“USA 🇺🇸 to Mexico 🇲🇽 ~From Arizona near Ajo, The Pipe Organ Cactus Monument, and the Towns of Why and Lukeville, Then through Sonoyta and Rocky Point / Puerto Penasco, Mexico 🇲🇽 and The Reef RV Park”

• October 5, 2023
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

Puerto Penasco, Mexico 🇲🇽

We made our way to Mexico, once again, in The Whale, and it was very exciting!

Some History

This year, I didn’t have to drive our AWD vehicle, separately (AWD’s can’t be flat-towed) and THIS was so much better!
We have our cute little Jonah towing behind, so I can ride in The Whale. This was a huge step-up for sure! It was also great to check out a different location in Mexico, from our last choice; which was nice, but it was a WAY LONGER drive, after the Nogalas border crossing; which is heavily used and a nightmare, in our opinion. Cars go a different place than RVs.

We never wanted to go through that again! Daryl ended up paying a guy off the street about $20 to ride with him and show him the proper route for RV’s. (our maps failed us, and there were no signs for distinguishing all this) It was worth the 20 bucks!
I had it much easier as cars fit everywhere. Finally, after getting an inspection, we were free to continue. It would be another 4.5 hours of driving….We use straight-line walkie talkies, between Daryl and I. The plan was, for me to stop and get the money exchange, and Daryl would continue on, as I could easily catch up. It was a great plan, but for some reason, Daryl pulled over at the end of town to wait for me. It’s a very busy town. I didn’t see him and he didn’t see me. Had he not pulled over, it would have been fine. In no time at all, we were out of walkie range. Trying often to connect with him, wore out the batteries. I was dead, with the charging station in The Whale.
As a woman, now alone in remote Mexico, with a 4.5 hours of drive time ahead of me, I had to keep moving, while I had daylight hours. I was perplexed, but I never imagined Daryl would stop anywhere, since, well, where would he fit; first of all. That wasn’t the plan for him to do so, for that very reason.

After several hours on the road, I stopped at a fuel station. Daryl had some cell phone capabilities in Mexico. I had none. While I got more fuel, I asked around, if I could buy a Mexico SIM card. No English speakers. All of a sudden a worker spoke excellent English. There were no SIM cards available to buy, but he did let me use his phone, to call Daryl!  Daryl did not pick up, but I left a detailed message. I made sure he had the name and address of our rv park and told him I would meet him there.

Daryl was pretty frantic about his wife “going missing,” and was relieved to get my VM. By that time, he was a hours behind me, though. I told him the fuel station I had used and it was big enough for The Whale. The guy that filled him up was the guy who spoke English. He knew who Daryl was, by the description I had given him. 

I obviously arrived at the Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos, way before Daryl. But we did make it. He swears I told him to park and wait for me. I did no such thing, so we chalked it up to poor walkie communication. While Totonaka was nice, and we did enjoy it, for our six week stay, the town was kind of deadsville and the ocean was across the road from the RV Park. Buying seafood required about a 40 minute drive to do so…to a completely different town. We still could access pharmacies to stock up on what require RXs in the states. (Z packs, Cipro, Ivermectin, Penicillin, etc) and get dental checks done (super cheap) and stock up on real vanilla for baking.

Back to Current Day ⬇️

This year’s trip to Mexico was WAY different! We ride together now, and our destination was only just over an hour from the border ⬇️

The Lukeville border crossing was not busy at all. We did not get inspected, and though the lane was SUPER narrow, with some left to right side action with a tow, the height clearance was good (we require 13’1”).
WHEW!

In no time at all, we were almost to The Reef! …Only problem was some paving they were doing that caused a detour, after we went through the town.

Big problem for a Big Rig.

Some guy was waving his flag with confidence, for us to continue towards him, who had no clue just how big we really are. We had to cross a railroad track at an angle, due to closed road at the approach. I told Daryl let’s unhook Jonah, and drive separate, but he was in the mode. This was no issue for a single car, but we are about 62’ in length. To keep Jonah from literally falling off into the tracks since the narrow “road for crossing” part was at an angle; as in we had to drive parallel to the tracks, towards a building where vendors in their wheeled carts were hanging in the shade.

⬆️ We had to drive (lt to rt in picture) parallel; between the railroad tracks and the railroad signage; sideways!

The Whale is essentially a semi chassis with the same tire size, but Jonah is not! With a bit of panic, the guy with the flag jumped out of the way, then the vendors hurried their carts out of the way. At this point I’m closing my eyes. BUT, Daryl pulled it off and kept Jonah in the crossing part, instead of her falling into the tracks. I’m hoping that by the end of the month, that paving project will be complete!

(update: the paving was complete…no drama on our way out)

It was great to check in at the Reef RV Park, and set up camp. Only Motorhomes are allowed to pull in; trailers have to back in, so we can enjoy the great ocean view through our big windshield. This does require extra lengths for one’s sewer hose, though. We made it work and we are delighted with our front-row glamping spot, for which there are few, in this huge RV Park.  I had to pre-pay for this confirmed sight, before we even left for Alaska, since these sites are the first to get a snapped up.
Worth it!  

When we approached our site, our neighbors in a trailer had parked their truck parallel in front of their trailer, partially in the road. The road entrance was directly in front of their spot, so we had to jockey in a zig zag formation to get in next to them. I got out and asked if they could move their truck, please, just until we could move in to our space. The lady said no problem. So, we decided to unhook Jonah to ensure the creative maneuvering would be most successful. By the time I parked Jonah, I noticed the truck was still there. I asked the lady again if she wouldn’t mind moving her truck. She said she did. I was thinking… oh boy this isn’t good. To this ladies right, her neighbor came over and explained to her about our gigantic swing we have with our Motorhome. She just didn’t realize that moving the truck two feet wasn’t enough. She literally moved it way out of the way and we made our swing and entered. All good.

⬆️ We are in C-14

Oh, and a shout-out to our dear friends Keith and Darlene who are RVers too, for cluing us in on this gem! This is a huge RV Park, but there are only a few ocean front spots. It is early in the season (still on the warm side) so there are mostly empty sites. That will all change by November, and we will be on our way before any huge crowds. We are very comfortable with our A/Cs. PLUS, if you follow us, we had zero summer this year, up in Alaska. We have only been enjoying solid sunshine in the lower 48 for a few weeks.
Yeah, we are good. Bring on the sunshine!

The town of Rocky Point is the Americanized name of Puerto Penasco. We drove right through it, on the way to The Reef. It is about four miles away.
Easy Peasy.

There are fresh seafood markets and lots of seafood restaurants, plus the quintessential walking street for shopping; to buy things nobody really needs. There are also all the same places to stock up on RXs, go to the dentist if we feel the need, and get my vanilla.

Day is Done and Morning Has Broken ⬇️

We are looking forward to exploring Rocky Point, but for tonight and every night, we get to walk the beach and enjoy sunsets and then in the morning, sunrises from our Glamping space.
Yes, full hookups with 50 amp.

No complaints.

There  are some really cool, natural Tide Pools on the beach. This time of the year, it is too hot when the tide is out to sustain much life in them, as the water that remains when the tide is out, is not much, plus it’s like hot tub temperatures. I bet in the cooler weather there is lots of life to be found.

⬆️ Found only a little living creature or two

⬆️ Beach Combing has commenced 

In The Morning

⬆️ …View from my bedroom window in the morning, and more

From Tombstone, Arizona to Puerto Penasco 🇲🇽 ⬇️

We drove from Tombstone to Ajo, Arizona, enjoying more of the Sonora Desert, where we overnighted at an out in the middle of nowhere RV Park that was very nice, with full hookups; at 50 amp. It’s called Coyote Howels RV Park. We actually saw two Coyotes.

We could have done the entire drive in one day, but we prefer a morning crossing at Mexico borders. We will also stay at this same place, after returning from Mexico, as we head for Texas, after that. 

⬆️ What the inside of the Cactus looks like 

⬆️ Coyote

The second Coyote I saw was in the parking lot of the gas’s station in the town of Why, while we were fueling up. I thought it was a stray dog at first, but nope.

From Ajo, Arizona to The Reef RV Park in Mexico ⬇️

Ajo, Arizona is the largest community in proximity to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Organ Pipe sits on the border with Mexico, far enough from population centers that it receives only a moderate trickle of visitors. Yet the monument preserves more than 500 square miles of lovely Sonoran Desert. Gentle valleys that bristle with forests of saguaros stretch between ranges of craggy mountains

Lukeville Border Crossing

Not gonna lie, this time of year, the inland areas of Mexico do smelled of sewer, because temperatures were hot, but as we approached the remote areas and on to the beach venue, there was no issue at all.

I like to point out that driving main highway systems in daylight hours, in Mexico, is as safe as any place else in the world. We wouldn’t go, if it wasn’t. I can truly say this is a fact since, I am a world traveler and have driven in many countries (visited 92 so far)

Every country has both good and no so good people. I think it’s important to mention that using common sense, too, is part of why we have no issues. I wouldn’t party and go bar hopping and drinking at any age, at night, in foreign lands. That’s where people run into trouble.

Daryls been crossing the border by car, from California, since he was 16 years old. We have also done the same, together, countless times, making fresh seafood runs to Ensenada, Mexico. It’s a beautiful drive with surprisingly better roads than what the USA has, now. The rates for staying over are super cheap, and the food is excellent! Don’t drink their water, though, and be sure to get a Mexican Insurance policy to cover your driving, as your USA policy won’t help you, here.

⬆️ Puerto Penasco/Rocky Point ⬇️

⬆️ Yes, we drove the last 1/2 mile on compacted sand! There might be blacktop underneath, but I don’t know.

If interested in viewing our first visit to Mexico in The Whale, way further South at San Carlos; the year before, here is the blog link: https://2gypsiesinthewind.com/northamerica/mexico/mexico-interior-state-of-sonora-town-of-san-carlos-for-six-weeks/

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