Summer 2007 Car Trip - Introduction

Having done a driving tour of Mexico a few years back, we decided we wanted to do it again. We had formerly visited the Gulf Coast region and parts of east central Mexico. We knew there was much more to see and explore in the vast beautiful country. And we intended to do it!
With the months of detailed planning and research that went into this trip, you’d think for sure that we are all anal retentive. But I assure you, that is not the case.

I can’t begin to count the hours that the three of us spent each night on the internet. Researching hotels, cross referencing them to hotels listed in our guidebooks; researching cities and beaches and even travel routes and distances. This was to be, after all, a long, great adventure. Little did we know that by the end of it we would have put 9178 Km, or 5736 miles on our little VW Pointer.

We had no set time frame but were estimating that we would be gone for at least six weeks. Our planned itinerary would be taking us from Cancun, along the Gulf of Mexico, across the mountains to central Mexico, then north and eventually ending up in Los Mochis where we would take the ferry across the Sea of Cortez to Baja. Back on the mainland, we planned on following the Pacific coastline, stopping at any little village or beach that caught our attention along the way. Of course, we would be hitting the major cities also. What we finally settled on for as a proposed route was this:



to follow the route: start at the upper right, follow the top orange line to where it becomes a single line. Next we go up to Chihuahua, back across the Sea of Cortez and then follow the bottom line along the Pacific Coast. (I had to merge both horizontally and vertically to get this map. Sorry some edges are missing.)



Travel the Gulf Coast and then drop down to Oaxaca, then up through central Mexico to Los Mochis, take the train to Creel in the Copper Canyon, catch the ferry over to Baja California Sur and then back to the mainland, travel the Pacific Coast highway back and then cut up to San Cristobal de las Casas and then home.

Since we had friends staying in the cabana in early May and L’s contract with the company he works for out of London was up then also, we set our departure date as May 11. Prior to the actual leaving we hired a property manager to come by every day and check on the house. Plus we hired our housecleaning lady to come over every other day to water plants and to feed the cat that was being left behind. This was also a way to continue to pay her while we were gone so she 1) wouldn’t suffer a financial hardship because of our vacation and 2) would not go looking for another job! I also dropped my house cat, Simon, off with a friend who would be watching him while we were gone. So, with the house boarded up, windows all secured from the inside and extra padlocks put on the inside of doors, we were ready to go!