Today is Thursday May 20th and we left San Carlos at 7:15 am this morning for Mazatlan. After about four toll fees we arrive in Los Mochis and stop for lunch. Russ decided that he was not hungry and walked the dogs while mom, dad and I ate lunch. We find our way out of the parking lot and to the closest Pemex (gas) station. Then we head southwest through town in hopes to catch the freeway to Culiucan. After about 15 minutes and headed towards Topolobampo we turn around and pull into an Oxxo station and Russ asks for direction and of course I was correct in my input. We are now on the right track.

We made it to Culiucan and just on the other side there was a sign that had two directions to Mazatlan. One was a right turn and said " Mazatlan Cuato" and the other was to go straight and it said "Mazatlan Libre". Russ said to go straight and then looked up Libre in the electronic dictionary. Libre means "Free". Now free is usually a good thing, but in this case it means a two lane road, did I mention two lane all the way to Mazatlan. Russ decided that we needed to get to the major highway and told dad to turn right at the sign "San Lorenzo".

A right turn it was and the good paved road turned to cobble stone and then to dirt. Mom had the comment that she believed that this road leads to nowhere. After a few minutes dad and I agreed. Russ said keep going it leads to the major freeway. Now keep in mind that it is now three hours before sunset and we are still about 150 kilometers from Mazatlan. Russ said that San Lorenzo should be coming up and is on the coast and we informed him that we passed San Lorenzo and we are still not on the coast. Russ is now getting worried. We stopped the car so he could take a good look at the map. Since we were out in the middle of no mans land (literally) and trees were on one side of the car and a ditch on the other, I figured that since I had to go to the bathroom and it was apparent that we would not find one any time soon that the road behind the car was as good of a place as any. It saved the seat in the car. Moral of the story, keep a wary eye on Mexican charts.

A little about San Lorenzo was very peaceful and we were the event of the year. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the gringos drive by in wonderment. It had two small tiendas (grocery stores). The stares were equally amazing on our return.

We decided that all the military money that was spent on teaching Russ how to navigate only works in the sky or on the water. Russ was over ruled and we turned the car around and headed back to our two lane road. It was better to make 40 miles per hour than 20 or less miles per hour. A trip that was to take 10 hours took 12 hours. We arrived at the hotel at about an hour after dark, totally exhausted.