CJ Mexico trip (long)

Been away from this news group for a while, as the only access to this
group I have now is via the web (switched from Mindspring to Charter).
Guess I'll be using web access from now on.

I spent a couple of weeks driving around Mexico in my '82 Scrambler.
This included a three day stint of crossing the Sierra mountains
between Culiacan, Sinaloa and Hidalgo Del Parral, Chihuahua using
trails that are on no map I could find. I thought there might be some
interest in this group of the portion of the trip.

The Scrambler has stock Goodyear Wrangler Radials, no lift (factory
springs still), a Warn winch, the Mopar MPFI kit, a T-5 transmission,
and a 3.73 rear end. I brought along a basic toolkit (wrenches,
sockets, etc...), some extra water, some snacks, extra
coolant/fuel/oil/grease, octane boost, a Garmin 60CSx GPS receiver with
the Bicimaps of Mexico, and some rusty Spanish. Some of the referenced
towns can be found on maps of Mexico. Others don't seem to be
mentioned anywhere or by anyone but the locals.

Day 1 I leave Culican with an intent to reach Copper Canyon in two
days. After losing an hour due to there being two route 24s within
about 20 miles of each other, I leave the paved road just northeast of
Badiraguato. At this point, I drop from doing 60 MPH to about 20 MPH.
I encounter the occassional car going the opposite direction, mostly
pickups but also one old Volkswagon Beetle. I'm still mostly able to
stay in 2nd gear, but the going is definitely not smooth. I'm keeping
a close watch on my fuel gauge, judging my turnaround point based on
the last seen Pemex station.

At one point I cross a modern looking bridge, surrounded on both sides
by a dirt road.

A Mexican Army HumVee full of guys with M-16s passes me, which I
subsequently pass when they stop for a toilet break. They then pass me
again, the HumVee's brakes making a squealing noise that I first feared
came from the Scrambler.

I stop in Santiago de los Caballeros to top off the tank and check the
oil. No premium fuel there, so I add some of the octane boost I
brought along. Oil's doing well, so I head off toward Tameapa. Along
the way, I confirm with the locals I'm going the right direction. At
one point in La Pitahayita, I can't tell which way to go to reach San
Jose del Llano. The local says I went the wrong way and need to
backtrack. Given my poor Spanish, I think I went back too far. Or
maybe not. Anyway, I'm now on this trail where second gear is out of
the question. The road (I use this term loosely here) was washed out
and all the rocks that were either dug up by the bulldozer that made
the road or that fell on the road from the last rockslide are embedded
in the road. At this point the ride is officially "bumpy". It is also
nowhere to be found on the GPS maps.

I smell antifreeze coming from the Jeep, so stop and open the hood.
All the bumping is splashing antifreeze out of the overflow. Another
wonderful design.

I cross and drive up several wide, shallow streams following the road,
none deeper than than five or six inches. And as a confirmation I'm
going the right way, I get stuck behind a bus. It's going slower than
me, but not by a whole lot. The worst part is sucking down the diesel
fumes.

I arrive at San Jose del Llano at about 4:00 Central, with about 2 1/2
hours of sunlight left. After talking with the locals, there's no way
I'm going to reach Copper Canyon by tomorrow (my original goal). This
is due to both the roads being bad (my plan needed an average of 20 MPH
or so) and crooked. They also told me the next town with a hotel was
4-5 hours away. So I filled the tank (the guy filled it with the lower
octane before I noticed) and spent the night there.

The Padre spoke English, so we talked that evening and he drew me up a
map with the help of some of the locals. My plans to hit Copper Canyon
crushed, I planned instead to cross the Sierra mountians to the next
town with a hotel. In this case, Dolores, Chihuahua. Per the locals,
there are two routes to this town - one long and one short. The short
way sounded better, until he brought up two points. First, there were
a lot of turn-offs, and I'd have to make sure I followed the right
ones. But with the GPS receiver, he said that shouldn't be a major
problem - just keep heading toward Los Zapotes. The second point was
that it rained for three days straight last month and they've been
having to float their quadrunners across the river. Not bringing my
cans of spinach to pull my Popeye act, I told them that I should
probably take the longer route.

Day 2, I leave San Jose del Llano as soon as most of the mist has
lifted. The first part of the journey through Copalitos, Tecuxiapa,
and Sausito were pleasant. Once leaving Tecuxiapa, the trails are no
longer on the GPS receiver. I even got back into second gear for a
while. My tailpipe falls off around Copalitos, but my muffler and
catalytic converter are still both fine. Lots of room in the back for
it, so I figure no harm done - just a little louder. I hit Potrerillos
and most of the road through the town is via the stream that runs
through the middle of town. Rocks painted white guide you along the
road to the other side of town.

At this point the road changes. To say it is bumpy is to miss a
perfectly good opportunity to use the phrase "bone-jarring". First
gear high is out of the question. 2-LO gets used first, shortly
followed by 1-LO. This is no longer a road but a trail suited for
quadrunners at best. The trail is steep and lined with unfriendly
rocks. The hardtop lets out squeals that make me wonder if it's going
to crack in half.

I pull into Carricitos about 11:30 AM or so, making OK time. This is
right on the state border. At this point, I accidentally start going
up some guys driveway. There's no turnaround, so I start a three-point
turn. In the middle of this, the clutch pedal goes to the floor and
does not return. Crap. I shut off the engine, and the owner of the
house sends for the local mechanic and invites me in for breakfast.
The eggs and milk were definitely fresh from the animals.

The mechanic shows up with his "toolkit" - a bag smaller than a shaving
kit, containing about eight tools. So I move the Scrambler to a shady
spot and we crawl underneath. Fortunately, my worst fears were not
realized - the problem was not with the clutch itself. Instead, the
clutch belcrank had popped off the pivot stud on the clutch housing
side. He takes things apart and finds that the cheapo plastic
bellcrank bushing (about two years old) has shattered. After
fashioning a new bushing made of some tubing, and tieing a piece of
innertube to the body side of the pivot stud to take up slack, I'm back
in business. He wouldn't take any money, so I gave him a one-ounce
silver coin.

There's no government presence in this area. I saw people with pistols
tucked in belts and guys on quadrunners with M16s. Definitely drug
growing country. But they were always friendly. Note that I didn't
try to take pictures up there of people. And I always stuck to the
trails (which are very obvious) and obvious habitations.

The trails through El Frijolar and El Saucito De Araujo are not quite
as brutal, and I'm able to stay in 2-LO most of the time, with only the
occassional drop back to 1-LO. At one point I hit a dead-end, and it
turns out I needed to open a gate to get from El Frijolar to El Saucito
De Araujo. The locals were more than happy to help me out.

At last I see the bridge in El Cajoncito, another modern looking bridge
with dirt roads on each side. This is the last town before Dolores.
The Padre in San Jose del Llano says these bridges save the locals 10
hours or so, versus cutting down through a nasty valley. As I'm
heading down the hill toward the bridge, my engine vapor locks. Dang.
I figure my dropped tailpipe is coming back to haunt me - the exhaust
has just been aimed mostly at the gas tank. This, tied with the very
low speed, is probably heating up the fuel quite a bit. I remove the
gas cap, and there's a lot of pressure inside.

After crossing the bridge and heading out of the valley, I see where
there's been a rockslide across the trail. My concern wasn't that the
Jeep couln't make it past the rocks - my concern was that rocks on the
trail may not be stable enough to hold the Jeep, and may slide me off
the trail and over the cliff. Here's where my brain is worn and I do
not make the proper decision. At a minimum, I should have put the
winch cable around a tree. Instead, I get a running start and angle it
inward toward the mountain wall, figuring momentum will take me over.
Fortunately, it does - I don't even significantly disturb the
rockslide.

After that, the vapor lock gets worse. I can only go a couple hundred
yards at a time, then have to let it sit for five to ten minutes. It's
getting late in the day, and I'm questioning whether I'll make it to
Dolores before nightfall. I may be tired, but even -I- am not stupid
enough to drive at night on a trail like this. I hit the top of the
mountain just as it vapor locks again, allowing me to coast down the
mountain.

I start seeing pedestrians on the trail, and the run down the mountain
plus the cooling temperatures help stop the vapor lock. At one point I
ask a woman if I'm on the trail to Dolores, and she points me up this
stream and says it's less than five minutes ahead. I follow the
stream, and the tree cover over the stream gets heavier and heavier.
At the point where I'm questioniong the woman's directions and it's
dark enough where I need headlights, I see a cement road come out of
the stream. I head into Dolores and get a room for the night.

There's an older woman in Dolores who speaks good English, and she
tells me tales of other Americans who have come through. One included
a tale of someone trying to bring a low-rider Suburban through there.
They ended up having to flatbed it out of there.

Day 3 I re-attach the tailpipe. I leave Dolores afterward and head
toward Guadalupe y Calvo. What I meant to say is that I meant to head
off toward Guadalupe y Calvo, but instead headed in the wrong direction
toward El Arenal. The locals corrected me after I hit an intersection
where neither seemed to head toward Guadalupe y Calvo.

I'm making good time, even shifting into 3-LO for a while, and never
having to shift back to 1-LO. At one point cows are blocking the road
and am forced to wait as they mosey out of the way and I slip past
them. Then the Jeep vapor locks again. So it wasn't just the tailpipe
falling off. It's the cheapo Mexican gas. I check the pressure in the
tank, and there is none. Odd. I smell raw fuel, and see gas leaking
down the left side of the tank. All lines and the sending unit are
less than three years old.

I get started again and pass a couple of logging trucks, a lumber mill,
and a couple of lumber semis. I know I'm getting close to a paved
road, and can finally see it off in the distance at Aserradero El
Pinito. I see the pavement and shift out of LO and into 2 HI and head
toward Guadalupe y Calvo.

At one point I stop and unlock the hubs and a clicking noise starts
coming from the left front wheel. So I pull into a Pemex and jack the
left front tire up into the air. There is a -lot- of play in the front
tire, and I didn't bring the socket to tighten the spindle nuts. So I
take it to the local shop, and I work with the guy to take the front
hub apart, re-seat the inner seal, re-tighten (torque wrench - what's
that?) the spindle nuts, break free one of the plate bolts that's been
frozen since I bought the thing (took a blowtorch), and tighten the
screw on the hub lock (the source of the clicking noise). Chared me
120 Pesos (about $12).

I spend an uneventful night in Guadalupe y Calvo and I leave in the
morning on a paved road, with my Scrambler somewhat worse for wear:

- Patched together clutch belcrank
- Leaking gas tank
- Questionably torqued spindle nuts and possibly ruined bearings
- Transmission grinding when going between higher gears
- Occassional vapor lock, even at high speed
- Some valve rattle

The valve rattle and vapor lock stopped completely after about three
tanks of US gas.

Overall, it was a good way to shake out any weak points in the Jeep
while having a bit of adventure. I'd recommend it for anyone confident
in their Jeep and in their ability to handle themselves well in any
situation.

I'm going to replace the mechanical clutch with a hydraulic setup. As
for the transmission, it still grinds a bit when shifting down from 4th
to 3rd. It's done this before after an extended period of disuse. I
just need to shift slowly. I'll try to find a better grade of line (or
whatever failed) for the leaking fuel tank. The bearings will need to
be re-packed before I go home to Ohio (from Texas) for Christmas.

I've got the GPS waypoints saved away if anyone is interested.
--
Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is
to
fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer

What a great adventure and recount. It is exactly the type of trip I
would love to experience. What were your security
concerns/preparations for the trip?

wrote:
> Been away from this news group for a while, as the only access to this
> group I have now is via the web (switched from Mindspring to Charter).
> Guess I'll be using web access from now on.
>
> I spent a couple of weeks driving around Mexico in my '82 Scrambler.
> This included a three day stint of crossing the Sierra mountains
> between Culiacan, Sinaloa and Hidalgo Del Parral, Chihuahua using
> trails that are on no map I could find. I thought there might be some
> interest in this group of the portion of the trip.
>
> The Scrambler has stock Goodyear Wrangler Radials, no lift (factory
> springs still), a Warn winch, the Mopar MPFI kit, a T-5 transmission,
> and a 3.73 rear end. I brought along a basic toolkit (wrenches,
> sockets, etc...), some extra water, some snacks, extra
> coolant/fuel/oil/grease, octane boost, a Garmin 60CSx GPS receiver with
> the Bicimaps of Mexico, and some rusty Spanish. Some of the referenced
> towns can be found on maps of Mexico. Others don't seem to be
> mentioned anywhere or by anyone but the locals.
>
> Day 1 I leave Culican with an intent to reach Copper Canyon in two
> days. After losing an hour due to there being two route 24s within
> about 20 miles of each other, I leave the paved road just northeast of
> Badiraguato. At this point, I drop from doing 60 MPH to about 20 MPH.
> I encounter the occassional car going the opposite direction, mostly
> pickups but also one old Volkswagon Beetle. I'm still mostly able to
> stay in 2nd gear, but the going is definitely not smooth. I'm keeping
> a close watch on my fuel gauge, judging my turnaround point based on
> the last seen Pemex station.
>
> At one point I cross a modern looking bridge, surrounded on both sides
> by a dirt road.
>
> A Mexican Army HumVee full of guys with M-16s passes me, which I
> subsequently pass when they stop for a toilet break. They then pass me
> again, the HumVee's brakes making a squealing noise that I first feared
> came from the Scrambler.
>
> I stop in Santiago de los Caballeros to top off the tank and check the
> oil. No premium fuel there, so I add some of the octane boost I
> brought along. Oil's doing well, so I head off toward Tameapa. Along
> the way, I confirm with the locals I'm going the right direction. At
> one point in La Pitahayita, I can't tell which way to go to reach San
> Jose del Llano. The local says I went the wrong way and need to
> backtrack. Given my poor Spanish, I think I went back too far. Or
> maybe not. Anyway, I'm now on this trail where second gear is out of
> the question. The road (I use this term loosely here) was washed out
> and all the rocks that were either dug up by the bulldozer that made
> the road or that fell on the road from the last rockslide are embedded
> in the road. At this point the ride is officially "bumpy". It is also
> nowhere to be found on the GPS maps.
>
> I smell antifreeze coming from the Jeep, so stop and open the hood.
> All the bumping is splashing antifreeze out of the overflow. Another
> wonderful design.
>
> I cross and drive up several wide, shallow streams following the road,
> none deeper than than five or six inches. And as a confirmation I'm
> going the right way, I get stuck behind a bus. It's going slower than
> me, but not by a whole lot. The worst part is sucking down the diesel
> fumes.
>
> I arrive at San Jose del Llano at about 4:00 Central, with about 2 1/2
> hours of sunlight left. After talking with the locals, there's no way
> I'm going to reach Copper Canyon by tomorrow (my original goal). This
> is due to both the roads being bad (my plan needed an average of 20 MPH
> or so) and crooked. They also told me the next town with a hotel was
> 4-5 hours away. So I filled the tank (the guy filled it with the lower
> octane before I noticed) and spent the night there.
>
> The Padre spoke English, so we talked that evening and he drew me up a
> map with the help of some of the locals. My plans to hit Copper Canyon
> crushed, I planned instead to cross the Sierra mountians to the next
> town with a hotel. In this case, Dolores, Chihuahua. Per the locals,
> there are two routes to this town - one long and one short. The short
> way sounded better, until he brought up two points. First, there were
> a lot of turn-offs, and I'd have to make sure I followed the right
> ones. But with the GPS receiver, he said that shouldn't be a major
> problem - just keep heading toward Los Zapotes. The second point was
> that it rained for three days straight last month and they've been
> having to float their quadrunners across the river. Not bringing my
> cans of spinach to pull my Popeye act, I told them that I should
> probably take the longer route.
>
> Day 2, I leave San Jose del Llano as soon as most of the mist has
> lifted. The first part of the journey through Copalitos, Tecuxiapa,
> and Sausito were pleasant. Once leaving Tecuxiapa, the trails are no
> longer on the GPS receiver. I even got back into second gear for a
> while. My tailpipe falls off around Copalitos, but my muffler and
> catalytic converter are still both fine. Lots of room in the back for
> it, so I figure no harm done - just a little louder. I hit Potrerillos
> and most of the road through the town is via the stream that runs
> through the middle of town. Rocks painted white guide you along the
> road to the other side of town.
>
> At this point the road changes. To say it is bumpy is to miss a
> perfectly good opportunity to use the phrase "bone-jarring". First
> gear high is out of the question. 2-LO gets used first, shortly
> followed by 1-LO. This is no longer a road but a trail suited for
> quadrunners at best. The trail is steep and lined with unfriendly
> rocks. The hardtop lets out squeals that make me wonder if it's going
> to crack in half.
>
> I pull into Carricitos about 11:30 AM or so, making OK time. This is
> right on the state border. At this point, I accidentally start going
> up some guys driveway. There's no turnaround, so I start a three-point
> turn. In the middle of this, the clutch pedal goes to the floor and
> does not return. Crap. I shut off the engine, and the owner of the
> house sends for the local mechanic and invites me in for breakfast.
> The eggs and milk were definitely fresh from the animals.
>
> The mechanic shows up with his "toolkit" - a bag smaller than a shaving
> kit, containing about eight tools. So I move the Scrambler to a shady
> spot and we crawl underneath. Fortunately, my worst fears were not
> realized - the problem was not with the clutch itself. Instead, the
> clutch belcrank had popped off the pivot stud on the clutch housing
> side. He takes things apart and finds that the cheapo plastic
> bellcrank bushing (about two years old) has shattered. After
> fashioning a new bushing made of some tubing, and tieing a piece of
> innertube to the body side of the pivot stud to take up slack, I'm back
> in business. He wouldn't take any money, so I gave him a one-ounce
> silver coin.
>
> There's no government presence in this area. I saw people with pistols
> tucked in belts and guys on quadrunners with M16s. Definitely drug
> growing country. But they were always friendly. Note that I didn't
> try to take pictures up there of people. And I always stuck to the
> trails (which are very obvious) and obvious habitations.
>
> The trails through El Frijolar and El Saucito De Araujo are not quite
> as brutal, and I'm able to stay in 2-LO most of the time, with only the
> occassional drop back to 1-LO. At one point I hit a dead-end, and it
> turns out I needed to open a gate to get from El Frijolar to El Saucito
> De Araujo. The locals were more than happy to help me out.
>
> At last I see the bridge in El Cajoncito, another modern looking bridge
> with dirt roads on each side. This is the last town before Dolores.
> The Padre in San Jose del Llano says these bridges save the locals 10
> hours or so, versus cutting down through a nasty valley. As I'm
> heading down the hill toward the bridge, my engine vapor locks. Dang.
> I figure my dropped tailpipe is coming back to haunt me - the exhaust
> has just been aimed mostly at the gas tank. This, tied with the very
> low speed, is probably heating up the fuel quite a bit. I remove the
> gas cap, and there's a lot of pressure inside.
>
> After crossing the bridge and heading out of the valley, I see where
> there's been a rockslide across the trail. My concern wasn't that the
> Jeep couln't make it past the rocks - my concern was that rocks on the
> trail may not be stable enough to hold the Jeep, and may slide me off
> the trail and over the cliff. Here's where my brain is worn and I do
> not make the proper decision. At a minimum, I should have put the
> winch cable around a tree. Instead, I get a running start and angle it
> inward toward the mountain wall, figuring momentum will take me over.
> Fortunately, it does - I don't even significantly disturb the
> rockslide.
>
> After that, the vapor lock gets worse. I can only go a couple hundred
> yards at a time, then have to let it sit for five to ten minutes. It's
> getting late in the day, and I'm questioning whether I'll make it to
> Dolores before nightfall. I may be tired, but even -I- am not stupid
> enough to drive at night on a trail like this. I hit the top of the
> mountain just as it vapor locks again, allowing me to coast down the
> mountain.
>
> I start seeing pedestrians on the trail, and the run down the mountain
> plus the cooling temperatures help stop the vapor lock. At one point I
> ask a woman if I'm on the trail to Dolores, and she points me up this
> stream and says it's less than five minutes ahead. I follow the
> stream, and the tree cover over the stream gets heavier and heavier.
> At the point where I'm questioniong the woman's directions and it's
> dark enough where I need headlights, I see a cement road come out of
> the stream. I head into Dolores and get a room for the night.
>
> There's an older woman in Dolores who speaks good English, and she
> tells me tales of other Americans who have come through. One included
> a tale of someone trying to bring a low-rider Suburban through there.
> They ended up having to flatbed it out of there.
>
> Day 3 I re-attach the tailpipe. I leave Dolores afterward and head
> toward Guadalupe y Calvo. What I meant to say is that I meant to head
> off toward Guadalupe y Calvo, but instead headed in the wrong direction
> toward El Arenal. The locals corrected me after I hit an intersection
> where neither seemed to head toward Guadalupe y Calvo.
>
> I'm making good time, even shifting into 3-LO for a while, and never
> having to shift back to 1-LO. At one point cows are blocking the road
> and am forced to wait as they mosey out of the way and I slip past
> them. Then the Jeep vapor locks again. So it wasn't just the tailpipe
> falling off. It's the cheapo Mexican gas. I check the pressure in the
> tank, and there is none. Odd. I smell raw fuel, and see gas leaking
> down the left side of the tank. All lines and the sending unit are
> less than three years old.
>
> I get started again and pass a couple of logging trucks, a lumber mill,
> and a couple of lumber semis. I know I'm getting close to a paved
> road, and can finally see it off in the distance at Aserradero El
> Pinito. I see the pavement and shift out of LO and into 2 HI and head
> toward Guadalupe y Calvo.
>
> At one point I stop and unlock the hubs and a clicking noise starts
> coming from the left front wheel. So I pull into a Pemex and jack the
> left front tire up into the air. There is a -lot- of play in the front
> tire, and I didn't bring the socket to tighten the spindle nuts. So I
> take it to the local shop, and I work with the guy to take the front
> hub apart, re-seat the inner seal, re-tighten (torque wrench - what's
> that?) the spindle nuts, break free one of the plate bolts that's been
> frozen since I bought the thing (took a blowtorch), and tighten the
> screw on the hub lock (the source of the clicking noise). Chared me
> 120 Pesos (about $12).
>
> I spend an uneventful night in Guadalupe y Calvo and I leave in the
> morning on a paved road, with my Scrambler somewhat worse for wear:
>
> - Patched together clutch belcrank
> - Leaking gas tank
> - Questionably torqued spindle nuts and possibly ruined bearings
> - Transmission grinding when going between higher gears
> - Occassional vapor lock, even at high speed
> - Some valve rattle
>
> The valve rattle and vapor lock stopped completely after about three
> tanks of US gas.
>
> Overall, it was a good way to shake out any weak points in the Jeep
> while having a bit of adventure. I'd recommend it for anyone confident
> in their Jeep and in their ability to handle themselves well in any
> situation.
>
> I'm going to replace the mechanical clutch with a hydraulic setup. As
> for the transmission, it still grinds a bit when shifting down from 4th
> to 3rd. It's done this before after an extended period of disuse. I
> just need to shift slowly. I'll try to find a better grade of line (or
> whatever failed) for the leaking fuel tank. The bearings will need to
> be re-packed before I go home to Ohio (from Texas) for Christmas.
>
> I've got the GPS waypoints saved away if anyone is interested.
> --
> Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is
> to
> fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer

Wow! Sounds like quite an adventure!

I am VERY reluctant to ever go to Mexico, mainly for security reasons. Some
of the things that I have heard (please correct me if I am wrong

1. Corrupt police
2. Corrupt military
3. Lots of Banditos all over the countryside
4. Possible kidnappings
5. Water that will probably make me sick
6. No way to protect myself, since it is illegal for a "gringo" to have a
weapon.
7. Big-time jail time for possessing a gun or even possessing one bullet!
8. Grinding poverty for much of the population, especially in the back
country,
away from the tourist areas

Am I wrong?

Tom

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Been away from this news group for a while, as the only access to this
> group I have now is via the web (switched from Mindspring to Charter).
> Guess I'll be using web access from now on.
>
> I spent a couple of weeks driving around Mexico in my '82 Scrambler.
> This included a three day stint of crossing the Sierra mountains
> between Culiacan, Sinaloa and Hidalgo Del Parral, Chihuahua using
> trails that are on no map I could find. I thought there might be some
> interest in this group of the portion of the trip.
>
snip

Deano,

Well, given that I had some problems, I obviously not prepare enough
.

This was my first time deep into Mexico (I'd driven into border towns
before), so my preparation effort was wide but not deep, i.e. prepare
for a little of everything but not go too nutso on anything. In
addition to the stuff I packed I already mentioned, I did prep the
Scrambler and myself a bit:

- All fluids at least a year out from being changed, all wheel bearings
at least a year from being re-packed, everything in adjustment,
everything tuned and ready
- A double-check for loose bullets from my last trip to the range
- Added locks for the wheels, hood, and gas cap
- Put the hard top/hard doors on
- Bought a large locking toolbox (60" long - just fit in the bed)
- Brought traveller's checks (no charge at the bank - never used them,
but pretty secure)
- Cash in the shoe
- Got most of my money from the ATM, and only used "swipe" ATMs, i.e.
that did not hold my card
- Dressed in average (or worse) clothes (also good strategy when you
just want to look around a store without being bothered

The Scrambler itself is a bit of a stealth. It runs great and is
reliable, but it has got obvious weld spots in the body, paint that's
scratched/faded/worn, shattered fender flares, running
spraypaint/primer, and mud on it from my trip to Alabama in the spring.
But I still had four offers to buy it while in Mexico .

I did miss a few things:

- The tailpipe bracket completely slipped my mind. When the new engine
went in, the exhaust manifold set a little further forward, so I had to
cut off the tailpipe bracket and used a clothes hanger instead. Never
got around to getting it fixed. This is why my tailpipe dropped.
- One of the left caliper plate bolts has been siezed up since I bought
the Scrambler eight years ago. The vibration from the loose caliper
plate eventually knocked the second bolt loose, nearly causing me to
lose my left caliper, and is probably what knocked my front spindle
nuts loose.
- My water jug got punctured. I should have brought a real container,
not just the jug the water came in at the store.
- Given as much punishment that the front wheels took, I should have
brought along the front spindle nut socket.

Also, the trip through the mountains was the last leg of my journey, so
I had a better idea of Mexican culture and how well the Jeep behaved on
Mexican gas (it got much worse with the low octane stuff). Everyone
was pretty nice, with the pushiest/rudest people being in the border
town and in Puerto Vallarta (i.e. where the gringos go , but I've run
into much worse living in Chicago.
--
Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is
to
fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer

Deano wrote:
> What a great adventure and recount. It is exactly the type of trip I
> would love to experience. What were your security
> concerns/preparations for the trip?
>
> wrote:
> > Been away from this news group for a while, as the only access to this
> > group I have now is via the web (switched from Mindspring to Charter).
> > Guess I'll be using web access from now on.
> >
> > I spent a couple of weeks driving around Mexico in my '82 Scrambler.
> > This included a three day stint of crossing the Sierra mountains
> > between Culiacan, Sinaloa and Hidalgo Del Parral, Chihuahua using
> > trails that are on no map I could find. I thought there might be some
> > interest in this group of the portion of the trip.

<snip>

Tom,

1) I've run into the corrupt police myself about six years ago, and
have had to pay them $10. That's why I avoided Neuve Laredo (lots of
horror stories) and went through Ciudad Acuna instead. This added
quite a bit of time to my trip to Monterrey (my first stop), but the
problem is -much- less prevalent in Ciudad Acuna. When I was walking
around Acuna at night, one bar owner got a little pushy. The cops came
over and made sure that the bar owner was not harrassing me. I
encountered one cop in Monterrey who started to give me trouble, but
when all my paperwork was in order and I was doing nothing illegal and
my Spanish was atrocious, he waved me on .

2) The corrupt military has also improved. They stopped me at a
couple of checkpoints, and searched my lockbox once, but I wasn't
harrassed and nothing was stolen. But then again, I made sure that
there was no temptation - all money was on me or in travellers checks,
and nothing screamed "steal me" in that box. They never looked up
front where the nice camera and the new GPS receiver was, but even
then, that's a bit harder to steal than cash. If they do steal from
you, especially in one of the areas that live for tourists (Baja,
Puerto Vallarta), get the commanding officer involved or call the
American consulate. The last thing the Mexican government wants is a
halt of money from tourists.

3) Didn't see any badits. Or maybe I did - but they're all guarding
the MJ plants . They don't care about some fool driving a beat up
old Jeep on a trail.

4) I've heard about the kidnappings, but the worst of those are in
Nueve Laredo. Avoid that town like the plague.

5) The water is definitely questionable. The hotel in Ciudad Acuna
explicitly had a "water is not potable" sticker above the sink. I
lived on well water in my youth, so maybe that's why I didn't get sick.
But the cure for most of that is Pepto-Bismol. And once your body
recognizes the germ, you won't get sick from it again.

6) The protection issue bothers me too. I would have loved to have my
shotgun and pistol out there. But I figure it's only a little worse
than, say, driving around New York.

7) And the jail time for #6 is why I went there without. I -probably-
could have gotten away with a small gun in my toolbox or, say, in some
compartment on top of the transmission, but it's not worth the risk,
especially given that most of the guys in the hills were carrying
M-16s. If I go again, I will throw my Leatherman in my toolbox,
though. I left it behind after conflicting information from the
Mexican Consulate about blades.

8) The folks are poor there, no doubt. I saw the most begging in
Chihuahua, Chihuahua with the Indians. But back in the mountains, you
don't see that. A lot of towns don't have electricity yet, and homes
run off of generators (at best). There's not a whole lot of other
people to steal or beg from up there.

The things you heard are definitely things you want to be aware of, but
they're not much worse than things north of the border is a lot of
aspects. I was harrassed more by the fatherland security JBTs crossing
back over than at any time in Mexico. And I've been harrasssed much
more by the cops in the US than by the Mexican cops.
--
Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is
to
fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer

mabar wrote:
> Wow! Sounds like quite an adventure!
>
> I am VERY reluctant to ever go to Mexico, mainly for security reasons. Some
> of the things that I have heard (please correct me if I am wrong
>
> 1. Corrupt police
> 2. Corrupt military
> 3. Lots of Banditos all over the countryside
> 4. Possible kidnappings
> 5. Water that will probably make me sick
> 6. No way to protect myself, since it is illegal for a "gringo" to have a
> weapon.
> 7. Big-time jail time for possessing a gun or even possessing one bullet!
> 8. Grinding poverty for much of the population, especially in the back
> country,
> away from the tourist areas
>
> Am I wrong?
>
> Tom
>
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> > Been away from this news group for a while, as the only access to this
> > group I have now is via the web (switched from Mindspring to Charter).
> > Guess I'll be using web access from now on.
> >
> > I spent a couple of weeks driving around Mexico in my '82 Scrambler.
> > This included a three day stint of crossing the Sierra mountains
> > between Culiacan, Sinaloa and Hidalgo Del Parral, Chihuahua using
> > trails that are on no map I could find. I thought there might be some
> > interest in this group of the portion of the trip.
> >
> snip

Two things come to mind.

One was stories my uncle used to tell about driving from the Panama Canal
Zone to Connecticut (to visit grandma) via the Pan Am 'highway' and stopping
along the way and paying a local peasant to watch the car. "Tengo mi propia
pistola señor."

The second happened a few years ago when an Ohio tourist was shot dead as he
stepped from the bus.... (actually he was dead before his foot hit the
pavement) NY tried to hush that up saying it was a fluke.... I guess
tourists normally get robbed before they are murdered there...

> 6) The protection issue bothers me too. I would have loved to have my
> shotgun and pistol out there. But I figure it's only a little worse
> than, say, driving around New York.

I currently live in Monterrey and would agree with the above. One
thing though, folding knives are no problem. It would be better to
carry it on you at all times since the military is not normally
authorized to body search unless they find something (drugs or guns) in
your car first.


wrote:
> Tom,
>
> 1) I've run into the corrupt police myself about six years ago, and
> have had to pay them $10. That's why I avoided Neuve Laredo (lots of
> horror stories) and went through Ciudad Acuna instead. This added
> quite a bit of time to my trip to Monterrey (my first stop), but the
> problem is -much- less prevalent in Ciudad Acuna. When I was walking
> around Acuna at night, one bar owner got a little pushy. The cops came
> over and made sure that the bar owner was not harrassing me. I
> encountered one cop in Monterrey who started to give me trouble, but
> when all my paperwork was in order and I was doing nothing illegal and
> my Spanish was atrocious, he waved me on .
>
> 2) The corrupt military has also improved. They stopped me at a
> couple of checkpoints, and searched my lockbox once, but I wasn't
> harrassed and nothing was stolen. But then again, I made sure that
> there was no temptation - all money was on me or in travellers checks,
> and nothing screamed "steal me" in that box. They never looked up
> front where the nice camera and the new GPS receiver was, but even
> then, that's a bit harder to steal than cash. If they do steal from
> you, especially in one of the areas that live for tourists (Baja,
> Puerto Vallarta), get the commanding officer involved or call the
> American consulate. The last thing the Mexican government wants is a
> halt of money from tourists.
>
> 3) Didn't see any badits. Or maybe I did - but they're all guarding
> the MJ plants . They don't care about some fool driving a beat up
> old Jeep on a trail.
>
> 4) I've heard about the kidnappings, but the worst of those are in
> Nueve Laredo. Avoid that town like the plague.
>
> 5) The water is definitely questionable. The hotel in Ciudad Acuna
> explicitly had a "water is not potable" sticker above the sink. I
> lived on well water in my youth, so maybe that's why I didn't get sick.
> But the cure for most of that is Pepto-Bismol. And once your body
> recognizes the germ, you won't get sick from it again.
>
> 6) The protection issue bothers me too. I would have loved to have my
> shotgun and pistol out there. But I figure it's only a little worse
> than, say, driving around New York.
>
> 7) And the jail time for #6 is why I went there without. I -probably-
> could have gotten away with a small gun in my toolbox or, say, in some
> compartment on top of the transmission, but it's not worth the risk,
> especially given that most of the guys in the hills were carrying
> M-16s. If I go again, I will throw my Leatherman in my toolbox,
> though. I left it behind after conflicting information from the
> Mexican Consulate about blades.
>
> 8) The folks are poor there, no doubt. I saw the most begging in
> Chihuahua, Chihuahua with the Indians. But back in the mountains, you
> don't see that. A lot of towns don't have electricity yet, and homes
> run off of generators (at best). There's not a whole lot of other
> people to steal or beg from up there.
>
> The things you heard are definitely things you want to be aware of, but
> they're not much worse than things north of the border is a lot of
> aspects. I was harrassed more by the fatherland security JBTs crossing
> back over than at any time in Mexico. And I've been harrasssed much
> more by the cops in the US than by the Mexican cops.
> --
> Michael White "To protect people from the effects of folly is
> to
> fill the world with fools." -Herbert Spencer
>
> mabar wrote:
> > Wow! Sounds like quite an adventure!
> >
> > I am VERY reluctant to ever go to Mexico, mainly for security reasons. Some
> > of the things that I have heard (please correct me if I am wrong
> >
> > 1. Corrupt police
> > 2. Corrupt military
> > 3. Lots of Banditos all over the countryside
> > 4. Possible kidnappings
> > 5. Water that will probably make me sick
> > 6. No way to protect myself, since it is illegal for a "gringo" to have a
> > weapon.
> > 7. Big-time jail time for possessing a gun or even possessing one bullet!
> > 8. Grinding poverty for much of the population, especially in the back
> > country,
> > away from the tourist areas
> >
> > Am I wrong?
> >
> > Tom
> >
> > > wrote in message
> > oups.com...
> > > Been away from this news group for a while, as the only access to this
> > > group I have now is via the web (switched from Mindspring to Charter).
> > > Guess I'll be using web access from now on.
> > >
> > > I spent a couple of weeks driving around Mexico in my '82 Scrambler.
> > > This included a three day stint of crossing the Sierra mountains
> > > between Culiacan, Sinaloa and Hidalgo Del Parral, Chihuahua using
> > > trails that are on no map I could find. I thought there might be some
> > > interest in this group of the portion of the trip.
> > >
> > snip

Sounds like a great trip. Some thing I've alway's wanted to try. Some
day i will.

Later Mike

mabar wrote:
> Wow! Sounds like quite an adventure!
>
> I am VERY reluctant to ever go to Mexico, mainly for security reasons. Some
> of the things that I have heard (please correct me if I am wrong
>
> 1. Corrupt police

Yes. But mostly concentrated in the border towns and Mexico City, where
it pays to be corrupt.

> 2. Corrupt military

Mostly only in the pay of the drug lords to protect the drug shipments,
not interested in small money from stray gringos.

> 3. Lots of Banditos all over the countryside

Only in the border towns where they're running drugs and illegals across
the border.

> 4. Possible kidnappings

Only if you look like a rich gringo. And mostly only in the border towns.

> 5. Water that will probably make me sick

Probably. Ask for cerveza rather than water, alcohol kills germs,
y'know? :-). If you must drink water, you can get chlorine dioxide
tablets at any sporting goods store (I think they're called "Aqua-Pur"
or something like that), fill up a gallon jug, drop the tablets in, and
an hour later you'll have good water that might have a slight chlorine
taste but at least isn't absolutely nasty like the old iodine tablets.

> 6. No way to protect myself, since it is illegal for a "gringo" to have a
> weapon.

Realistically speaking, any bad guys down there have assault rifles and
will *not* take you on solo, you'd be facing basically a reinforced fire
team or squad. All that a small handgun would do in that situation would
be to get you killed.

> 7. Big-time jail time for possessing a gun or even possessing one bullet!

Yep.

> 8. Grinding poverty for much of the population, especially in the back
> country,
> away from the tourist areas

True enough. But once you are away from the tourist areas, they are the
friendliest people you'll ever meet, as long as you are polite and
courteous rather than playing the ugly American. Just stay away from the
places where criminal activity are the main enterprise (primarily the
border towns and some ports on the Gulf Coast), and you will be safer
than in any large American city.

-Elron

Awesome trip - I wish I was closer than Montreal to enjoy the south.
It's just not the same up here man. Thanks for the nice mental images!!