March 11, 2007

Outside Chihuahua, MX
Across the Border

A long day crossing the border and driving about 270 miles. We are at the Del Fresno Park (map). Landscaping is primarily rocks and gravel and some 15-foot trees. We were lucky to get a 30-amp hook-up. Others may have 15 amps or less.

An exceptionally well organized day, we crossed the border

Watch the Video and went through two government inspection stations with only two rigs receiving a cursory glance. ( “I think they just wanted to check out our floorplan," said one rig owner.)

The scenery was less than spectacular, with miles of sagebrush and dirt, with brown non-descript mountains hovering in the distance. My apologies to Mexico for recently slandering their highways. They are better than California’s….so far. Don’t enjoy paying the tolls (almost $45.00 today), but there weren’t but a couple of potholes. The road shoulders were non-existent, often dropping up to a foot at the edge of the pavement, but if you stayed on the road, it was pretty smooth. Of interest along the road were numerous shrines for apparent ‘road-kill’ victims. These ranged from simple crosses to cinder block structures the size of a small house.

One couple was forced to turn back to the US after developing brake trouble in their trailer. Assuming a quick fix, they may be able to join us in a couple days.

Wagon-masters kept the speed at 50-55 max which made for a pretty relaxing drive. It’s great when all you have to do is follow the rig ahead of you, and they are following the leaders, who actually knows exactly where they are going, unlike some of our circuitous excursions going solo.
It’s really amazing the number of full-timers out there who have just “hit the road” for years. One of the lures, I believe, are the great people on the road and the camaraderie that is near instantaneous. Much different than the drive-in-the-garage-close-the-garage-door suburban life or the regimented life of the workplace. These folks know what freedom is.

Drove through Chihuahua, which is a thriving city (a minus 2% unemployment rate, meaning that there are more jobs than workers), with a couple of familiar factories (eg. Volvo, Black and Decker). On the road in, many families were having Sunday afternoon picnics along the road—beside dry creek beds and on wide spots in the road. Enjoyed waving to as many as possible, hoping that they would not regard us all as a bunch of spoiled rich folk. They eagerly returned our waves.

Tomorrow is a bus tour of Chihuahua.

(For those of you wondering about Carly's good fortune in Las Vegas, you can look at this link to her outing yesterday, provided to us by our sources in that city.)