From Laredo Texas to Zihuatanejo

September 28, 29, 30
We spend the night in a motel near the highway in Laredo Texas.  We plan to be on the road early and drive as far as we can into Mexico before stopping.
The historical center of Laredo is said to be very interesting, we did not make it there.  Laredo has received such bad press about the drug trade that it is hard for us to look at it objectively.  The part that we saw seemed dirty and a bit shady.... typical of many border towns.
5:20 AM and we are headed for the border.  It is horribly confusing and I think that we go into the wrong area.  A very nice young Mexican customs officer asks us a few questions and explains that we had to drive to immigration and also get a car permit.  It is still dark and the drive between officials seems long and maze like through a sketchy neighborhood.  There are no lineups as we are so early.  We drive nervously through Nuevo Laredo in the dark.  It seemed to take forever to get light.  Before the highway we are stopped at a roadblock and asked to show our papers.  We were thinking the worst... but the Mexican official produced a big smile and wished us well.  Although confusing and a bit scary, the border had not taken as long as we had feared.  As the sun finally comes up, we were on the highway and we can see the mountains in the distance.

At first the drive was flat and the land was parched as the fields in Texas.

When we got to the hills in Monterrey, there was more green.

We drive much further than we had expected and we reach the central plain. We decide to continue to Morelia and spend the night there.

The fields around Morelia were carpeted with these purple flowers.

In the morning we tried to find the Costco and Megamart in Morelia to get supplies for Zihuatanejo. Miss Maggie, as we call our GPS system, was equally as confused as we were. 
After fully loading our car will supplies, we are driving through the Sierra Madre Mountains.  We have driven through these mountains several times before, but never after the rainy season.  Everything is green and lush. 

This is a spectacular drive especially the parts along the Rio Santiago.

I love these painted gourds!

When we reach the coast we drive on Highway 200 which is familiar to us.  We are amazed at how green and lush it is after the rainy season.

We make good time and we arrive in Zihuatanejo at 5:30.