Driving Through The USA
A day by day guide from Canada to Mexican border
If you’re moving to Mexico or planning on spending many months there, you may decide to drive rather than fly. Make sure you check out this article for legal vehicle importation requirements. This article is going to cover the route, pacing, and best motels and hotels to get you there.
Days 1 to 3 were driving intensive.
The plan from the beginning was a mad dash to Texas.
Then a slow down. So the first few days don’t have as many details since we just hurried to Texas.
Day 1 - Quebec to Buffalo, NY
~ 8 hours of driving
Driving from Quebec to Buffalo, NY - crossing at the Thousand Islands crossing
Hotel
In upstate NY, we drove through the remnant of a hurricane and got caught in a tornado warning.
Day 2 - Buffalo to Bowling Green, KY
~ 10 Hours of driving
Stops
National Museum of the US Air Force Epic aviation museum in Dayton, Ohio
Hotel
Cardinal Motel Nice, clean, quiet and very affordable. Perfect for an overnight stay.
Breakfast in Bowling Green.
Spencer's Coffee Breakfast Burritos are epic.
Day 3 - Bowling Green to Little Rock, AR
~ 6 hours of driving
Stops
National Corvette Museum just outside Bowling Green, very nice museum.
Stopped to grab a pair of speakers from the amazing people at Emotiva Audio Franklin, Tennessee, USA.
Lunch @ Chick-fil-A in Franklin, exceptional customer service & kid friendly place (worth mentioning).
Hotel
Day 4 - Little Rock to Dallas, TX
We didn’t have a fixed plan or objective for day 4. We were closing in on Texas and that’s where we were planning on slowing down the pace & to explore a little.
Before we left Little Rock in the morning of day 4, we had to make our first oil change and clean our car because we caught tons of mosquitos the day prior between Memphis & Little Rock.
We grabbed a coffee in a hip little food truck called The Coffee Coop and the barista strongly recommended we go to Littlefield for breakfast.
It didn’t disappoint.
Coffee Shop in a food truck The Coffee Coop
Breakfast Littlefields Cafe
Oil change Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers (excellent service, very pro)
Self-serve carwash Pks auto spa
After our car maintenance was completed, we considered visiting the Bill Clinton Library in Little Rock or this place called The Old Mill that look very cool.
We were also hesitating between going to Dallas to visit Dealy Plaza or driving on backroads to visit Bar-B-Que joints.
The thought of amazing Texas Bar-B-Que had been creeping in for several days (years, really), and it just became unbearable.
So we set out to go to Texarkana first, and then we would cut south to Tyler, and see where we’d go from there.
But the quest for perfect Texas Bar-B-Que was just beginning. And would prove more difficult than one could imagine.
As soon as we entered Texas in Texarkana, we were ready with a handful of Bar-B-Que joints on our list. The first one was Naaman's BBQ which looked particularly delicious.
But errors were made.
As soon as we entered Texarkana, maybe a little excited by the imminent prospect of mouth watering Brisket, we missed the exit on the highway. It’s probably just us driving in a new environment, but we found the highway system confusing in Texarkana. We had to drive back to Arkansa and come back to Texas and again missed an exit. We just said screw it and made the executive decision to dash to Tyler, about two hours south, to visit Stanley's Famous Pit Barbecue instead.
As we were cruising in the Texan backcountry, a political gathering was simultaneously taking place in Butler, Pennsylvania.
When we heard of what had happened there, we thought maybe we should divert to Dallas after and visit the Dealy Plaza after all.
As we changed course, and took a turn on another back country road, we scoured booking.com to find a hotel in Dallas, a city neither of us had visited.
When we pulled in the park lot of this Holiday inn in central Northeast Dallas, we didn’t feel like holidaying in that spot, to say the least. The open, unsecured parking lot had turned into an encampment filled with zombies. It’s the only place during our trip from Canada to central Mexico that we didn’t feel safe. It was the sketchiest place we encountered by far. The hotel manager was really understanding and professional, he cancelled our room on the spot at no charge.
We had been driving non stop for 5 days at this point and were in need of a little break.
We spotted the Omni Dallas hotel near Dealy Plaza at a reasonable discount on booking.com and decided to splurge a little.
Day 5 + 6 - Dallas, TX
We like the Omni Dallas hotel so much that we extended our stay an extra night. This place is world class. The hotel is a massive resort in downtown Dallas we 4 different restaurant, a great cafe and a rooftop pool with a stunning view of the city.
Day 6+7 - Austin, TX - Brisket is King
The Omni was great. We were tired when we got there and resting in that gorgeous resort was what we needed. But we didn’t really explore Dallas beyond the hotel and the Dealy Plaza and The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.
We had yet to experience Texas Bar-B-Que. The Omni Dallas hotel has a great little cafe with a little shop filled with Texas paraphernalia.
We saw this book. It was a sign. Lockhart was calling. It was time to hit the road.
On our to Lockhart, which is located just south of Austin, destiny hit us again. It was in the form of a rock in our windshield. We were near Waco. Maybe it was another sign.
We called the a handful of windshield repair shops along highway 35. None were taking walk-ins. The crack was pretty substantial but fixable if we took care of it quickly.
The fine folks at Waco Auto Glass Center just south of the city were gracious enough to accommodate us last minute. Our son particularly enjoyed the experience as we loaded up with tons of sweats and candies thanks to lovely Grandma who was manning the reception desk.
Top of the day was already well behind us, and we still had another 2 hours or so of cruising until a plate of brisket is within arms reach.
There are tons of BBQ options around Austin. We tried a handful of joints during our 2 days stay. There dozens of places that we haven’t tried.
But I will say this, the Brisket at Terry Black’s Lockhart is worth the detour. It literally brought a tear to my eye.
Also in Austin, there’s a lot of CyberTrucks.
We stayed at another great hotel called Hotel Viata which is built like an old Italian villa on the outskirts of the city with a gorgeous view. Great value for the price.
There’s tons of great cafe & restaurant options in Austin, here’s a list of some that we liked:
Trianon Coffee
Loro Asian Smokehouse & Bar
The Salt Lick BBQ (about 25 minutes outside the city, totally worth it)
Day 8 - Eagle Pass, TX
Now it was time to head to the border.
But which border crossing to choose?
We were determined to avoid the state of Tamaulipas for security reasons. So Laredo was off the list.
Puente Columbia in the State of Nuevo Leon, about 45 minutes north of Laredo, had a better reputation. Using that border crossing, that idea was to sleep in a small town in Texas, like Cotulla, head to the border early, in time for the opening of the banjercito office, then dash to Monterrey once inside Mexico.
The other option was to head to Eagle Pass, Tx, a small town right on the border, sleep there and dash to Saltillo once inside Mexico.
So that day after stopping for lunch at Salt Lick, we headed to the San Antonio area. There we went to coffee shops, gas stations and stores and asked locals if they had recent scoop on the Mexican border.
A few people told us that Eagle Pass & Piedras Negras was the safest, some had went through it recently. Eagle Pass / Piedras Negras in the State of Coahuila is also the farthest from the troubles in Taumaulipas. So that’s the one we chose.
We arrived late in Eagle Pass, so we didn’t get to see much of the city.
We headed to the Comfort Inn & Suites Lakeside. They have a safe parking lot, they are located near a Starbucks for an early morning coffee and most important of all, they very close to the border crossing.
We documented extensively the rest of our adventure across the border and into Puebla, in Central Mexico here. This is a step-by-step how to guide, or checklist, on how to prepare and drive in Mexico.
Driving across border & into central Mexico
We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to help you plan your drive to this amazing country. We’ve detailed our firsthand experience, including tips, important reminders, and specific locations like hotels, restaurants, gas stations, INM offices, and much more.
Hasta Luego!
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