10.12.2007-18.01.2008: Petrified Forest NP - Álamos We waited for three days for the post that we had had forwarded from San Diego and stayed at the campground. But the post never arrived! By Thursday we had to get moving because Helen was flying to England on the 17th December from Obregon in Mexico which was a 700 mile drive. First of all though, we had to use our heater outside to melt the opening for our black and grey water tanks which needed to be emptied before we could drive off!! It was so cold that they had frozen shut! Then we dashed to the post office and arranged for our post to be forwarded to Helen in England. There was no point getting it sent to Mexico because it wouldn't arrive! The post took 2 weeks to get from San Diego to Arizona!!! But fortunately it did arrive because we needed our registration sticker for Winnie. It was bitterly cold and we drove through Petrified Forest National Park again so Kirsten could take a few more photos. Then we had to get moving south and stopped to pick up a pizza on the way which we ate whilst we kept driving. We drove to Tucson to do our shopping and get our Mexico insurance printed out which took ages because the printer wasn't working! We drove down to Nogales and stopped at Wal-mart for the night and got ready to cross the border the next day. We managed to get through the border and formalities without a problem and drove all the way down to Hermosillo. We made it down to Obregon just before it got dark on Monday evening and parked up at the airport for the night. Helen flew to England the next morning for three weeks and Kirsten drove to Álamos and stayed at the campground over Christmas and New Year. Kirsten was late picking Helen up at the airport because everyone told her Helen would land late anyway. But, of course, the flight landed 5 minutes early and Helen had to wait! She had a bag full of English goodies that she had brought back with her. She could have brought back a lot more but didn't have the room! Phyllis and Russ came to visit us in Álamos and we cooked an English chicken casserole for them. They have just come back from a trip in South America and we haven't seen them for 2 years, so we had lots to talk about and had a great laugh. Kirsten had booked a room for them in the Puerta Roja hotel. We met them there for breakfast the next morning and had a look around the hotel which is well worth a visit because it is so wonderfully decorated. We showed them around Álamos and then went for some delicious cake and a coffee. They had to leave to drive to San Carlos before it got dark. Only a short visit but we all had a very good time. We really enjoyed an impromptu shrimp night at the campground. Pete and Sophie had been on a boat trip and had been given lots of shrimp for free which they couldn't eat on their own. So we sat around the campfire and everyone contributed something. We brought along tortillas, dressings and Amaretto. Dewey and Pete really enjoyed the latter because apparently its fantastic to dip your cigar in!!! On the 16th January, Karin and Roland arrived in their ex-army vehicle from what used to be East Germany. It looks like a tank! We have never met them but they are friends of Ingo and Marika who told them to contact us for current information about Canada, USA and Mexico because they were bringing their vehicle over for a 2 year trip. So we have had a lot of email contact and wanted to meet up in the Yukon over the summer but we were never in the same place. So finally we met them in Álamos. Unfortunately, they were both ill when they arrived and then the two of us came down with sickness and diarrhea for 24 hours which knocked the stuffing out of us!