Casual drive: Detroit to Toluca México

roving1

Well-known member
View attachment pixlr_20180929074610551.jpg
No pics for this just a little write up.

Had the opportunity to be in Toluca for 6 months. But the challenge was I had to be down there in 3 days. I have flown here before and nearby is a giant dormant volcano and lots of cool off road trails 20 minutes from where I am staying (never underestimate how much you can explore in a rental FWD lol). So I really wanted to go down with my truck and camping stuff this time.

Problem was it was Tuesday night and I had to be in Toluca by Saturday morning. With 2318 miles and a border crossing that would be a tall order. But I decided to go for it and left Wednesday morning.

I drove a truck for 20 years so I don't mess around on road trips and I love driving at night so it would take effort but I was convinced I could do it. My packing took a hit though. Instead of carefully searching my stuff and paring down what I didn't need I left all of my gear that was already in the truck and just added a bunch of crap and it left my poor truck (2002 2.7 reg cab Tacoma) kind of overloaded. But no time so that was that.

Truck was recently re-geared to 4:56 after putting 32" tires on and will run 72MPH at 2900 RPM and hold 5th gear on every hill now. Will get 20MPG too if there is no wind. Truck really hums along on the freeway now.

I was able to log big mileage of 1000 miles in the US the 1st day and that helped build a nice buffer for the rest of the trip.

México car insurance was ridiculously easy at Sanborns in Laredo TX. They have a drive up window so you don't even have to get out of your car. IBC bank was down the block too for getting pesos. I normally just hit an ATM machine in Mexico but with importing the vehicle and not wanting to stop at all in Nuevo Laredo I hit the bank instead. Super easy didn't care if I had an account.

Customs went well. They had me open a few things. Before hand I loaded on my phone pictures of my roof tent and awning in use so I could explain what they were. These were massively handy and a great ice breaker that I used 3 times on the way down. I had a bunch of fuel and water cans I left empty and had the caps off. They checked to see if they were empty. I had heard they don't like fuel being brought in and they seemed to relax when I showed they were empty.

Massive construction and a broken down truck sent me wandering all over Nuevo Laredo. I knew where I was going so I knew I would get there eventually so the small streets of the centro did not really bother me but I can see how it would be a source of stress for others. But it's silly the importación place is like 100 m from the bridge and you have to drive all iver to actually get to it.

Importation went amazingly well considering my Spanish is complete garbage. I had researched well so I knew what was needed and that really helped. 1st migracion. Get FMM card. Fill out card. Go back to same place to get card stamped. Go get copies of anything you need. I just needed the FMM copied. Go to the importation desk and give them all your paper work and copies. Answer a few questions about where you are going. Pay for importation fee, deposit, and FMM fee all at the window. My debit card worked fine. 20 minutes later all done. No one in line on a Thursday at 3pm. Put sticker on windshield and go! You don't have to be a fluent Spanish speaker super global travel expert to get your vehicle legal in México!

The toll roads were a frustrating mix of nice and a little more bumpy than I would like but all are able to make good time on. The speed limit is 80KPH on a ridiculous amount of road but everyone speeds 20-30 over. I drove 100-110 and was always being dusted by people doing 120-130.

Two checkpoints I got flagged and asked about the RTT and awning. Pictures to the rescue as everytime I showed them phone pics lots of smiles and jokes about casa completo en la camioneta Lol. Federales pulled me over while driving once. Checked my documents for me and the vehicle. More smiles when I showed them the picture of the tent. Each interaction was less than 5 minutes and polite and professional. No mordidas/bribes even hinted at. They are looking for drugs and stolen cars and guns mainly. Now the local and regional cops you are still possibly going to get hit up as has happened to me before.

Mexico has to have more trucks per road mi than anywhere in the world. Trucks back to back for 700 miles. I doubt I drove more than 80 to 100 miles in the right lane for the whole trip.

Got to Toluca Friday night after 4 separate traffic back ups totaling 4 hours of sitting. But I made it!

Say hi if you are passing through. I would love to meet up with someone while I am here.
 
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MCX

TalesFromTheDesert.com
Wow, that's one heckuva' a drive! Glad you made it on-time. I've made the Detroit to Toluca trip several times (back when I worked for GM, based at the RenCen), but always in the air :). Even made it to a few Diablos Rojos matches...fun!
 

roving1

Well-known member
I too am in town for auto industry reasons myself. I have flown here twice before . It's nice when you have a location all figured out before you arrive.

I lied I found one pic I took in Nuevo Laredo getting my truck temporarily imported.

PANO_20180927_160111.jpg
 

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