From La Ribera going north to Guerrero, there were the usual various Mexican road hazards, but nothing bad and only a few potholes here and there.
The section through center Santa Rosalia is under construction and they were detouring southbound traffic off of 1 and through downtown.
The only thing that was new and a real surprise was a group of loose pigs at the agricultural inspection station at GN.
Generally, the highway in Baja Sur was in good to very good condition (by Baja standards).
Cross the border into Baja Norte and different story. The holes started immediately (I mean like 100 meters) after the ag station. The section
between Guerrero and Jesus Maria was the worst part of Hwy 1 by far. There aren't all that many holes in terms of numbers but those present were
EXTREMELY deep. You'd go a mile or two of nothing and then there'd be a two-foot wide hole which was a good 8 inches deep. Next curve or dip might
have four of those little suckers. Then nothing for awhile. Luckily we didn't hit any but at highway speeds, if you did, you'd bend something.
Highway 5 is, well, Highway 5 on the unpaved section. It took us 1.5 hours pavement to pavement while towing a small boat trailer. Only a few small
portions of roadbed were open, with the rest blocked by large (immovable) barriers.
The road from Puertocitos north to around Playa Linda is pretty rough, with areas deteriorated across both lanes. Saving grace is that none of the
holes are (yet) that deep. Slow down to 30-35mph and it's okay. If this section gets much worse it's going to be a real pain in the bum.
We crossed in San Luis Rio Colorado, a new one for us. We took Hwy 2D from south Mexicali over to Hwy 2, and took that onward to SLRC. Toll was 34
pesos for the toll road section of about 10km, and 20 pesos for the bridge over the waterless Colorado. These are nice roads. The toll road is two
lanes, but wide. The Hwy 2 itself is 4 lanes and pretty well kept with several Pemexes / Oxxos on the way.
Hwy 2 spits you out on the West end of SLRC. You just drive however many blocks into town as is necessary to be able to turn left and get into the
border line. We crossed late in the evening so it wasn't very many blocks. A short wait (20min-ish) and a quick chat with the border agent had us on
our way. I'd go this way again as it's much less in-city driving than Mexicali or TJ.
[Edited on 4-12-2018 by chavycha]chavycha - 4-12-2018 at 09:23 AM
As a somewhat unrelated aside, I'll tell you who has nice highways - Nevada!
After a few months in Baja, and a couple of decades in Oregon (which is a third-world country when it comes to roads), seeing a modern highway system
is quite impressive.
Beautifully wide roads with perfect pavement and excellent markings, even for the less-used routes.
The speed limit of 70 or 75 makes time go by a little quicker, too.
Now, I don't go 75 when towing but being told by California that I must go 55 on Interstate 5 in the Central Valley is...well...not fun.
Good job, Nevada!BajaBlanca - 4-12-2018 at 11:13 AM
Nice report!jaymtb - 4-12-2018 at 03:25 PM
We like going south at SLRC, but on north trip have gotten major crap from US CBP people. The window guy looked at our pickup and popup and snarled
"you have too much stuff", sent us to secondary where we sat for an hour before anyone would check us. Told we couldn't get out of truck while
waiting, etc. Generally bad attitude by all at station. Never experienced before in many trips. Most traffic seemed to be back and forth quick
visits, empty vehicles. Will use Algodones north next time . YMMVchavycha - 4-13-2018 at 06:34 PM
We were actually planning to cross at Algodones but by the time we had eaten dinner and run a few errands, it would've been pushing against their
closing time. We then considered Mexicali East (as the CBP site showed no wait) but chose against it as we'd heard about the construction on the
approach from the south.
Last year, we had an experience similar to yours at Tijuana. The attitude thing is real offputting. I'm not expecting to be welcomed back with
fanfare, but you don't have to be a dick unnecessarily. Ah well. Our agent this year at SLRC was friendly enough, asked a few questions, and waved
us through.
