As we wait for storm season to pass in Mexico, we are dividing our time between our cabin in the Columbia Valley in British Columbia, and various family and friends in and around Calgary.

Our cabin is very rustic. It is 289 square feet, 60 or 70 years old and of douglas fir construction. It was salvaged about 16 years ago from Kootenay Nat’l Park near Radium Hot Springs when the Addison Cabins’ land lease was not renewed.  We used it for years without running water or electricity.  Then for awhile we had both.  Currently we are again without running water due to burst pipes that we have decided not to repair. It is hard to keep them from freezing in winter.

We cook on the BBQ or a hot plate or over the open fire.  We have a sofa that folds down into a bed and we heat the cabin with a wood stove.  When we leave, we vacuum the floor with a small shop vac and lock the door….quick and easy, more like luxury camping than anything else.

We do enjoy projects out at the cabin and on our first stay out there since renting out our home Derek and I built a new outhouse…..I know, exciting!

In the meantime, we are trying to plan our route through the United States and into Mexico.  Originally, we were going to cross at Tijuana and make our way down the Baja Peninsula. Through Facebook groups that I belong to we have found out that many border crossings are denying 3/4 and one ton trucks a Temporary Import Permit (TIP).  Basically, this is a permit that lets you bring your vehicle into Mexico without paying import taxes and fees (which can be several thousands of dollars).  You pay a deposit, and when you exit the country up to 6 months later, they refund the deposit.  The issue is that trucks with a cargo capacity or payload of more than 3,500kg are not eligible for the TIP.  I think this is to keep large commercial trucks from entering the country and being used for work.  The border guards, however, have started denying vehicles with a Gross Vehicular Weight Rating (GVWR) of more than 3,500 kg.  GVWR is the recommended max. total weight that your truck’s axles, tires and braking system is meant  to carry, and includes the weight of your truck, the weight of your passengers, fuel and cargo capacity. These are two totally different measurements that cannot be interchanged, logically.  It is an error of interpretation of the law, and many travellers with much better Spanish than Derek or I have tried to explain the error to the border guards, but with little luck.  The same issue was happening for awhile last year and then was just as suddenly no longer an issue,  but it is happening again.

The Nogales border crossing is however still allowing one ton trucks so our new route is to Seattle, Washington, via Kamloops, B.C. Then we’ll make our way to Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia river and down the Oregon and Northern California coasts. Then we’ll make our way to Nogales (about 100 km south of Tucson, Arizona) As a result, we’ll miss Baja California altogether.  But Sonora looks very interesting in its own right, we save a lot on the ferry crossing that we won’t have to take from Baja Sur to the mainland and we will be well set to go on to the Copper Canyon.

Or, should I say that for now, that is our planned route.  We knew we would have to keep our plans flexible on this trip, just never imagined it would begin before we even left home.