The Border

Laredo, Texas. A town situated on the border between Mexico and the U.S. I have heard many things about Mexico but I believe the reports have been a bit dramatized. As far as the news is concerned, the border is heavily guarded with patrol agents laden with weapons and edged with razor wire fencing to keep the heathens at bay. This was far from the truth.

Laredo has two parts of the city from my eyes: the residential/shopping area and the commercial district. My first introduction came as James and I headed to the company’s local yard, a place James described as “the real Mos Eisley.” For those of you unfamiliar, Mos Eisley was the trader town in Star Wars: A New Hope, where Luke and Obi-Wan visit the cantina. Turns out, James was not far off the mark. Set in the desert, a community of truckers making a pit stop between runs with a couple of Mexican ladies fixing authentic fare the likes of which you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. The food was great, the company pleasant and the chairs comfy. Remember earlier in the trip when we had to give this guy named Kevin a ride to Salt Lake? He was there! We got to catch up a bit; he was in the process of completing his phase 2 training and doing what the rest of the guys there were up to: waiting on a load. Apparently getting shipments across the border never really goes according to schedule.

What were we there for? A load to Georgia, of course, as well as some much needed maintenance on the rig. Let me tell you it is NOT fun driving in south Texas with your air conditioning broken. Also just as important, James was in need of a rollover of his work clock, meaning we got to stay for at least 34 hours before we could roll anyway. Within an hour and a hearty meal later the AC was fixed and we headed to the local truck stop hub which, considering it was on the edge of the commercial end of town was crazy. A couple of these stops received so much trucker traffic they actually charged drivers to park overnight! We stayed across the street at the Pilot, one of our favorite stops. The biggest highlight of this place: the IdleAir service provided in the parking lot. More on that in the lifestyle post (with pictures!)

So what did we do during our downtime? Went to the local mall, of course! Located one mile from the border was the Mall Del Norte, a place with an array of stores, decent food court and a large movie theater. We made a date of it browsing shops, having lunch and watching a movie. It was a wonderful afternoon. What surprised me was the enormous amount of foot traffic for the middle of the day on a Tuesday. We found out that holy week was going on in Mexico and everything was closed in observance, so we were surrounded by people taking advantage of their vacation. See culture down this close to the border is very unique because it gets very hard to tell where one side ends and the other begins. Everyone speaks Spanish down here, the local fare is a mix of everything and half the vehicles have Mexico car tags on them. Traffic crossing at the border is frequent here and good for the economy and everyone I met was very nice.

Speaking of border traffic, it is a daily occurrence here for 4,000-6,000 commercial vehicles to make the trip and there are companies whose sole purpose is to get trucks through border patrol. As for James’ company they have a separate fleet working on the other side and their guy will drive the load to the yard for James to pick it up. It is definitely impressive to see how smoothly everything happens. I got a taste of border patrol when we started our last leg of the trip leaving Laredo. When you are driving towards the checkpoint, there are infrared scanners over the highway that have already checked you and know if you are carrying anyone with you. When you get to the officer (after you’ve already passed the one with the drug sniffing dog) he asks you three questions: 1. Are you an American citizen? 2. Do you have anyone else in the vehicle with you? 3. Are they an American citizen?

If you comply politely and shortly, they wave you on and wish you a good day. According to James a student driver replied to the first question by saying “sí,” which resulted in a two hour inspection and one hell of a headache for his trainer. Needless to say, be nice to the border patrol people. The thing I found funny was the border patrol agents came to the truck stop we were staying at for their lunch breaks. It was definitely interesting to see these guys in their off time.

The last thing we experienced in Laredo was this one rest area James had seen before but never got a chance to stop at, so we did. It turned out to be the best rest area I have ever seen! Take a look! 

Yes, this oasis in the desert had a pond full of Koi!

The welcome center

This looks like a Spanish villa, don't you think?(minus the caution sign)

I have to give it to Texas because they really went all out on their rest areas. Every one was unique and inviting.
So there's plenty more on the way! The trip back, the lifestyle post, and what I'm currently up to! Stay tuned!