Well I left Terre Haute Sunday morning on 11/15. I drove down 70 and 44 until I got to Exit 4 on I-44 in Missouri. I took MO 43 south to US 60 and then took OK 66 to Edmond to avoid paying $8 in tolls. Nothing spectacular really happened on the first day of my trip except for getting my kicks on Oklahoma's Route 66. I stayed the night in El Reno.
The second day of my trip I continued west on I-40 all the way west to Santa Rosa, NM. From there I went southwest on US 54 until I got to US 60. I took US 60 all the way west to Springerville, AZ. That was the first time I had ever been to Arizona. What surprised me the most was when I ran into a snowstorm in the mountains of western New Mexico. Snow was about the last thing I expected on my trip. Springerville was as far west as I would go. I drove southeast from there on US 180 to Silver City where I slept for a few hours. When I woke up I was on the road again. Entering Las Cruces, NM, going eastbound on I-10 is pretty cool. You go over a hill and boom, you can literally see the whole city without warning. I noticed several Chihuahua plated vehicles on I-10 eastbound. I continued driving southeast to El Paso, Texas. El Paso is by far the neatest city to drive through at night. Apparently El Paso is at a higher elevation than Ciudad Juarez. You can see the whole city of Juarez lit up at night which is very cool. This was also the first time I had "seen" Mexico. I ended up staying at Ft. Hancock for the night.
On the third day I continued driving on I-10. I saw a Speed Limit 80 sign and I drove every bit that fast. I can only think of how painful it must have been to drive 55 mph on I-10 back in the national 55 days. I encountered my first US Customs Interior checkpoint. He asked me if I was a US Citizen which I replied yes to of course. With that he said have a nice day. When I got to US 90 I headed southeast until I got to Marfa. I drove south on US 67 to Presidio. I decided against driving to Cd. Chihuahua and decided to go east from Presidio on TX FM 170 and go to the Big Bend Nat'l Park. Going to the Big Bend was honestly the better choice. It only costs $25 to get in and the pass is good for a week. I didn't realize how neat the park was. By the way TX FM 170 is a drive I would recommend to everyone on here. And a warning for Presidio is that almost everyone there speaks Spanish and knows little to no English. I wasn't expecting that at all. While I was in the park that day I went to the Boquillas Canyon, Tuff Canyon, and Santa Teresa Canyon. The Santa Teresa Canyon is the real deal when it comes to canyons. Unfortunately the Boquillas Crossing was closed that day. It is only open Wednesday through Sunday, 8-6. I stayed the night in the park that night.
On the fourth day (Wednesday) I went to the Hot Springs. The gravel roads in the park are not the best. If you plan on going to the Big Bend Nat'l Park I would recommend taking your truck or anything with high clearance so you don't drag the bottom of your car on the rocks. I parked my car on the side of the road and walked about a mile to the Hot Springs so I didn't have to drive my car down the road.
I decided to make this a separate paragraph. After the Hot Springs I drove to the Boquillas Crossing again. It was open this time. A ranger checks your luggage before you go across. I was easy to check. All I took was my passport (required), wallet, camera, and car keys. After that you walk down a path to the Rio Grande River. A Mexican will pick you up in a boat and will take you across the river. It costs $5 for a round trip to cross the river. They give you a ticket you have to give them to cross the river again, so don't lose it. Anyways you can then choose to walk to the village (for free) or pay $3 USD to ride a horse/burro to the village. (FYI There is no need to exchange money before you go to Boquillas. Everything there is priced in US Dollars. I took both because I wasn't sure. If I ever go back I will only take dollars.) I decided to walk. I did decide to have a guide that walked with me and showed me around the village for about an hour. There's no definite cost for a guide. I gave him 200 pesos to start out with. The customs station is located in the town itself in a trailer that is fenced in. There you give the customs agent your passport. For some reason they had me fill out a tourist card (it is free however). When I gave it back I said "I hope I filled this out right." He replied saying "It doesn't really matter." I took a picture of it and realized later that for Date of Birth I wrote 18/11/2015.
IF they really want to know by DOB I guess they have the infor when they scanned by passport. FYI you actually fill out two tourist cards. One you give back right then and the other you keep until you leave. Once your done filling out the card he stamps both the card and your passport, and then he gives both the tourist card and passport to you. After that I ate 3 tacos and drank two bottles of ice cold Mexican Coca Cola at a restaurant. It was pretty good. After that the guide showed me his house, the hospital, the local school, kindergarten, and the local bar. I bought a bag that has a horse sewn into it and says Boquillas for $10 USD. The town doesn't really have T-Shirts or sombreros for sale unfortunately. After that I returned to the customs agent and gave him my passport and the tourist card. He stamped my passport again saying that I had left. My guide then took me to the Hot Springs on the Mexican side which is about a 10 minute walk from the village. The hot spring on the Mexican side is way better than the one on the American side. The water in it is beautiful. I ended up giving my guide 400 more pesos (600 total). He was very thankful. I figured he probably needed the money more than me. With that we walked back to the Rio Grande I gave the guy at the table my ticket and they took me back to the US side of the river. I only spent $25 in the village, not counting the 600 pesos I gave to my guide. $5-$10 is more than sufficient to give to your guide, if you choose to have one. I would definitely recommend one if you have never been before. When you go back to the US Side the ranger checks you and then you go to a computer screen and talk to customs on the phone. Customs at this crossing is pretty relaxed. There are no waits at this crossing either. FYI you are told before you go to Mexico that you are not allowed to bring back tobacco and/or alcohol to the United States. The ranger at the crossing is very nice and respectful. So don't feel intimidated. Boquillas is also very safe. I never felt unsafe once.
Once I was back in the US I filled up in Panther Jct. and left the park. There was an interior checkpoint on US 385 just before you get to Marathon. I showed the guy my passport. He started flipping pages and I told him I went to Boquillas just to save him time. Then he asked if I had bought anything there. I showed him my bag. He then asked if I brought marijuana to the US from Boquillas. When I said no, he replied with "Good". Then I proceeded on my way. I drove all the way east to San Antonio. There was another checkpoint east of Del Rio on US 90. This checkpoint even had a drug dog. When I showed him my passport he looked at my picture and then at me and said "Thank you [insert my name], have a nice day." I know that some people are totally against these checkpoints. I personally think they are not too bad of an idea.
The fifth day of my trip I went to the Alamo and a Texas State football game. San Antonio has really bad traffic. Loop 1604 is really bad. I-410 was bad, but it was still better than 1604.
On the sixth day (Friday) I drove east past Houston and to the beach. From there I took I-10 east to US 167. I took that northeast to US 82, which I would take across the River. (That suspension bridge should definitely be used for I-69.) I roughly followed the future I-69 routing up to Evansville, taking naps as needed, until I arrived in Terre Haute at 2 p.m on Saturday. I then watched my Sycamores beat the Youngstown State Penguins 27-24 on Senior Day.
I had a great trip and I will definitely be going back to southwestern Texas and Mexico again. I plan on going back in February. I also talked to someone in the park that has drove all over the northern part of Mexico, including to the Peguis Canyon 5 times, and he told me he has never had any problems driving in Mexico.