Nov 28,29,30 Benson -nothing exciting the last 3 days. We start out Thursday to go back to Douglas to get pictures of the Gadsden hotel’s staircase and stained glass window on our way to the Slaughter Ranch. This is a historic landmark now. We get out of thr RV park only to have the truck act up. We first think because it went down to 29 last night that the truck just needs to warm up. not so.still coughing, so we turn around go to a truck dealership. They can not take us until Monday. We limp back and extend our stay in Valley Vista RV park.

Gammons Gulch-Jay gets alot of his things running for us . He keeps in stitcher for over 2 hours.
Gammons Gulch a ghost town and movie set . A must see if you are in the area 

Nov 26 Sunday- Benson Today is cleanup day. We take a break and go and tour a ghost town movie set , Gammons Gulch,12 miles away. The founder Jay was never at loss for words. He kept us in stitches. He delights us by spinning yarns with both eloquence of a prized story teller. His wit is as quick as an outlaw’s draw and his passion for the old west may be unparalleled. He knew where every bit of floorboard and every piece of nostalgia came from. He has 17 authentic handbuilt structures and the artifacts were genuine. His father was John Waynes bodyguard and he himself appeared in movies. He has movie memorabilia (6 movies filmed here)

Nov 27.Monday-Benson Today we get our carpets professionally cleaned. To get out of his way we decide to drive to Fort Huachuca. We get there and they will not let us in. We drive to Douglas and stop in a visitor’s center for advice on a good restaurant and we tell her about our difficulty in the fort. She makes a phone call and they said we should have got in. We might try again another day. We have a good lunch then go across the street to the big old hotel to see their grand staircase. Wouldn’t you know it my batteries were dead and my spare was in the RV. I guess it was a good thing we didn’t get into the fort with no camera.

San Carlos-our last RV park in Mexico El Mirador overlooked a marina The best RV park in all of Mexico everything works for a change

Nov 24 Friday- Today is a travel day, 263 miles to Nogales. We have 3 tolls and are traveling on American Thanksgiving. We have no trouble at the border. The line up wasn’t too long except for the poor truckers. Their line up went for miles. They looked in our fridge and took away turkey sandwich meat and a turkey sausage as they were in an opened package, otherwise poultry is ok. No pork of any kind allowed. No fruit or veg. except cooked potatoes and eggs. We arrive at Valley Vista in Benson( a sister park to our Western Horizon we belong to , so we pay $7 a night. 2 couples from our caravan are staying next door at an Escapies park.

Nov 23 Thursday- a free day. We go for a short drive around the harbour at our Marina. Lots of construction, we will not recognize it if we ever come back. I spend the rest of the day making a CD for everyone of our trip. Tonight is our farewell dinner.

Nov 22 Wednesday- Today we go on a bus ride to a pearl factory. Very interesting. We see the process of the Black lip rainbow pearl from start to end. They use fairy dust to sedate the oyster while they insert a disc to the mantel with crazy clue to help form a flat pearl. They use a round white marble from Mississippi to help form a round pearl. We return to our RV’s to have lunch then we are off for a boat cruise of the harbour. We have beautiful vistas of San Carlos colourful homes and hotels against the backdrop of the San Carlos Mountains. We have unlimited margaritas chips and salsa. The water was flat calm and we enjoyed a slight breeze. It felt great. It lasted 2 hr.

John Waynes home San Carlos
a flat black lip rainbow pearl in the making
San Carlos oyster farm
our harbor cruise boat San Carlos 

Nov 22 San CarlosWednesday- Today we go on a bus ride to a pearl factory. Very interesting. We see the process of the Black lip rainbow pearl from start to end. They use fairy dust to sedate the oyster while they insert a disc to the mantel with crazy clue to help form a flat pearl. They use a round white marble from Mississippi to help form a round pearl. We return to our RV’s to have lunch then we are off for a boat cruise of the harbour. We have beautiful vistas of San Carlos colourful homes and hotels against the backdrop of the San Carlos mountains. We have unlimited margaritas chips and salsa. The water was flat calm and we enjoyed a slight breeze. It felt great. It lasted 2 hr.

Nov 21 Tuesday-another travel day-240 miles to San Carlos. 8:30am 72’ We have 5 toll again today 41.10. We go through another fruit check point.Temp. goes to 93’ Bill is Ok as we are in an airconditioned comfortable truck. We arrive at 3.15 and get a spot with a view of the marina. We have free WIFI in our rig (bonanza) We are here for 3 nights at El Mirada RV park. They have a pool, hot tub and tennis courts.

Nov 20 Monday- a travel day. 250 miles 5 tolls-62.80 It is 95’ by lunch time. We get 3 apples taken away at a fruit inspection station. I thought they would be OK as they had a Washington sticker on them. Tonight we dry camp at a Pemex fuel station with a secure gate. 6 of us go for dinner at the gas station restaurant and we have one of the best meals-about 12 prawns cooked in garlic with rice and a salad. It got up to 99 degrees.

Nov19- Sunday- today is a free day. 2 couples go fishing . One catches a 71lb sailfish. Bill takes the truck and fuels up I go check e-mails. We have a margarita party with fresh prawns provided by staff , we all supply pot luck. A great time was had by all.

Street vender Mazatlan
Mango trees
Making the caning 

family operated leather factory- he is making sandels
a big load bfor the little guy
blue agave for tequila
pineapples from the agave plant- takes 6 years mature 

Nov 18 Saturday- 5 of us take a tour. We do some birding ,we see an Mexician eagle on a cactus, some vultures and a yellow oriel. We go pass a wealthy rancher cemetery( very large and fancy). Then we go to the tranquil leather town of La Noriel. Here they hand make sandals and saddles. We visit the zocalo and the old church(1756).Unfortunately they painted over the old façade outside . Inside was original and beautiful. Next we go for lunch in a Mexician home. Very interesting. The tequila factory next. We pass fields of blue agave, beautiful. They had a 452 year old monkey tree, (huge). We get to taste the tequila. Back by 2:30. Tonight we go for a fiesta at Playa Mazatlan, lots of fun. All the booze you wanted, payed for by the company

our rig parked nexted to beach in Gusave -good shelling
Mazatlan cliff diver- not as exciting as Alcapolco
Market Mazatlan old town
Turning wheel at concordia 

Nov17 Friday-Mazatlan . We go for another bus tour this time out to the country. We pass chicken farms, hass avacadoes papaya and tomatoe farms also mangoes. They also have a frog farm catering to Japan. We see hand made brick factories too. We get out at a place called malpica . Here they make hand made cement decortative tiles. We stop at a furniture factory where we watch them carving and a pottery factory where we watched them wedge clay. This is in the town of Concordia Next we go to a quaint cobblestoned town of Copala, a silver mining town. We visit a church 1756 . We have lunch at Daniels famous for their banana coconut cream pies

Nov 16 Thursday-Mazatlan. Today we get a bus tour of the city. First we go for breakfast at Panama on the Co. we have a huge shrimp omelet. Mazatlan is the shrimp capital of the west coast. They take us to old town and see the zocalo ( main square) . We go inside the Cathedral- stunning. Then off to the market where I buy Bill some tank tops and a beefsteak tomato for 30 cents. Pat and I were late for the bus (8 min) Bill not to happy with us as everyone had to wait. We return to RV park after the guide points good restaurants on the way. Happy hour at 4. After dinner I go across the street to a hotel with my computer to see if the have WIFI. Yep bingo.

Nov 15 Wednesday-We leave for Mazatlan today. 7:30am 66’. We have a little excitement as our bedroom slide will not come in. So we find the instruction book and find out where we put the crank and pull it in manually. It works fine. We have 5 tolls to go through today (61.66). Beautiful sunny day up to 92’. We arrive at 2:30 at Playa Escondita RV park. The beach is across the hwy. After a park briefing and happy hour we have dinner and 3 couples go to find Wal-Mart, a huge store. Home Depot is opening tomorrow It also is huge. A good place to stay away from.

tamarahara heading home
They come up from the bottom to sell their goods
riding the rails in side the comfort of our truck
Los Mochis agricultural area 

food vender Diversadero
Copper Canyon
Our rig tied on to flatbed of train
Getting a great view not much room 

Nov 14 Tuesday-Today is a free day. Gusave – Bill goes to town with the boys I walk the beach. Nobody on it. Today I learn how to put music on Photo story 3. It is very hot again today in then 90’s but we discover we can use the air conditioner, so Bill feels better. Our satalite dish doesn’t work here, so we read. Bill saw a large snake, a boa constrictor they said. Some one picked it up and moved it to the other side of the park. as it is a good snake . (Kills rats) We have a delicious seafood dinner.

Nov 13 Monday-A travel day. 67.2 miles to Gusave. Sunny68’ we unload at 7am no problems. We are all ready by 9:30. We have a quick briefing and head to Gusave. We arrive by 12:15 80’degrees lovely and sunny. We are right by the beach. We are at Hotel Moro Playa Las Glorias. I go shelling; Bill starts to die with the heat. We see the green flash at sun set. We go to dinner as we find out they have Prawns stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon, Bills favorite. Delicious but many mosquitoes so tomorrow we will put on long pants and spray as we go for a company dinner here tomorrow.

Nov 12- Sunday-Bahuichivo to Los Mochis-the train hooks up at 7am. 45’ today 156 miles,11 hours . We go through 86 tunnels, cross 37 bridges and climb 8000ft . The highest bridge is 355 ft high. The longest tunnel is just over 1 mile. It took 86 years to build the train track. We go from pine forest in the highlands to bananas and desert flora. The temp. went up in the 90’s. We can’t wait to take a shower. Our 2 big and 1 little solar panels are doing the job keeping the batteries up and we have plenty of water 100 US gallons.

Nov 11 Saturday-It is not quite as cold this morning. It warms up really fast when the sun comes up. We go for breakfast at the hotel in Diversidero. We leave for Bahuichivo 5000’ I try sitting in front of the truck in a chair outside on the flatbed. We are lucky as we have the small van in front of us so we can see. We are waiting on the side line for the passenger train to go by. At Cerocahui we get a bus to take us to the Mission 1781. We see the girls school and boarding house. They have 75 live- ins and 250 kids attending the school. The live- in sat on the steps and sang a song for us. We had another good meal in town, then the bus takes us back for the 30 min. drive to our rigs.

N0v.10 Friday-Sunny we woke up to freezing temp. 8; 45 am engine hooks up and we leave 45’ now. Today we only go 35 mi. to Divisidero . Our first stop for a great view of the canyon 7,450’ ( Urique Canyon). We buy lunch from the venders-1.50 for chili relano (very good) a chill stuffed with cheese and breaded and fried. 1.50 For a burrito stuffed with meat and 1.50 for a tortilla stuffed with potatoes. A bus picks us up at 12 and we go to an airport then to a new overlook they are working on much like the Grand Canyon in Arizona. They have also built a swinging bridge, not opened yet. Next we go to the ladder the Tamarahar use to climb up the Canyon. (Incredible) They carry a big bag of crafts up. We then go to the hotel we stayed in 1998 & 2001 Hotel Mansion Tamaraha. We get to use the swimming pool, sauna and steam bath. They also give us 2 rooms for any one who wants to shower. Some walk to the rim. We have a great dinner and the bus takes us back to our RV’s on the flatbeds in Diversidero. We are lucky as the Mexician caravan behind us has a very knowledgeable wagon master and narrates on the CB which we all have on.

on the bottom
Wash day Batopilas river
narrow street of Batopilas 

Nov 9 Thursday-The train leaves at 7:10am. It is only 37’ this morning, but it warms up fast once the sun gets up. We only have 69 miles to go today back to Creel. We arrive at Creel 11:45. I quickly make lunch and walk to the RV park to use WIFI. Dinner is at 6pm so I will try to download my pictures.

Nov. 8 Wednesday-Today we leave very early 5:37am to go to La Junta 69 miles away to load our rigs onto the flatbeds of the train. It is still dark but is light by 6am. Loading was very interesting. We are the 3^rd one to load. We have a very narrow track to go over as we have to go over 4 flat beds. Everyone gets a flatbed for themselves. We are very close on the left side. We even have to get out of the truck on the right side. The right side has a railing. We stay overnight here and go for dinner on the Caravan.

lost Cathedral of Saltavo
Tamaraha weaving
We met him on our way back 

our bathroom at bottom of canyon-note huge tub shower
road down to bottom
narrow streets of Batopilas 

Nov 7 Tuesday- Bottom of Canyon Today after a hearty breakfast we do the return trip of stunning scenery and scary twists and turns. We seem to meet more cars, trucks goats and cows on the road. We make it back safely and it is our turn to have a pot luck fixed for us. We leave early 5:30 am for La Junta where we will load on the flatbeds of the train.

Nov 6 Monday- Today we get a tour of the town Batopilas. It dates back to 1600. The streets are very narrow. It was a very rich silver mining town. It is much larger than Creel as it is about 3 miles long with 7 hotels. The guide shows us the old quaducts that accompany the river. ( not in use today) Next we find the lost Cathedral of Satevo-300 years old. Why was such a beautiful church in such a remote area??? It stands gracefully out of place. It is about 4 miles from town on a very rough road. We go a little further to a very poor community of Tamaraha’s . They let us look around I give them a large bag of beans. They are extremely poor. Now we are of to see a Hacienda owned by the silver baron Alexander Shepard. It was the 3^rd place in all of North America to have electricity. At one time it was incredibly beautiful now it is in ruin. They want to open a small part of it by Easter as they are building an international airport in Creel.

Nov 5-Sunday Mexico We leave this morning for our trip down to the botton of the Canyon. It is undescribable, the beauty and the ruggedness. We get new respect for bull riders as half the road is paved but the other half is a washboard dirt with many twist and turns and very steep grades. Bill had to look at the wall side and not down as at times it was a sheer drop off ,no guard rails. The trip takes 6 hours. Our hotelat the bottom is beautiful and our meals were wonderful.

Nov 4- Saturday creel Our group was too large (12) as the hotel only had 11 rooms so we split in half odd and even numbered rigs . Even goes down 2^nd We are #10.so we have to do the pot luck for the return of the first half today. It was well receipted as everyone was very tired.

Nov. 3- Friday- Today we wake up to fog, but it is warmer then yesterday, in the high 40’s. We get a 2 hr. bus trip of the town of Creel. We go to a fancy hotel on top of a hill overlooking the town (Sierra Bonita). They have Bengal tigers with a cub, a raccoon and coatis. We also saw some deers. They took us to a large cave where they sometimes have concerts. It was owned by the lions club. We stop at a kindergarden where a Pinata party is going on. Real cute. We get an awakening in how poor these people really are . Min. wage is 8:00 a day. After we have lunch in our RV we walk into town. It is in the 70’s now. Tonight we have a campfire with desert and coffee at our tailgunners site.

Mennonite lunch
Apple country- These are nets to protect from hail
Tamarahara Indians selling their craft in a cave