Day 2 Travels in Mexico

WHERE ARE WE? Just outside Monterrey Mexico

We were up and on the road by about 8:20 this morning.  Archie was first to look out the door and he had that "Where are we?" look!!

A quick stop for some fuel and on the road.  The campground we were in last night provided a quiet sleep for us. The roads we travelled on today were absolutely fantastic.  Travelling Mexico is definitely a breeze.  We saw a lot farm land to start with and then it turned into desert, followed by mountains.  Mexico has so much diversity.  

I had a new co pilot today and the work was hard on him.  About 2 pm he just had to have a wee siesta!!  He was great to have along today.  Thanks Max!!

Jeep just followed along obediently like she is supposed to.  We even had to back out of a toll booth lane today about 50 feet and there was no problem.  Sue just kept the wheels straight and it worked good.  The key is to be dead straight between the Jeep and RRV before we start to back up.

During all of our previous trips down to Mexico and back, we have paid all our tolls in cash.  It's time consuming at the toll booth because you are normally in a line up to go through and you have to carry about 5000 pesos in cash just for the tolls.  So this year we decided to purchase Easytrip pass which just suction cups to the windshield.  The last 2 days we have really enjoyed it as we just slip through the easy pass lane and hardly have to stop.  Sue has an app on her phone and can call up every toll we pay right after we go through the booth.  Other than a small fee to purchase the reader, there is no extra charge to use it.  And when the total runs low, we just go to the app and reload it.  

We had planned to stop for the night about and hour north of Matahuala but when we got there it was only a bit after 2:30 so we decided to head down the road about 1:30 to just outside Saltillo to a Pemex there.  When we got there it was on the wrong side of the road and full so we headed up the road about another 35 minutes to another one.  It was small and mostly full.  Fany said, let me try finding something and she found a rest area just east of Monterrey that was attached to a Military installation. So needless to say our original trip of about 450 kms ended up just under 700 kms.  Because we kept adding to our trip in small portions it didn't actually feel that long.  Here is where we went.

We arrived at the rest stop about 5:30 pm just before the sun set.  It is a great place and we will enjoy the night here.  We are about 200 kms from the border.  Now without downplaying what has happened to some of our friends on the road, I can honestly say that Mexico as a whole is not a place to be be feared.  Yes there are some bad apples, but you can find them anywhere.  And I might fall victim to some less than reputable people, but for the most part, every person along our trips have been wonderful.  We have been trained to think there are only a handful of places worthy of an overnight stay, but if you look carefully, almost every fuel station or hotel has a wonderful spot to park overnight.  There are also many many little camping areas along the way as well.  I must admit that I feel every bit as comfortable boondocking here as I do back home or in the USA.  I hope I can keep reporting that fact.

We made it!

The army was here to greet us but they left

Parked up for the night

I missed the sunset but the colours from it setting behind the mountains was amazing.  Also the lights of Monterrey can be seen.  We have 2 hours travel to the border tomorrow morning, then off to Magnolia Beach.  Should arrive mid afternoon.  Time for bed.  Good Nite!!