Rusty got me up out of a comfortable sleep at the truck stop and we went for a walk. There’s a $15 a night campground in town which has hook ups and a rather unpleasant toilet. We need neither but there is a clean toilet here in the truck stop. The big draw of the noisy campground is that it is surrounded by a wall and is considered safe by fearful travelers. No one has bothered us here or at any other truck stop or parking area. and it’s free.
The “plaza de cobre” -toll plaza- is as modern as anything with a toll schedule up front and a receipt with your change. I don’t yet trust the electronic toll cards so we use “efectivo” - cash- which helps us break 500 peso bills ($25).
We’ve eaten before at this wrecked looking truckers diner and the food is excellent. Toll booths are often centers of commerce with people selling sandwiches, ice cold drinks and fruit to travelers. There are also usually spotless “sanitarios” -toilets -nearby.
This is the relatively new “libramento” -bypass- around Hermosillo and it’s Costco, speeds things up too.
A smooth two lane cement highway curves out into the desert around the capital city of Sonora State.
If cars need to pass they use the magic third lane. If you see a car coming toward you just move to the shoulder to let them by. No fuss no road rage necessary.
Not all traffic is motorized which is why driving at night is not advised in Mexico.
It’s pretty boring most of it honestly here in the north. It was weird not needing to use Google maps to find out way. Verizon has increased the daily use allowed for US cellphones with unlimited plans. You now get 2 gigabytes of data daily at full speed instead of half a gig last year, which means we don’t need to keep using airplane mode to save data. I think they are trying to compete with Starlink and it works for me. We use our US iPhones as normal here. Very easy. Amazing really.
We arrived in San Carlos at noon with plans to get ready for a few days beach camping.
The new hospital is being built very slowly alongside the main four lane highway into town. Almost a mile behind this lies the beach where we planned to park, separated from here by empty scrubland. One day it may be developed and the free camping may end. But not today.
The four lane highway into San Carlos, featureless, efficient and ready for new construction, more homes, more business, the local economy is booming.
Layne got some vegetables and beer at the upscale supermarket in town and then had me stop alongside the roast chicken shop of fond memory, remembered from last year.
Eleven dollars worth of chicken potatoes onion and chili peppers, enough for three meals.
Then we stopped to buy 15 gallons of water for $2:30. They fill a five gallon jug, I put it on the bed and siphon it into our thirty gallon tank. It’s a disgrace that utilities can’t provide safe drinking water that Mexicans can trust but for us it’s a convenient way to fill our tank with safe drinking water at a very low dollar cost.
Google maps will help you find Agua purificada along the road :
Rusty supervised operations. Some dogs came forward to check him out as he was trespassing on their street. Their owners let them out in the morning and they spend the day playing in gangs. I bent down as if to pick up a stone and they ran off leaving him in peace as you can see.
San Carlos facing the Sea of Cortez. The weather is perfect, warm by day, t-shirt weather with no mosquitoes and no humidity and cool at night for good sleeping.
After the shopping we drove back out of town to the beach. There are now two entrances, one for large vehicles at the end of the paved road next to some condominiums overlooking the water. And then there is the dirt road easily driven if dry and our preferred route as it is more discreet. The condo owners don’t like campers getting freebies where they pay to see open water in safety from behind their guarded walls. Recent rains created some mud puddles around here but they are drying out and the going was easy.
The beach is always public in Mexico by Federal law and some kind of access cannot be denied.
We returned to the same spot as last year, a short walk over the sand dune to the beach but mot too desirable as the water is out of sight. A quick trash clean up and we were settled for our first night.
Looking across the bay to San Carlos note the absence of waves on a great swimming beach.
And the condos where the paved road ends and the posts in the sand delineate the private section of the beach. The timeline is public but I never walk Rusty down there.
Inland is the scrub land currently undeveloped. The hospital construction is on the road barely visible.
The water is cold but tolerable…
…just over the dune behind GANNET2.
How long shall we stay? A week maybe and then south to a warmer favorite beach at Tenacatita. San Carlos is pretty perfect.
