Oh, it’s so good to be looking at maps again! 🙂

Thanks to Croft, I’ve made the decision to cross into Mexico at Nogales so I can take highway 15 all the way to Mazatlan. The more direct route would have me going straight down through Texas and crossing near Juarez, but that’s not a good route for someone not experienced with Mexico. I’m better sticking to the main tourist path for now and Nogales isn’t a huge detour.

I have the choice of three major routes:

The westernmost one through Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona doesn’t appeal to me because I really have my heart set on seeing Wyoming. The middle route would have me go into northern Wyoming and then through Utah and Arizona. I haven’t been to Utah yet, either, so this is pretty appealing. The easternmost route has me going through all of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, before veering west to Arizona. This is also an appealing route because I haven’t been to New Mexico (I have been to Colorado).

The weather and road conditions are going to dictate which route I take. Since I’ll be in the truck, which is more manoeuverable and less of a gas hog, I could decide to go take the middle route and then detour back to New Mexico, or vice versa. I’d really like to add Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico to my visited states map! That would leave just Ohio, Tennessee, Hawaii, Arkansas, and Rhode Island!

I’m getting quite excited about going, especially since we’re in a bit of a cold snap right now. I’m hoping to leave between the 7th and the 10th. The RM (rural municipality) checked in with me about water and I said that they can turn it off as of the 10th, but to give me a heads up in case I’m still here so I can make sure the holding tank is full for my last few days. But I really don’t plan to be here that much later. I’m going to wait for my September payments to come in and pay all my October bills so I can take off and not worry about budgetary matters for the first couple of weeks.

I’ve inquired about a couple of apartments and am waiting to hear back, have requested a quote for Mexican liability insurance for my truck, and have advised SK health that I’m leaving for longer than six months. Things are moving forward, even if the state of my packing is dismal! Work is slow, so I’m going to try to kick start packing and closing up in the next couple of days. I am going, no question about that. Mexico ho!