THE TRIP

First, the trip was as expected--long and boring, from Louisville to Memphis, across Arkansas (blessedly short), then endlessly across Texas from Texarkana, around Dallas, then south through Waco, Austin, and San Antonio to Laredo. But Audible helps us endure.  We listened to The Widow on the way.  Good.  I'd recommend it. (Let me know if you want to access it from our library.) We try to pace the trip so that we do between 6-7 hours a day, both for our comfort and the dogs.  Of course, we stay at La Quinta Inns because of them.  We bought a folding ramp for Howdy for the car.  Last year about this time while Bob was in the hospital, Howdy injured himself on our deck stairs.  The vet said it was a sprain and treated him with anti-inflammatories and we continued his glucosamine, but ever since then he's had problems coming up steps and can't jump into the car any more.  But he took to the ramp readily with Bob and me on either side guiding him.  He and Daisy love the car, love road trips, never complain during the rides.  Crazy pups.  While we were packing the car, Daisy kept running around and around, trying to jump in so we had to keep her in the house.

We bought a Thule cartop carrier, one of those sleek-looking, black ones, which worked like a charm.  With smaller cargo space (than the minivan) and a longer visit and both dogs, we really only have enough room inside for a couple of carry-on size cases. And we still got around 27 mph, so that was really helpful.

We stayed overnight in Laredo two nights because we had to go to the Mexican consulate for our temporary resident visas which allow stays up to a year instead of the maximum 6 months  on a tourist visa.  The length of time for us is really not the issue; I'm sure we'll be leaving Mexico for somewhere else with 6 months, but when you import a car along with your tourist visa, it's illegal to leave the country without your vehicle. This way we can fly out and leave the car here without violating the Temporary Importation Permit.  It's a technicality not always enforced, but we don't like breaking the law in another country.  So we spent 4 hours in the consulate getting our visas.  No problems, just bureaucracy.  For this visa, you aren't allowed to work (in country) so you have to prove that you can support yourself with a minimum of $1500/month each so you won't end up a burden on the government.  That means producing 6 months worth of bank statements, plus more pictures and paperwork, etc.

We always cross at the Columbia Bridge border which is about 25 miles NW of Laredo right along the Rio Grande--25 miles of desert with nothing but occasional huge lots of semis waiting for cargo to go one way or the other.  Otherwise nothing but scrub brush and mesquite as far as you can see. (Side note: at a Texas rest stop, we learned that  I-35 between Laredo and Kansas City was the old Chisholm Trail, used for only a few years after the Civil War to round up all the longhorn cattle that had roamed back across the border to Mexico during the conflict.  Why, I don't know since no part of the war was fought in Texas.  Also, 35 is the NAFTA highway stretching all the way north to just south of the Canadian border.  And there's absolutely no doubt about it. The trucks are thick on the highway with doble-semis south of the border.) Anyway,most gringos coming from the east-central US and Canada use the Columbia bridge because it is out in the boonies--about a 50-mile detour out of the way--but there's almost never any wait or hassle.  The truckers go through Nuevo Laredo.  The other reason for this crossing point is NOT having to drive through Nuevo Laredo, one of those border towns gringos are warned about.

This crossing was especially easy since we already had our visas. But when we walked over to the car importation side, we ran into a little snag.  Since we had bought the car only about ten days before we left Louisville, we were very lucky to get the permanent license plate and registration forms from the state before we left--but not enough time for the original title, so they sent us a copy.  (Don't know why--you'd have to ask KY.)  So we had all our paperwork, bill of sale, registration, copy of the title, proof of Mexican insurance, but, oops, not good enough.

"This is a copy," says the senorita. "We need the original."  So we tried to explain why we didn't have the original yet.  A bit of conversation back and forth, and she pushes the paperwork back under the glass panel and says, "No, I'm sorry. We must have the original."  We look at each other in shock, and Bob says to her, "You mean we can't go to Mexico?"

Without hesitation, she replied, looking Bob straight in the eye, "No, senor. YOU can go to Mexico, but your car cannot."

Holy shit. What now? So we talked a little bit more, asked if anyone else could help us.  She said no, then pulled the paperwork back toward her.  Then she said she wanted to see proof of insurance.  "It's there, Bob says. "Mexican insurance."  "No, no, she says, "US insurance."  So Bob trudges back to the car, gets out the USAA insurance papers, and brings them to her.  She then compares them very closely making sure everything matched.  Finally, she says, "OK, this is good," and begins to stamp all the papers--stamp, stamp, stamp, just like in the movies. We managed to keep straight faces until we got back to the car, but then collapsed in nervous laughter. Why were the US insurance papers adequate to bypass the need for an original title? No reason at all, except to save face.

So then we walked and watered the dogs, prepared to cross through the checkpoint.  Meanwhile we had seen nobody else crossing in the hour or so we had been there.  The border guards were standing by along with a young uniformed woman.  As we pulled up to them, the young woman stepped up to my window and asked if we had mascotas (pets) traveling with us.  They had seen us walking them in the parking lot.  "Pull over here," she says. Of course, you need health certificates for pets when you cross any border, and we've always scrupulously complied, taking the dogs to the vet just a few days before we leave.  She looked at the dogs with the back hatch open but didn't want us to take them out.  She examined our papers and was very impressed that we had both state and international health forms filled out.  Then she gave us pamphlets in multiple languages about how to care for our pets and wished us a good trip.  Not only have we never been stopped on either side of the border because of the dogs, nobody we know--or anybody anybody knows--has ever been stopped.  I decided it might be a sign of Mexico's recovering economy: they now have the money to pay an official at the border to examine los papeles de mascotas.

So now we were free to move about Mexico and off we went.