1st Day in Mexico

We got up early and left the CG at 0815. 4 hours of driving through desolate Texas pasture/farm land. Crossed the Rio Grande at about 1300. Managed to hit the toll booth with my mirror on the pax side...even shook it a bit. No damage to anything. First stop was customs. Nice lady agent was going to come in and look around until she saw Bruno. She decided to just look in a few outside compartments...all cursory. Asked if we had guns and then sent us on our way. Then we drove around and finally found the huge new building where you get Visas and car permits. The places are usually a zoo but we were the only ones there. Very nice agents guided us through the process and we were out in just under 30 minutes. We wandered busy city streets until we finally found the highway to the campground. FYI costs for this:

• 6 months insurance on the RV and Saturn: $846
• Car deposit (it is returned when the car leaves Mexico): $459
• Visas: $43.55

We then got on Highway 40 towards Monterrey for almost 4 hours. Parts of it were a little rough but not too bad. Much of it is toll and cost us $26. One pucker time when I made a wrong turn and ended up in a city neighborhood. Robin swears one could not slide a piece of paper in-between the RV and the cars on each side. But we made it. Got to the CG at about 1700. Nice park but not designed for big motorhomes. We got in and getting out will be fun. We hang out into the road so we could get the slide out but there's no one here anyway. Charge is only $58 for 4 nights! A bargain!

Then Chris and Juan came over. What a treat! I only know them from the Mexico forum on rv.net. We've read each other for 10 years but never met. They are just as great in person as on the web. We talked for a long time and then they took us to their favorite Italian restaurant, La Mistura. The talk and great food continued until almost 2400! What a fantastic start to Mexico. Chris and Juan are fantastic people. Some pictures: