Emerald Coast on the Gulf of Mexico

Some folks we know make it to the Emerald Coast from La Pesca, a distance of about 375 miles in one day.  But not us, we are retired!  We broke the trip into two days and later wished we had broken it into three.
We spent the first night out of La Pesca parked at the Country Express Hotel and RV Park 20 miles north of Tampico, a  oil processing city.  Among Mexico RV'ers Tampico should be voted the place most likely to get a ticket.  We chose to make our way around the city early on a Sunday morning and all went smoothly.
We traveled on the very rough, but much improved Hwy. 180 to the Tuxpan cut off.  We then took the Tuxpan bypass identified by several different  Hwy. numbers and then the Poza Rica and Papantala Cuota bypass.  By leaving Tampico at 7:30 and taking these city bypasses we managed drive  the 225 miles and get into the park at 3:30. Thats 125 miles in 8 hours folks.  Thank goodness the worst roads in Mexico are behind us.

All was not a grind  on the drive.  The view of  Tropical Vegatation through our windshield was beautiful.

The hundreds of Tope's (speed bumps) in the Villages allowed us a  rolling view of the sights and sounds of  village life.

Today is a rest day, after all we drove 2 straight days!  The park we choose does not have beachfront sites so our task today is to find a place with a spot so we can line our windshield up facing the ocean.  Here on the Emerald Coast there are lots of choices, so I am sure we will fnd the perfect campsite to enjoy for a week or so.