My medium term goal is to visit all the parks in the lower 48 states in my electric car, and that necessarily includes taking an occasional car ferry. I would prefer never to take carbon burning transportation, but I’m neither going to risk my life nor break the law, nor encourage anyone else to do so. Some river roads, coastal highways and islands rely on ferries—such as in the Outer Banks or San Juan Islands above—, without practical alternatives. The only way to visit the Statue of Liberty or Alcatraz is to take the ferry.
My general rule is to arrive at each park by zero emission vehicle but to take park transport as needed to enjoy the park, like at Steamtown. Whenever I can, I encourage park employees to replace their old transport with solar powered electric boats, which would be perfect at Fort Matanzas. And the NPS is slowly converting its transportation to renewable, for example at Zion.
Pick the best in each of the six regions completed
Visit Canada and Mexico again to see more world heritage sites and biospheres
So I plan to cross the country again this year in my electric car, seeing National Parks from California to Florida, World Heritage Sites from Canada to Mexico, and various lesser known but still important small sites. Logistical challenges or new park designations (thanks Joe) may thwart my plans, but I resolve to do my best.
The posting schedule should continue unchanged all year. Mondays are site visits. Thursdays are typically viewpoints and summaries. And every other Saturday I plan to post a state photo summary. Thanks for following along!
To visit 16 of Mexico’s World Heritage Sites in a zero emission vehicle, I drove round trip from Texas to Mexico City, through 13 Mexican states, and, while a bit bumpy, I enjoyed the trip very much. All my trip report links are at the end of this post.
If you read online comments in the US, you might get the idea that traveling in Mexico is impossible or foolhardy at best. Well, you can’t believe everything you read online (except this blog of course). Over the entire trip, I was only asked for one ‘bribe’ of $1, to park briefly in a student parking lot without a student id. The state police, national guard and military were all very professional and waved me through either without comment or after glancing at my car permit. While I saw crime on the TV news in Mexico, I observed none.
After driving in Mexico, I finally understand driving in Texas. Instead of overpasses, underpasses and clover leafs, just use ‘retornos’ or U-turns. Folks leave the nice highways, well, they’re on their own, immediately. Want to slow traffic, without relying on folks to obey signs? Just use lots of speed-bumps or topes. Although, there are even more techniques to learn. First, always be alert. Pothole! Second, drive halfway in the breakdown lane to avoid head-on collisions with oncoming passing traffic. Third, always be alert, seriously, you need to pay attention and think while driving. Drivers are generally nice, but get out of the way of speed demons and quickly pass vehicles that wouldn’t be allowed on the roads in the US.
All Mexico is divided into three parts. Mexico City is best navigated by metro, with its one way streets, traffic and lack of parking. Traffic can be stultifying. Of course, electric cars are exempt from the Hoy No Circula—‘no driving today’—restrictions, which otherwise limit your access to the city according to the last character of your license plate. Circumnavigating the city on the ring road requires tolls: take your ticket and be prepared to pay cash (although a few places take credit cards). Remember the metro is 5 pesos or ~30 cents.
The mid-sized cities and tourist areas outside Mexico City are still crowded, but passable by private car. I was frequently fortunate to find parking very near World Heritage Sites in mid-sized city centers. Of course, the more touristy, the more likely that the roads are cobblestone. San Miguel de Allende may be magical, but I scraped the bottom of my car several times on medieval stones. Better to park outside the historic zones and walk. Still, driving your own car gets you to places that are otherwise challenging to reach.
And then there are the mountains and remote villages. Ah, lovely! But no signal to navigate. I got lost three times near the butterfly reserve. Once, my navigation asked me to drive between two trees on each side of a hiking trail. But I must admit, some of the most beautiful places in Mexico are just off the grid. Horse-driven ploughs, indigenous costumes, and forest-covered volcanoes await. Long drives are best on toll roads with frequent $5 to $15 tolls.
On this trip, I used Superchargers exclusively, and I only saw half a dozen Teslas in Mexico, including my own, mostly at chargers. Unlike the US, there isn’t a government subsidy for most electric cars, so my car was not just unusual, but uneconomical in the short run. I got few comments or looks, and the valet parking attendants had never driven one before (and didn’t like them). There are a few other electric models that I saw on TV, which we don’t have in the US, and I spotted a few of those in Mexico. But overall, electric cars are an elite affair, with parking and charging in the most expensive malls in expensive neighborhoods. I found the supercharger network from McAllen to Puebla accessible and without gaps, although it’s better to charge whenever you can, just in case you need a lot of air conditioning or have to detour.
While Mexico might seem intimidating or unrefined, the truth is that it’s worth the trouble. There are European-style cathedrals, ancient pyramids (photo from Anthropology Museum), glorious art, scrumptious food, and natural wonders that are well worth driving a couple days with the trucks on the long highways. An unexpected side benefit to driving was passing through three UNESCO Biospheres along the way: Cumbres de Monterrey, La Primavera near Tequila, and Los Volcanes near Mt Popocatépetl. I reviewed the State Department warnings and used them to plan my trip, but, again, the best way to avoid crime is to avoid drugs and be careful. Americans should take advantage of the wonderful travel opportunities just south of our border, and I’m not talking about all-you-can-whatever resorts that you fly into. See the real Mexico, and drive electric!
Visit several World Heritage Sites in Mexico and Canada—Done, will post by year end.
Complete the North Atlantic & Midwest regions—1/2 done, in progress.
While I haven’t posted all my visits yet, I’m officially up to 380 out of 429 park sites, plus most of the heritage areas, trails & about 1/2 the affiliates. Next Monday will be the end of my Mexican World Heritage Site roadtrip, so after that Mondays will switch back to US parks, including affiliates, trails and heritage areas. Thursdays will continue to be eclectic, with various regional summaries, logistics and opinions. Look for some new zero carbon vehicle announcements. I’m cutting back on the Saturday state photo posts to every other week for the rest of the year. Turns out there are a limited number of states—who knew?—including some I haven’t completed yet. Thanks for reading!
Absolutely no sponsoring or commercial involved here, but Mom recently introduced me to the free, updated Merlin Bird App from Cornell’s Ornithology Lab, and it’s pretty amazing. I see a lot of birds in my travels, including Sandhill Cranes just recently, but the app takes it to the next level. I went on a couple short hikes in a park last weekend, and I counted a half dozen birds or so. But the app identified over a dozen by their birdsongs alone, including separating several types of sparrows, differentiating three different yellow birds, identifying an uncommon Willow Flycatcher and even recording a rare Indigo Bunting. Mom says that now I need to go back and visit the first 300 parks again, because I probably missed half the birds I heard. That’s not going to happen, but here are some bird photos from my travels for you to enjoy.
Welcome to Mexico! Above is the statue of Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla, the parish priest who on 16 September 1810 cried for independence—Grito de Dolores—in front of his church in Dolores (now Dolores Hidalgo in Guanajuato) sparking Mexican Independence. Mondays for now are World Heritage Sites, while eclectic Thursdays still include US park posts.
How to Drive Across the Border from US to Mexico
This post will cover my border crossing experience, including getting a permit for my car, and I hope it helps others who may be planning a similar trip.
I crossed the border at Puente Anzalduas, near McAllen Texas. I chose this place for several reasons. McAllen is a nice city with all the conveniences. There’s a supercharger in McAllen and another one 85 miles away in Mexico. This border crossing has everything I need to legally drive my car in Mexico, all in one room, with plenty of parking, and it isn’t too crowded. The bridge allows an easy trip around the city of Reynosa, and quickly puts me on the toll highway directly to my route to Mexico City. Even though I drove from California, it’s faster to drive through Texas on the freeway at 80 mph than to drive tollways in Mexico, especially as the supercharger network isn’t nationwide in Mexico yet. I recommend this crossing if you’re planning on driving to Mexico City, especially in a Tesla!
I found a lot of wrong information (see below) about driving across the border, which caused me delays and frustration. If you’re just driving in Baja California or to Rocky Point or just along the border inside Mexico, you don’t need any paperwork. But if you want to drive elsewhere, then here’s the real story: first, my recent experience, and then, all my failures. Read and learn!
I crossed the border at around 9:30 am last Tuesday (27 February 2024), and there was virtually no wait. US Border Patrol checked my car, and then I drove across the bridge with a $3.50 toll. On the Mexico side of the border, take the left lane, since you need to declare your vehicle. If you miss the turn (like me), stay left and turn sharp left to go behind the buildings. Either way you end up in the same place, the Aduana, or Customs office. There’s a line of cars here that arrived from the other direction who are waiting to return their permits at the kiosk. Ignore them, park, and walk around to find the front door.
Customs is there to collect taxes on goods you import, including your car. But, since you’re just using your car temporarily during your visit before leaving with it, you don’t have to pay taxes. Customs checked my vehicle, including taking a photo of the VIN, and then they checked that I was the registered owner. California’s registration card includes my name, address, VIN and plate, and I had both my current card and my new one effective next week. Satisfied, they told me to walk across the room to Immigration.
Immigration is there to admit you into the country. These days, Americans like me can visit Mexico for up to 180 days without paperwork. But, since I need a permit for my car, they make an exception, give me an entry card to fill out, and they issue the 180 day form (FMM) for 717 pesos ($42) on my credit card. Satisfied, I walk back across the room to the copy desk, where they charge me $1 for a copy of my passport, my new FMM, and my registration cards. The copies are for the final step, the Banjercito.
The Banjercitois the government bank that issues the official vehicle permit that you must show at highway checkpoints. Here, they’re in the same room, right between Customs and Immigration desks, so they’ve already seen me walking back and forth. The permit proves that your identity, vehicle ownership and temporary status in the country have already been thoroughly checked by the right authorities, and the permit (TIP) contains all the relevant information. After signing several forms and providing my contact details, they took $468.30 (8,000 pesos) on my credit card, but supposedly I get almost all of that back when I return the permit. (When you leave Mexico, hand over the permit at the Banjercito kiosk and either cancel for a refund or tell them you intend to reuse it before it expires).
Satisfied, I drove deep into Mexico. I was stopped by the National Guard highway patrol twice on my first day, and all they want to see is this permit before quickly sending me on my way. I hope this all seems logical to you and clears up some common confusion, especially for first time drivers to Mexico. Plenty of folks do this every day, so you can too. But you might want to learn from my mistakes.
What Not To Do
Don’t cross from California or western Arizona if you’re driving throughout Mexico. From the Baja Peninsula to Puerto Peñasco and the Lukeville Arizona crossing, Americans enjoy a document free zone, so don’t expect the Mexican officials to issue documentation for elsewhere in Mexico, after they eliminated all the documents. If you really want to take the ferry from La Paz, then why not do that on the way back? It’s theoretically possible to get the paperwork to drive from Baja to the rest of Mexico, but in practice, I found it didn’t work this year.
Don’t park on the US side and walk across to get documents for your vehicle. They want to see your vehicle and check the VIN. Again, it may be possible, but you’re depending on officials giving you a break, which you may or may not deserve. At San Ysidro California, I walked across the border a couple weeks ago to ask for documents, but they didn’t have anyone there during working hours midweek that could issue the paperwork. I spent over an hour in line in Tijuana waiting to walk back.
Don’t cross at some remote location or in the middle of a busy city, especially if it’s your first time. I crossed last year at a tiny place west of El Paso, but the Banjercito was closed (again, midday, midweek). Juarez, across the border from El Paso, is a big city, and I found it difficult to drive around and park, before walking the streets looking for various government offices that I knew little about. Laredo Texas is across from Nuevo Laredo, which is also a busy city crossing. The bridges each have different traffic rules and allow different vehicles, and there are precious few parking spaces at Customs, if you’re lucky enough to be in the correct lane. Otherwise you’re driving and walking around in a strange city. You want to find a border crossing that handles everything in one place, with parking, without too much traffic, and without city traffic driving.
Don’t go to a Mexican Consulate in the US. I went to San Bernardino, and they looked at me like I was an alien. They only handle paperwork like that for an hour a day after lunch on certain days of the week and only for residents of the county and not for neighboring counties and they only give paperwork for students and others who need long term temporary residency and they need bank statements and photos and two dozen other documents. Didn’t I know that I don’t need paperwork to visit Mexico normally? I know there’s a web page that claims you can make an appointment at various consulates, but it doesn’t work.
Don’t try to get your documents online. I hired a company to get my documents, and I had to demand my money back when they couldn’t deliver. Then I tried to use official websites. I got far enough to create accounts at two agencies, upload documents, pay a fee and choose my crossing date and place, but then I didn’t receive anything. And when I tried contacting them through the email and websites, I got an automated response saying “sorry, we can’t help you.” I’m never getting that fee refunded.
Even if you can get your documents online, at some point maybe two months in advance, what if you are delayed by a day or the crossing that you picked is closed (as happened twice to me)? And when you get there, you still need to get your VIN & registration checked by customs, you still need your FMM checked and stamped, you still need to make a copy of your stamped FMM, and you still need to show everything to the Banjercito, who will still want to see the original documents too. The folks next to me had done everything online, and I had done nothing. But I finished faster, because they had someone with them who translated everything. I just pointed, used simple English, and handed over my credit card.
Don’t make three copies of everything. I needed one black and white copy of my passport, one of my registration, and one of my FMM. I didn’t need three copies of anything. Nobody looked at my Mexican car insurance. Nobody looked at my car title. I wasted several trips to the UPS store and Office Depot making copies of documents that I never used. There’s no way to avoid making a copy of your FMM at the border, so you might as well just wait until they tell you what copies they need.
Plan your route and pick a good crossing point, but don’t drive yourself crazy. Culture shock, anxiety, official warnings and anti-Mexican horror stories made me overthink everything. I read that Columbia Bridge near Laredo was a great place to cross, since it’s one of the few places where you enter into Nuevo León. But when I checked the map, I would still have to drive back through Tamaulipas on a much longer route. Eventually I picked the shorter straight route above. Take your time, travel by daylight, watch for speed-bumps, and be patient. Oh, and have fun!
Happy New Year! This injured bald eagle, Jade, resides at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, which is also home to the museums of Annie Oakley & Buffalo Bill, Cody Firearms, Draper Natural History, Plains Indian & Whitney Western Art. While showmanship seems a bit silly to me, I love stories of exploration and adventure. My favorite museum was the Plains Indian, but there are enough exhibits to interest folks for days. While not an affiliated park or world heritage site, this is an exceptional place to visit in the American West.
I’m feeling like a caged bird this winter, resting up at home and trying to figure out my next steps. Where can I go next? Great Lakes? Northeast? Florida? Alaska? Looking back, I visited over 1/2 of the US parks in 2022, including these favorites. Last year, I visited another 1/4 of the parks, including more favorites, and finished four regions: DC, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest and Rocky Mountain. Many of the remaining US parks are either difficult, expensive or impossible to reach in my electric car, so expect fewer US park visits this year and more world heritage sites.
Every Monday I plan to post one visit to a world heritage, national park, or similarly important site. Doing so will require me to revisit every region, to go beyond the reach of superchargers, to cross borders and even travel by small boat. On Thursdays, I plan to post more eclectically on zero carbon travel, the climate crisis and related topics.
So, here are my top 3 New Year’s resolutions.
Complete visits to American Concentration Camps
Visit World Heritage Sites in Mexico and Canada
Complete the North Atlantic & Midwest regions
Logistical challenges will undoubtedly upset some of my plans, but every visit is a new adventure. Thanks for reading, wish me luck and I wish you a Happy New Year!
25 of 25 battlefields & military parks visited: e.g. Revolutionary War
40 of 42 memorials visited
71 of 75 historic sites
55 of 62 historical parks (broader than historic sites)
77 of 84 monuments
48 of 73 recreational areas, reserves, rivers and others
24 of 31 world heritage sites in USA, plus 5 in Canada
I spent $9,000 on charging, over 85% at superchargers. Heavy use of superchargers beyond the recommended daily limit has also reduced my battery capacity by 9%. Most electric car drivers charge overnight at home, so their costs are far lower. I should have cut costs with more free chargers and better route planning, but I drive capriciously, rushing around depending on weather and my curiosity. Like my mileage, my charging cost excludes borrowing an S when my 3 was in the shop and includes driving to visit family. A comparably priced new pickup truck for the same distance would have cost at least $16,000 for gas, based on average mpg and $/ gallon, more if they carried a boat or a bike like I do.
In September I plan to post a few of the affiliated trails I’ve stopped along, more west coast parks, a couple others I still need to edit, and hopefully some more Rocky Mountain parks from the road. Posting schedule will slow down in Q4 but each week will include a national park. Stay tuned for more adventures!
It’s easier than you may think. Does your car tell you when you’re about to drive too far from the nearest gas station? Does it include fuel stops in your itinerary automatically, or let you know the prices before you decide where to fuel up? When was the last time you filled up for free? Can you fuel up overnight while staying at Mesa Verde, in a campground, while eating a burger, drinking a white mocha or watching the base jumpers fly off the bridge into the Snake River Gorge in Twin Falls, Idaho, above?
I have only had a few tricky charging situations so far. One was at the Dairy Queen in Needles, California, where every time the owner updates his seasonal specials, his sign truck blocks 3 of the 4 chargers for much of the day. I asked him why he didn’t tell Tesla in advance, so that the cars would route drivers to a different charger, but that never occurred to him. I also suggested that he could park the truck on the other side of the sign and only block 2 of 12 gas pumps, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I decided not to buy any ice cream while waiting.
Recently, I was unable to contact the owner of a JuiceBox charger in Terlingua, Texas, so I just charged up a little for free. One more tricky situation was at the supercharger in Lamar, Colorado, where the town was celebrating some event and the street was temporarily blocked off. But while I was waiting, a town councilwoman came up to offer me BBQ and asked if I was enjoying the live band. I had a beer to help me survive the wait.
Like any vehicle, you can go further if you slow down or turn off heating/cooling and open the windows. To extend my range while traveling in remote areas, I use the free PlugShare App to scout out my charging options and use my adapters (standard J1772, RV 50v, RV 30v, and rarely CCS). The trick is to remember that you need to sleep somewhere on a long road trip, so just find a campground with electricity or a hotel near a slow charger and plug in over night. Tesla destination chargers can be found in some spectacular areas, and they’re often free to hotel guests. [No, I’m not compensated by Tesla in any way].
A few folks quibble that this is not entirely “zero carbon” travel, but it’s not my fault if the grid isn’t fully renewable yet. The sooner we all switch to electric vehicles, the sooner fossil fuel goes extinct. My vehicle doesn’t burn carbon, and I can’t help exhaling carbon dioxide. And to clarify my rules, I have two different goals: 1) to travel to as many places as I can without burning carbon and 2) to enjoy those places, which sometimes involves burning a little bit of carbon to get around the parks.
Most folks seem to understand that driving EV’s save money compared to gas, but I don’t think people fully appreciate the difference. While I was on my way to the restroom, a guy asked me how much it cost to fill up, so I told him usually less than $20. He said, “just like my truck”, but I know his truck costs $200 to fill up at those gas prices. And both vehicles have comparable range. Math isn’t that hard.
I tried to convince the rangers at Death Valley to do more to encourage visitors to switch to EV’s, but they said that they don’t want to force people to buy “expensive vehicles”. A $100,000 5th Wheel or $200,000 Class A rig only goes a mile or two per dollar of fuel. I go at least ten times that, over 15 miles per dollar. It’s very easy to save $10,000 in fuel costs per year switching to an EV, and even more if you go on long road trips, find free charging or use solar to recharge at home.
But the real reason to switch to EV’s is to save life on Earth. Why wait?
Happy New Year! Here’s an update: About ZCT. So much for the “only Fridays” posting idea. The photo is at Paradise Point County Park, just south of Santa Cruz, CA, where I visited with my kids around Christmas. I’ve got a few more posts from the southeast to catch up on, but I’ve now visited over 250 of the 423 national park units in every region in the US. To reach the next level, I need to concentrate on paddling, go back to Virginia, hit more of the big name parks and try to figure out how to drive my EV to Alaska.
