We got on the road around 8:30am from Tucson, a little later than we were shooting for. The plan was to drive all day to Los Mochis and Topolobampo where we would catch a ferry overnight to La Paz, Baja Sur. The border crossing at Nogales was not really busy, but there was some construction on the Mexican side of the border and that took some time to get through. The immigration offices are about 25 kilometers south of the border in a nice complex with lots of parking. Having arrived so late, there were already a number of people there. We picked up our vehicle permits and tourist cards and were back on the road in about an hour. The roads down to Los Mochis were in really great shape and we were able to keep a pretty decent speed going. We decided to keep the speed around 65mph because Brian’s truck was having some pretty bad body roll. His truck is a 1998 GMC Sonoma Highrider with the ZR2 package. He has a 2” body lift as well as a 5” BDS suspension lift. His truck was used for years as a rockcrawler and the added weight of the kayaks and 2 weeks worth of gear was really taxing the suspension. It didn't help matters that he had removed his rear track bar years before. I joked with Brian on the radio that his nickname for the trip was going to be “weeble-wobble”. I think Marzonie will appreciate the resurrection of that old nickname!

This was my first time driving the mainland and the roads are in really good shape. The roads down to Los Mochis are all toll roads. We went through 6 tolls of various amounts. In all, the six tolls came to 298 pesos, or roughly 30 bucks.

Brian had purchased a detailed road log & driving guide from a place online and it turned out to be very helpful. At just a few dollars, it is worth the purchase. Their website is here. We used the Nogales to Los Mochis guide on this trip. I have not tried the other guides they sell.

We arrived into Los Mochis around 8pm, well after dark, and well after our estimated arrival. We had anticipated arriving early enough to have a nice dinner and explore the town some, but instead we headed right to Topolobampo to the port. The ferry was to start loading at 9pm, departing at 11pm for the 6 hour crossing to La Paz. We purchased our tickets ahead of time through a company called Native Trails. It was helpful to buy the tickets ahead of time, but next time I will simply show up and buy tickets in person.

The vehicles were 100 bucks each, we were 60 bucks each, and the stateroom was 60 bucks and could sleep 4 and we split that between the three of us. Before we were issued tickets, we had to get our vehicles measured by the guy in the blue vest. That being the only hurdle, we got in line and watched as the ferry was unloading.

In line I met Leo and Karen who own a home south of Cabo Pulmo. They were retired educators from Washington. We chatted about the area and they gave us ideas and where to camp. They were heading to their Baja home after an extensive trip south in mainland Mexico that was wrapping up. Loading the ferry was really easy and orderly.

Heading down into the bowels of the boat.

It was amazing just how many semi trucks could fit on this boat!

Here is me after one hella-long day!

This ferry is a newer boat, commissioned in 2002. Details are on the ferry website. Once we were parked, we gathered our gear for the night since access to the vehicles was not allowed during the crossing. We got keys to our rooms and checked it out.

Marisa went right to bed, but Brian and I stayed up for the free meal and explored the boat some. We went back to the room and crashed around 11:30pm.

A few notes about the ferry for pet owners. They do not allow pets out of the vehicles. If you are on the night run from Topolobampo, even in the summer, your pets will likely be fine in the cars, but I suspect that a day run anytime of year might make for some hot conditions in the vehicle area below decks.