On Thursday April 6 we left Las Jaibas RV Park headed for the US Border. The trip would be three days of driving with 2 overnights. The first night would be near Los Mochis, Sinaloa and the second north of Guaymas, Sonora. We left the park at 9 a.m. with our first stop to be a truck stop to get diesel. Unlike many other RV’ers who typically get on the road at the break of dawn, we prefer to wake up at a decent hour. After all, there is lots of daylight and we really are in no rush with no set schedule. Temperatures in Mazatlán on our morning of departure were a nice 73ºF (23º C).
This stretch of road is notoriously poor. In fact most of the toll roads in the state of Sinaloa are in pretty rough shape. There are some freshly repaired/repaved sections though which are a nice reprieve. And some sections, although they look smooth, are in fact very uneven and wavy making the drive uncomfortable. All kinds of different levels of crap road 😝. Dan has a saying for the Sinaloan roads “there are patches of highway where it’s all patches and no highway”
One funny and unique thing we noticed in the state of Sinaloa are the cardboard cutout cop car speed deterrents. Maybe they’re in other states too, but we only saw them once in Sinaloa.
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| Is that a cop up ahead? Oh, no…just a cardboard cutout 😝 |
We stopped for the night at a very nice gas station/truck stop north of Los Mochis. A fully fenced level and well lit concrete lot provided a nice quiet night’s rest. And, as a bonus there was a small restaurant/cafe onsite so we enjoyed some burritos and a couple frapuccinos.
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| Overnight stop north of Los Mochis just south of the border into the State of Sonora |
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| Nice quiet spot in the corner. We had to disconnect the truck to back in, then reconnect for ease of departure in the morning. |
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| Enough room to open the bedroom slide for some fresh air, more room to move around the bed and so the boys can check out the sights and smells. |
We arrived at our stop for the night, the Fletcha (called Fletna last year) fuel station and truck stop right on time at 1:00. We stayed here last year as well in the gated and secure truck parking lot. Although last year cost $50 pesos, this year it was free. This is a traditional style truck stop with a lounge for truckers to rest and watch some tv, play pool or cards etc. There is also laundry facilities and showers. Rather than use our water we opted to try their showers. A nice high pressure and hot shower for $120 pesos ($9 Cdn) for the both of us. There is also a nice restaurant on site that makes good food.
Our final day in Mexico, we left our overnight stop a bit earlier than normal and were on the road by 8:00 a.m. Our destination was first the Temporary Import Permit return booths then the Mariposa Truck Border crossing. Morning temperatures were a consistent beautiful 72ºF (22ºC). In total we had about 4.5 hours of driving ahead of us. It was in this stretch that our RV crossed the 12,000 mile point too. We’ve been putting some good mileage on her and thankfully, the DEF simulator continued to work like a charm.
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| Heffay figured out a way to squeeze into the cab. As a pup he fit in here nicely. This year it takes quite a bit of manoeuvring to get comfortable 😊 |
We stopped for a break and some lunch in a nice little town named Imuris which the 15D Toll highway runs directly through. It was a good time to use up the last of the eggs we had in the fridge for a tasty fried egg sandwich. If we didn’t have to eat up the eggs though, I would have loved to try some of the various food stands set up in the small park. Next year perhaps.
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| Imuris was founded as “San José de Imuris” by Jesuit priest Eusebio Francisco Kino in 1687 |
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| Lots of room to pull over for a break along this small park |
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By 1 p.m. we were back on the road headed toward the Banjerito to return our Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for the truck. The RV has a 10 year TIP issued last year, so no need to do anything with it. Returning the truck TIP before our Tourist Visas’s expire ensures we get the $600C deposit back we paid when we entered MX. We arrived at the banjerito at 1:30 after almost missing it! Dan had to make a quick manouever to get into the area after we realized at the last minute we were about to pass it! Sheesh! I wasn’t a very good navigator that afternoon, lol.
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| The booths to return the TIP. Although it appears the right hand lane is the only one open, we wait in the middle as there is no way to navigate the tight corner at the end of the far right lane. |
This year there was no line and after no more than 10 minutes of paperwork and picture taking of the truck/VIN, we were on our way with confirmation of the refund to our credit card in hand. Last year was a much different story where we waited in line for at least 30 minutes.
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| The final stretch before the US border |
By 2 p.m. we were at the Mariposa Truck Crossing Border. Here too we were lucky to have no wait at all. We literally drove right up and were motioned over to the RV area. We got the same food inspection agent as last year and we were happy to tell him we had no prohibited items this year. Those frozen chicken breasts last year almost got us a $400 fine. We actually joked a bit with the agent, clarifying that we had no fresh or FROZEN chicken. Last year he asked if we had any “fresh chicken” only later to realize when he boarded us and went through the freezer that he considered frozen chicken “fresh”. He got a chuckle out of it this year though, so that was good. Last year he wasn’t so humoured and instead reminded us that he was letting us off with just a verbal warning instead of issuing a $400 fine.
This year we didn’t have to open all the bay doors or the truck either, that saved considerable time. After the fridge/cupboard inspection was done they sent us through the big X-ray machine and we were on our way. Super easy and fast and really friendly border guards which is such a treat!
By 2:20 we were in the US, headed to our overnight stop. We arrived at the Arizona department of transportation rest stop (also known as the Canoa Rest Stop) in Amado, AZ at 3:15 with enough light to give all the boys a well deserved walk. All in all, another wonderful snowbird trip to Mexico under our belts. Of course not considering the stress of the DEF header issue the day we left Lo de Marcos. But, that too turned out to be not too bad given Dan’s phenomenal preparation skills.
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| AZ DOT Rest Stop |
North of Guaymas to Mariposa Truck Border Crossing, Nogales MX
Summary Lo de Marcos to US Border
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