After crossing the border on a sleepy Thursday morning, I was in the country for less than 5 minutes before some bank employees start making fun of my horrible Spanish. You'll get the idea I have a complex here and you are right.

12 miles south of the border it's time to get the import permit for the Explorer. I hope they figure out that I took the truck home with me when I left. Otherwise I will get tagged for 28% tax.

Four hours south of the border is the first big town, Hermosillo. The rest is rural villages.

Occasionally the road gets far enough from a town that you can recognize the beauty of a stark desert that seems to get 1 or 2 rains a year. Saguaro cacti grow here on the occasional hill. This is contrary to the AAA guide which says they only grow in AZ and Israel.

Our first overnight stop was Bahia Kino, a lovely but struggling beach resort. We realized here that we were South Of the Border in a month when absolutely no other American tourists can be found anywhere. It's still hot down in Mexico and not yet cold enough up in the US. Wary of the locals we decided not to camp on the beach. Instead, we stayed at our first empty campground. The cost was an astounding $10 bucks/night. I shopped around and the other open campground wanted $20. It's like we were in Vegas or something. Apparently the water is extremely expensive here. That's the story anyway.

Town was flooded by the recent Tropical Storm Lorena. The island offshore in the picture is Isla Tiburon, the ancestral home of the Seri Indians who were removed by the Mexican Government, most likely to give missionaries more convenient access to their lost souls.