vandy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 538
Registered: 10-10-2003
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Went north Easter; Miraflores-Tecate
I was trying to leave at 4 AM Easter Sunday morning, and managed to wrap up the house and get going by the crack of noon. I made it to the border by
4 PM Monday, so 28 hours to cover most of Baja...not recommended!
The drive north went well, and I was briefly searched at all the usual checkpoints. The police checkpoint by San Ignacio was not in operation, so no
car papers and photo ID needed, and no pictures and fingerprints taken.
I cruised through Guerrero Negro immigration checkpoint about 2 AM, and nobody came out to see me. An hour or so later, I found a nice place to get
way off the highway and sleep until dawn.
Gas was available at all the usual places. Firepots were frequently seen in towns next to ambulances/cops...I thought they were doing DUI roadblocks,
bu they were just cautionary reminders of the dangers of driving during Semana Santa, complete with fresh wrecked cars on trailers.
No bad construction delays, but lots of construction on the Tecate road. The border wait was about an hour, and as I showed my passport to the nice
lady in the booth, she apologized for the long wait and said it was due to people not having the correct paperwork to enter the US. She ran my
passport in 20 seconds and waved me through.
On the US side I got pulled over in my little Corolla by the Border Patrol, who asked for ID and to look in my trunk, and the guy politely sent me on
my way. This also happened to me on the way down six months ago...maybe looking for the drugs/guns/money supposedly being smuggled?
As a final note, at one military checkpoint somewhere south of Ensenada, nobody looked in any vehicle, but the soldiers slowly walked by with an
instrument that looked like a slim black barbell held on end, with a horizontal silver metal tube extending 18" from the top. They were concentrating
on some reading on the top from which the tube extended...an automatic drug molecule detector, maybe?
Can't wait to go back, and if I don't have a decent job by May 15, I'm spending another year on the beach and in the mountains.
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jeffg
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Registered: 11-25-2004
Location: Vista, CA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by vandy
As a final note, at one military checkpoint somewhere south of Ensenada, nobody looked in any vehicle, but the soldiers slowly walked by with an
instrument that looked like a slim black barbell held on end, with a horizontal silver metal tube extending 18" from the top. They were concentrating
on some reading on the top from which the tube extended...an automatic drug molecule detector, maybe?
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We drove north on Saturday and they were using that same thing at the checkpoint there before Ensenada. Kind of a black box thing with what looked
like a piece of a car antenna sticking out. The soldier walked down and around a group of 6 or 7 cars, then sent the whole group through without any
additional check. We were in the next group, and when he walked by my truck the antenna swung around and pointed at us. That worried me but he just
backed up and walked by again, this time the "divining rod" didn't point at us. Again, after checking a group of cars he passed us all through.
State of the art drug and gun divining rod would be my guess.
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rpleger
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Location: H. Mulegé, BCS
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Mood: Was good.
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Good report vandy. How bad was the construction on the Tecate road?
Richard on the Hill
*ABROAD*, adj. At war with savages and idiots. To be a Frenchman abroad is to
be miserable; to be an American abroad is to make others miserable.
-- Ambrose Bierce, _The Enlarged Devil\'s Dictionary_
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Pompano
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Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Thanks for that report, vandy. I'll be making a trip up and back soon, too. On those detecting wands, I've seen them around for a year or two.
Never asked about them, so won't venture a guess as to What they detect..other than I didn't qualify for a search. Sure glad they didn't spot my
strawberry cream cheese cake. 
With Richard, I am interested in the Tecate construction progress? We'll be going that way regardless, but would be nice to be forewarned of any
major problems.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3710
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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Our guess was that that little magic box was a gunpowder detector.
That is one reason we did not buy rockets to shoot off, did not need a hassle over munitions and ammo.
Besides, I heard "elgatoloco" was bit around and so we did not have a good target...
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vandy
Senior Nomad
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Registered: 10-10-2003
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The construction on the Tecate road is quite extensive on the southern half.
However, they seemed to have a handle on getting you through quickly, at least they did on Monday...
I still like to travel on Sundays, when no workers are present and no machinery is operating. It makes the trip a lot quicker.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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Muchas gracias, vandy. A Sunday no-workday crossing is what we had in mind too, so glad to hear you confirm. Gives us time to take in the sights
along the Ruta de Vino.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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