Tucson, Arizona and San Carlos, Mexico
09/09/2003 - 09/12/2003
Home Sweet Home for the next six weeks.
One RV
Temperatures in San Carlos, Mexico during September still hover in the high 90s and low 100s. According to statistics, most hurricanes impact the Sea of Cortez during September and early October. With these two factors in mind, the option to extend the US road trip seemed like a fun alternative.
Ten thousand miles in a rental car, eight weeks as guest in hotels and homes, and way too many meals in restaurants left us longing to stretch our legs, unpack and consume less food. With those requirements in mind, we explored the option of renting a place in Southwestern Colorado. With exorbitant costs quoted for a vacation rental in Telluride, the option of renting an RV came into the picture. Hey, why not...an RV is just a sailboat with wheels.
Our very first RV resort. Lots of amenities and lots of embedded RVers filled this Arizona RV park.
With the RV plan in place, a few logistical challenges remained. We needed to ensure Victor could keep caring for Whisper in our absence. More importantly, we needed to pay him. Then, we looked at how much stuff we had acquired over the last two months in addition to the serviced 60 lb. life raft and wondered how we would ever get it all back to Mexico. Finally, thoughts of the condition of Whisper kept popping into our minds. Oddly enough, renting a car in the US to take Mexicois challenging, but renting a big honking RV to driving to Mexico is no problema. So, that became our plan.
We picked up the RV in Tucson and spent the first night in the parking lot of the Westin La Paloma to continue our visit with Robin's mom. Needless to say, sleeping in an RV in the parking lot at a luxury hotel got us into the spirit of the upcoming adventure. The following day we stocked up with provisions and headed to an RV park just south of Tucson.
This RV park advertised it self as the winner of the nation's best RV park competition. As inexperienced RVers, we did not know what we were in for. Pools, grocery store, restaurant, laundry, gift shop, internet access, shuffleboard, full hookups, classes on any artsy craftsy thing are just a few of the amenities offered. Along with all these amenities come lots of rules and protectors of the rules. We were required to wear name badges since we were transients. Oh brother!
The sign in this picture informs us to "Prepare our share" for customs. We hope our share is very small.
Two Countries
As difficult as it was to leave "The nation's best RV resort", at 6:30 am we unplugged the "rig" (that's RV lingo for the RV) and started the drive to Mexico. Anxious and excited, we organized all our paperwork for the border crossing. In July, we exported several items for repair or maintenance. Exporting these items should allow us to bring them back without paying duty. Now, the moment of truth was upon us. Would we be able to get the items back into Mexico without paying duty on them? In addition to the exported items, we had a bag of miscellaneous stuff form West Marine. The total value of these items added up to around $80. We are prepared to pay duty on these items.
Visits to immigration, temporary vehicle importation departments and customs at the infamous Kilometer 21 cleared the way for us to visit Mexico in the RV.
Across the border at Nogales, we made our first stop. The RV did not fit through the normal gates, so we pulled over to where the buses stop. A very nice man with a machine gun asked us in Spanish where we were going. Fortunately, Robin remembered that phrase. We told him , in our best Spanlish, we were headed to San Carlos and wanted to declare our bag of West Marine stuff. The export/import instructions provided by the marina suggested we declare stuff at both this stop as well as the critical Kilometer 21 customs stop. The guy with the machine gun stepped inside the RV, opened the frig and several bottles of water fell out. He asked what was in the bottles to which we replied "Aqua" and offered him some. He closed the frig and told to proceed to Kilometer 21.
Summertime in the Southwest and Mexico is monsoon season. The resulting green desert landscape is beautiful.
From this first kilometer in Mexico all the way to Kilometer 21, we debated whether we needed to get some kind of paperwork at the first stop. The kilometers tick away as feelings of tension and guilt start rising even though we were doing everything by the book. Finally, we arrive. vehicle into Mexico, we need to get a vehicle import permit. No problem. Next stop, immigration to get the visas stamped. So far, so good. Next stop, customs. We go to the booth that indicates you pay duty. We try to explain the situation. " Barco(Spanish for boat), Export, Import, Duty, Blah, Blah, Blah..." Ah, we need to go to a different booth. After waiting in line at the other booth for about 10 minutes, we reach our turn. " Barco, Export, Import, Duty, Blah, Blah, Blah..." Ah, we need to go back to where we were the first time. Okay. " Barco, Export, Import, Duty on $80 worth of stuff, Blah, Blah, Blah..." A different guy comes up to help after our second attempt at trying to pay duty. He looks at our list of stuff and says "No duty". "But, but, don't you want to look at our boat import permit and our export list". Nope. Somewhat disappointed, we trundle back to the RV and fire up the rig to proceed to the gate. This gate is the final step. At the gate, there is a light. You either get the red or the green light. If you get the red light, you pull over and they inspect everything in your vehicle. As we approach the gate, the guy who told us no duty, waves us over to the inspection area. Here it comes. The guys comes aboard and opens the door to a cupboard full of books. We show him our $80 bag of West Marine stuff. He tells us to go ahead. "But don't you want to inspect the whole rig? Don't you want some duty?" He shuts the door and we are on our way.
Moments away from checking on Whisper, we drive down the streets of San Carlos with anticipation and excitement.
With customs behind us, focus switched to getting to San Carlos and checking the status of Whisper. Six hours later, we arrive in San Carlos. The first stop is the ATM to get money to pay Victor. At long last, we pull into the marina parking lot. From the parking lot, we can see the radar blipper on Whisper's mast. This is a good sign. At a minimum, she is still in the marina. Hey wait, there's Victor on deck to greet us. We hurried down the dock to see both Victor and Whisper. They both looked great. Victor did a great job of keeping the boat looking as good or better than when we left.
The beautiful anchorage in San Carlos is a welcome sight after so much time away from the water.
Minds at ease and sun setting, we drove to the RV resort to get a slip. Are they called slips in RV lingo? Robin stepped outside to help guide Duncan into the slip. Duncan backed the rig into the slip as Robin became dinner for a few thousand mosquitos. We fired up the air conditioner, ate a quick dinner, breathed several sighs of relief and went to bed.
The next day reinforced the decision to extend the US road trip. The primary order of business was to unload stuff from the RV onto Whisper. Hot, hot, hot. By 10 am, the temperature inside the boat was 92 degrees. By 2 pm, we were drenched with sweat and longing for some cool air. Adios Whisper! See you in October.
Duncan cranked on the AC in the RV and drove us back toward the RV park. We stopped at the boat dry storage area to check on a couple of friend's boats. All is well with their boats, but it was even hotter at the dry storage yard which is not near the water.
The RV park affords quite an awesome view of the Sea of Cortez. In a couple weeks, the view changes a bit with the impact of Hurricane Marty.
Before returning to the RV park, we decided to go for a little driving tour of the beach areas. First, we drove to check out the "Catch 22" beach. This is a beautiful white sand beach where they filmed "Catch 22". Then, we drove to the El Mirador lookout. More beautiful beaches and view of the Sea of Cortez made us appreciate the opportunity to explore in a vehicle. Back at the RV park, we enjoyed a quick dip in the pool and an outstanding meal at the restaurant.
Why is the Sea of Cortex never this calm when we try to cross her?
The view from El Mirador is spectacular. The more we explore San Carlos, we start to understand the attraction for retirees from the US.
Citation is sitting pretty in dry storage.
Crusader looks well supported from all angles.
The only illegal immigrants we brought back were these dead butterflies.
Three Days
Between high temperatures and only purchasing three days of Mexico RV insurance, we hit the road back to the US the next morning. Everything went smoothly on the drive to the border except for getting slightly lost in Hermosillo.
The lines to cross the border moved very slowly. Security seemed to be stepped up due to the proximity to September 11th -- we were returning to the US on September 12th. Border guards ran mirrors under cars to ensure no people or things not belonging under a car crossed the border. While waiting our turn, we realized just how suspicious we looked in a "CruiseAmerica" rental RV coming into the US from Mexico. Not surprisingly, as soon as it was our turn, we were sent to a "special" line. The really nice border guards directed us to the special line. In the special line, the very serious "I'm trying to catch you in a lie" interrogator tried to figure out why we drove to Mexico in an RV, spent one day and turned around to drive back the next day. Even to our own ears, we sounded so guilty of something. Questions about whether there was any living thing inside the vehicle were asked repeatedly. The interrogate then sent us on to the "not only do you look guilty, but you sound guilty" line.
View from the campsite in Catalina State Park.
Along with the other really suspicious border crossers, we were asked to exit the vehicle and wait under a scaffolding. Robin grabbed the passports and we walked over to the scaffolding. Looking around to figure out what was going to happen next, we spotted "it". "It" was a giant, xray machine with wheels and a cab. This machine drives along the line of vehicles, xrays them and the mystery guys in the cab determine whether you can pass. Keep in mind our vehicle is a 25 foot RV and the drives around/over it. After the xray, the interrogate and another guard, inspected the vehicle. At this point, we walked back to the RV starting worry about people being in the RV without us present. Finally, we were allowed to proceed.
By now, we are exhausted. Around 3 pm, we arrive in Tucson and head to Catalina State Park just north of Tucson. Tomorrow, we start the rest and relaxation portion of the RV trip. As hard as it is to believe with our life of leisure, we are really ready to get to southwestern Colorado and just sit in one place doing almost nothing for a week.