Border crossing report - Tecate into USA

Great info, Fernweh... Und willkommen bei Baja Nomads. Welcome to the forum. By the way, nice Germanic handle... I have wanderlust, too.





Tecate border crossing above: I was in line yesterday afternoon, but not long enough to find the mayor's free wi-fi in Tecate. It was about 3:30 pm and surprisingly very litte traffic..with only 30 or so vehicles ahead of my motorhome. I timed my wait...28 minutes..and only that long because a semi-driver made a wrong turn and fouled the traffic for at least 15 of those.





Plenty of serious soldiers in sight on Tecate side..looking over the waiting border crossers. I glanced across the street and saw a truck-mounted M240 muzzle pointing directly at my nose..gunners hand casually on the trigger control....hmmm? A bit disconcerting...I know the firepower. Not a smile from these guys...nor did I offer any. I thought of a photo-op, and then pictured my Southwind..and ME.. looking like Swiss cheese.




As I entered the US gate, I was signaled to take the last exit ..past the truck entry gates and the last (left) lane which is better for motorhomes. I already knew this, but I thought it was cordial for the border officer to warn me. Not exactly gruff behavior.


I flashed my passport card at the screen and drove up to the window, where I waited for about 10 seconds as the officer put a secondary sticker on my window. (With motorhomes this is almost certain.) Made the tight right and immediate hard left expertly into the inspection area, where another agent signaled me to stop ..Here.

He said exactly this, "Good afternoon sir, are you bringing anything from Mexico to declare?"

My answers were polite and too the point and his other questions were the same.


Then...I admitted the illegal possession of 4 eggs and 3 limes (which I had forgotten all about..honestly!)


!!!!The pistols and assault rifles came out, the gaurd dogs were straining at thier leashes... snarling and gnashing thier teeth, sirens went off and a M60 tank rolled to a thundering halt in front of my motorhome...the cannon muzzled depressed into my windshield.

I bent over backwards and tried to kiss my burro goodbye...but all that did was get a good laugh from the cute border patrol gal holding the German Shepard.



NOW YOU KNOW that never happened.




My experience: My crossing was very professional and polite..even friendly, I would say. I exited the inspection area (secondary) in exactly 10 minutes...and got a wave and a friendly "Have a good trip home." as I drove past the gaurd's gate at secondary.



Guess I was just lucky? Naw...my experiences have all been pretty good for the last 37 years.

Although, there are a couple of times when I was at fault years ago and got some lecturing.


A true story--1987. Like the time I had some small cacti in the bait tanks of my boat. An intended gift for my mother's sunporch I had dug up from my back yard in Coyote Bay. Tiny barrels...and some sea shells. Mom's love this stuff, right?

The inspection guys spotted those little cactus and looked like they had found a mother lode of drugs or a ton of gold...and called out gleefully, "We need an Aggie! We need an Aggie!!"


A sleepy Aggie border patrol officer wandered out to look things over... "Those cactus are a no-no if the plants have any dirt on them. "

"What is your US destination?"

North Dakota.

"How would you like giving North Dakota a wheat blight with some illegally imported dirt germs?"

I would not like that at all, SIR.

"They will have to be washed here and then get on your way."

Can I keep the cactus, then? SIR.

"Yes."

"And the 2 cases of Pacifico I forgot to tell you about in that other compartment...??"

"I don't have time for this...Okay,just tell me YOU'RE GOING DIRECTLY TO ND AND NOT STOPPING IN CALIFORNIA...RIGHT?!....Have a Merry Christmas on Uncle Sam and get out of here."





A little further down Hwy 94 towards San Diego. Border Patrol checking for illegals, etc.

I have a hunting shack in ND..a tiny village quite close to the US/Canada border with a large border patrol contingent. One of my few neigbhors is a Border Patrol officer who transferred there from this very same San Diego - Tecate area. He's a very fine fellow,avid outdoorsman..and happy as can be to be out of that hellhole.


I could go on and on about all the good border crossing experiences I've had as opposed to the all the bad ones that I've read about on Nomads.... but I am not stoopid enough yet to swim against the current....

......but give me a little more time!

Quote:

Originally posted by Pompano Plenty of serious soldiers in sight on Tecate side..looking over the waiting border crossers. I glanced across the street and saw a truck-mounted M240 muzzle pointing directly at my nose..gunners hand casually on the trigger control....hmmm? A bit disconcerting...I know the firepower. Not a smile from these guys...nor did I offer any. I thought of a photo-op, and then pictured my Southwind..and ME.. looking like Swiss cheese. [/size]

The guys there do look VERY serious---good choice you made.

Nice report. As always, enjoyable to read!

Last time we crossed there were no cars in line---none. That was nice.

We cross there often and there are only a couple of the Custom's people we find with questionable attitudes. One stands like John Wayne and is rather snappy, and one just seems to not enjoy life at all. Most of them are really quite friendly and we enjoy the conversation. Overall, it is so much more relaxed than San Ysidro----I think that crossing makes everyone crabby.