Blogs from Tamaulipas, Mexico, North America

Our time at Curtis and Janet's home has been absolutely amazing! Such beautiful people and incredibly helpful in preparing us for across the border. After spending a fantastic 4 days with them we sadly said our goodbyes and headed off in excitement and slightly nervous for the Brownsville border crossing to Mexico. We took 3 hours to complete the border crossing which is a bit slow given the small volume of traffic at that hour but not a problem really. Once we cleared customs and rode into Mexico, the contrast to where we had come from was stark. The road conditions (whilst not terribly) deteriorated and buildings and vehicles looked more run down. Not long after arriving we noticed a heavy police and army presence. Utes drove by with armed police and army personnel clad in ... read more

Hoo Boy! I'm into it now! The officious border crossing business wasn't fun but it went smoothly enough. They weren't busy because there aren't a whole lot of people crossing the border and heading for the interior these days. I found my way out of Matamoros easily and hit the open road on a wing and a prayer. Driving isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I think it's important to yield to the masked army troops manning 50 caliber machine guns mounted on their trucks but that goes without saying. I'd do the same in the USA if it ever happened. I also learned that it's safest to drive on the shoulder. The road is effectively 3 lanes wide in most places so that one can usually pass if the car ... read more

This travelblog covers a lot of distance and time. After leaving our son Nick and the Salton Sea in southern California we headed back to Tucson and the Sonoran Desert. After re-provisioning and some vehicle maintenance in Tucson, we headed south some 40 miles to Patagonia Lake State Park, one of our favorite Arizona State Parks. The plan was to meet Peter and Trudy Brussard and their two dogs, Modoc and Katie, who would be arriving after a quick trip south from their home in Reno, NV. Peter and Trudy travel in a 17 foot Big Foot trailer pulled by a diesel GMC truck. The plan was to travel down the Rio Grande Valley to Brownsville, TX while spending some time at three state parks that Lynn and Jon had really enjoyed in the previous winter. ... read more

The last 24 hours have just been a complete sensory overload for me. I crossed the Mexican border around noon on October 8th. But I should back up a little first and talk about how I got here. With Erin leaving to play Volleyball at World Master's in Sydney, Australia, I decided to make another epic trip on my motorcycle. I originally thought it would be exciting to ride to a warmer clime during our Saskatchewan autumn. I looked at Vegas on the map as a possible destination. Then I noticed something else: Mexico was right there, just an inch and a half south of Vegas. It would be silly for me not to go. So, as I always do, I began to search online to oversaturate my brain with information pertaining to Mexico. I ordered ... read more

TRIP TO GUANAJUATO (Final draft) One year ago, I traveled to Guanajuato with my partners from the school. It was the best trip of all because I went with some of my best friends. This trip was organized by the Engineer Georgina, and the objective was to visit some of the most important mines in this city. Guanajuato is a city situated in the middle of the country in Mexico; it is beautiful and is a important city of Mexico’s history, and it has some of the most important mines in the country because these mines exploit a lot of minerals like carbon. In this city the people can do many things like visit the museum of mummies, the Cristo Rey of Cubilete. Another place that people can to visit is the viewpoint of the monument ... read more