Puebla...

Our drive through Puebla provided another beautiful mountain vista. The gray was finally giving in to clear skies and fluffy clouds. Puebla is located in the central highlands of Mexico, between the Sierra Nevada and Sierra Madre Oriental mountains. The views are absolutely gorgeous, unlike any mountain ranges I've seen in the United States. Granted I have never seen the magnificent Rockies, but surely these must compare. We were ahead of schedule and, once again, decided to keep driving. It is simply too difficult to drive into the cities, find a place to park, and worry about what to do with the dogs. The generator must be running at all times when parked for longer than a gas stop in order to run the air conditioner to keep the animals cool. It can be rather noisy, so unless we are in an appropriate place, we just keep moving. Puebla and Querétaro are two places we would someday want to visit to really experience the sights and culture.

We continued driving on the very nice Puebla cuota (toll road) and enjoyed the scenery. We passed a Pemex gas station on the other side of the highway and there was not a nearby retorno (turn around). We had a bit more than a quarter of a tank of gas and were sure there would be another soon. We kept driving and driving on what seemed like a never ending highway and around every bend we kept looking for a gas station. Nothing. Beginning to get a bit worried ( we had not once seen one of the 'Green Angel' trucks that are supposed to be everywhere to assist stranded motorists), I watched the gauge move downward to a little less than a quarter tank. Now I was really concerned. We had already turned off the A/C to conserve gas, but the gas-guzzling Ford E-350 van didn't seem to notice. Every few miles there were pull-overs for agua (water for overheated engines I suppose), but no gas. Just as the gauge showed about 1/8 of a tank, dangerously close to empty, in the distance Alan spotted one of the ubiquitous Pemex signs.

Relieved, we stopped, walked the dogs, and vowed to never let the tank go below half.