South to North...Day 12: Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey!

DAY 12

Thursday, July 24, 2014
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Weather: Sunny, 39 celsius (HOT!)

Breakfast was delicious, with fresh fruit, toast, refried beans, eggs and cheese. There were several military personnel staying at the hotel and I captured this photo through the window.

We hit the road headed for Monterrey.  About 30 minutes into the drive, we arrived at a checkpoint. I pulled up to the window and handed over our passports. The guard looked at the documents and then looked back at me, saying that I'm missing something. I explained that I already have a visa in my passport, but he insisted that we can't cross without another document that I was missing. Javier was driving the truck behind us and was watching the exchange. After some discussion with the guard, we realized that we had to turn around and head back to the border again, in order to get a Visitor's Tourist Visa (the small form that you usually get on the plane when traveling to Mexico). To save some mileage, we parked the truck at an Oxxo on the highway, and Ricardo stayed with Javier's uncle, while Javier and I headed back to the border in the Honda. I finally realized why I should have gone through the declaration line. After 2 hours of waiting in line, filing out forms, making photocopies and an unexpected payment of $200, we finally left the border for a second time. 

The drive between Texas and Monterrey is stunning. The landscape is relatively flat at the beginning and eventually you start to see the mountains creeping up from the green, growing steadily as you get closer and closer. 

It was a good thing we had the truck, as the Honda struggled on some of the inclines. 

We approached the city from the north, and the traffic gradually picked up. 

I'd forgotten all about the traffic in Monterrey. Sigh.

The streets started to look familiar, and eventually we pulled up to the house. Finally home!

It felt so good to arrive to a full house and Mango Nadas!

Although the trip took a little longer than expected, it was an incredible experience that I'll never forget. We are so thankful to the many people that made this journey possible... friends helping us with last minute moving and keeping us sane during a stressful time, Ricardo for being so patient with us both, our great hosts in Nashville & Dallas, our new friends/mechanics/life savers in Dunkirk, and our families and friends for support and prayers for a safe trip. Here's to wonderful memories and new adventures on the horizon!

Much love xoxo
Rosalie

South to North: Day 11... San Antonio, TX

DAY 11

Wednesday, July 23, 2014
San Antonio, Texas, USA to Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Weather: Sunny, 36 celsius

After breakfast, we headed to the lobby of the hotel to check out. I noticed this good luck horseshoe above the door and it reminded me of my friend Nicole.

Back on the 35 South, we saw signs for Laredo and set the map for UPS Frieght location. The distance between San Antonio and Laredo is about 155 miles or 250 km. Typically it should take about 2.5 hours, but it took us around 3.5 hours.

There were several of these signs posted all along the highway. 

We finally pulled into the UPS terminal just before noon. The temperature outside was a sweltering 38 Celsius by now; just standing outside under the sun made the sweat pour down our backs. We headed into the office (with air conditioning) and asked about our shipment. The friendly guy in the office located the two skids right away, but we had to wait until they finished their current orders. 

Meanwhile, we pulled the car around the back behind the shipping area and started unloading the trailer to make room for the rest of our things. We took turns going back into the office to cool off. About an hour later, the guy on the fork lift brought down our two skids and dropped them off in the gravel yard beside the car. It took an hour to load everything back into the trailer. We realized that it would probably be a struggle for the Honda to carry the full trailer up the mountain roads between here and Monterrey, so Javier called his uncle to ask if he could come meet us in Laredo with his pick-up truck. By the time we were finished loading the trailer, my head felt like it was going to explode and I couldn't concentrate anymore. If you've ever had heat stroke before, you will know what I'm talking about. It's hard to tell in this photo because of the light in the bathroom, but I looked like a tomato. Although I'm smiling in this photo, I was feeling pretty grumpy at that point.

I went back into the office and Javier bought me a Coke from the vending machine. 
The guys went to find some lunch while I sat on the floor in the office to cool down. 

While we waited for Javier's uncle to arrive, we sat in the UPS staff room, eating lunch and watching Joan Jett on TV.

We were anticipating that the border crossing would take a while, so we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. Javier's uncle arrived with his truck around 5pm, we hooked everything up and headed for the highway.

Javier drove the truck with his uncle and the trailer in tow, while I followed behind in the Honda with Ricardo. I watched as Javier headed for the declaration line-up, and for some reason, I thought that since I wasn't carrying the trailer, I didn't have anything to declare (complete forgetting that I needed to declare myself and the car!), and breezed through the "nothing to declare" line, crossing the border in about two minutes.
Once across, we suddenly realized that the paperwork for the trailer and importation was in the Honda. After some phone calls and driving around in circles, we managed to get the papers to Javier. Despite having all the paperwork ready, Javier had to unload everything from the trailer by himself, to show the border officials, and then pack it all again. 

I felt very frustrated that I'd made the mistake of taking the wrong line, as it took two hours for Javier and his uncle to make it across the border, while Ricardo and I waited helplessly on the other side. (Spoiler alert: We didn't realize this mistake would cost more time tomorrow!)

It was getting dark by now, and we were 2.5 hours from Monterrey.

We decided to find a hotel for the night and drive the last stretch tomorrow. We found a Holiday Inn just off the highway, ordered some pizza for dinner, and called it a night.

Keep reading to find out what happened on the last day!

South to North: Day 10... Dallas, TX

DAY 10

Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Dallas, Texas, USA to San Antonio, Texas, USA
Weather: Sunny, 36 celsius

Javier and Ricardo have traveled to Dallas before but this was my first time in the city. As much as I would have liked to take a lengthy tour, we were really anticipating arriving at our destination so we decided to just stop for brunch and continue our journey. We found our way to a small restaurant serving tacos; not the typical American-style tacos, but the real deal. They were so tasty that I didn't even stop to take a photo. 

During the month of July, the sun hits Dallas pretty hard, and the air conditioner in our 1999 Honda Civic sounds like a lawn mower, so it made for a very hilarious, sometimes annoying and periodically hot ride. We turned off the AC when we wanted to hear our favourite music, or when the car started to heat up, and then we'd switch it back on full blast and enjoy the rumbling noise and cool air. It's amazing how you can get used to an obnoxiously loud noise after a couple hours. 

Every US state has it's own vibe, it's own culture. As you drive through Texas, there is a distinctive feeling that you are very close to Mexico. The state of Texas actually used to be part of Mexico, before it was sold to the US for $18,250,000 in 1848.

Around 4.5 hours later, we arrived in Austin, Texas and stoped at Twin Peaks for lunch.

It was fairly busy for a Tuesday afternoon. Plenty of tables with men talking over beers, and a couple of families with toddlers running around between the tables. 

On our way out, we took this photo of Ricardo with our server.

You can find another shot of the restaurant here.

Back on the highway, we headed for San Antonio, about 2 hours away. We booked a hotel near the downtown area, hoping to have a chance to explore the San Antonio Riverwalk.

It wasn't until we arrived at the Super 8 in San Antonio that we noticed Javier's bag was missing (with all our passports inside!). After a few brief moments of panic, I called the Twin Peaks restaurant and sure enough, a server had noticed the bag on a chair and put it safely away. We realized we had no choice but to drive back to the restaurant in Rolling Rock near Austin to pick it up.... 2 hours away. After a full day of driving, this was not an exciting prospect, but we had no choice. We unhitched the trailer and I took the driver's seat this time. We headed north as the sun was going down, and managed to make it back to the hotel in San Antonio by 12am. Around this time of night, there are not many options for food, so after a little debating, we just skipped dinner and flopped into bed. 

We're so close! Day 11 coming up!

South to North: Day 9...Hot Springs, AR

DAY 9

Monday, July 21, 2014
Little Rock, Arkansas... to Hot Springs, Arkansas... to Dallas, Texas, USA
Weather: Sunny with clouds, 30 celsius

My stomach woke me up today at 8:00am and I headed over to the lobby to look for some food. Even on vacation, the one time when you can sleep in, my brain is programmed to wake up early. I was expecting the typical continental fare, but was pleasantly surprised by the extras like hard boiled eggs, fresh cut fruit and whole wheat bread. I grabbed a couple coffees for the guys and headed back to wake them up for breakfast. After scarfing down some food, we were ready to hit the road.

We definitely underestimated the duration of our trip, as I thought we would already be in Mexico by now. We checked out the map ... still 1450 km to go. According to Google, that's about 13.5 hours of driving. I had a fleeting thought that we could be there by tomorrow if we really hustled. We were eager to get back on the road so we didn't spend much time in Little Rock, and instead hopped onto the highway, taking the 30W bound for Dallas. Somewhere along the road, we passed a sign for "Hot Springs."  I did a quick search on the town and thought it would be a neat place to stop, so we took the exit. This little detour turned out to be a bigger detour than expected, but well worth the trip. As you can tell from the sign below, Hot Springs, Arkansas is the hometown of Bill Clinton. 

We took the scenic route through town and parked at the tourism office (for free!). It was mid-morning so we decided to walk around. Central Ave is the main street, full of stores and restaurants on one side, and bath houses on the other, connected to the Ouachita Mountains. It reminded me of Niagara-on-the-Lake, although instead of Lake Ontario, they have hot springs.

Many people come from around the world to visit the bath houses. Apparently it was a popular place for baseball teams to come during training season. 

There are several fountains along the street. This one had cool water, but some of them are filled with water directly from the Hot Springs and you can see the steam coming off the surface.

There are plenty of interesting stores along Central Ave.

Of course, every tourist town needs a fudge store.

We even came across Zoltar! You can find him in Niagara Falls too.

This is a little park on Central Ave that's perfect for live music. There is a small fountain in the back and the sound echoes off the brick walls. This gentleman was playing some nice country music as we walked by.

After taking a tour up and down the street, we stopped at the Ohio Bar for lunch.

This is a snapshot of the back of the menu, with some history about the Ohio Club.

Our view of the bar, looking down from the second floor.

You can see the beautiful woodwork along the top with the horses and mermaid busts. 

Apparently everything is made of one giant piece of mahogany. 

Among many other things, the Ohio Club is well-known for their burgers, so we had to see if the rumours were true. This burger comes with grilled pineapple and yes, it was delicious. Although, at this point in our journey, I was really craving some vegetables.

Here's our table on the second floor and the stage for live music behind us.

The Ohio Club is one of many stops on the Haunted Tours of Hot Springs. 

With it's history and dark hallways, it's not hard to imagine why.

Here's an original black jack table from the old casino that was hidden behind the false wall.

An old slot machine, sitting on the bar front.

This beautiful chandelier hanging near the entrance made me think of Beauty & the Beast.

After lunch, we walked up the street ,past the Hot Springs Reserve.

Apparently the US Hot Springs Reservation was created in 1832 to protect the natural springs, and the name was later changed to the Hot Springs National Park in 1921.

A little further up Central Avenue, you can find an open part of the Hot Springs. The area is very lush and green, enriched by the minerals from the springs.

A nearby sign reads that the average temperature of the springs is around 148 degrees Fahrenheit... I dipped my fingers in, just to see what 148 degrees feels like.

We headed back to Central Ave along Bathhouse Row.

There are currently eight bath houses in Hot Springs, and three of them are still functional.

The other five bath houses are now museums and tourist attractions.

Each house has a little sign outside with historical information.

This one reminded me of my brother-in-law.

The friendly woman at the tourism office told us a little about the houses. 

Only one of them is co-ed, so we headed down the street in search of the Quapaw Baths.

We popped in to take a look around. From the front desk in the entrance, you can look through windows into the baths. We saw around 15 or 20 people reclining in the water. It looked very relaxing, but it was also a little smaller than we expected. I think we were also imagining natural rock baths like the ones you can find in British Colombia or Quebec.

In the end, we decided to skip the bath house and continue on the trip. I know you must be thinking that we keep skipping all the best parts, but walking around town and popping our heads into the bath houses made for a perfect day. So here we are back on the 30 West, hoping to make it to Dallas before nightfall. During this part of the journey, we listened to some country music on the radio.

Javier is a superstar, doing all the driving since we left Niagara. 

We had to make a couple stops for gas and some energy drinks along the way. I snapped a photo of this stop because I liked the name of the store... "Soul Mart."

Somewhere along the way, we spotted this sign and I felt a sense of excitement.

The sun was setting but we were getting close.

We rolled into Dallas around 9:30pm and found our way through the massive subdivisions.

Javier's friend, Ben, lives in Dallas and offered to host us for the night. We parked the trailer and headed out for dinner with Ben at Buffalo Wild Wings. Finally made it to Texas!

Back at Ben's place, we played a couple games of pool before crashing for the night.

We're almost there! Next up... Day 10!