, and next to Rolling Hills Casino near Corning, CA. We have also overnighted at the Camping World at Wilsonville, OR. Rest stops on I-5 are never in our plans, too noisy. If you need shore power all the above can provide it, except at the WalMart, and you may need to have a service done at Camping World for them to throw you a cord. The two casinos have actual RV parks on site.
RE: Do you turn in your 10 year tip after each trip?
If you can think ahead about the possibility of your buying a new or different RV, turn it in. It becomes useless if you change vehicles and creates a problem if you try to get another. We have used ours 4 times for the 55 or so dollars it cost. But if you second guess yourself about getting another RV each year since they became widely available (Dec. 1st, 2005) you'd have wasted approx. 165 dollars getting a new one again, let alone the hassel (most go through) doing it again and paying for the new one.
I have changed front windows where the sticker was attached, there was no problem, got it off and onto a sheet of plastic until my new window was in place, and applied it again. If there might be minor damage, who cares? You still carry the paperwork, I'm sure, and nobody is looking at it anyway. In an instance I know of well, a ten-year temp Importation permit was provided (pre-2005) and no sticker provided. That paper permit is now on its eighth returning year to mainland Mexico, nobody has asked where the window sticker might be.
RE: Any RV Parks near Los Mochis near the 15???
If heading up on the railroad, you could also drive to El Fuerte and board the train there. What you would miss on the train is mostly flat agricultural land, and get to sleep in a bit longer. If driving from the north take a road to the left well before Los Mochis. Campground was nothing to write home about but kept the rigs safe for your time away. A nearby motel could also store your rig. Get a taxi to the train station.
RE: Swine Flu Vaccine
We are hanging tough here in B.C., breaking a seven year tradition of hitting the road south as soon as we could after colder weather arrived. There have been promises of general vaccinations for H1N1 by the end of November but, given where that statement came from, we should get ours at the earliest just before the end of the year. Of course, I hope to be wrong there.
Someone mentioned Canada's "free health care." It is only free if you don't pay taxes, and Canadians know we are taxed in a multitude of ways, so its not free, in fact you already paid for it, probably a few years ago!
Rocmoc, we hope for your speedy recovery! Your experience and proximity to your southern border has given this Forum a lot of valued and appreciated information.
RE: 401 Rest Stops
Driving west from Sault Ste. Marie in early April I often looked longingly at the snowplow turnarounds, but saw the admonishing signs that identified them as no-go zones. A huge bump west of Thunder Bay sent us airborne and, looking around, there was a damaged semi layed up from also hitting it at speed. Talking to a trucker farther down the road revealed the bump had been there for more than a year.
Our rest area in Thunder Bay was improvised on a residential street, and served us for two days, we had been lucky, at close to 50 feet with our towed, to find an empty lot to park in front of, as 40 cm of snow began to fall. We lost another day parked at the Dryden Walmart when the highway was reported as closed near Kenora. The line up to get through was said to be 75 km, by a trucker and 100 km on a radio news broadcast. Two truckers were said to have died in a 7 vehicle pile-up there.
Yes travel in Northwestern Ontario can be an adventure. Its no place for an RV if there's a chance of snow! Even if there were rest stops, no doubt they would not have been open the first week of April, though the only snow we saw was at Thunder Bay. The driving distances are long but there are Huskys for fuel and food. We rejoiced at Wawa where truckers had adopted an Esso for nap times and we joined them.
RE: BC'ers, watch that ICBC rebate
robathelake posed the question, "Did you tell them that you were going before the trip?"
My post should have read,"What good would come from advising ICBC that you would be out of their coverage area?"
Sorry if that lead to confusion.
RE: BC'ers, watch that ICBC rebate
Over the years have never experienced problems. Have recieved the odd letter admonishing in a general way about a lack of documentation, but nothing else. Each year we bring a letter to the agency with all we have in receipts, and details regarding the policies and our time in Mexico. At the same time we change the liability value of them, that we increased for travel in USA.
What good would come from advising ICBC that you were out of their coverage area? Maybe just allow them a brief sigh of relief? But as a government corporation, I think not!
RE: FOOD & WATER SAFETY?
We use bottled water, bought by the garaphone (a 5 US gallon, plastic bottle) buy a bombo for it- a manual pump, which itself gets sterilized ocasionally. We always consider our main water tank contents as undrinkable, although we brush our teeth with it and always try to put in water from good sources, chiefly purified water from those commercial garaphones. We don't refill those, we exchange them. A couple of drops or so of bleach in purified water is used to treat vegetables and melons, and oranges squeezed for joice. A bit of bleach gets put into the main tank if we begin to get worried about it.
We cook most meals ourselves, but have never been ill eating out in seven winters. We know that even the highest priced restaurants (for instance, in Puerta Vallarta) can miss badly with their attention to preparation/service: as evidenced by half a group of six we know that came down with painful GI problems sending them flat on their backs for a week. You then realize that a high price paid does not always serve as protection!
RE: Lukeville to San Carlos
Thanks for your report, good information. By "fuel" do you mean diesel? Thats quite a jump from last year. Also, have you noticed what magna sin gasoline (regular) is priced at?
RE: Four 6V Batteries, how long can you go?
Three months, or longer if its sunny. Never run the generator, solar does the charging.
You will need to determine how much power you are using. I understand you have a good handle of that now, but you haven't said how big your tv is, what power demands it makes. If you have wet batteries check their fluid levels, the connections and wire sizes too. Get everything fully charged, note the voltage reading early in the morning and go from there, but make sure all the batteries are in good condition, you will need a meter for that. They should all read the same voltage.
We are careful not to allow batteries to discharge past about 50 %. At 12.2 volts we are shutting things down. Inverters usually draw power when not in use, we turn ours off when 110 V is not required.
RE: Mesquite, Nevada...
ticat900 said the number was 800-459-7529.
99damon advised it was 702-346-7529.
There are now two chances of being correct. Maybe they both are. Choice: its a good thing, Martha!
RE: Is it safe to buy rv insurance online???
Lewis and Lewis. The policies arrive separatly but on the same day after phone calls about three days before. They allow added liability, have a 500 dollar deductible (1,000 for total theft) and still cover geriatric vehicles for comprehensive if given acceptable photos.
RE: MUTUAL HANDSHAKE
Chris, qtla9111, has answered my questions, and it appears like a general escalation against drugs generally, within Mexico is taking place. Won't drug runners just lie low for awhile but then return with a renewed agression once money for the anti drug operation runs low? It is the end user who must stop buying that would stop the trade, stop the carnage.
Many illicit items that fly under the banner of drugs get bought, sold and traded over several borders, but the one at the top must surely be cocaine, from Colombia. Heroin and derivitives take other roads into North America. Marijauna can be cultivated locally wherever people live. Pills can be manufactured almost at will, although some ingredients used are now being regulated. But cocaine, commanding a high price from the usually highly addicted user, is the most lucrative, comes from one area, and is the most dangerous to those wishing to be in the gangs controlling its sale.
Another broad daylight slaying took place today in Vancouver, B.C., when two hitmen shot holes in a man seated in a car. Nobody believes it was over marijauna, pills or crystal meth. Nobody ever does.
Nearby Abbotsford now has the distinction of being the murder capital of Canada.
Heroin has bounced around the nearby streets for several generations, but the deaths associated with heroin are the users themselves, alone. This is another murder.
