Boondocking in Mexico?

[PNW_Steve]

Hey Everyone,

My wife and I have been talking about our first RV trip to Mexico.

We have driven to Rosarita & Ensinada in the past. We have flown to a number of destinations in Mexico as well. We have loved the time spent there. We are somewhat frugal travelers and typically shop & eat where the locals go and are fine with MX public transportation.

Our initial plan was to go to San Carlos for a week to get our feet wet. As we read more and discuss our plan it is evolving.

We are now considering 1-2 months and gradually making our way down to PV.

We have done plenty of boondocking in the US. In my reading I have come across several warnings against boondocking in Mexico.

What is the reality? I have found a very few actual accounts of folks dry camping there and they seemed quite positive.

If we are going to spend a month or more we are going to have to watch our expenses. On past trips where we stuck to RV parks the park fees were our second largest expense for the trip.

What do you all think?

Thanks

Steve

[reed_cundiff]

Glad to find this thread.

Have a 2006 dually now and most curious about that being charged as two axles.

We have been down through Baja and three times to Yucatan. Rig was totaled two years ago on 186 between Orizaba and Puebla. Emergency responders and Orizaba hospital were excellent. Insurance has finally been settled and now we have to get the Temporary Import Licenses cancelled.

Should like suggestions on best route to Yucatan. We have been happy with crossing at Columbia Bridge and making it to Matehual the first night (Palms Hotel), San Miguel for a few days and then Puebla (if that RV park is still open – we have friends who were most helpful after the wreck). Mexico Mike wrote us to only go down the 4500’ descent on 186 to Orizaba in early morning to avoid the white-out conditions we went through last time at the wreck (70 car pileup). Have friends in Orizaba that spent time with us every day while Elaine was in hospital. The Pemex station is all night and lighted and 400 meters from 500 Escalones Parque National with an excellent up-scale restaurant next door. We spent a week there two years ago when the Newmar motorcoach of the Canadian couple who went back with us had to have fuel pump rebuilt.

We formerly enjoyed staying at Rancho Hermanos Graham after Orizaba but are told it is now closed. This leaves only the place at Villahermosa or Pemex at Palenque turnoff. The Rancho just east of Escarcega was great but it is probably closed. We have stayed at Bar Familiar halfway across the peninsula.

We should like to visit Merida but the only RV spot in town was locked three years ago.
Reed and Elaine

[Less_Stuff]

Our 2010 trip report posted as we traveled down the West Coast of Mexico.

Trip Report

One swell trip!
May help to explain the attraction of driving your own RV in Mexico.

2013 Baja Mexico and Southwest U.S. trip.
Lots of Mexican Boondocking.

Swan Song

[qtla9111]

briansue wrote:
Many toll roads are privately owned by corporations on some sort of deal with the Gov't. They must follow certain rules. But the corp. builds the roads and maintains them.

Concessions.

Sometimes you can question the rate. You have your ticket as proof of what has been paid. There is a station manager on duty during the day at the caseta.

You can also refuse to pay the toll, asked to be backed up so that you can park and speak with someone. Sounds like a PIA but when rvs are not common vehicles in Mexico, sometimes we need to question and ask for results.

I realize that it could mean closing down a lane and we have done that before. We pay for the SUV and 2 ejes excedentes for the trailer. We accept no other charge. Once on the way to Morelia the fee was so outrageous we asked to back up. They got out the guards, the cones, and helped me back up. We turned around and took the libre.

Once you pay the toll, it is hard to get your money back. Some people just pay and then say, "well, that's Mexico" when in reality it is the lack of ability to speak the language.

[briansue]

We have a motorhome they sometimes call a bus (autobus)with two axles and dual wheels in the rear. We tow a car. Most times they rate us as a two axle bus and a car - add the two tolls together. But then sometimes they charge us like a 4 axle truck. We use the online toll calculator but it can be a bit out of date at times so we also watch what the board says coming into the booth to get an idea of what the toll should be. To our knowledge we have never had a toll attendant short change us. Calculating/computing tolls accurately can be an impossible task. We get a pretty good idea from the online calculator so we have a close ballpark idea of the toll. Each time we go through a toll we write down the amount in our ongoing toll maps (from the Bell's downloadable route guides) and have found they pretty much go up a bit every year. Many toll roads are privately owned by corporations on some sort of deal with the Gov't. They must follow certain rules. But the corp. builds the roads and maintains them. It get complicated. We do try to use routes that avoid tolls and in recent years we find many other roads have been greatly improved and much more usable. Specific road info can be learned by asking questions here or by experience.

[Tequila]

Mountaineer42 wrote:

Tequila wrote:
You forgot the front truck axle. The truck has 3 axles if it is a dually by their definition, the trailer has 2. That makes 5.

2900 peso each way nogales to PV is 5800 pesos. At 12 per dollar that makes it about 480 return. You are correct, about 240 each way. I got confused because I go to Guadalajara then to melaque via colima. that totals $4560 pesos each way

Nope, still wrong. The front is not counted as an axle so a dually is 2 axles, not 3. I'll extend my wager of a cool cerveza with Stan to include you, if you like. :B I know I'm correct on this.

That is news to me, however I will not know until this season as i have gone from a dually pulling a one axle trailer to a dually pulling a 2 axle trailer. With the one axle trailer I was still in the 3-4 axle category. If I still am this year then i will concede you are correct. Maybe others here towing a 2 axle trailer with a dually can chime in.

I will start a new topi con this to get more feedback

[briansue]

We do boondock at Pemex stations but only ones that are 24 hour and ones with plenty of light and visibility. There are stations that accommodate trucks that will also allow RVers. There are Pemex stations with fenced yards and security guards. We use the one about 5 miles south of Los Mochis because we do not like the ones closer to town and we do not like the RV parks in the Los Mochis area. We found one by Tepic we think is safe because we do not fit in the Tepic RV park. We use other Pemex stations all over Mexico but can't list them all. We only use Pemex while traveling as an overnight rest stop and not as a place to hang out. Otherwise we always stay in RV parks or campgrounds. Asking about specific area Pemex possibilities here might get some help. They are not quiet places if that is a requirement. Some toll booths have parking areas some RVers use to overnight. Much of this only comes with experience roaming around MX.

On the Church's website they have updates to their book and though the book is out of date and another may not be published the website provides page by page updates as they come in from readers and users. Always cross reference from the book to the website for the latest on any place you might want to stay.

[Mountaineer42]

Tequila wrote:
You forgot the front truck axle. The truck has 3 axles if it is a dually by their definition, the trailer has 2. That makes 5.

2900 peso each way nogales to PV is 5800 pesos. At 12 per dollar that makes it about 480 return. You are correct, about 240 each way. I got confused because I go to Guadalajara then to melaque via colima. that totals $4560 pesos each way

Nope, still wrong. The front is not counted as an axle so a dually is 2 axles, not 3. I'll extend my wager of a cool cerveza with Stan to include you, if you like. :B I know I'm correct on this.

[Tequila]

You forgot the front truck axle. The truck has 3 axles if it is a dually by their definition, the trailer has 2. That makes 5.

2900 peso each way nogales to PV is 5800 pesos. At 12 per dollar that makes it about 480 return. You are correct, about 240 each way. I got confused because I go to Guadalajara then to melaque via colima. that totals $4560 pesos each way

[Mountaineer42]

Tequila wrote:


You will be in the 5-6 axle category as I am . Duallys count as 2 axles. You are looking at about $450 each way to PV.

Last time I checked, 2 axles (DRW) plus 2 axles (Trailer) = 4 axles, not 5-6. :h

Also, I think your $450 figure is including fuel not just for tolls, or possibly you're showing the 2 way cost for tolls.

My cost last season for a SRW with a 2 axle 5th was 2460 pesos for the tolls alone from Nogales to Rincon de Guayabitos. At a conversion rate of 12 pesos to the dollar, that comes to $205 Cdn or for my American friends using 13 pesos to the dollar = $189 US.
And a dually will cost LESS.

[Mountaineer42]

stanbnv wrote:
Having been on several La Peñita Caravans since 2005, I will tell you that duel wheels whether on a pickup or a motor home count as TWO axles and cost more. We have compared costs with those with duallys.

Yes, duallys do count as 2 axles, but a dually is classed as a camion (truck) while a SRW is classed as an automovil (car). That's why a dually has to drive on the laterals in PV while a SRW can drive on the main lanes. You can easily check out the costs yourself here : Toll calculator

A DRW (2 axles) plus a trailer ( 2 axles) = Camion 4 ejes

Going Stan's route from Sonoyta to Guayabitos produces the following results:
Car alone......1258 pesos
Car with 2 axle trailer..... 2516 pesos
SRW pickup .....1258 pesos
DRW truck (camion 2 ejes)......2030 pesos
DRW truck with 2 axle trailer(4 axles) ....2167 pesos

So, a DRW with 2 axle trailer is 2167 pesos while a SRW with 2 axle trailer is 2516 pesos.
I've checked this many times, and am so sure I'm correct that I PM'd my good friend Stan to wager a cool cerveza on this.:)

[Tequila]

PNW_Steve wrote:

Tequila wrote:
$15-$30 is the range. Color Marino in teacapan which is a very nice, but remote park on the beach is about $18 a night with wifi and a pool. Laguna del Tule in melaque is $600 a month, San Carlos is $24 a night. Huatabampito also on the beach is $20. Chimulco water park is about $25 a night.

What is your intended route?

Do not forget tolls, they are very expensive, for a rig like yours you are looking at about $400 one way to Puerto Vallarta. Fuel costs are the same as Arizona, maybe higher by this season..

Thanks for the input. Color Marino sounds nice. Two of may favorite words: remote & beach.

Our current plan is to take 15D all of the way down.

I tried using the English language version of the toll calculator and it does not work. I knew the tolls were significant but did not expect them to be that high. Could you give me a hand determining the total toll for my dually pickup and a two axle trailer?

I may look at alternative routes for portions of the trip if practical.

Thanks again.

Steve

You will be in the 5-6 axle category as I am . Duallys count as 2 axles. You are looking at about $450 each way to PV. You can avoid some of them by using some good free roads, but you really have to know where they are, especially with any sizable rig. You do not want to get caught in a dead end street you cannot back up in or have to deal with low arches or tree branches. The most expensive toll is the one about 40 miles south of Mazatlan on a 2 lane stretch of 15D. You can take the free road, but make sure you get back on the toll before it starts to climb up to Tepic. You can also avoid a toll by stopping at Huatabampito and coming out south of a toll booth you can actually avoid 3 if you know how.

If you exit through Guyamas from San Carlos you avoid one, and you can easily avoid the one at Magdelena, by exiting & driving through Magdelena (no big deal). You have to remember that avoiding tolls will drop your mileage considerably as you crawl behind sugar cane trucks, you risk damaging your rig by hitting topes at high speed or snagging tree branches. Your chance of an accident is magnified on the free roads. I came to the conclusion about 3 years ago that its best to bite the bullet. The cheap person usually ends up paying more.

I have considered putting a blank rim on my outside duals to knock myself down into the 3-4 axle category. Not sure if that would be a good idea or not. Just chuck the outside duals in the truck bed.

You may also want to switch your insurance to Progressive or Blue Sky. They cover collision in Mexico meaning you only have to buy liability.


Color Marino: (BTW it has had a name change, in the chrrches book, it is Villas Onac.)




Huatabampito:

[stanbnv]

Having been on several La Peñita Caravans since 2005, I will tell you that duel wheels whether on a pickup or a motor home count as TWO axles and cost more. We have compared costs with those with duallys.

[PNW_Steve]

stanbnv wrote:
Our cost, from Sonoyta, Sonora on MX 2 to Santa And, then through to Tepic, Nayarit on MX 15 with a single rear wheel dodge truck pulling a two axel fifth wheel was about $180 US, we saved all our toll receipts, added it up and converted it to dollars.

Thank you Stan.

I am a bit confuse though. I have read that dually's will pay more on the toll roads than single rear wheel pickups then one of the posters here said dually's are less expensive??

[stanbnv]

Hey Steve glad you're back. Hope to see you in La Peñita this year.