viter
Adventurer
I've been wanting to go on this trip for 3 years, but it just wouldn't work out year after year and then finally this year we decided to go for it, even though out of a dozen original people interested in going it was down to only 2, until last week before the trip when the third one decided to join us last minute. And so it was - 3 people, 3 trucks...
Saturday morning Jesse and I both woke up a bit late after staying up late the night before getting last minute supplies and packing up (plus my last minute shock rebuild - thanks to the help from my good friend EZ!), but we still managed to get from San Diego to El Centro on-time around 8am. After loading up with firewood from Doc's backyard and some last minute prep (like filling Tahoe's radiator with a few gallons of water ) we were off towards the border crossing in san luis rio colorado. I was in the lead and already making some questionable decisions - like last minute freeway exits in front of a semi at a non-previously agreed upon point or getting gas at a place that then requires you to back track 3 blocks and waste 15 minutes just trying to get into the border-crossing line - this was a sign of things to come later in the trip. San Luis on USA side is definitely not doing well economically - there were so many gringos wanting to leave and go to mexico that the line to get into mexico took us over 30 minutes...
I got picked by the custom's agent on the mexican side to go to secondary, where I learned that you are not allowed to bring firewood into mexico, even if it is from a tree that was cut in El Centro, some 10 miles away from the fence. A few minutes of discussions in broken spanish and they let me go with a warning. Thanks to the radios, I got in touch with Doc and Jesse and, after filling up our gas cans with 30 gallons of reserve fuel, met up with them for some much-needed lunch break - a street-side mariscos stand that had all kinds of awesome seafood! Jesse got some special birthday clams since he was turning 30 that day!
30 minutes on the highway and one agricultural check later by around midday we finally arrived to the turn-off into the dirt, with our destination for tonight appearing far in the distance
Saturday morning Jesse and I both woke up a bit late after staying up late the night before getting last minute supplies and packing up (plus my last minute shock rebuild - thanks to the help from my good friend EZ!), but we still managed to get from San Diego to El Centro on-time around 8am. After loading up with firewood from Doc's backyard and some last minute prep (like filling Tahoe's radiator with a few gallons of water ) we were off towards the border crossing in san luis rio colorado. I was in the lead and already making some questionable decisions - like last minute freeway exits in front of a semi at a non-previously agreed upon point or getting gas at a place that then requires you to back track 3 blocks and waste 15 minutes just trying to get into the border-crossing line - this was a sign of things to come later in the trip. San Luis on USA side is definitely not doing well economically - there were so many gringos wanting to leave and go to mexico that the line to get into mexico took us over 30 minutes...
I got picked by the custom's agent on the mexican side to go to secondary, where I learned that you are not allowed to bring firewood into mexico, even if it is from a tree that was cut in El Centro, some 10 miles away from the fence. A few minutes of discussions in broken spanish and they let me go with a warning. Thanks to the radios, I got in touch with Doc and Jesse and, after filling up our gas cans with 30 gallons of reserve fuel, met up with them for some much-needed lunch break - a street-side mariscos stand that had all kinds of awesome seafood! Jesse got some special birthday clams since he was turning 30 that day!
30 minutes on the highway and one agricultural check later by around midday we finally arrived to the turn-off into the dirt, with our destination for tonight appearing far in the distance