We knew it was going to be a long day driving when we decided it was time to get out of the mountains and return to sea level. We had parked a little early in the woods to avoid arriving on the main road, Highway 16 where iOverlander had entries suggesting there are or have been armed “bandits.” As disinclined as I am to listen to alarmists one cannot simply ignore direct piracy warnings from other travelers. So, in short, we had set ourselves up for a nine hour drive.
Except for the extra time to be employed negotiating miles and miles of road reconstruction. That was not part of the plan as we had no knowledge of this massive undertaking of civil engineering and which also made the drive to Alamos a twelve hour day.
The rather wobbly red line is my attempt with my fat finger to follow our route approximately out of the mountains. It looks neither far nor difficult but the first half of the day was an average of ten miles an hour as we shall see. What a lovely surprise!
Tuesday was a day that dawned like all the others in these remote pine forests. A few trucks passed our campsite, an Army pick up on patrol waved as the soldiers went looking for trouble somewhere else and I did not envy them. I had tea, Layne made coffee, Rusty yawned as I put the Starlink away and we were cut off from the world and on the road by 6am. It gets light around five in these parts in June.
We always get a kick out of the signs that say “Caution! Dangerous curve!” and we wonder what makes this one worse than all the others. Every black speck on the road is a badly filled pothole with its own dip in the surface. Sigh.
Notice the power lines, even out here there is electrification because Mexico is surprisingly developed especially if you think it’s all burros and cactuses. Those exist too but the electric light bulb is everywhere.
Of course in the van we have enough electricity aboard GANNET2 to boil water for more tea. 600 lithium amps will run the a/c all night too. So we stopped, and yes I know we had a long drive ahead but tea is tea.
Rusty was in the mood too and off he went looking for I know not what. He’s becoming a traveler because he is a slow learner and after twenty months he’s facing off local dogs, not fighting but standing up to them and in the woods he takes off. It’s good to see. Check out the road here below:
Mile after mile of holes and patches. The pull outs are tricky because the layers of asphalt are piled one on top of the other. We’ve scraped our gray tank more than once on the raised lip of the road when pulling off. It sounds horrible but so far so good.
Lots of scenic views and curves ended up in a road block. Well bugger. 165 kilometers is 100 miles to Ciudad Obregon and it seemed half of this stretch was torn up. What a drive it turned out to be.
At first I thought there had been a landslide which needed massive intervention. But we went round the first corner and we could see the long white scar of massive road realignment. That was when we realized this was a long hard afternoon ahead!
I was glad to be at the back of the line but the cars and trucks ahead were throwing up a huge dust cloud so there was no incentive for us to hurry and keep up.
Layne was having her own gringo moment grumbling about the lack of warning “forty miles of roadworks ahead, alternative route recommended.” Yup we aren’t in Kansas anymore…
I have no idea how we might have passed an oncoming 18 wheeler had we met one. There was no organized convoy and no flaggers so we were on our own. As usual in Mexico it works without anyone losing their minds or demanding to see their lawyer. We just got on with it.
I do like being able to back up 21 foot GANNET2 without problems as it makes exploring and making a mistake easier to deal with. In this case I was keeping an eye out for passing spaces as I was pretty sure it was us that would need to reverse.
We did meet a few vehicles but those were the moments I couldn’t take my hands off the wheel to take a picture so it looks rather emptier than it was!
Occasionally the old road broke through the dirt and ironically it was far smoother and easier to drive than the roads we had been struggling on in Chihuahua State. Sonora does a much better job of paving and for us that counts for a lot. We therefore like Sonora more than Chihuahua!
On and on it went.
Passing space!
Highway 117 will be a freeway soon enough but we’ll remember this surprise drive for a long while.
Oh yes, more white scars on the horizon. That was a depressing moment. A 20mph speed restriction felt laughable to us but most Mexicans treat this stuff like it’s a race track.
What? Another diversion? In a diversion? Okay then…
Lucky for us it wasn’t raining.
Finally, without warning it ended. And still the old road was smooth and fast, and that meant we could roll comfortably at 50 mph only dodging the occasional pothole.
On the outskirts of Ciudad Obregon we got held up by an endless freight train. Perfect.
Two hours on the southbound Highway 15 toll road and were ready to turn inland to Alamos.
It was getting dark by then and photography was becoming fuzzy but I was frankly too tired to notice.
The road to Rancho Acosta RV park was familiar to us and saved us getting lost as we wound through this surprisingly complicated little town. Google maps is not at its best in Alamos, a town filled with picturesque alleys.
And then we rested.
A few days here with all the facilities including a lovely pool and then we’ll spend the weekend driving to the dentist and next week we’ll be back in the USA.
And hopefully back here in the Fall.
