Getting out of the U.S.A

We left Tuscon a little after noontime, on a mission.  We’d had to wait for the mailman to bring the last of the Amazon order before we could depart.  We were still riding low, but hoped that as we started consuming stuff our load would lighten and we wouldn’t blow the shocks too early in the trip.

Making it to Why, AZ, was a breeze after cruising through the Indian reservation.  This was one place we didn’t want to be stuck after dark; apparently drug runners use the north/south dirt roads to outrun the border patrol, and you don’t want to be sitting there twiddling your thumbs in the wrong place.  This area, and stretching to just south of the border supposedly are the most dangerous spots of the Mexico portion of our trip.

At the Why Not Store, we gassed up and spent a half-hour trying to figure out how to email to the gas station attendant so we could pay them to print out our evidence of Mexican car insurance Jen bought online from her phone just an hour earlier.  The rules clearly state that you must carry a printed evidence of insurance – electronic will not suffice.  Not a single person asked to see it through 2 months in Mexico.

Pro-TIP for procrastinators: the Why Not Store sells Mexican car insurance, complete with printed evidence.

Positives from the long stop at Why were that Ted got to stretch his legs and Nina got a popsicle.  Ready to drive away, we were greeted by a coyote who apparently owned the place; crazy are the things you see in the desert.  We got a photo of the coyote.  As we approached a random US Border Patrol checkpoint (not at the border, mind you, still squarely in the USA), I snapped a pic with my phone and was promptly stopped and required to delete said picture before we could pass.  I had thought I had rights which I guess, in fact, I do not possess.

We made a brief stop in Lukesville to drop our life insurance paperwork at the last Post Office and were waved through without a second glance from the Mexican Customs agent.  Our brother-in-law said it would be an easy border crossing, and indeed it wasn’t busy at all.   In fact it was empty.  We looked all around before and after Customs for anything that looked like an immigration office (for our 6-month tourist cards) or a Banjercito (where you pay your car import tax) but we did not see anything at all.  Already running somewhat late we did not stop and try to force the issue, because we worried we’d risk getting delayed once Customs realized we had a dog in the car.  We figured we could handle these things later.  Turns out you can pay the vehicle tax later, but cannot obtain a Visa stamp and visitors’ card anywhere but on the border!  We were in a rush to make it all the way to Puerto Peñasco before dark, which we barely did.