Ottawa to Cuernavaca, Fall, 2007
Monday, October 22nd, 2007 - Setting Off in Sunshine
Left Ottawa on time at 9 am. Was going to get gas as the tank was only 1/4 full, but the car told me I had 160 km in the tank and a sign on Prince of Wales told me it was only 80 km to Prescott, so off I went in beautiful sunshine in a blue sky and 17 degrees outside. By the time I got to Prescott it was already 20 and when I crossed the border it lept up to 77. Bought some gas at $2.979 per gallon (about 77.1¢ Cdn per litre in Ogdensburg - compared to 97.9¢ in Ottawa. When I arrived in Syracuse it was already 82 degrees, a veritable heat wave - time for shorts and sandals!
Rest stop outside Watertown, NY
Stopped for lunch and some window shopping at the Carousel Mall and then onward. By Rochester the thermometer registered 85, then it started cooling off past Buffalo. When I arrived in Erie, PA it was already down to 77 and then I settled in to the Courtyard where I had stayed the last time. My room on the 5th floor has a balcony with a good view of Lake Erie, but there does not seem to be much activity on the lake.
Listened to Canadian radio most of the time, Ottawa until Watertown, then Kingston and now here in Erie, I am listening to Brantford from across the lake. Lots of Ontario cars on the road, heading my way.
Next door to the hotel is the Safari Grill, where I ate very well the last time, but they told me I would have to wait 45 minutes for a table, so I went to Applebee's, a chain restaurant, and had their smallest steak, 10 oz, which came with "two sides", so I picked baked potato and creamed spinach. Amazingly, the steak was a beautiful sirloin, no fat, no gristle, tender and tasty and cooked exactly as I ordered it, medium rare. My only small complaint might be that the potato came "pre-dressed" with butter and sour cream, which I would normally have resisted. I also had a beer, Coors Lite, almost Canadian. I left nothing on my plate, not even the potato skins, so good was everything. I was pleasantly surprised! And only $13.34, plus a $2 tip.
Well, that's it for day one, with 433 miles down (697 km) and many more to come.
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 - Rainy Ohio
This morning, after a good sleep, I awoke early to a pretty solid rain and a temperature of 66 degrees. Not conducive to shorts and sandals. I skipped breakfast for the moment and headed off at 8 am. I then stopped at 9 for an Egg McMuffin and orange juice at a handy McDonalds. The temperature continued to drop to 55 and stayed there all day. So did the rain, all day, sometimes hard and sometimes just a constant drizzle, but never letting up. No sun, no warmth.
With nothing better to do but drive and shop, I spent some time around noon at Easton Town Center mall in Columbus, Ohio, an outdoor mall, while the rain had reduced to a drizzle. A little later I stopped at another mall, Kenwood Town Center in Cincinnati at around 3 pm, an indoor mall, as it was raining hard and I had to use an umbrella to and from the mall. Not only better prices than in Canada, but much greater choice. Then on to Louisville, Kentucky, arriving before 6 pm to spend the night.
Outdoor Mall at Easton Town Center
Gas was $2.899 in Ohio, and then $2.769 in Kentucky. Did 455 miles today (733 km), thanks to the earlier start. That's about 890 miles so far, with about 1300 to go to get to Laredo, Texas.
Opted for fish tonight, two nice thick fresh grilled filets of catfish, blackened cajun style at a local place. Don't know how much omega-3 catfish has, but it was very tasty.
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 - More Drizzle in Tennessee
This morning after a hi-carb breakfast, orange juice, Wheaties and a bagel, I set off at 8:30 in a cool, 55 degree grey day with a steady drizzle. Kentucky really looks lush, very green, deciduous trees with dark green leaves. Firs too and the odd gum tree. Or maybe it was just the rain and the dark wet limestone cuts by the side of the road. And the green pastures. Soon entered into the Central Time zone and gained an hour. Crossed from Kentucky into Tennessee and next passed through Nashville, home of the "Grand Ole Opry" and then down the "Musical Highway" to Memphis, home of Rock and Roll. In Nashville the sky cleared for a while and the sun came out, but then it closed in again and the drizzle continued.
Along the way was a big sign for Birkenstocks, (and another for Mephistos), and it turns out that a new pair of Birkenstocks was one of the items I forgot to get before leaving Ottawa, so I pulled off I-40 into a suburb of Jackson, Tennessee (not Jackson, Mississippi) and followed the signs. They had exactly the model I wanted in my size, so I was happy. As I was finding my way back to I-40, I noticed many yuppie cars and a Starbucks, so I stopped for a latte and a read of USA Today in a comfy leather armchair to get caught up. Then on to Memphis, arriving early at 3 pm but deciding to stop for the day. Settled in and did some browsing around the shops and ended up at Corky's for a generous feed of their "dry" ribs.
My fill-up in Tennessee was 2.679, but I noticed here in Memphis it is going for $2.599 and even saw one at $2.569 (about 65.7¢ Cdn/litre). I am clearly going in the right direction.
The day ended as it started, rainy and 55 degrees. It looks like Texas is basking in sunshine and warmth, so it can only get better.
Thursday, October 25th, 2007 - Sunshine in Texas
This time after another simple breakfast, with both orange juice and a banana for potassium, I set off at 9:30 am, again in drizzle and a cool 50F. The night before I had noticed the weather report showing rain over most of central USA stopping at the Arkansas-Texas border, so I was prepared. Back on I-40 I crossed the mighty Mississippi over a steel bridge, but fortunately not like those rusty old box girder bridges that have been falling down. Instead it was a steel box girder arch suspension bridge and it was freshly painted a nice pale green.
So now I was in Arkansas, heading for Little Rock. Again in Little Rock I saw gas for sale at $2.599, but as I switched from I-40 to I-30 and headed further toward Texas, I had to fill up in somewhat isolated parkland where the price had gone up to $2.699 again. There was a Citgo station selling for $2.639, but I did not want to support Mr. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
There seems to be a disturbing trend in automatic card readers at gas stations now, they want you to enter your Zip Code. As we Canadians don't normally have those and it won't take a bogus one, we have to go see the attendant. Ruins the purpose. I complained and they told me some story about stolen cars or was it stolen cards? Twice since that I have been faced with that and have just cancelled and gone across the street for another station. Hope it doesn't get more pervasive.
After that gas stop, where I also had a quick lunch (fill the tank on the car and on the person) I headed on toward Hope, Arkansas, birthplace of Bill Clinton and proud of it! Maybe it was the name, but just then the sky lightened and the ceiling was raised. By the time I reached Texarkana on the Texas-Arkansas border I was in brilliant sunshine with only a few puffy white clouds. At last. The temperature which had been hovering around 50 to 47 now zoomed up to 60. It reached 68 when I arrived in Dallas. The weather report was dead on. Definitely shorts and sandals tomorrow.
One little annoyance was not finding my sunglasses, now that I am in sunshine again. I stopped at a rest stop and searched everywhere I could think of and then continued on without them thinking I had left them behind somewhere. It was only after I settled into Dallas that I found them in a very obvious place. Well, I am happy I didn't lose them and tomorrow's driving will be good.
One other item of note: ever since Watertown, NY, I have been merely following my navigator's directions and it has been steering me over territory well known to me. Interesting, this modern technology.
Friday, October 26th, 2007 - Real Warmth in Texas
Left Dallas at 10 am after a more hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage, as well as orange juice and a banana. This time I was dressed in shorts and sandals, wearing sunglasses even though it was only 60 degrees as I left. However there was a bright sun in a blue sky with nary a cloud to be seen anywhere. The temperature climbed steadily to 82 as I passed by Waco, where there stands still, the oldest suspension bridge in the country, across the Brazos River, built not for cars, but for cattle to cross the Brazos as they were driven to market. Next I passed through Austin, the state capitol, of course, where the traffic on I-35 got so congested downtown that we were stopped for good lengths of time and then stop and go for a while. This was at 1:30 Central, so probably not any rush hour.
Finally, around 3 pm I ended up at the La Cantera mall in San Antonio, thanks to the excellent navigation system. After scouting it out, I then asked the navigator to find some nearby hotels and it led me directly to the one of my choice. I settled in early and then headed back to the mall in time for 5:45 pm whereupon I lined up with about 400 people wanting to buy the new Apple operating system at 6 pm sharp.
Lining up at the Apple store
Bravo! Cucina Italiana
On return to the hotel, I installed the new OS and immediately tried out the email enhancements.
Saturday, October 27th, 2007 - Mexico at Last
Left San Antonio at 8:45 am after a good breakfast, in shorts and sandals in 60 degree weather with a pure blue sky. Topped up the tank at $2.699 in San Antonio. Hit the border at Laredo just before noon and nobody even looked at my passport or anything. I went to the car permit place and got my 180 day tourist visa and the car permit in less than 15 minutes and was on the road to Monterrey before noon. Amazing.
Now we are back to metric, so the temperature is now 24 and soon goes to 28. At the border, I checked my trip odometer and I had done 3,560 km so far (2,212 miles), with over 1,000 to go. I hit Monterrey by 2 pm (about 200 km) and Saltillo by 3 (another 100 km). Got gas there at 7 pesos a liter, that's 62.5¢ Cdn per liter, cheaper than in the US and much cheaper than Canada. Arrived at Matehuala at 5 pm (another 200 km) and settled in at Las Palmas - the Midway Inn.
Las Palmas - the Midway Inn
As I was going for dinner in the dining room, two ladies from St Catherines, Ontario were pleased to have found a fellow Ontarian and wanted me to join them, so I did. We ended up all having a nice fish with garlic dinner. One had been coming down to Ajijic for 10 years, each time for 5 months and was an old hand at this. The other, a retired school principal from Timmins, now selling wines at one of the wineries in St Catherines, was only staying for two weeks as the other's guest. I suggested she try the Baja California wines as they are very good, but they were set on beers - Coronas of course. To be a good sport, I had the same. It was a pleasant dinner. I tried the wireless internet and got connected to their server, but it wasn't connected to the internet and there was nothing they could do, they had a call in to the right people, but it was a weekend and probably wouldn't be fixed until Monday.
Sunday, October 28th, 2007 - Home!
Overnight, we had changed in Mexico from daylight savings to standard time, so, I arrived at breakfast at 7:15 am. After a hearty breakfast, the "Americano", orange juice and fresh fruit - pinapple, papaya and melon, two eggs over easy with bacon, refried beans and hot sauce, as well as toast, marmalade and coffee, all for a mere 88 pesos, tax included, less than $8 Cdn, I set out on my way at 8 am sharp. By now I was running low on pesos, down to about 400, and with one fill-up and several tolls to go, I tried the Wal-Mart in Matehuala for cash at their ATMs. I tried my TD card in the Banamex machine and was declined and then my new HSBC card in the HSBC machine. It too was declined. I decided Matehuala was cut off from the rest of the world in both internet and ATM access, so I would try later.
I knew I had no more tolls until San Louis Potosi and and enough gas for much further, I decided to go into SLP instead of taking the bypass. Fortunately, just before SLP (another 185 km) I noticed one of the roadside restaurants had an HSBC sign outside it - something new. I went in and tried my HSBC card and was declined again, so I tried my TD card again and was rewarded with 3,000 pesos. So, I could take the bypass. Another 185 km further, I was on the Queretaro bypass, another toll and time to fill the tank again. That is when I noticed that this gas station advertised that they took Visa! This is brand new in Mexico, and I still paid in cash, because the pumps were not card taking pumps and there were still two guys there to pump my gas and wash my windshield and check my oil! I will check this out more fully in the weeks ahead.
Then on to Mexico City, only 250 km away now. I reached the northern end at 1:30 pm and immediately got into 3 lane bumper to bumper traffic at an average of 80 km/hr. I reached downtown, Chapultepec Park at 1:50 and out the south end at 2:15. Not bad. It must have been the light Sunday traffic. On the weather side, It had been blue sky and sunny all morning from Matehuala to just past Queretaro. As I neared Mexico City, it started to cloud over and when I hit Mexico City it was solidly overcast and had cooled to about 12C. Very discouraging. When I reached the peak of the pass over the continental divide, 3,100 meters or just over 10,000 feet I saw some clearer skies ahead. By the time I reached Tres Marias, I was in brilliant sunshine. On the way down from the pass, I got some beautiful views of Popo, our 18,000 foot classical volcano. It had lots of snow on the north face but none on the south. Very pretty and the air was very clear to give such a great view. Too bad I didn't stop to take some photos. Got home at 3 pm and it was 25 degrees with not a cloud in sight (unless I looked at the mountains to the north).
Found our wireless network was down, but the wired high speed connection was just fine! Sent off a few quick notes and went out to shop for groceries. 847 pesos later I felt I had bought enough for a few days. It included two bottles of a new red wine from Baja California made by a French vintner, F. Chauvenet, at a mere 40 pesos each. I just had half of one with a light meal at home and it is very good.
Statistics
Total mileage for the trip was 4,770 km or 2964 miles, of which 1,210 km were in Mexico. That works to 681 km per day average. The total travel time (as recorded by engine on time) was 48 hours and 30 minutes, making the average speed 98 km/hr. Average daily travel time was less than 7 hours per day.
These averages include local travel after reaching my destination, so the real numbers are better, ie. trip time was less, distance was shorter and speed was higher.
October, 2007
