We leave Cleveland in one week.

Getting the RV cleaned up and checked out.
Found out that black water tank valve automatic actuator was intermittent, I ordered a new actuator from Phoenix, got it in a day at amost half the price of local RV dealer. I'll put in on in warmer weather when I need to dump.

My computer crashed this morning, Dell said that my warranty had just expired and it could cost as much as a new computer to repair it. So, I ordered a new laptop computer.
Then I renewed my warranty since I could still do that. Got a better help person who says maybe your memory needs to be pulled out and reinserted. Tried that and it worked like a charm, too bad there was no error message to that effect.

But now my computer works just fine and I can play with and configure my new laptop at my leisure. It is supposed to arrive by next Tuesday.

We hope to get on the road to Houston, TX early on Thursday the 11th.
I'll start posting more regularly now.

When we get to Mexico I'm going to try to see if I can get a Telcel Internet 3G stick for the computer. Last year my friends at Xpu-Ha all had one and they said the internet service was faster than the slow campground Wi-Fi. It costs about $40/month but it may give me better internet coverage. You can signup by the month, no long term contract.

We plan to head back to Mexico in November

We plan to head back to Mexico in November, see my Planning Map and Overall trip description with links to each segment.

Thinking about our 2010-2011 Winter Trip

Had a hot summer in Cleveland this year.
I got in lots of WW kayaking in WV
Peggy's only sister Bobbie passed away on July 5th after a long bout with Cancer.
Not much else going on here. Golf, Cut the grass, Kayak - repeat.
Planning a mystery play, train ride, dinner in the mountains of WV with friends this September.

Reading all about the drug wars in Mexico but the fact that all our previous trips to Mexico were so much fun, the weather so good, that we most likely will go again, leaving in mid November.

Peggy really enjoyed the Yucatan over the past two years so we will likely plan a trip similar to last year's.
We will start with La Pesca, head south to the Emerald Coast.
Stay at Catemaco and then maybe head back to Xcalak before heading north to Xpu-Ha.

If we hear from any of the friends we met over the past few years we could change our minds. We usually alter our plans as we travel and talk to others.

When I start getting some specific dates and routes I will post here and on our Mexico web pages.

Back Home Again

We left the warm weather of Mexico and spent 6 days visiting my cousin Rich & Tracey and their three boys in Houston. I  helped set up a new Netbook for Tracey and watched their contractors totally re-landscape their back yard. Only got a chance to bike one day with Rich & Cade since the weather was on the cool & rainy side. Their youngest boy, Finn, is now one year old and is getting really big.

We left for Atlanta where the weather was nice and warm and dry for two days. I got a chance to touch-up a lot of rusty chipped paint on the RV from being too close to the ocean for so long. We stayed 9 days with Peggy’s sister Bobbie who is still recovering from her bout with cancer last year. Peggy helped get her house back in shape and I helped put a new bathroom sink in.

The weather in Atlanta then turned cold with lots of rain. The temperatures were below normal for this time of year. On Wednesday, we finally left early for Cleveland, which is a 12 hr drive in our RV from Atlanta. The weather was dry and the traffic was light. We made it home ay 6 PM and found that the weather in Cleveland was now warmer than Atlanta.

This will be my last blog for our winter trip. I will update our slide show for 2009-10 when I get the time. Now I have to clean up the RV and fix the kayak rack that got bent when the kayak hit a canopy at a Military checkpoint.

Back to the good old USA

See Map13
We left the San Miguel campground early Saturday morning. It was MUCH easier getting out their gate than getting in. After a few back and forth's we were on our way at 8 AM. Traffic was light and the roads were good. I especially liked the new MX-101 south of Ciudad Victoria. The only narrow road now the whole way from the border to SMA is MX-80. It is only 30 mi long and the surface was fine. It was still early, so we stopped for the night at the huge Pemex at the intersection of MX-101/MX-180. We had a nice night sleep before leaving for the border at 6 AM.
When we were camped at Xpu-Ha we saw the nice patio rugs that Jerry and Claude had, the water drained right through and they looked a lot better than our blue tarp. They purchased them at a place called Top Hat in the Don-Wes Flea Market near Weslaco, TX. We thought it was only open on Sunday but found out that Top Hat was open every day. We decided to cross the border at Progreso since it was close to Donna, TX. We found out that the roads were torn up in Nuevo Progreso plus we had about a 20 min border wait. We like the Los Indios crossing much better, no town and good roads.
They make these mats to whatever size you needed. They sew up the edges and put in the grommets in about an hour or so. So we shopped the flea market and were on our way to our favorite restaurant the Long Horn Bar-BQ, 1/2 mi SE of TX-509 on US-77S marginal road in San Benita. This place has the best TX beef brisket and hot spicy bean soup anywhere. Cost is only $8 and they bring the all you can eat soup when they seat you. Service is super fast.
We spent the night at the Harlingen Wal-Mart, it has good security and is very quiet. We got a 6 AM start for Houston but got stopped for 30 minutes at the US security stop north of the border. We still got to Rich & Tracey’s home a little after noon. We will probably stay here until the weekend, then we will head to Peggy’s sister’s in Atlanta, GA.
We will head home after another week, If the snow ever stops falling in Cleveland .