Road trip to Laredo
By Judy Newell, March 23, 2007


Remember when “Road Trip!” was once shouted with such enthusiasm? You delighted in piling into the car and driving cross-country for umpteen hours. How has that allure deteriorated to the monotony of 10 hours driving straight through to Laredo? 

Living in San Miguel, road trips are obligatory for business, banking and superstore shopping in the States. One of the most dreaded is to Laredo. It’s not that the destination is so bad—it’s the getting there that’s the killer. Last week we trudged off to Laredo. Here’s the good, bad and the downright ugly. 

The drive is monotonous, dusty and there’s almost no where to stop and eat. Somewhere in the middle of the desert, our car was struck by a wind devil. The velocity, dust and flying debris blinded me and shoved the car into the oncoming lane. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic.

About the only traffic that you do see on the highways are huge doble remolque trucks. They sway into your lane on mountain curves and their headlights blind you at night. 

Watch your gas indicator closely—twice we coasted into a Pemex station on fumes. The stations are efficient and well stocked with chips and colas. But take your own toilet tissue and don’t trust their driving directions. Apparently most of the attendants haven’t been more than a few miles from that location. We were told that the turnoff for Dolores Hildalgo was about a two-hour drive when it was only 20 miles away.

Keep alert for the signage. When you see a turnoff sign it means exit immediately. Driving at 80 mph, you can’t swerve off and will have to continue to the next returno. Luckily they are frequent—except when you need them.

The best place to stop for food and rest is at the San Pedro parador. We took a break there going both ways and the carnitas at the restaurant were great. Take cash as there’s no ATM and they don’t take credit cards. The restrooms only take a two-peso coin.

Keep lots of pesos readily at hand. The tollbooths are frequent and only a few accept credit cards. None took dollars. The tolls added up to $402 pesos each way.

Everyone has his or her favorite US entry points. Prior to our departure, the most heated discussion on the golf course was whether to take the Columbia Bridge or the International Bridge 1. 

We have friends who drive 14 hours to Dallas—anything to avoid Nuevo Laredo. On our previous trip we were stopped in Nuevo Laredo for no reason and negotiated the payment of 1600 pesos into the transito officer’s rulebook to be released.

The only way to avoid Nuevo Laredo is to enter the US at the Columbia Bridge. Try to get there before night, as the last few miles are narrow, dark and crowded with loaded semis barreling out of the US and semi-cabs dead-heading back to the US.

Once you’re in Laredo it’s a nice city—very business oriented and with friendly, helpful residents. After a hard day of super shopping at Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond and HEB grocery, you can relax at one of the chain restaurants. There’s Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Tony Roma’s and loads of local Mexican eateries. We enjoyed Logan’s Roadhouse on I-35 so much that we ate there three times in two days—great steaks, ribs and lunch specials in a family atmosphere with very reasonable prices.

The Mall del Norte on I-35 has over 100 shops including Macy’s, Dillard’s, Mervyn’s, Joe Brand, JCPenny, Sears, the Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Sharper Image, Disney Store, jewelers, vitamin shops and shoe stores. You can purchase almost anything there and we seemed to do so. 

We found a great bargain and convenient hotel location at Day’s Inn on I-35 and Del Mar. It’s located in one of the principal shopping areas of the city, across from the Mall del Norte. We paid US$59 a night plus tax for a comfortable king-bedded room. They accept pets for US$10 per night extra. Many of the hotels quoted a non-refundable fee of US$75 per pet, regardless of the length of stay.

Speaking of pets, we have never been asked for papers either entering Mexico or the US. But, of course, the moment that we don’t carry a vet’s certificate of health is when it will be asked for.

We overloaded on purchases and packed the little SUV so high that we couldn’t see out of the back window. My husband resisted tying more on the roof rack, so I didn’t get the terrace dining table. Que pena.

Being good gringos we went to the “something to declare” lane at the Columbia Bridge aduana. It was Sunday and there was no one at the impuestos counter. We were told to turn around and go back to the States to the International Bridge 1. This elicited much grumbling (to put it politely) from my husband as we had to retrace the 20 miles to Laredo and then go still farther to the International Bridge 1.

There we encountered a very helpful agent who told us what to declare and what not to declare and passed us through with 1500 pesos in taxes. So we lucked out at that crossing after all, even if we did have to drive—very slowly—through Nuevo Laredo.

We’ll try crossing at Reynosa and doing our business and shopping in McAllen, Texas the next time. Several friends have recommended it and I’ll let you know how that trip goes.