samhigh
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San Diego to Gonzaga * 3/2 - 3/4 * Road Report
Headed out Saturday morning, stopped in TJ to pick up a friend and then starting heading south.
Went east on the 2 FWY, was raining and overcast.
Very windy at the top of the hill. When we broke out onto the east side of the mountain range, the skies looked much better.
I remember two or three military checkpoints on the 2 FWY. No issues / not sent to secondary. Although I did get called a P-nche Whetto by one of
the officers lol.
Got into San Felipe, hit the Calimax to grab snacks and some Ranchera for the grill.
Road was normal until you hit Percebu. The storms created some serious potholes on the paved road. I actually found this the most annoying stretch
of road but your mileage may vary. On the way down I seemed to hit every pothole at 40 mph but no tire damage. Airing down to 30psi no doubt helped.
In addition to the potholes, there are wide strips of pavement missing that are filled in with dirt. Unfortunately there is a drop off from the
pavement to the dirt filling. Very harsh, recommend slowing for these.
Once the horrible pavement ended the dirt stretch from south of Percebu to Puertocitos was actually better than the last time I went! Must have been
freshly grated. Was able to travel around 35 mph on the dirt no problem.
Got to Puertocitos and just kept charging. The road from Puertocitos to Gonzaga is NOT THAT BAD, assuming you have a car with some ground clearance.
The most difficult part if the transition where you go off the paved road and enter the dirt. It is very rutted in those sections. It would be hard
to drive with a sedan I believe, and to the people who trailer down, you get my respect. Not sure how well trailers could handle those ruts and drop
offs.
I was driving my 2003 Toyota Tundra, 2 wheel drive. At the most, I would say the 9 or so off/on transition only added half an hour. About 2 hours
from Jenny's Place in Percebu to Rancho Grande market in Gonzaga.
Came back on Monday morning after camping at Campo Beluga. All smooth coming back. No issues with any of the 6 or so checkpoints in total.
For what it is worth, I always buy insurance, but never bother with the tourist visa thing. Not recommending this for anyone else, I have just found
the only questions you get are "where you are coming from, where you are going, and purpose of the trip." Some light searching of the truck on
occasion but never a question about tourist visas.
Unfortunately the fishing was the only crap part of the trip. Will post a separate report for that.
TLDR - ~7/8 hours from San Diego to Gonzaga. Current road conditions add maybe 30-45 minutes. It's still beautiful down there. If you are debating
about going... just go now!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Thank you for the trip report!
The tourist card is not asked for or checked by the military... Their duty is looking for drugs, guns, ammo, that's it.
There are rumors of an occasional immigration surprise checkpoint (INM) on the highway, well south of the border and they do make you drive all the
way back to the border to get the (free for 7 days) FMM.
That being stated, in the 15,000 miles I drove in Baja the past two years, over 8 different months, I had not been asked anywhere to show my FMM
between the border and Cabo San Lucas...
However, out of respect for their laws (and fear of being turned back from 100 miles south of the border), I always got the FMM (180 day ones for
about $25).
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samhigh
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| Quote: |
However, out of respect for their laws (and fear of being turned back from 100 miles south of the border), I always got the FMM (180 day ones for
about $25).
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For sure. And I have heard that not having the FMM can invalidate your auto insurance.
One thing I was wondering about... How would they possibly know the paperwork was valid? All they do is stamp the form right? I'd be tempted to get
one stamped, scan into a PDF, and then just update the dates as needed...
Attempt at your own risk! 
[Edited on 3-6-2019 by samhigh]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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The insurance we have is not affected by immigration status.
Confirmed by BajaBound.com, sponsor of this site.
The FMM form is date stamped and so is your passport as well as the passport is being scanned into their system.
It is their country, and while they obviously don't care a lot about everyone getting one, with so much traffic entering Mexico, this is what they say
they want every visitor to have.
[Edited on 3-6-2019 by David K]
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samhigh
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Quote: Originally posted by David K  | The insurance we have is not affected by immigration status.
Confirmed by BajaBound.com, sponsor of this site.
The FMM form is date stamped and so is your passport as well as the passport is being scanned into their system.
[Edited on 3-6-2019 by David K] |
Learned something new today. Thanks for that info 
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Of course, being Mexico, the rules may be different when you cross the border next time, lol!
It's an attitude thing... go with the flow. However, I have to wonder just how guilty tourists are who simply drive south to have an innocent visit,
have nothing to declare, so they follow those signs, get a green light and drive on south?
There are no signs telling foreigners that they are required to obtain a "tourist card" (which is pretty close to a visa as far as procedure goes).
Unless they read Baja Nomad or other literature/ forums/ etc. they would never know unless there was an immigration check somewhere (as there was in
the years before the 1990s, near Maneadero). There never was one south of Mexicali/San Felipe.
They say "ignorance is no excuse" but I just feel getting FMMs is nothing more than a little gravy for the federal budget and not sure why they take
the man hours and materials to offer a free one for 7 days? Maybe to offset the crush on tourist dollars from families who stopped going when the
formerly free FM-T began costing over $20 for each family member (and later renamed FMM) back in mid-2000?
The other changes of more recent years were the elimination of the "Border Zone" which was a region as far south as Maneadero and San Felipe that
allowed tourists up to 72 hours stay without getting a tourist card. The zone was even described as to include the whole state of northern Baja and up
to a week, by Baja tourism department people... A couple of years ago an announcement was made that any trip across the border for any distance or
time required the FMM tourist card. They just don't enforce it too well.
It is interesting to observe this bureaucratic folly unfold and evolve.
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