South to San Carlos, Mexico

Mount Shasta, California    Over 14,000 feet high, last erupted in 1786 

 

 

The stress of waiting month after month for the completion of our purchase of Gitana finally ended in November. But that was nothing compared to the stress of putting Comocean "to bed", packing up and loading the car for the trip. I kept telling myself that this was the first time and following years would get easier. Many things that were important got left behind because there just wasn't any room in the car. The hardest to leave behind, and most important, was the sewing machine. The new boom and furling mechanism were securely mounted on the roof.

We left Blaine, WA on Tuesday Dec. 4th. Cinnamon was given his kitty sedative (NOT an easy task) and placed in his spacious carrier for a pleasant ride to Portland where we visited our friends Ken and Rita. Cin got to join us in the motel that night and he had a great time exploring the room. The next day we headed to Roseville, CA (near Sacramento) to visit family. I decided to see if Cinnamon could ride quietly on my lap and not try to crawl under the steering wheel or gas pedal (as he has done in the past when it was just he and I in the car).

To our surprise he was quite content to sit on the console between us, which only caused a little trouble when shifting gears. He was even interested in looking at the scenery from time to time.



Saturday we drove to Columbia, CA to visit our good sailing buddies Mel and Ann. They are refitting a Lancer sailboat which will be their Baja boat (another north/south boat duo). Sunday we were on our way again.

Here is a trick question for Washingtonians.

What is this?

You don't see this very often. Its not a Martha Stewart paint chip.

 

Its BLUE SKY. Did you guess right?
 

Driving through Arizona was a breeze with very light traffic and temps was perfect.

 

Crossing the border at Nogales wasn't too hard. Communication was a bit difficult since the guards didn't speak English and Greg had a very hard time understanding them. They looked through the windows of the car but were really only interested in what was on top. I showed them the picture of Gitana and pointed to the boom and the furler, and showed them the receipts. Once they grasped that these were new, they insisted on collecting 16% tax,  $156 US- ouch!.

 

 The route to San Carlos is on toll roads (25 pesos or about $2). The road is being redone and we switched from side to side as different sections were being torn up.

 

 

 

Approaching Hermisillo which is northwest of San Carlos.

 

 

Traffic was very congested in Hermisillo and driving through town wasn't a lot of fun.

 

"Flavor with Character - TECATE for you!"

 





I practice my Spanish by reading billboards and business signs as we drive along.

 

The trip from Tucson to San Carlos took close to 7 hours including the border crossing.

We arrived in San Carlos about three in the afternoon which gave us two hours to unload the Subaru before cars are locked out. Security is very tight at Marina Seca (dry marina).

Driving toward Marina Seca you can see Tetakawi (the volcanic mountain) in the distance. Unlike Hermisillo, San Carlos is very laid back and traffic is light.
 

The boats are moved from Marina Seca through town to the put in by low boy trailer. Tetakawi is visible from almost everywhere.

I wanted a sail-away ready boat, not a project boat, but I didn't get one.  The wiring is even worse than Greg thought. Now the really hard work begins. It took two days to figure out how to get 12 V power system up and running.

 

Good thing the comment on our neighbors boat is true.