Caravans
I'd be interested in hearing of YOUR experiences with caravans to Mexico. Who did you go with, good experiences & bad. If you wish to avoid a argument just PM your comments to me or email me at River....
Forum Discussion
I am sorry to hear you were a bit unhappy with Adventure. They are doing Yucatan next season (jan 2017). I know because the company I am a wagon master for is organizing most of the tours for them, as they did for the trip you took. Hopefully none of those were an issue. Adventure is a very reputable company, but any issues on caravans usually boils down to the wagon master. Getting competent & experienced wagon masters is a challenge. Adventure also tends to run 20 rig caravans and I know from experience that anything over 13-14 is pretty tough to lead, even with a tailgunner. Road logs are another issue. The company I wagon master for is doing a Yucatan trip in Jan 2018 and I will be using next season establish route & road logs for that to ensure there are minimal issues, plus I wnat to come up with something a bit new. I will be taking 5 former customers along to provide advice on this scouting trip. We will also cap it at 10-11 rigs. The hope is to use Kevin & Ruth Read as wagon masters,(www.travelswithkevinandruth.com). We used them as relief for myself for one month this season while I dealt with my wifes illness. No previous experience, but they were excellent and know Mexico extremely well. Next to recruiting Mike & Terri Church, I can't think of a couple more suited.
The issues with wagon masters is that the best ones are all getting old. We use Yves Currier who is the most experienced guy in Mexico, but he is in his upper 70's. He is doing a French one for us in Yucatan next year and the english one right after. Despite the fact he has done over 35 of them, health is always a time bomb. No one makes money by being a wagon master, at best it convers all your expenses. People who do it, do it because they like people and they love this country. We did the tours for the trip you took last year and I know the wagon master had some problems as I talked to him by phone a couple of times regarding route while you were in the Mexico City area. I do not know if it was his first trip, but everyone has to start somewhere. If he is doing Adventures next season, I am sure it will be a lot better as gthe route is the same. Even if a wagon master does know the route well, things change down here so quickly, you almost have to do it once a year to keep up. Regardless, anyone signing up for a caravan in Mexico should expect some inconveniences. It's not Alaska. I learn things every year, this year I learned I need to carry spare trailer shackles (mine plus one over rig failed and fortunately my wife was able to fly some down with her). Also the fact you cannot get replacement tires down here for many rigs, class A's & trailer tires esp. I will be advising future customers to carry an off rim spare. One trailer in our group currently has the spare for my truck on his 5th wheel. Being a wagon master in Mexico has plenty of challenges, don't be too hard on the guy you had, he probably did an excellent job in the circumstances.
The issues with wagon masters is that the best ones are all getting old. We use Yves Currier who is the most experienced guy in Mexico, but he is in his upper 70's. He is doing a French one for us in Yucatan next year and the english one right after. Despite the fact he has done over 35 of them, health is always a time bomb. No one makes money by being a wagon master, at best it convers all your expenses. People who do it, do it because they like people and they love this country. We did the tours for the trip you took last year and I know the wagon master had some problems as I talked to him by phone a couple of times regarding route while you were in the Mexico City area. I do not know if it was his first trip, but everyone has to start somewhere. If he is doing Adventures next season, I am sure it will be a lot better as gthe route is the same. Even if a wagon master does know the route well, things change down here so quickly, you almost have to do it once a year to keep up. Regardless, anyone signing up for a caravan in Mexico should expect some inconveniences. It's not Alaska. I learn things every year, this year I learned I need to carry spare trailer shackles (mine plus one over rig failed and fortunately my wife was able to fly some down with her). Also the fact you cannot get replacement tires down here for many rigs, class A's & trailer tires esp. I will be advising future customers to carry an off rim spare. One trailer in our group currently has the spare for my truck on his 5th wheel. Being a wagon master in Mexico has plenty of challenges, don't be too hard on the guy you had, he probably did an excellent job in the circumstances.
