Trip South

Our trip to Lo de Marcos somehow made us feel like the Griswolds.  We didn't get away until almost 11:00 on Wednesday because the vet was late for Maggie's shots. That in itself was okay because we were only driving six hours to Los Mochis.

The truck decided that today would be a good day to have its battery go on strike.  A boost put us on the road fairly quickly.  Our neighbour insisted that we take his battery cables along.  They are the longest cables I have ever seen.  More on this bit of information later!

That short trip was quite an adventure....the roads were so poor that we bent our bike carrier making it useless.  It found a new home in a Los Mochis garbage. Our bikes now ride in comfort on the bed.

The Pemex station that many people recommended for overnighting turned out to be a big, dirty compound with large trucks running most of the night.  We spent the night squeezed between a large automobile hauler and a couple from Idaho who were doing the same boon docking we were.

Sleep was hard to come by so we were ready to leave Los Mochis early, but the truck wouldn't start!  A boost from the Idaho couple put us on the road again.

In Mazatlan we were leaving the vet's office...the truck wouldn't start.  Just what we felt like doing after we lost our faithful companion!  This is where the long cables came into play.  We had nosed into a small parking spot when we brought Maggie and we were surrounded by other cars. Fred had to get the vet to boost us and he was two cars away from our truck.  Long cables are now on my Christmas list.

We didn't feel much like shopping, but we needed a battery badly.  Sam's and Walmart here we come.   We were so confident that we could find a battery in one of these two stores that we turned the truck off.  No batteries and no starting!  A boost from a complete stranger got us on the road again.

We were on the last pint of gas in the truck when we pulled into a Pemex station.  We didn't dare turn the truck off and the attendant never batted an eye at the fact that the truck stayed running.  Only in Mexico.  Although we could have had someone two rows over give us a boost...remember we have the longest cables ever made.

After a very frustrating and painful day, we eventually found a battery that would keep us running.  The sad part of this is that we had purchased a new battery especially built for hot climates but chose to leave it in Eatonia thinking "this battery will be fine for six more months".  Can you hazard a guess who made that decision?