Mex 1, “there’s only one road”

The highway which runs approximately 1,000 miles from the U.S./Mexican border all the way to the tip of the peninsula at Cabo San Lucas is referred to as “the Mex 1”. Every time we meet people camped along the route, we know we’re likely to see them again because we’re headed the same direction and “there’s only one road”. 

Mex 1, in the minds of drivers, has a personality distinctly different from any highway we’ve ever driven in the U.S. or Canada. It’s 9-foot wide lanes with no shoulders, tightly winding curves, and short sight distances make it a bit of an adrenaline-producer for a first-time driver from other parts of North America, especially if driving anything larger than a pickup truck. But we’ve learned in this, our third Baja winter, that you do, in fact, get used to it. We no longer clinch our hands on the steering wheel in white-knuckled terror when we see an 18-wheeler racing headlong toward us in the opposing lane. And we don’t, as we used to joke, shut our eyes as they pass, expecting to die. While we know we’ll enjoy getting back to 12-foot wide lanes with ample shoulders in April, we find we’re now relaxed when wending our way down the Mex 1.

We also find we very much still enjoy the scenery, whether flora and fauna, topography, or free-range animals roaming in or adjacent to the roadway.  Check out these cute donkeys! Oh, and see what else “grows” in the highway (dunes, anyone???) anytime you’re in particularly sandy country near the beach with wind.