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David

Aug 28, 2002, 8:27 AM

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Phoenix to Guadalajara - In October

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We are planning on driving to Guadalajara in October to attend a wedding and associated events.We are driving down from Phoenix and I am looking for ideas and hints to make the trip as painless and stressless as possible.We are planning on team-driving and would only stop at night if absolutely necessary.I want to leave Phoenix about 3am and get to the border about 5:30-6:00ish. Should we anticipate encountering any problems with traffic and waiting times at Nogales?Is there a loop around Nogales that we can take that will save us time, and be open that early in the morning?How far should we expect to get into Mexico by nightfall, assuming that our paperwork and permits are all in order?Any helpful ideas, hints, stories, etc you can provide will be greatly appreciated!

Ernie Gorrie

Aug 28, 2002, 11:08 AM

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Phoenix to Guadalajara - In October

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I've done this drive a couple of times with my "hit the border" times about the same as yours. This should be a fairly easy two-day drive and I strongly encourage you to take the two days as you will be driving on a two-lane libre for part of the distance between Mazatlan and Tepic.The first time, we left Tucson about 04:15, arriving at the border before the Mariposa (cuota) crossing was open (06:00 I believe). We went through downtown Nogales. It was no problem at all.We arrived at Culiacan at about 17:00. We left Culiacan at about 06:00 and arrived in Guadalajara at around 15:00. (There is a one-hour clock advance when entering Jalisco, so it was 14:00 Guadalajara time.)The second time, we left Nogales at about 07:00 and used the Mariposa crossing. We had planned to drive as far as Mazatlan that day but there was a serious accident on the cuota south of Los Mochis. The highway was closed for several hours. We were diverted onto agricultural back roads for at least an hour to get around the accident scene. We arrived in Culiacan at about 19:00 and decided to stay there.The next day we left Culiacan around 06:30 and arrived in Tequila around 14:00.Our time at the paperwork checkpoint was well under an hour each time. In fact, the second time I think we left the checkpoint within an hour of leaving Nogales, AZ. I had made multiple (maybe 6) photocopies of all documents before leaving home, so I didn't have to muck about having copies made at the checkpoint that time.BTW, I attempted to learn something about this from the AAA office in Tucson. They were less than helpful as most of the little information they provided was inaccurate. No one there could even provide an estimated driving time to Culiacan. When I showed them the map and asked what the estimated driving time was the answer I received was, "I don't know. It look like a long way on the map.".If you would like to read my report of the drive, you can find it at the link below.