Driving North

We left the campground after a fabulous get together Saturday night with all the overlanders except the French; why they sat apart and ignored everyone else I couldn’t say! There was lots of laughter and travel stories at the multilingual table and it was all great fun. I hope we meet at least some of them down the road. 

It was a long Sunday of driving. We are alive after it all and are making tracks north as we have a date with family members who have rented a house on the coast. 

We did stop to enjoy some spectacular canyons and mountain views which in the States would be turned into a National Park. 

The road was actually quite pleasant and when the smooth asphalt reached the level plain we had hopes for decent mileage, to get the road done and arrive after a fast hard  day behind the wheel. 

Then we hit a roadblock. We still have no idea what it was about but it was just one of those Mexican political protests that interferes with the lives of the working class. On this one we were saved a lot of waiting by toll officials who stopped traffic at a toll booth and directed us to get off the freeway. He said go through the village and on the other side you’ll find the non toll highway. Kind of but it wasn’t as simple as he suggested! 

Follow the locals, Layne said but I lost faith and figured the two cars in front of us weren’t quite local when they drove off in a ruinous dirt road into the desert. I didn’t create a route on the electronic phone map but just read and followed the street plan laid  out by Google. I did get us into a narrow alleyway (above) but by the time I figured our way of the village turning this way and that, but I was pleased to see the red sedan and the white pick up truck that took off in the wrong direction on the dirt were now behind us turning out of a side street. Pretty satisfying for the gabacho from far away who didn’t know what he was doing! 

Then we settled in to make up for lost time. Fat chance as Palm Sunday was apparently protest day. We got caught in another snarl caused by an unseen roadblock far down the highway. The cars got on the shoulder and drove past the big trucks to an exit that led to the free highway. One truck decided to block the shoulder to the gringo van while I was asking a couple of locals parked in the dirt alongside the freeway how to get out. Oh they said: “He’s blocked you!” Drive the dirt they said pointing to their own van parked next to the field alongside the freeway. So I did, by finding a spot that allowed us to drop safely to the dirt and drive forward alongside the 18 wheelers stuck on the asphalt. I stopped next to the offending truck and asked him why he was offended by me? I may be a foreigner I said but I have good manners unlike yourself. He looked away and said nothing. Then we were gone through the dirt and back on the bumpy free road. 

It was a good day. We didn’t get very far and when we found a gas station to park for the night it was dusk and threatening rain. We buttoned up and ate dinner in our home. More driving tomorrow of course.