The Radio Girl

On the Road in Mexico

As seen from the car window.

It's been over two weeks since I took these pics and I don't remember enough to give you a detailed tour, but this is what you can expect to see during the drive from Hermosillo to Teacapan, Mexico - starting with the first highway toll booth, or caseta de cobro:

 
There was a real variety of traffic on the highway, including a herd of cows and several farmers commuting to work...

 
Fancy schmancy cars were constantly speeding by us.  But in the end we usually passed them, not to mention the federales who pulled them over  :)

We noticed less of a military presence this year, but a lot more federales on the highways.

And the same amount of pelicans were happy to pose for pics this year.

 
The pelican on the far right side slept through the entire photo shoot.  We kept waiting for him to fall off his post, but apparently pelicans have great balance.  Even in their sleep.

Get Your Mexico Insurance Here

The date is Sunday, December 27th, 2009.

The plan is to cross the Arizona/Mexico border, but every single Tucson and Nogales insurance office we try contact is closed.

I finally stumble across an after hours phone number for San Xavier Mexico Insurance and give them a shout.  I realize it's barely 8am on the Sunday morning after Christmas - what I don't realize is that I'm phoning their home number.

My call is answered by Bob Acosta, who is not only gracious about the early morning phone call at his home, but he offers to drive 45 minutes into Tucson to hook us up with Mexican insurance - on a Sunday, when every single insurance office in town is closed.

I give him the necessary details and within the hour we meet Bob and his wife Hazel at their office.  Twenty minutes later we have auto insurance for Mexico ($180 USD for 6 months).  And My Fellas parents got their motorhome insured as well.  Not sure how much it cost - I think about $260 USD. 

Bob and Hazel Acosta (pictured above) have been in the insurance business for years, and are actually semi-retired.  They sold the biz to their daughter Susan, but they still went out of their way to help us on an early Sunday morning on Christmas weekend.  This kind of customer service guarantees my loyalty for life.

But wait - the story gets better...

After we crossed the Mexican border, a member of our party discovered that their credit card was missing.  This person (who will remain anonymous to protect the innocent :) doesn't know if they dropped the card in the insurance office parking lot or just left it behind at the office after paying.  Needless to say, they were in a bit of a panic.

After emailing Bob and Hazel we got a response from Susan (the daughter) who quickly searched the office and found the credit card.  As you can imagine, our anonymous card loser was very relieved.

Susan says her parents went on and on about what a nice family we were and how important it was to get in touch with us asap, to get the credit card back in our hands.  Susan's email was very personable and reassuring.  And the lady has a great sense of humour.

Without a doubt, we have a new fave Mexican auto insurance company and we'll be contacting Susan next year for Mex Road Trip 2010/11.  Everything can be done online, and the actual contract can simply be emailed to us.

If you're driving to Mex in the future and want a free insurance quote from a really great company, here's the contact info for San Xavier Mexico Insurance:

San Xavier Mexico Insurance Offices
Tucson, Arizona	Nogales, Arizona
2900 E. Broadway Blvd, Suite #108 Tucson, Arizona 85716   Phone: (520) 327-1255 Fax: (520) 327-1303 Toll Free: 1-888-327-1255 From US & Canada	1777 N. Frank Reed Road, #C Nogales, Arizona 85621  Phone: (520) 377-0424 Fax: (520) 377-0418 Toll Free: 1-888-377-1570 from US & Canada
E-mail: info@mexican-autoinsurance.com

Road Trip 09/10: Day Two

We logged 616 kms yesterday traveling from the BC interior to Washington state.

Back on the road just after 6:30 this morning, we were surprised to see the Washington Highway Patrol pulling over speeding cars, one after another.  Lots of speeders so early on a Sunday morning.

Despite the gray, rainy day we got through Washington with no problems, crossing the I-5 into Oregon. 

 
Cleanest Gas Station Bathroom Award goes to this Chevron just outside Portland.  It was shiny and sparkly and smelled like Mr Clean - the total opposite of what a gas station bathroom should be :)

Typical price of gas in Oregon.  It was about ten cents cheaper than in Washington state.

 
We crossed three states on Sunday, starting from Seattle, cruising thru Oregon and ending the day in Redding, California.  The entire drive was gray and soggy, except for a few moments of sun in southern Oregon.

 
My Fella thought this sign was amusing - we didn't know brakeless trucks were allowed on the road at all.

Here's the fruit inspection station where you have to stop and declare any fruit you are trying to smuggle from Oregon into California.

Our sunny weather ran out in Yreka, California.

 
Then the clouds rolled in again for more rain.  To pass the time we listened to Sirius radio, ate bananas, memorized all the state capitals and I had a few naps. 

Tomorrow we continue south and search for some sun.

Road Trip 2010: Day One on the Road

Busy morning:

• we got a quick car tune-up
• loaded all our luggage
• said good-bye to a few folks
• still managed to reach the Canada/USA border by 4pm

These pics cover the trek from our little Okanagan beach town all way down to the border.  There were a few moments of blue sky, although the main theme for the day was 'gray'. 

A huge storm is supposed to blow through BC on Sunday, but both the weather and the roads were in great shape today (Saturday). 

Obviously someone forget to mention that to the jack-knifed semi driver who needed a tow (pic #4).

 

The Last Day of School

Remember that feeling when the final bell rang and you were free for the summer?

That's exactly where my head was at the end of my final on-air shift yesterday.  I really like my part-time radio gig, but Mexico will always win!

Saturday was supposed to be my final show this year, but The Big Cheese at the station decided he would work instead, so now My Fella and I can leave Saturday morning on Mex Road Trip 2010.

 
Our plan is to drive south (from our little Okanagan beach town) until we're out of the snow and then slow down and relax for a few days to check out some RV dealers in the States. 

Then we'll be meeting My Fellas parents in Arizona to frolic among the desert cactus.  Quick shout-out to my fave plant ever, the saguaro (sa - whay - ro).

Martes Mex Pic

Martes (mar - tez) means Tuesday in Spanish.

Here's one of the many military checkpoints we run across in Mexico.  I'd guess we passed through about fifty different checkpoints last winter.  That's a lot of guns.

 
Only five more sleeps until Mex Road Trip '10.

Mex Pic du jour

 
This is a gorgeous area called Playa de Naranja in El Divisadero, Nayarit. 

We drove down a dusty, crooked one lane road through the jungle until my little car couldn't go any further without being swallowed by a pot-hole.  Looking for some adventure, we hopped out and walked along the jungle road downhill, until we saw these trees surrounding this amazing empty stretch of beach.

The federal property had just been sold to a huge hotel developer and the entrance was guarded by local fellas with shotguns. 

They didn't have much of sense of ha-ha (probably 'cause we interrupted their card game) but after gently mocking my mangled Spanish, they waved us through to check it out.

 
Only six more sleeps until we hit the road on 'Mex Road Trip 2010'.

Hittin' the Road

My Fella's parents have had it...

 
...with the weather! 

Even though winter hasn't frozen our little Okanagan beach town yet, the In-Laws are making their escape early.  They've packed up their RV and they're heading out on Monday for the first (of many) annual winter getaways. 

Safe travels you two.  Hopefully we can hook up somewhere along I-5.  We'll bring the slowcooker and the crib board if you supply the cervezas  :)

(Nutty bunch.  Glad I fell into this wacky family  :)

Now onto my other fave things... 

Numbers. 

This sounds super geeky, but I usually monitor my investment account gains (or losses) throughout the month.

At least once a week I grab a pencil, whip out my calculator and get lost in the numbers.  Ever since I saw a video of Dennis Gartman (a well known US investor and author of the Gartman letter) I've been more aware of monthly changes in my accounts.  Gartman doesn't go for the big score.  Instead he tries to make small gains of 1% - 1.5% per month.  If he's successful, his small monthly gains add up to 12% or 18% per year. 

I don't agree with all his investment theories, but this strategy is very sound.  Especially when it works  :)

• LIRA +5%
• RRSP +10%
• TFSA +11.8%
• non-reg +7.6%

Of course, there's still the final week in October where things could fall apart.  Gotta stop counting my chickens, yada, yada, yada. 

(Can't seem to find any chicken pics so Mother Goose and the babies will have to do) 

Here are my current non-reg holdings in order of weighting:  Student Transportation, Crescent Point Energy, Armtec, Altagas, Inter Pipeline, Pembina Pipeline, First Capital Realty, Bonavista Energy, Davis + Henderson Income Fund, Killam Properies, Superior Plus, Morneau Sobeco, Alaris Royalty Corp, Artis REIT, Power Financial preferreds, Westcoast Energy preferreds, FutureMed, Sun Life preferreds, cash.

And the best news of all, my PIG (Passive Income Goal) is up to $26,047 a year, which is like earning $33,000/year in BC, before taxes.  

 

Dam Good Post

My buddy Calypso wrote a good post on his recent pass through the Hoover Dam.

It reminded me of the last two road trips My Fella and I took down to Mexico and our own experience crossing the Dam.  These pics are great memories for us but they don't capture the amazing power of the rushing water or the incredible scenery.

It is an awe inspiring site and Calypso wrote a cool piece, including his early morning pics of the Dam. 

Sunday Morning Spleen

How about a spleen sandwich with your Sunday Brunch?

After my blog post yesterday, I wanted to see exactly how you eat fish jerky, so I googled foreign food.  Instead I found this spleen sandwich video from Sicily.