Our reason for taking the trip was primarily to get a first-hand impression of the "experience" of caravaning. And this trip really did the job! We arrived at our rather unremarkable rendevouz park in Nogales, Arizona, around mid-morning, as all participants had been requested to do. The 16 rigs that would be going the next morning were all parked together. We had no sooner come to a stop in our assigned RV site when the Wagonmaster, Arnie Bish, and the Tailgunner, Larry Chiuppi, were at our door to introduce themselves. We also greeted a few of the RVers who were strolling around the area. They were from all corners of the U.S, and many points in between. The Wagonmaster and Tailgunner were busily checking out all of the rigs. They had a fairly exhaustive checklist -- tires, batteries, check for oil leaks, belts, hoses, etc. They also applied highly visible stickers to our rigs (and towed vehicles) to identify them with the caravan. In addition, each of us had a number affixed to the top front and back of our units. These were to become our "names", using the CB, as we "counted off" to ensure everyone was present; and the way we'd address each other as we rolled down the highway -- "Eight to One: The birds you just passed were Caracaras".

That afternoon we had our first "group" session -- a sort of introduction of those traveling together; a briefing on what we'd need to know about crossing the border; traveling as a "team" and some of the "do's" and "don'ts" about traveling in Mexico. The session included an opportunity for each RVer to introduce himself/herself, and tell a little about themselves, such as where they were from, etc. The only surprise here was that four of the couples were from Wisconsin, and had been traveling together as a group for some weeks. Thus we not only had our own "grupo", but our very own "sub-grupo" as well. It would be interesting to see how this might affect the interaction of the caravan. We were impressed with the diversity of backgrounds represented by the caravaners.

Neither the Wagonmaster or his spouse spoke Spanish. The same was true for the Tailgunner, though his spouse was in the process of learning some Spanish. This surprised us a bit, since we'd thought one of the reasons RVers might choose a caravan to visit Mexico was because of the language. It wasn't of particular significance to us since I speak enough Spanish to get around easily south of the border. But others might not have felt quite the same. As it turned out, however, our Wagonmaster (Arnie) is an extremely capable "take charge" kind of person. He exuded confidence and leadership, and demonstrated on several occasions just how capable he was -- language or no. With hindsight, this really wasn't a problem.

The physical experience of caravaning deserves description. Each morning we'd be awakened to the sound of tires being "thumped". This was Larry (Tailgunner) doing his morning rounds, checking to ensure all of the tires in the caravan were properly inflated. We'd have a short drivers' meeting in front of the Wagonmaster's rig, learning how we'd be departing (what order, where we'd be hooking up tow cars, etc), where the fuel/rest stops would be; and what the mechanics would be for getting into the next park. The Wagonmaster was always #1. And theTailgunner was always at the back. His task would be to ensure that everyone arrived at the next destination. If someone were to have a mechanical problem, the Tailgunner would stop with him to get the problem addressed. Then they'd catch up with the group somewhere down the road. This actually happened a few times -- and it always worked as planned.

Going down the road with a total of 18 rigs can be a challenge. The object is to stay together, but not so closely as to preclude other vehicles from easily overtaking and passing the caravan. The "tool" for doing this was the CB radio. We'd hear about "fast moving bus passing the caravan in the left lane" from the Tailgunner; or on a narrow stretch of two lane highway we'd hear Arnie bark out "Pickup truck coming in the front door". Traveling as a group is traveling at slower speeds. There are multiple reasons for this. Speeds in Mexico are definitely impacted by the condition of the highway, which at times can be dangerously rough for fast travel. Then there's the competence and confidence of the drivers. We could go no faster than the slowest rig. But especially taxing are stops to go through checkpoints; or stops at traffic signals in towns; or virtual stops to pass ever so slowly over those omipresent "topes" (speed bumps -- BIG ones!). At all of these points the rigs tended to get spread out, which means the Wagonmaster had to creep along at a very slow highway speed until all the ducks were once again in a row. If speed over the ground is a primary objective, traveling by caravan is not the way to accomplish that one. Yet the benefits shouldn't be discounted. We all had the benefit of knowing, via CB radio, what was coming next, and how to handle the situation. And we all had the security of knowing if something happened to our rig, we had someone back there who was well qualified to assist us in addressing whatever problem might arise. Bottom line -- there's a significant tradeoff between speed and security.

One advantage we noted in comparison to our own "solo" travels through Mexico: We had great luck at the various checkpoints. When traveling by ourselves in Mexico, it seemed we were always being stopped at the various military checkpoints located along all the major Mexican highways. But when traveling by caravan, we found that the entire group was usually just "waved through". The Wagonmaster would always warn of an upcoming checkpoint, and tell the group to "close it in". That meant each of the rigs would snuggle up at a close but safe distance behind the rig in front, so as not to create a "gap" which might invite having one's rig pulled off the road for a physical inspection. It seems the authorities don't expect to find many black hats among RV caravaners. And it was nice being able to avoid most of these "searches".

The group began to come together as such on the very first morning, when we discovered that two of our rigs had been "turned back" at the first major Mexican checkpoint. They apparently were the victims of the border bureacrats' failure to do their paperwork properly. We learned they'd been turned back by CB radio; and we all chatted about what might have been the problem. By mid-morning, however, they had been escorted back to join the group by the Tailgunner. We all "welcomed them home". Some of our number (like Wisconsin Fred) were characters on the CB, and provided entertaining comments as we went down the road. Each afternoon shortly after 4:00 there would either be a sort of "happy hour" sponsored by the caravan, or a spontaneous event of like character. Here friendships were made and confirmed on a daily basis. I suspect most of the caravaners' experience was like our own. Our first impressions were almost invariably improved upon as we got to know each of our traveling companions better. In a few cases, we found some of them with interests and personalities much like our own -- folks we knew we'd continue to know for a long time to come. We had somewhat of a unique challenge, given the fact that 4 of the couples were best of friends going in (the "Wisconsin Eight"), while the rest of us had never even met each other. While this disparity tended to mellow out a bit as the trip went along, the sense of a "sub-group" within our overall caravan seemed to survive even to the last day. But that did not materially distract from the many friendships which our trip had created.

We were favorably impressed by the many ameneties which Adventure Caravans had managed to include in our itinerary. It seemed as if almost every other night was a sponsored dinner or event of some type. And of course the train trip to Copper Canyon, and one extraordinarily spectacular luxury hotel, were high points. And the included tours and sidetrips were so numerous we didn't feel we had time to even take them all in. In a way, that was another dimension of trying to cram so much into what (as we'd been warned) was a very short time to go so many places and see so many things.

We learned to expect all sorts of interesting behaviours from our fellow caravaners. Some seemed to place a high priority on making sure their rig was one of the first couple or three in the caravan. A sort of "RVers' Type A" characteristic. Others clearly were challenged by driving their own rigs in what was on occasion difficult circumstances. Except for the RV parks at Guaymas, Mazatlan, and San Carlos, the Mexican RV parks were really well below the standards we're used to north of the border. It's not that we were being led to bad parks -- it's simply due to the fact there ARE no parks which meet our minimum standards in some parts of Mexico. Yet this would almost go unnoticed, as once we were safely parked by the Wagonmaster at each new destination, we were much more involved with our fellow caravaners than the ameneties of the place we were staying. In fact, it became the subject of many good natured joking. Arnie had told us the first day that we all needed to learn the true meaning of "The 'F' Word" -- by which he meant "Flexibility". How true that was!

The question we find most people asking us is: "Would you take another caravan?". There were a few in our group who we suspect would respond to that question in the negative. These would be the same folks who were ever grumbling about traveling at unnecessarily slow speeds (probably not fully recognizing the reasons we were often required to do just that). Some might have felt the trip was "too structured". And many seemed of the mind that the trip was too "hurried" -- that we spent too much time driving, and didn't have enough time to relax and see the sights when we arrived at each destination. That latter observation is in our view both accurate -- and something we'd been warned about specifically by Adventure Caravans. We found that many of our fellow RV travelers had come into this trip with the same apprehensions we had -- they didn't want to commit to a month or more of traveling by caravan when they didn't know whether they'd really like the experience. We too had the feeling that the itinerary was a bit too aggressive. But we also recognize that's precisely what we'd been told by the caravan company when we insisted on taking one of their shortest caravans.

Would we take another caravan? That's probably a question better asked once we're more fully integrated back into our usual non-groupy lifestyle. We think the answer is yes. But we'd be much smarter about selecting a tour which met a specific need, and which we thought would be better handled by caravan travel. Travel to Mexico -- especially the mainland versus Baja -- is a good reason for traveling as a caravan. And specially charatered activities such as a barge on the Mississipi river would seem to be another reason which would justify going by caravan. For the most part, however, we feel we're fully able to make our own arrangements, and establish our own schedule as the mood hits. This would not be true if we had a finite amount of time, e.g. two weeks or a month, in which to "see" a particular area, such as Mexico, the Maritimes, or Alaska. It's also interesting to note that one can "use" a caravan for travel to a particular destination, such as Mazatlan, on an "a la carte" basis. That means you can take your rig down somewhere in Mexico in a caravan, park your rig for as long as you like to enjoy the area, and then join a caravan for the return travel to the border. This offers a nice mix of "structured travel" to the destination, coupled with complete flexibility once you're there. And we now recognize that for some RVers, the comfort, security, convenience, and even economy of "the right" RV caravan could be the best option for any RV adventure.

What should one look for in selecting a caravan company? While we're not experts on that, we do have a few thoughts. The first, and most difficult to evaluate, would be the caravan company's safety record. We found driving a big rig in Mexico to be much more challenging than driving equivalent distances in the U.S. The roads can be rough, narrow, and completely lacking of any shoulders. The two way roads can be especially difficult, often with fast moving buses and trucks to contend with both oncoming and overtaking. And getting into and out of some of the RV parks required maneuvers which need to be accomplished with great care to avoid damage to the rigs. The Mexican RV parks are, in general, not necessarily "big rig friendly". We found it could all be done safely and without incident, but that was because of the skill, care, and expertise of the Wagonmaster and staff. We suspect RV caravan companies do not post "safety records". But it would certainly be worth checking with other RVers who have taken caravans to see what there experience on this score had been. We're aware, for instance, that some caravan companies "do" the Copper Canyon via flatbed rail cars which physically carry the rigs through the Canyon. While that sounds romantic, we saw first hand the tree limbs and branches which were scraping the side of the passenger train; and we saw the damage they had done to one of the rigs which traveled via flatbed railcar. That certainly would not be something we'd want to do with our rig; and it was a hint of the safety consciousness of the company with which we'd booked that they've opted for a comfortable, scenic tour by rail (and hotels) for their Copper Canyon adventure.

Another measure is of course cost. But total cost itself is not the yardstick -- it's what you get for the price paid. When we considered the costs of hotels, RV parks, meals, shows, tours, and many other events, we concluded we certainly got fair value for the price of the trip. I'm sure other RV caravan companies do a good job as well. But it certainly seems prudent to shop carefully when selecting one. Incidentally, the "cost" of travel to Mexico can be somewhat higher than one might first assume. In addition to the tour cost, one must deal with Mexican auto insurance, toll roads, and other fees charged by Mexican officials. Most U.S. policies don't cover either liability or collision damage in Mexico (some cover 75 miles south of the border, but Mexican liability coverage is still needed). The cost of the liability insurance was reasonable -- about $60 per "drivers license". However, collision insurance -- particularly for a short trip -- can be extremely high for newer rigs. In our case collision coverage for the 16 day trip would have been somewhere around $750. This was enough to cause us to self-insure for damage to our vehicle. But it was a bit unnerving when we saw several damaged rigs as we went south. And the toll roads aren't cheap either. It costs around $200 to drive to Mazatlan and back using all available toll roads. And fuel in Mexico, once cheap by U.S. standards, now ranges towards $2.00 per gallon. But of course insurance, tolls, and fuel will all be about the same whether you stay 16 days, as we did, or several months. It's the shorter trips that have a high daily amortized cost for these items.

So, we're back again...safely, and with extremely fond memories of our venture into the world of RV caravaning. We've made several new friends we look forward to seeing again, and we know we'll be in email contact with some of them as well. We're clearly not "converts" to the caravan lifestyle. But we have a keen appreciation for its many benefits a caravan can offer. We've also despelled virtually all of the "going in" concerns we had, as our experience, while more hurried than we'd want to replicate, was entirely enjoyable. And who knows -- the bug might well bite once again, and we'll be off to a new adventure somewhere else...

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