Copper Canyon Train - What a spectacular day!

Well, as the title says, yesterday turned out to be one heck of a day! We got up early at the hotel in El Fuerte because our driver was picking us up at 7:40am to bring us to the train station in time for our 8:15 train back into the canyon. Except by the time I finished writing yesterday's blog post, we didn't have time for breakfast, and figured that we would grab something from the snack car on the train.

The train arrived on time, and we were lucky to get seats on the right side of the train!

The Copper Canyon train - Divisadero to El Fuerte

We got on the road fairly early from Creel. We knew the train didn't leave Divisadero until about 1:30pm, but we still had to get there about an hour away, and we didn't know for sure that we would find a secure spot to leave Sherman alone for the night.

Filled up the propane tank as we left Creel. It was a little expensive, at 8.21 pesos per litre but we knew we still had a few more chilly nights so better to have enough propane.

Sometimes we are too cheap for our own good!

When we woke up yesterday morning, the temperature outside here at 8,000 ft (2,400 meters) altitude was -5C (23F). Even worse, it was only 2C (36F) inside the motorhome. To make you understand how cold that is, it was one degree warmer inside our refrigerator!

Brrr.

Wandering around Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico

We relaxed for the morning, and also brought our laundry over to the office. They said it would cost 50 pesos ($4.10 CDN) to wash, and 50 pesos to dry. They only have big industrial sized machines because it's the laundry they use for the hotel. We had a lot of stuff to do, including sheets, but we managed to get it all in to one load.

For 100 pesos ($8.20 CDN) it was worth it to have it all washed, dried, and folded.

Guachochi to Creel - Wow!

We had heard that yesterday's drive was going to be scenic. They weren't kidding! What a spectacular drive! It was only 150 kms (93 miles), but it took us four hours and fifteen minutes. We rarely got over 60 km/h (35 mph) because the road was so curvy. We think it's more curvy than the Devil's Backbone highway we did at the beginning of the month. And, that does include a lunch stop and a couple of rest stops.

But again...what a drive!

Another great overnight spot!

It's always fun when we start a drive not knowing where we'll end up staying the night. It's only very rarely that we end up somewhere less than ideal. Most of the time, we're pretty happy with our overnight spot. And then occasionally, we really luck out!

We almost didn't drive yesterday. It was really foggy in Parral when we woke up, and part of the reason we are taking the route that we are is because we had heard about the fantastic scenery. Which you can't see if it's foggy.

Parral, Chihuahua. Another city worth a visit.

We only had a short drive yesterday. From Pancho Villa's hacienda in Canutillo, Durango we would drive north about 80 kms (50 miles), crossing the border from the state of Durango into the state of Chihuahua to the outskirts of the city of Parral. Should only take an hour or so, right?

Wrong.

Shake, rattle, and roll!

We were a little late hitting the road yesterday morning because they locked the gate at the western movie set parking lot. Of course it's a good thing that they locked it...only problem was that we had to wait for the guy to unlock it!

Still...we were on the road before 10:00am. With a bit of a long drive ahead us...

The day did not start off well...

But thankfully it ended up okay.

You'll remember that we had been parked up for two nights at the back of the parking lot at the City Express Hotel in the eastern part of the city of Durango. We were getting ready to head out relatively early yesterday morning. We were pretty much all set to go, and I turned the key to fire up the engine.

Nothing but a "clunk"!

The city of Durango, Mexico. Worth a visit!

I can't believe that people from the rest of North America don't visit the city of Durango, Mexico. For some reason, it's not on the traveler's radar. I know why RV'ers don't stop on their way south, it's because there are no RV parks in or near the city.

But that doesn't stop us!

Into the city of Durango!

Up around 7:30am yesterday morning. Put the furnace on for about 45 minutes to take the chill off until the sun started warming things up. We had a couple of storms pass through overnight and even had some hail beating down on the roof.

But we woke up to blue skies and sunshine.

Fixin' Friday!

(Third blog post of the day! If you missed the previous two, you might want to read them first.)

Yesterday was "fix it" day!

Once again, we didn't get up until almost 8:00am. This is unprecedented for us. We're almost always up between 6:30am and 7:00am. I know, we had a one hour time change that we're maybe still getting used to. And, it was another chilly night.

I got up and put the furnace on, but crawled back into bed for another 15 minutes while things warmed up a little.

New Year's Day. Parque Ecologico El Tecuan.

We slept in this morning. Possibly something to do with the one hour time change, but more likely to do with the fact that it was a little chilly and we really didn't want to get out of bed!

We figured that we would make a quick hot drink and get on the road right away, letting the engine warm up the interior. So we got things ready and fired up the motor. When it was a little warmed up, I switched on the heater fan.

Nothing.

December Expenses

Definitely a more expensive month than we had planned. We had a string of bad luck with things going wrong, and then Ruth's tooth problems towards the end of the month to top it all off!

I know...many people will think that $1,860 CDN is not a bad month considering where we were and what we did. But still, we're about $500 higher than we should have been.

Let's take a look at the breakdown...

Back in the mountains!

What a day we had! We drove the old Espinazo del Diablo (Devil's Backbone) highway that runs from Mazatlan to Durango. There is a new toll highway that opened a year ago, but it's very expensive and apparently the road surface isn't in very good condition, so we decided to take the old twisty windy free road instead.

And we're glad that we did...what fantastic scenery!