Paul Beddows: From NATCOA to Mexico |
| Gordon White | Thursday, 21 May, 2009 | |||||||||||||||
|
Back from Mexico, NATCOA Co-Founder Paul Beddows updates us on NATCOA and shares a few critical lessons for anyone who wants to go truck camping south of the border.  We first interviewed Paul Beddows in March of 2007, less than six-weeks after we launched Truck Camper Magazine. At the time, Paul was the President of NATCOA, the North American Truck Camper Owners Association. NATCOA was instrumental in helping us to get the word out about our new magazine and we were very thankful for the support. We have been sending people NATCOA’s way ever since. While Paul is no longer President of NATCOA, he’s still very involved with the club and remains an extremely passionate advocate of truck campers. We talked to Paul last week about NATCOA and his most recent trip to Mexico. As it turns out, he has quite a few critical lessons for us about truck camping south of the border.
TCM: For those who are not familiar with NATCOA, how would you describe the club? Paul: NATCOA is a club for truck camper owners and an organization that assists manufacturers in getting out the message that truck campers are the RV type to go with. We started NATCOA in 2005 with the help of the manufacturers right from the start. The club grew quickly for the first couple of years. Now our membership is growing by a few members a week and we’re up around three hundred members. We also have about seventeen corporate members. Some are manufacturers, some are dealerships, and some are gear companies like Torklift, Happijac, and SuperSprings. There are more members and more activities in the West and there is a perception that we’re mainly a Western oriented club. We’re trying to get more involvement and rallies in the East and South East, but getting events rolling in those areas has been a challenge. TCM: Who’s the sitting President of NATCOA? Paul: Bill Matthews is our current President. He was a Co-Founder. Bill actually came up with the idea for NATCOA first and put a post on RV.net about it. It went from there. I would like to take all the credit for the idea (laughs), but I think it was Bill. TCM: Tell us about the NATCOA rallies. Paul: We generally book a campground and cook a group meal. NATCOA pitches in a couple hundred bucks for prizes and we sit around, have a good time, and chat. We have a caravan each year across the North Cascades Highway. About fifteen to twenty campers usually participate in that. TCM: What would you say are the most important benefits to NATCOA membership? Paul: I have made a lot of personal friends that I never would have made without NATCOA. A lot of the same folks attend rally after rally and it’s fun talking to people who have the same interest you do. I think that’s the biggest benefit, meeting other NATCOA members with similar interests. Another big benefit of NATCOA membership is a list of the other members who will assist you as you’re traveling across the country. I’ve saved hundreds of dollars in campground fees camping in member’s driveways. We’re a mutual support group and we help each other with our campers. We draw on each other’s experience with problems we’ve encountered. That’s a big help. TCM: What does someone who’s interested in the club need to do to get involved with NATCOA? Paul: Just go to NATCOA.com and click Sign Up. If you join for two years, you get a license plate for your truck. It’s $24 for the first year and $20 for each year afterward. That’s about a third of a tank of gas, as of right now. We charge a membership because we have overhead and we supply funds for rallies. Some of our corporate members also send in prizes for the rallies. For example, Torklift has sent in three and four sets of Fastguns for past rallies. They’re extremely generous and one of our biggest supporters. TCM: We’ve attended a few NATCOA rallies and they are a lot of fun. Where do you see NATCOA evolving from here? Paul: I’d like to see us increase our membership. I also want to get RV parks to offer us discounts. We’re offering a banner on our classifieds site, forum site, event site, and bi-annual RV show site in exchange for discounts for our members. TCM: We will certainly continue to support NATCOA here at Truck Camper Magazine. Let me change the subject to your most recent adventure in Mexico. How was it? Paul: I first went to Mexico in July and August of 2004, which is not the best time of year to visit Mexico. Now my wife is retired so we can go to Mexico in the winter when getting away from the Canadian winter is a prime consideration. We just got back from our second trip to Mexico. It’s a completely different culture. I speak a reasonable amount of Spanish, which helps. And you’re guaranteed warm weather, which is a big plus. I’m not scared about the dangers of Mexico that you hear so much about in the media. We stayed in Quartzsite before we went down and the Americans were telling us that we were crazy to go down. TCM: You do see a lot in the news right now about Mexico. You felt safe? Paul: Most of the problems are within 100 kilometers of the border. Once you’re 100 kilometers from the border, it’s a totally different country. We felt very safe. Many RV parks in Mexico are not quite up to the standards of the United States RV parks, but they’re not bad either. They are starting to learn what Americans and Canadians want, although the Mexicans love of entrance archways can be a real problem. Most Mexican campgrounds have at least 15 amp outlets and some have sewers at the sites. There’s wireless internet at almost all of them. And they’re cheap! TCM: I’m surprised to hear that they have wireless internet. Too many campgrounds here in the US still don’t have proper wireless internet yet. So how cheap are these campgrounds? Paul: From $5 to $25 a night depending on the quality of the campground. We had no trouble getting into them, but they’re about 95% full of Canadian long-timers. If you just show up, you risk not getting a site because they are so full. This is especially true on the Pacific coast north of Manzanillo. TCM: What about boondocking in Mexico? Paul: We didn’t feel any danger, but I might have if I was boondocking. For anyone who’s nervous, stick to the toll highways. They’re up to US standards, but they’re a bit expensive. Then again, if you break down you can get towed for free. On the toll roads you pay by the wheel. With my dually, I paid as much as a bus would. It can be $25 for a 150 kilometer stretch. It’s not cheap. But most of the toll roads are well engineered, like an US interstate. TCM: What did you do for auto insurance? Paul: You cannot use Canadian or US auto insurance. Auto insurance in Mexico runs about $100 Canadian (about $75 USD) for each $10,000 value of your vehicle. I recommend buying a six-month policy, which is cheaper. Most US and Canadian insurance companies will give you a rebate on the insurance you don’t use when you’re out of the country. We got back about $200 from our Canadian auto insurance company. They usually want documentation such as campground receipts. Another thing is that you need to have one driver for every motorized vehicle. If you and your wife are towing a trailer with two ATVs, one ATV will not be allowed. They count the truck as one motorized vehicle, and the ATV as another. If you leased your vehicle, you need a notarized letter for the lease, even if you own the company yourself. I also recommend you bring two Xeroxed copies of your registration, passport, and drivers license. You will also be issued a vehicle permit. TCM: This all sounds like a major hassle. Paul: If you’ve been through it once it’s no big deal. You get all your ducks in a row and it’s really no hassle. If your vehicle is leased, that’s a hassle. We ran into three or four people who were trying to straighten that one out. They give you a sticker for your car when you cross the border. If you fail to turn in your sticker at the border, you won’t be allowed back into Mexico with any vehicle. If you’re in an accident and the truck is wrecked, I would get the piece of glass with the permit and take it with you to the border, plus a police report of the accident showing the VIN of the vehicle. You have to have proof that the vehicle left the country. TCM: Are you still planning a caravan down to Mexico? It sure would be great to have a fellow experienced truck camper help you through this process. Paul: I decided this year that we’re not going to do it. The campgrounds are just too full. It’s conceivable that we could do one inside Mexico, in colonial Mexico, and then cut over further south along the coast. The campgrounds are just 95% full in the winter months. Maybe for 2011. TCM: Bummer. I’m sure there are others who are interested in a caravan. Keep the idea going. Paul: Another thing is that after June 1st you’ll need a passport to cross the boarder with Canada or Mexico. Most of the paperwork crossing into Mexico involves the vehicle. We crossed at Nogales and they let you drive down to kilometer twenty-one. Then you stop to do paperwork. In Baja, you can actually get in without a permit. There are other areas like that called, “Hassle Free Zones”. You will need a permit sticker to go further south. TCM: How did you navigate your way around? Did you get lost? Paul: We’ve been lost about three or four times since our GPS did not function in Mexico. One time we got lost in a cornfield and a guy came over and asked if we were lost. I told him we were and he led us out to the highway for several kilometers. I pulled over and tried to offer him money, but he said no. The people are just wonderful in Mexico. They’re a lot more friendly than they are in Canada or the United States. If you speak a little of the language, it makes a big difference. Just don’t go down there and hoist a US or Canadian flag. They don’t like that. Fly a Mexican flag and they will love you. TCM: Did you have trouble finding RV amenities like dump stations, propane, and fuel? Paul: Finding dump stations is not a problem. They’re in RV parks and, worst-case scenario, the bus stations have them. The big problem is finding RV supplies. When we were there, our sewer hose broke. I couldn’t fund RV supplies anywhere down there. Lucky for me, someone from RV.net was coming down from the US and brought a sewer hose to us. Everyone should bring a spare sewer hose and possibly a water pump. Another thing that is essential is a power protector. The power in Mexico drops above and below where it should be and I’ve known three people who had blown electronics like a refrigerator board. It’s just a necessity if you’re going to hook-up anywhere. Our power protector turned off my power about 50% of the time at some RV parks. And once I checked the voltage with a voltmeter and it was 150 volts. That’s very high. TCM: How did you stay in touch with phone and internet access? Paul: Internet access in not a problem in most of the RV parks. The access is often through satellite so the connection isn’t that fast. That meant Skype would not work for us. A couple times we were able to use Skype and our digital phone module from home. I would use that and make some calls and my friends saw the caller ID and thought we were back home. Just be sure not to use your cell phones. Roaming cell service in Mexico is really expensive. If you need a cell phone, there’s a “pay and talk” type phone available. That’s the best way to go. We actually got a call in Mexico on our cell phone from a telemarketer and answered it. I quickly got rid of the call but it still cost us $10. TCM: Wow! That’s ridiculous. Your dog had quite the adventure south of the border. Tell us what happened. Paul: Yeah, he sure did. He’s a Mexican dog and we got him on our first trip. This was his first time back. As we were driving across the border, he was sitting on the back seat giving me a dirty look (laughs). On this trip, he got sick two or three times because he wasn’t used to the water. We took him to the vet on one occasion and he got a few pills. All the pets in Mexico have problems with fleas and ticks. I had to brush him and check him everyday. There is supposedly a new pill that will help to keep the bugs off so I’ll have to ask my vet about that for next year. TCM: Did you drink the water? Paul: No. We got bottled water, which comes in water cooler-sized large bottles in Mexico. We stuck two in our trailer and another in the shower. You can get them at almost any store down there. They cost about $5 and another $1 to refill each time. Look for the screw top cap type. They are common. TCM: How about the fresh water tank in the camper? Did you fill with the local water? Paul: Yes. I would fill the camper at RV parks and put a couple of cap fulls of bleach in the fresh water tank. When we got back to the United States, I flushed the system two or three times. It’s hard for the Mexicans to keep their fresh water clean in the heat. TCM: Is there anything you wish you had known before you went down this time? Paul: Bring RV parts. You can also stick an old E-Class tire (off rim) on your roof. They’re almost impossible to find in Mexico. Another big hazard are trees. They tend to not trim the trees and streets can be quite narrow. I’ve got a few scuff marks on the side of our camper, and one small roof tear. TCM: Yes, that happens. I hope Rex isn’t reading this. Just kidding Rex. The Northstar is still minty-fresh! Paul: It’s pretty much unavoidable. I would like to come up with some method of putting a rear view camera in front of the A/C unit to see if I’ll clear a tree. TCM: That’s a good idea. Paul: It can be hard to judge when driving and truck campers can be taller than other RV types. My wife had an expandable pole that we marked with the height of the camper. She would walk in front of the camper to see if we could clear a tree or not. A couple of times I went on the roof to move branches out of the way. That was kind of dangerous. TCM: I sure wish you had some pictures of that. Anything else you want to add? Paul: I forgot to mention fuel. You cannot get low sulfur diesel in Mexico. That means diesel trucks 2007 or newer should not go to Mexico. The diesel prices are comparable and don’t change much. It was $2.30 a gallon, even when it was $5.00 a gallon here. Diesel is very accessible and there were no problems getting it at all. We did see some late model diesel truck owners who said to heck with it and filled their truck anyway. TCM: That could be a risk. Thanks for the story Paul. Please keep us up to date on NATCOA. We want to continue doing what we can to support the club. NATCOA has been a fantastic source of support for TCM. Paul: Thank you Gordon. As soon as we heard you were starting this magazine, we decided it was something we wanted to throw our support behind. Thank for the support for NATCOA that you have shown us. And let’s continue to work together to convince RVers that the truck camper is the most versatile and camping friendly RV out there. TCM: That sounds like a plan.
For more information about the truck camper manufacturers and gear companies, please visit our Buyers Guide. For more information about NATCOA, visit their main website at www.natcoa.org. After the interview, Paul emailed us the following links which he recommends to anyone who's interested in truck camping in Mexico: 1. http://www.ontheroadin.com – This site has interactive maps showing RV parks and clickable links to them. It is run by Dot and Bill Bell of North Vancouver, BC. 2. http://www.rollinghomes.com – This is the site of Mike and Terri Church who wrote the definitive guidebook on RV’ing in Mexico. |
