Blog Archives - Goodman's Journey

February 29th, 2016

11/23/2015

One thing that is constant is wanting more until you don't...
Louise and I have decided that we had had enough... What, enough what ??? I wish I could just put my finger on the one thing that finally gave us the emphasis to call the rest of our "journey" off but it was a number of reasons. The first to come to my mind were the total destructive roads that we encountered over the last 100 to 150 miles... They just whipped my body senseless let alone the truck and camper. For 2 plus days Lou and I fought the pummeling until we both agreed that we had enjoyed so much already and we should just say "Thank you Mexico" for all you have offered us, it has been an AMAZING (but cut a little shorter) journey. Now, we arrived in Pharr, Texas and are "slowly" heading West. A stopover for us is going to be Yuma and then slide down to Rocky point before driving the Baja in early January.

Flowers

11/23/2015

Not much better than having the opportunity to stop and ENJOY the beautiful flowers and a delicious cup of ice cream.

TOPE's?

11/22/2015

This was not expected....a LARGE caravan of 21 RV's, all French speaking Canadians heading to PV for 2 months....really glad we didn't have to deal with them while on the road, can you imagine trying to pass one or all on a two lane road with TOPE's ?

Sir Edward James.... Las Pozas, Mexico

11/21/2015

Edward James, eccentric, rich through inheritance (American railroad and mining) loved orchids and after finding his special place in the jungles of Mexico and after fleeing England, cultivated tens of thousands of orchids there. Unfortunately after a trip to New York, that part of Mexico received a freak snow storm and destroyed all his lovely orchids. This place meant so much to Edward James so he decided to replace the orchids with something the weather couldn't destroy, so in 1962 he dedicated much of his life and fortune to building spectacular series of concrete sculptures amid the luscious vegetation of Las Pozas, his vast estate in a tropical rain forest high in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains near the tiny town of Xilitla. Our drive to his site took us again high into the mountains using the very narrow , winding, HEAVILY forested, LOW and DENSE tropical rain forest. Once we found our turn, we had to endure a road(?) of rock, mud, HOLES filled and not filled with rainwater for just over a mile of pure white-knuckle driving (??). There were many times I had to fully stop just to keep the camper on the bed of the truck... Was it worth it? I'll let these pictures "try" to show you... Edward James died in 1984.

The Falls of TAMASOPO, Mexico

11/20/2015

After leaving Zacatacas we headed East towards Rio Verde, were we spent another night in a Pemex station. Fortunately this one was out of the way from EVERYTHING and nice and quiet... In srarting this morning we took the "Free Road" East looking for Tamasopo which is a location that turned out to be STUNNING... Our first turn off of the main road "promised" us a "waterfall"... well that turned out to be a great drive to no where but a railrcrossing and a tight place to turn around. What's another 10 K and return??? We knew that if we were going to see a waterfall, we had to find the right "left". Another 8 K down and up this narrow and winding "free road (with tree branches close to taking our roof off) we again turned left, through a great little village and finally arriving at the Tamasopo Falls... This turned out to be one of the most spectacular sights we have ever seen.. Absolutely AMAZING !!! The roadway getting us there was truly one of 30 mph max ( and those that have followed or led me know that that is NOT my average speed) because of the narrowness and tight corners on this high tropical folaged road. Our day pass and parking was a total of 40 pesos ($2.40). Entering the parking area and seeing just a couple of th MANY SPECTACULAR waterfalls stunned me, I just couldn't believe my eyes. I only hope that my pictures do it justice (Doug you just have to photograph this location, and so doing it the way YOU do, plan on at least 2 FULL Days) ... Tonight we find ourselves in Cuidad Vallias, or should I say we're about 5 miles west camped in a Balneario (hot springs area with 2 lightly smelling sulfer sulpher swiming pools). As we drove through the gates we were amazed to find 21 additional RV's already here. It is a caravan from French speaking Ontario, Canada (a couple speak a little English hut the others, not much at all).

The Church

11/17/2015

What a day, piano recital in a church being refurbished, the aqua duct of the 1700's, and and, and...

I took SO MANY PHOTOS this afternoon here in Zacatacas...

11/17/2015

Zacatacas

11/17/2015

I ran into my brother this afternoon... Well anyway, today was a day of either hill climbing or descending and that is no bull... Zacatacas is NOTHING but hills, we even found that to be true in the mine tour yesterday. Our "campground" is deep down a cobblestone drive into which I had to back into the location they gave us and it just happened to be directly above the Federally parking and training center...we feel very safe and comfortable... Our journey today took us out into the city to enjoy the history, sounds, smell, and the excitement of Zacatacas. Beautiful architecture dating as far back as the 1700's, very tasty foods and coffees, even a Starbucks ... Driving into the "city" takes a lot of patience and in thd case of the fellow on the donkey selling a very potentially fatal drink that comes from fermented palm, a lot of guts.

The El Eden Mine

11/16/2015

Our first day was finished with a couple of cocktails, but before then we had to visit the El Eden Mine... Our visit took us first into the deep dark of a silver mine that sinks over 900 meters below the city of Zacatecas and then finished up with a train ride out to the "trinket shops" above ground... I have to say, we have found the prices (except the highway toll chsrges ) on this journey of ours to be very resonable SO FAR...

Durango

11/16/2015

As we pulled into Durango we immediately found ourselves in Sunday afternoon traffic and NO PLACE TO PARK our rig... we did do dome window tourist-ing as we drove by the "Centro" area but we decided to continue on towards Zacatecas. On one hand it was a good idea, but on the other... Well we arrived about 5pm which gave us 30 + minutes to find our campground before dark...YA RIGHT !!! Didn't happen but to hear the whole story tune in to a "personal" rendition in the future... Anyway we spent the night in a PEMEX Station (service station with a small convenience store). This morning we found the campground (with more stories to tell...)... Now this is "some campground"... Actually it is a 5 star hotel that just happens to accept a camper or two... 350 pesos ($21) a night. Attached a few feet from our door is the tram that takes you to the top of the mountain that sits in the middle of this city... amazing views, a great chapel, and a historical museum, all this in the "stratified air" of several thousands of feet. Brunch brought us Huevos Rancharo followed by a "Ride In The Sky" zip-line journey across the valley and back if you were lucky, all thst for just 200 pesos...