Road to Torreon, Mexico

We were up at 5:30 a.m., ate breakfast and had the car packed up by 6:45 a.m.  One of the things not advised in Mexico is to drive while it's dark out:  more crime, animals on the road, and unseen speed bumps (called topes).   So we waited until a little after  7 a.m when enough of the sun was up to see the road.

 Airbnb Backyard

About a half hour later, we pulled off next to a small, unmarked government building on the side of Hwy 57 just past Allende.  It's easy to miss.  A visa is required in Mexico.   Also, a TIP (temporary import permit) is required for vehicles outside of lower Baja and the border zone.  

Fortunately, we arrived early enough that there was no line.  Getting a visa was as simple as showing our passports and paying the fees.  The immigration officer keyed in all of the information, and we just had to sign.  We're good to go for 180 days, although we won't be staying that long.

The TIP was more complicated.  Importing a vehicle cost about $80 and then a $400 refundable deposit, returnable if one remembers to drop off the receipt/permit at a TIP office just before leaving the country.  There's more paperwork involved.  Original registration, stamped FMM (visa), and copies of passport and registration.  We purchased Mexican auto insurance online before leaving home.  The application for TIP is in the same building and across from the immigration window.

After that, we were back on the road, driving south on Hwy 57  and then Hwy 50 around Monclova, where we were stopped by a police officer at the side of the road.  He asked where we were going, took a quick look in the back of the truck, saw Callie, and sent us on our way.

Then we were back on Hwy 57 until we turned west on Hwy 114.  

The road was easy driving up to this point, although I had to get used to the invisible third lane.  On two lane highways, the middle of the road is used as the passing lane, while other vehicles on both sides straddle the shoulder line allowing that to happen.

Hwy 114 took us across some of the most desolate country that I've ever seen.  Other vehicles were rare.  There was no shoulder and steep drop-offs on the side of the road.  At one point, I pulled over as far as I could to let a pick-up truck by.  Instead of passing, the pick-up truck pulled alongside us in the opposing lane at 50 mph.  I then noticed it was a police vehicle.  He looked us over and then waved us to keep going.  He then stopped, turning around in the opposite direction.

Our last police stop of the day came about 30 minutes later.  Two policemen set up a cone in the middle of the road and motioned us to slow down and stop.  Neither spoke English.  Callie gave them a rousing hello in "bark" language.  They smiled a lot and checked our papers carefully.  After asking for our destination, they waved us on our way.

Hwy 114 soon turned into Hwy 40, which was bone-shaking rough for about an hour.  That turned into Hwy 40/440, the toll road, and it was smooth going all the way into Torreon.  We ate outside at a deli adjacent to the hotel.  It was dog friendly, and Callie was on her best behavior.

Police Liason waiting for a morsel of chicken

Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras

 We left San Antonio at about 10:30 a.m., driving south on I-35 and then heading west on Hwy 57 to Eagle Pass, Texas.  

We arrived at about 1 p.m. and had sandwiches at the Silver Spoon.  

Our check-in at the Piedras Negras Airbnb wasn't supposed to be until 4 p.m., so we ate a leisurely lunch and then walked up and down the downtown streets of Eagle Pass and down to the Rio Grande and the bridge we would cross.  

Eagle Pass is an interesting city--in some ways, it reminds me of the Mexican border towns even though it's still Texas.  Many of the store signs are in Spanish.  Most of the people that we observed walking around were Hispanic.

We didn't want to cross the bridge until we had the lock-box combination to get into the Airbnb.  The host said that he was going to send it to us right away, but it was a good lesson in Mexican time-keeping.  Right away means sometime still today as opposed to tomorrow/manana which means sometime in the future.  

Around 2:45 p.m., we had the combination and started the process to cross the border..  We thought that it would take awhile to go through customs and that we would arrive right around 4 p.m.

Traffic was fairly light going to Mexico but quite heavy coming back to the U.S.  

When we arrived at Mexican customs, we entered the lane for "nothing to declare"  (nada de declarar).  From my research, I knew that there was still a high likelihood of getting pulled over and searched, especially when entering with a pickup truck.  But we didn't see any customs' employees and drove directly into Piedras Negras.  

Navigating the streets of the city was more difficult than I expected with Google Maps. A little jog right or left was treated as a turn, and that's not the way to get to where we were going. We made a couple of wrong turns, but we eventually figured out how to get to the neighborhood of the Airbnb.  At that point, our host's instructions were to ignore google maps and follow his written instructions, which were directly on point and easy to understand.  The neighborhood was gated, and security verified our reservation before letting us enter.  

It was only 3:15 p.m, and the place was still getting cleaned.  We apologized for our early arrival, and he apologized that things weren't quite ready yet.  His English was limited; my Spanish is far from fluent.  We figured things out, and the place was ready a short time later.  The accommodation was lovely:  a two story townhouse with fully equipped kitchen, wifi, nice bedroom and bathroom, a comfortable living room, and pet friendly.  So much better than a hotel room in Eagle Pass and at a better price.  

After getting comfortable, we headed out to H.E.B, a chain of grocery stores which also has a location in Piedras Negras.  We bought supplies for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning.    It's not quite 7 p.m., and there's still some light from sunset.  A pretty good day with no unpleasant surprises.

I'm hoping for the same tomorrow.  We will need to stop in Allende for our temporary visa and temporary auto import permit.  And then it will be a long drive to our next stop.

River Walk under Sunny Skies

 We had blue skies and sun today for the first time in awhile.

We took care of some last-minute preparations for crossing the border tomorrow, such as buying some pesos.  Later, we walked some more along the River Walk.   Somehow, we managed 30,000 steps.  

During the late afternoon, we found ourselves at Pat O'Briens (San Antonio), sipping hurricanes and listening to the house band.

Then we had a light dinner of tapas and wine at a restaurant a few blocks from our Airbnb.

Tomorrow is a big day.  We will cross the border at Eagle Pass, Texas.  

On the Road to San Antonio

We woke up to more rain and cold in Corpus Christi this morning, so we got the heck out of town by 10 a.m.  Interstate 37 north was flat and easy driving, if not scenic.  

Our airbnb in San Antonio is a strange one.  It's very inexpensive and located only six blocks from the River Walk.  

The neighborhood is more than a little sketchy, but the place has hundreds of good reviews--mainly for value because the hotels downtown a few blocks away are outrageous.  

Because we arrived a couple of hours before check in, we parked in a well-lit and well-traveled area of upscale stores and took Callie for a long walk.  When we returned, there was a dude parked directly behind me in a place that really didn't have room for another car.  His rear tires were pressed up against the curb, and the front of his vehicle was less than two inches my ball hitch.  I have no idea how he was able to park there without damaging his vehicle or mine.  

To make matters more interesting, he was sitting in his beater-mobile (with driver's side-mirror barely hanging on and dents all over) with the engine running.  The windshield and windows were too deeply tinted to get a good look at him. I checked over the rear of my vehicle for damage, and walked back to the driver's side.  At that point, he got out of his vehicle, and he was a well-groomed, young Hispanic man.  He didn't walk towards me but crossed the street instead--his car still running.  I drove away, puzzled, but glad if we interrupted anything potentially nefarious.

The Airbnb was a no-contact, self check-in.  It's an older home with three or four units.  We are in the back of the property.  It's nice enough, but the light fixtures in the living room and bedroom don't work.  Several people commented in the guestbook.  I'm not sure if anyone is paying attention.  Both smoke alarms lack batteries, and the battery compartments have been exposed to alert whoever is supposed to be replacing them, I suppose.  The owner has not been answering the messages which we sent him.

The most interesting and maybe disturbing thing to me is that there is a small pet door in the rear door leading into the kitchen.  The type allowing a small dog or cat to enter and leave via the fenced in back yard.  I've never had one of those doors, but I believe they are supposed to have some covering or swinging door closing off the outside.  This one doesn't.  Julia stuck a towel in the hole to the outdoors.  Temperatures are supposed to dip into the mid 30's tonight.

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Late this afternoon, we crated up Callie and took off on our own for the River Walk.  It was cold and drizzly, but eventually the rain stopped and skies cleared.  We went into Dirty Nellie's Irish Pub for beer and to warm up.  

They had some local beers and a piano bar with singer.  It was just what we needed to take the chill out of our bones.

Later, we went to an Asian fusion restaurant called Suck It Asian Kitchen.  Despite the name, the food was amazing.  We had Hanoi egg rolls, which are small fried egg rolls that are placed in a leaf of lettuce with carrot and then rolled up like a burrito.  A dipping sauce is also available.  

Then we had ramen with pork bone broth cooked for over 48 hours.  It has to be top three of the best ramen that I've ever had.  Not at all traditional but delicious! 

Pickleball in the Cold

The weather has continued to be unseasonably cold with temperatures in the 30's and not rising out of the 40's.  For exercise, Julia had the great idea to go play pickleball inside at the tennis center open to the general public in Corpus Christi.  

When we got there, we discovered that her information was bad; the courts were all outside, and no one was playing on any of the ten beautiful and permanent courts.  Just then, two people got out of their cars and walked over to us.  "You two playing?" the man asked.  "Um, sure", we replied.   "Okay, then, we've got four to play."

So we played in the coldest weather that we've ever played in.  Greg was a retired carnival worker, and his lady friend was Danell.  They were both really good and play all over south Texas.  We somewhat held our own and kept it competitive.  Later, Eric showed up, giving us five, which allowed one person to take a break during games.  Eric left early because he didn't want to be too tired for a tournament he was scheduled to play in that night. Pickleballers are crazy!

 

It was so cold that we cracked four pickleballs, but a good time was had by all. 

Later we went to lunch at Railroad Seafood Station and Brewing Company.  The beer was unremarkable, but the seafood gumbo and fish po' boys were delicious

We finished getting our exercise in on the bayfront walkway.

USS Lexington

The ship above is actually a museum, which we did not tour.  Several huge freighters came in between the museum and the shore.  If the weather was nicer, that's the kind of thing that I could watch all day.  I'm not all that interested in ships, but they do make my imagination run about all of the stories that they could tell.  

We head tomorrow to San Antonio for a couple of days. 

Walkable

Yesterday was a "crappy weather" day along the Texas Gulf Coast.  Fog, drizzle, wind and temperatures in the 50's.

Still, we got out and walked our beach circuit a couple of times, getting in six miles of outdoor activity.  I enjoyed watched the seabirds feast at low tide, congregating for supper at the edge of the surf.

 

At home, it was not an outdoors kind of day, despite sunny skies.

No regrets.  Fresh black drum fillets and salad for dinner.