tecate?

[mbooks]

Hi,

I'm thinking about doing the Sierra Cascades route, starting in San Diego then going as far south as Tecate then up to Vancouver, BC.

Does anyone have advice about traveling to Tecate? I would be with two other people, and none of us are new to touring. We are not going through Tijuana or farther south than Tecate. I know parts of the border are dangerous (like more east along AZ/TX), but how is Tecate? Most of the posts I've seen talk about how bad things are in Juarez or are not recent posts.

thx.

[Susan]

Hi mbooks,
Last year I rode from Vancouver to Tecate to Phoenix - here's a journal page of the day that I rode into Tecate:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=167212&v=5b

There's not much to the town on the US side, except for a few shops and snack bar at the gas station - no lodging.   I only hung out there for about 2 hours.  I wasn't interested in crossing the border and continued on to Jacumba.  I enjoyed the countryside that day immensly. 

Touring solo, I don't think I'd want to leave my bike and gear alone on the mexican side.
I have no concrete information for you, but at least I had no bad vibes and wouldn't hesitate to ride there again.
Good luck!   

[staehpj1]

There is some attraction to going border to border, but we just skipped the jog south and from San Diego just joined the SC route somewhere above Pine Valley.

[mbooks]

Thanks! We are going to stick with the Tecate route.