Columbia crossing , Laredo updates
I'm looking for reports on crossing at the Columbia bridge in Laredo Tx heading north for this season. Last year it was painful and I'm hoping things have improved this year as we will be crossing bac...
Forum Discussion
I can't add much to this as far as recent goes but I do have questions and comments regarding some of the posts.
We crossed at Columbia a couple of times - once late afternoon Sunday and the truck lanes were closed on the US side - since we are a large motorhome they said we cannot fit in the car lanes and were a bit upset with us since they had to open a special gate - they said Columbia is not set up for motorhomes and we should go to bridge #2 - which is ridiculous since a crossing is a crossing - second time they had Sue get out with our dog saying the motorhome has to go through the truck lanes with only the driver but it would only take 7 minutes - it took 2 hours and Sue and the dog had no food or water or anything to read and it was hot out. Neither crossing was a pleasant experience. We have crossed at many different locations and Columbia has been our only bad experience.
If you did not cross into Mexico at Columbia returning your FMM can be tricky since you may have no idea where to turn it in. We have never crossed into Mexico at Columbia and the first time we misunderstood the guy in the vehicle booth as he indicated he entered our info into his computer and that was all we had to do. We found out later that we were supposed to go turn in the FMM. Next time we circled around to find where to turn in the FMM and had a bit of a problem finding anywhere to park a motorhome towing a car - but we did somehow manage to succeed. We are now told is is possible to mail in the FMM but we have no idea where or how to mail it - does anyone have further info on this?
We plan to give Columbia another try but we would love to hear more information about Bridge #2. We have heard there is some tricky part about having to go under a bridge and do something and if you miss the turn something bad happens. We do not understand or know the details. Any detailed recent info on any and all crossings would be appreciated. Details matter.
We are 40' long and 8'6" wide towing a car so we are told we cannot go through the car lanes. Some RVs can cross more easily depending on size. We would like to know your experiences based on size.
When we crossed at Columbia we continued up the Texas toll road and have never received any kind of bill from them. From what we have seen and what we understand there are cameras that try to get a picture of your license plate so they can somehow track you down to charge the toll. In our experience it seems they do not try very hard to find us to bill us. Maybe the toll only applies to those with Texas plates? Again, more info would be appreciated.
We have never had any problem with any transito or any other kind of law enforcement anywhere at any time in almost 43 years of on and off travels in Mexico including the past 8 years of RV travel all over Mexico. We have never had any problems with Mexican crossing official going in either direction other than some confusion about where to go and what to do.
We crossed at Columbia a couple of times - once late afternoon Sunday and the truck lanes were closed on the US side - since we are a large motorhome they said we cannot fit in the car lanes and were a bit upset with us since they had to open a special gate - they said Columbia is not set up for motorhomes and we should go to bridge #2 - which is ridiculous since a crossing is a crossing - second time they had Sue get out with our dog saying the motorhome has to go through the truck lanes with only the driver but it would only take 7 minutes - it took 2 hours and Sue and the dog had no food or water or anything to read and it was hot out. Neither crossing was a pleasant experience. We have crossed at many different locations and Columbia has been our only bad experience.
If you did not cross into Mexico at Columbia returning your FMM can be tricky since you may have no idea where to turn it in. We have never crossed into Mexico at Columbia and the first time we misunderstood the guy in the vehicle booth as he indicated he entered our info into his computer and that was all we had to do. We found out later that we were supposed to go turn in the FMM. Next time we circled around to find where to turn in the FMM and had a bit of a problem finding anywhere to park a motorhome towing a car - but we did somehow manage to succeed. We are now told is is possible to mail in the FMM but we have no idea where or how to mail it - does anyone have further info on this?
We plan to give Columbia another try but we would love to hear more information about Bridge #2. We have heard there is some tricky part about having to go under a bridge and do something and if you miss the turn something bad happens. We do not understand or know the details. Any detailed recent info on any and all crossings would be appreciated. Details matter.
We are 40' long and 8'6" wide towing a car so we are told we cannot go through the car lanes. Some RVs can cross more easily depending on size. We would like to know your experiences based on size.
When we crossed at Columbia we continued up the Texas toll road and have never received any kind of bill from them. From what we have seen and what we understand there are cameras that try to get a picture of your license plate so they can somehow track you down to charge the toll. In our experience it seems they do not try very hard to find us to bill us. Maybe the toll only applies to those with Texas plates? Again, more info would be appreciated.
We have never had any problem with any transito or any other kind of law enforcement anywhere at any time in almost 43 years of on and off travels in Mexico including the past 8 years of RV travel all over Mexico. We have never had any problems with Mexican crossing official going in either direction other than some confusion about where to go and what to do.
