Reflecting on our Mexico RV Caravan Adventure

We promised you all some insight into our Mexico RV Caravan adventure. And now that a month has gone by since we exited Mexico, it's a good time to give you some of our thoughts about that trip and what we feel about the possibility of us doing it again.

The trip was scheduled for 86 days. Just under three months. There were 11 other rigs, each carrying a couple. So including us, there were 24 people.

There was the first problem. In our opinion, the ideal number for this type of trip would be 10 rigs and that would include the wagon masters (us). When you're traveling with that many rigs, it's difficult to find places to stop for lunch and breaks. It's difficult at fuel stops. And it's difficult getting everyone organized at campgrounds. Especially at some of the campgrounds on the route that we did through Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Many of the places that we stop are not what you would call actual campgrounds. They are simply places to park in order to see some of the sights in the area. Sure, some of them have hookups, and some of them have facilities to use such as when we are "camping" at a hotel... but they are not campgrounds.

Also, the type of rig you bring on a trip like this is an issue. Smaller is better when touring Mexico by RV. We had two class B van style rigs on the trip and of course they were most maneuverable. However, they lose their benefit on a caravan trip because the trip, the route, and the places to stay have to be suited to the largest rig in the group. So while a class B is the best when traveling alone in Mexico, it is not necessarily better when traveling with a caravan. We had two larger fifth wheels in the group, and it's a good thing there weren't six of them. That would have been an issue because they are the least maneuverable. Motorhomes up to 36 ft (no towed vehicles allowed) are okay, but so long as it's only one or two in the group. Ideally, for a caravan like this would be motorhomes to 32 feet.

Many people were not fully prepared for the amount of dry camping that was involved. The infrastructure just isn't there in parts of southern Mexico, especially for a large group. Some people are used to being hooked up all the time and using as much water as they want. And we tried to teach people how to conserve, but for some it was an issue. The same goes for air conditioner use. You're in a hot climate with very basic electricity at most campgrounds. Many were at shared 15 amp electrical outlets that simply can't handle an RV air conditioner and there were more than a couple of times that the whole group didn't have electricity because one or two rigs tried to overload the system. Fortunately, we also had a few people who were properly set up, just like Sherman was. These people had no problem at all.

With the heat, we had problems with the dogs. We had an abnormally high (7) number of dogs on this trip. And when it was hot like that, you can't leave the dogs inside your rig with no air conditioning while you go out on an all day tour. So somebody had to stay behind to look after dogs. Usually, one of the dog owners would volunteer to do just that, but I know some of them were expecting dog care to be part of the trip. And even then, some people didn't want to leave their dog behind for others to look after. Ultimately, having a dog with you on this trip will bring the added responsibility that dog ownership entails. And you might miss out on some things because of it. We thought that needed to be better explained to people.

When you have 24 people essentially living together for three months, there are going to be personality clashes. We had very few issues, but we did have some issues. People learn to avoid those who they don't see eye to eye with, and fortunately it's pretty easy for everyone to find someone to get along with. And, we avoided all talk of politics. Many people aren't able to see the view of the opposing side, and unless you have an open mind (and most people do not!) these types of discussions aren't likely to end well. So we all made an agreement at the beginning that there would be no talk about politics.

And of course it's difficult to make everyone happy. We tried really hard to accomplish that, and it was more work than we expected. "Babysitting" is perhaps too strong of a term, but we found ourselves constantly having to help someone with something. Yes, the people paid a lot of money for our services and we didn't mind doing it.... it was just more than we expected and we're not sure the compensation was worth it. One of the reasons we have not yet committed to next year's trip is that we have not yet discussed this with the owner of the company.

In our opinion, the caravan route was too long for an 86 day trip. There are not enough stops where you have a chance to rest and to do your own thing. We drove 9,000 kms (5,000 miles) in under three months. We spent $2,500 CAD on fuel, and $795 CAD on road tolls.

Most places, you are there for two to three nights and then you're moving again. On the bright side of that, people who are not familiar with Mexico will see almost the whole country during this trip and hopefully will have found some locations that they would like to return to on their own.

Tours. You see a lot of stuff! One of the reasons you don't have any time to yourself is because there are around 26 scheduled tours. They are almost all full day tours that include a meal out. They're all professionally done, with bilingual certified Mexico tour guides. And you see some neat stuff, that you would not have an opportunity to see on any other kind of tour.

We found that a lot of people couldn't wait to get to the nearest Walmart or Costco, while Ruth and I have no problem finding whatever we need to survive on from the smaller independent local stores. The smaller rigs had a bit of a problem going more than a few days without a grocery store because they don't have as much storage are and of course smaller refrigerators.

As a whole, this particular group didn't roll with the punches very well. We had explained to them in our meetings in Texas before we crossed the border that this was going to be an adventure and that things in Mexico don't always happen the way you want them to. But there were still more than a few times where some people got unnecessarily upset at something that ultimately didn't matter. They were definitely more high maintenance than the group we had in February of 2016. Not everyone of course... there were several couples who didn't let anything ruin their day!

So I've talked about some of the issues here that we had, but when all was said and done at the end of the trip, I doubt there was anybody who didn't say "that was a fantastic three months". It really is. There are a lot of good things about it too. We thoroughly enjoy showing off Mexico to people who have never strayed outside of the tourist areas. You see a lot of neat stuff, and hopefully you make at least a few friends for life. Facebook makes it easy to continue to stay in touch with people, and we hope to see a few of the group in British Columbia this summer if our paths should cross.

So, will we do it again next winter? Probably. If we can come to an agreement with the owner of the caravan company. If we can't come to an agreement, we will do our own caravan tour with a smaller number of rigs, perhaps 6 to 8 and with limits on size so that we can get to some of the places that the larger rigs can't handle. We will see.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still the best deal out there for a two pack of zero gravity chairs with cup holder trays included...

Two pack of zero gravity chairs

And in Canada...

Star Wars Day