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Monday, October 19, 2015

Boondocking night #14...peace and quiet

Not a very long drive yesterday, our last full day before crossing the border into Mexico. We stopped in the town of Carrizo Springs at the H.E.B store to see if there were any other things we should pick up. H.E.B (not pronounced Heb!) is a major grocery chain in southern Texas and Northern Mexico.

Unfortunately, not much to be had. We bought a bottle of wine for tonight's dinner, and a couple of bags of dried split peas!

When we were at the cash, it came up in the conversation that we were from Canada. Everyone in the store is Hispanic...except for us. Almost as much as in Mexico, we stand out like a sore thumb. We said we were heading for Mexico for the winter and the woman behind us said "We live here and even we don't go there!". Too funny. Of course the border zones are a bit of a grey area and the people who live near the border areas are a little brainwashed by the media stories.

And so then we continued on.

Our goal for crossing the border is always to do so as early in the day as possible because you never know what glitches may come your way. So, the closer you can overnight to your border crossing point, the better. We like to use the Colombia Bridge crossing. It is a truck crossing that avoids the congestion of Laredo and it's a little out of the way, however it's also very RV friendly, and it's not very busy to begin with.

So, where to spend our last night in the U.S.?

Our choice in past years has been Lake Casa Blanca State Park in Laredo. But it's a bit pricey and you have to deal with Laredo traffic. One of our readers (hi Sue and Brian!) had suggested the visitors center on the I-35 heading south near the truck toll highway to the Colombia Bridge. We were aware of this possibility and it *is* a convenient location, but of course the truck noise and the Interstate highway noise is not to our liking.

Looking for something better, I had come across a listing for the Chaparral Wildlife Management area. It said that there was a free camping area available, but you had to have a $12 annual permit. We decided to risk a bit of a detour to see if we could camp there without the permit.

We arrived at the entrance gate and squeezed Sherman through. They have a nice little visitors center building, but the only other people we saw were hunters. I went and read one of the sign boards and learned that the Chaparral WMA is only open to the public from April through the end of August. I went in the office, and there was a young guy behind the desk. I asked about camping for the night, and said I realize there is supposed to be a $12 annual permit involved but I explained that we were from Canada. He had a bit of a "what do I tell them?" look on his face when another guy who had obviously heard my story came out and said "I don't see what harm that could be...they can use the camping area".

Apparently at this time of year the area is closed for private hunting and there is a quail hunt going on just now.

Ruth, opening the gate. 

We were told to go about a mile down the highway to the entrance to the camping. There is a separate entrance for tent camping, and another for RV camping. We pulled into the RV camping area, and we were the only ones there!

Sherman, all by himself. 

Nice...just the way we like it!

Spent the rest of the afternoon doing some minor motorhome repairs. Some of our window blinds were starting to rattle loose and there was that propane compartment door that I told you about the other day that wouldn't stay shut. Also, Sherman had developed an annoying rattle in the dash and I think I got that fixed. And, we figured out our route to friends Chris and Juan's place just outside of Monterrey and got the GPS coordinates input into our Garmin.

Had a great sleep! Up early and crossed the border into Mexico. That story you can hear about tomorrow morning!

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18 comments:

  1. My only comment would be don't judge those that live on the border. I have a couple of friends that more than once have had illegals breaking into their homes and stealing stuff.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, there is crime everywhere.

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    2. No... I don't think you understand (or are ignoring it). They have had multiply issues BECAUSE they are near the border. Always running groups that trash their house, take food, clothes and a leave mess behind. I was being polite by not getting into detail about how bad it is for them. One of my friends have moved because of how bad it is. The farther away from the border the less problems they have had.

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    3. I don't understand what your comment about illegals has to do with my paragraph about people who live close to the border being afraid of going to Mexico. The two are entirely unrelated in my mind...

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  2. Great spot to overnight. I hope you continue to find great spots on down through MX.

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    1. It was a nice little spot, still a little close to the road for us but we really didn't notice the traffic noise a whole lot. We are hoping to find some nice spots as well. Most likely they won't be real quiet here in Mexico though, with rooster crowing and dogs barking just about everywhere you go. ;-)

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  3. How nice to find people that understand your travel plans. Looks like a great place to spend a few hours. We don't like truck stops or rest areas either.

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    1. Yes, it is nice when they understand, sometimes all it takes is to ask the right person. Truck stops and rest areas are too noisy for us. We hate listening to truck engines idling or the refrigeration units running all the time, so we just stay away from those types of places as much as possible but we know others who don't mind listening to those sounds, so it is nice that not everyone is the same.

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  4. You could have cranked up the generator for just a bit to be polite ;-)

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    1. There was a generator in the other camping section just down the road and it was loud enough that we just knew we couldn't compete with it! ;-)

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  5. My the looks of the campground you did not deprive any paying customers:)

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    1. Not one! :-) Mind you they wouldn't have been paying customers anyway because once you purchase the $12 permit from the Austin WMA (Wildlife Managemant Area) office it allows you free camping in any of their WMA (in Texas only) during times that the areas are open to the public.

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  6. Glad you two think positive and are safe. You can find pitfalls anywhere so why worry. Although I still can't convince Mo to take the MoHo to Mexico.

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    1. Staying positive and being aware of your surroundings go a long way no matter where you travel.

      Traveling in Mexico by motorhome is definitely not for everyone and you have do do what your comfort zone allows you to do. For us, we have just had way to many amazing experiences here in Mexico, it is like a second home to us. Perhaps we will change Mo's attitude to traveling down here. ;-)

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  7. Our 3 months in Mexico with our coach was no problem at all, would go back in a minute if the boss will let us go.

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  8. Arizona had it's problems with illegals, human traffic, shoot outs on freeways due to drugs, human cargo, execution style killings in the desert, shootings in neighborhoods and crime....most cleared out when AZ placed laws to prevent food stamp, medical, employment barriers....I have my neighborhood back...it's been quiet...love it without illegals!!!

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    Replies
    1. We totally agree that to cut done on crimes and violence you have to get tough with the laws and this goes for any city/town in any country. Many cities and countries have proven this by getting tough and putting their foot down with more police and military to keep their residents safe.

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