Border Adventures

Day 30 – Hermosillo to the intersection of I10 & I8, Arizona

After breakfast we split with Lee and continued north on the toll road (15D) toward Nogales. There is considerable construction along this route and there were several 2 lane sections. It didn’t affect our speed much since we were cruising at 100 to 105 kph. The route is quite boring as it crosses the Sonora Desert. There are only 2 or 3 communities in the 300K from Hermosillo to Nogales. Our GPS has a built-in MP3 player and I had loaded a couple of gigs of music on it before we left. With a couple of pair of ear phones we had music for this leg of the trip.

The Nogales border crossing is probably the busiest crossing between USA and Mexico. Hwy 15 is part of the Panamerica Highway and as such it is the main truck route. The border crossing procedure is quite different than at most USA/Canada crossings.

Traveling from Mexico to the USA you reach the first Mexico customs point 10 or 15 kilometres from the border. At this point you cancel the vehicle permit and the windshield sticker is removed. To reach this section, simply follow the signs.

Once this process is complete you continue north on the Hyw 15. In a few kilometres you have the option of turning off to enter Nogales town site or continuing on the USA crossing. Once past this option the road to the USA crossing is fenced on either side. A kilometre or 2 later you reach the Mexican cargo port where the truck are inspected both leaving and entering Mexico. This is where things get interesting!

Today, the roadway and parking areas in the port, were completely jammed with stopped or slowly moving rigs either waiting for or in the process of inspection. Since there was no way through in the north bound lanes we followed a couple of cars into the opposite direction lane. We were in first or second gear at this point so there was no danger. Eventually we ran out of road space so we followed a dirt track onto the shoulder and around behind some of the various buildings to try to get around the truck congestion. When this trail petered out, Linda got off the bike and walked up a bank to the roadway to a space between two stopped trucks. I rode the bike up the embankment onto the roadway. Meanwhile the cars in this procession were seeking their own routes back onto the pavement. Once on the pavement again we worked our way through the maze of trucks. We and the cars with us had no idea if this route would eventually dead-end nose to nose with an 18 wheeler. In this case it didn’t, we worked our way back onto north bound lanes and continued toward the border. The amazing part of this was that what we did was accepted as normal procedure! No one batted an eye.

Continuing north on the highway there is continuous signage telling you which lane you need to be in. In addition to the signs, each lane number is painted on the roadway. Lane 1 for cars. MCs and RVs, Lane 2 for trucks with a F.A.S.T. pass, Lanes 3 and 4 are for all other trucks. A couple of kilometers from the border lanes 3 & 4 are separated from the other lanes by a concrete barrier.

As we approached the border in lane 1, Linda counted the truck that were stopped and waiting in lanes 3 & 4. There were approximately 300 trucks waiting to cross the border. This border crossing is only open from 8am until 10pm. I don’t know how long the average processing time would be for each truck but if each truck could be processed in 5 minutes, only 168 trucks could cross in one day. These drivers must be a patient bunch!

In the middle of this line of trucks there was one car. We think that he must have been in the wrong lane and once inside the concrete barriers and followed by another truck, he was trapped. Hope he didn’t have an important meeting. I could see how this could happen.. Lane 1 is the outside lane (left), Lane 4 is the inside lane (right).

Due to the holiday weekend in Mexico the border crossing was a bit busier than usual. We waited about 45 minutes to get through. We used the "Mexican motorcycle lanes" to help speed he process. What are these "lanes" you ask? In Mexico a motorcycle makes it's own lane. If there is space between two vehicles or down the shoulder, that's a "Mexican motorcycle lane". At first you feel like a queue jumper but once you realize that it is an accepted procedure it's not so bad. It is even encouraged by some car drivers.

Tonight we are in a hotel just south of Phoenix at the intersection on I10 & I8. Tomorrow we will follow I8 to California. The adventure continues....