Day: April 11, 2015

by

Burger, Fries, and a Beer

Well, what do you know, I’ve been passing a gem of a restaurant most of the winter on the way to ‘downtown’ Isla and I never knew it! Most of the way to the City Deli, there is a restaurant that seems to be located in an old garage because it has a huge roll down door. It always has chicken going on the BBQ, the signs are handwritten on fluorescent-coloured stock, and the inside seems spotless and newly renovated.

I had a hankering for a burger at noon one day and knowing that this is the only place besides the beachfront restaurants that are open most days at midday, I decided it was time to check it out. I’m glad I waited that long because, DANG. I’ve only had their hamburgers and really want to go back for their Mexican food!

Like all hamburgers I’ve had on Isla, it’s not a hearty beef burger. But unlike the other burgers, it actually tastes meaty. I suspect the patty is pork since there’s fat in it, but I suppose it could be chicken. The burger comes with a really good bun (I have to say Mexicans know how to do burger buns) that is grilled and has just enough charring to give it flavour without tasting burnt. It comes topped with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup, mayo, and jalapeños. I ordered without mayo and they told me they subbed crema. I have no idea why, but I find that hilarious. I add mustard and sweet relish at home. It’s a super messy and very flavourful sandwich unto its own right, not a sad excuse for a hamburger.

But it’s the fries that make this place stand out. They are made from fresh potatoes, the only place I’ve seen that done since I got to Mexico, and have the skin on. They were really good the first time and that’s why I went back there tonight for dinner instead of going to Miguel’s for a shrimp burrito. But guess what? Tonight they were ‘overcooked’ by the standards of anyone born outside of Quebec who has no idea what a French fry can actually taste like (delicious beyond all imagining) and tasted like my childhood. That’s the best way I can put it.

Hamburger and fries: 40 pesos.

Beer pairing: Tecate

by

Route North

So many people are traveling in the next month that I have a feeling paths could cross if itineraries were coordinated. This is what I’m looking at:

map copy

The first thing to address is that I am adding a full 400KM to my trip by going through Nogales rather than doing a straight shot to Ciudad Juarez. I’ve asked both RVers and a couple of neighbours who know my familiarity with the language and the consensus is that going on through Ciudad Juarez is too dangerous for anyone to do, much less for me as a solo female traveler. Locals fully agree with the current travel warnings for the northern part of the country. The bulk of the additional mileage will be within the US in states with very low fuel costs, even taking into account the terrible exchange rate right now. So all of that added together means that I am taking the same route north within Mexico as I took south.

Another point to make is that I found the two weeks on the road in the fall surprisingly long and I’m planning to do a full four weeks this time because I do not want to get home till the end of May because of weather and things I want to see in Wyoming and SD. So I have budgeted to spend up to three weeks total in motels with weekly rates in areas where I can do day trips. So I’m open to suggestions on what three cities I could pick for that.

Also, I have my Interagency Pass and am going to route myself through as many attractions covered by it as I can!

Finally, I know this is a mountain route and that I’ll need to monitor the weather closely. My alternative plan is go way east to Kansas to visit my friend L and then take the very familiar route home from there. But I really want to add NM and Wyoming to my visited maps list, so I’m hoping my route will work out.

So here’s my rough itinerary at this point:

April 25th: travel to San Carlos. It’s a long haul and I have decided to take the toll road the whole way. RVs can do the trip in about ten hours, so I’m thinking I’ll be able to do it in eight.

April 26th: travel to Nogales/border crossing. Overnight in or near Nogales at a motel.

April 27th: travel to Las Cruces, New Mexico, or the environs, and spend a full week in southern NM, putting me to May 3rd.

First week of May: more NM travel, heading north to Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Second week of May (to the 14th: traveling through Colorado (I welcome all suggestions for getting around Denver!)

Third week of May (to the 21st): traveling through Wyoming and visiting Devil’s Tower.

Memorial Day Week: South Dakota Black Hills, including visiting with reader Vicki and Mount Rushmore.

May 25thish: begin the final push north. Deadwood is on the way and I’ll spend a split day there (afternoon and the next morning).

May 26thish: travel to Scobey, MT, and spend the night ahead of the border crossing. Resist the urge to just push through and get home so that…

May 27thish: arrive home late morning, with plenty of time to open up the rig, assess damage (if any), air the place out, start the fridge, set up internet, and, hopefully, have happy hour with C&C!

Yes, I am looking forward to this trip and getting home. No, I am not sad about leaving Isla. I have had an amazing winter and I’ll have an amazing summer at home and I’ll have another amazing winter here next year. I remember how reluctant I was to get to SK in 2013, and look how that turned out. I have so many plans for the summer and we’ll see how many I can squeeze into the few short months I’ll be there. Because if the summer is anything like the winter has been, next thing I’ll know, it’ll be late October and I’ll be wondering where the time went!