El Paso

Uncle Douglas

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Anyone here near El Paso ?
Raub, Trey, and I have been invited down to spend time with a friend in Gaudalajara and are considering driving down the Sunday after the Natl Rally ends in July.
@ this point we are thinking of leaving the tow vehicles and trailers in Texas ( for 5-6 days) and just driving down in Defenders. Open to ideas.
 
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chris snell

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I've never driven from El Paso to Guadalajara but I've driven from Brownsville, TX to there. We drove through Ciudad Victoria, San Luis Potosi, and Guadalajara, on our way to Puerto Vallarta. We drove back via Guadalajara, Zacatecas, Saltillo, Monterrey, and Laredo.

We had a great time. No problems. There are military checkpoints and they were sometimes a little spooky at night but really no big deal.

When I was in college, I went down there solo, on foot. I took buses, trains, and even hitch-hiked from El Paso through Chihuahua, Creel, Los Mochis, Culiacán, Mazatlan, Obregón, Guaymas, and Hermosillo. Never felt at all vulnerable until I crossed back into El Paso on foot at 2AM and had to walk a couple of miles through downtown to the parking garage where my truck was.

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Uncle Douglas

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Don’t drive in a Defender in Mexico and fly if you NEED to go there. Just saying.
I think this will be a Defender appropriate adventure.
Given the distance from Virginia to Ouray, and then Ouray to Gaudalajara, and then back. Seemingly it would be easiest to just borrow a two car trailer and take one crewcab tow rig and split driving time three ways and keep the truck rolling so it covers 1500 or so miles every 24 hrs, ea guy has 16hrs off between stints. We have some planning in front of us.
 
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terryjm1

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I’m not there now and doubt this helps, but I have a shop in Mayhill, NM which is about 90 miles from El Paso. It is in a beautiful forested area at high elevation close to Cloudcroft, NM which is a small old west town popular with tourists in Texas. There are a lot of vacation rentals in the village. You would be welcome to park the tow vehicle on my property while in Mexico. Cloudcroft and Mayhill are in a really nice area. If interested, message me and I will give you my number for more details.
 
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javelinadave

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Here is my thoughts from experiences with a bit more detail.
  1. There is safety in numbers. One truck makes you most vulnerable. No witnesses , no problem to them. Two trucks, so-so. Three, your probably good
  2. Never speak Spanish to the cops or at the military check points. A language barrier makes a shakedown tougher for them.
  3. Have a few $5 bills accessible to give at a shakedown. If you whip out a roll of cash it will cost you a roll of cash.
  4. Never, ever leave your vehicle unattended.
  5. If somebody (cop, fake cop, military guy, fake military guy, town mayor, etc) want your truck you are now walking or taking the bus to your destination.
  6. You won’t find any agreed value insurance for Mexico. Blue Book is what it pays. That’s why on our Baja trip we left the Defenders at home and took a $2k Disco 1 and tents.
  7. Zero spare parts so bring your own. Shipping parts from anybody may take weeks to arrive if they ever do.
  8. Guys I know that did a Central Mexico trip at times camped with the military and did feel safer than camping remotely.
 
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Adam

Well-known member
I've always read not to drive at night. Nothing good happens after midnight and the highway acts as a heat sink, which the animals use to stay warm. Not uncommon to find a cow sleeping in the middle of your road. If you do drive at night, I'd outfit some very long distance lights.
 

javelinadave

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I try to never drive at night on road trips. That’s when most vehicle vs animal incidents happen, wild or domestic.
 
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