Several blog readers have written to say that they like the new format, but that the photos are too small. Actually, they are thumbnail photos, and if you click on them with your mouse, they open up to a larger size then we could display them in the old blog.

Overall, I am pleased with the new blog format, though there has been a learning process. A couple of readers have expressed concern that without the larger sidebar links to the rest of our website, we might see a drop in traffic to our other web pages. I monitor our website traffic daily, and have noticed a very slight decline in numbers, and a more noticeable decline in clicks on the Google ads on the website. Hopefully as people become accustomed to the new format, things will swing back toward normal.

There has been a lot of discussion lately on the Escapees forum about safety issues RVers face while traveling in Mexico. We know many RVers who love traveling in Mexico, but it’s not for us, and never will be. I lived on the border as a kid, back when it was a safe place to be. But I also owned and published newspapers in Arizona for many, many years and have covered a lot of stories about Americans in trouble south of the border. No matter how deep some people want to stick their heads in the sand, Mexico is not a safe place to be these days.

Something as simple as a fender bender or a minor illness can become a major problem in Mexico if it happens in the wrong place. And yes, a fender bender in the inner city of any major American city can be just as problematic. So the solution for myself is to avoid those places, on either side of the border.

Soldiers at Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, Arizona have been restricted from going into Mexico, and soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss, near El Paso are banned from going to Mexico for safety concerns over the violence. This is from an ABC news story dated December 22, 2008.

I have to figure if the US Army is concerned about the safety of young, trained soldiers in Mexico, it’s no place for my aging posterior. Saying that parts of Chicago and Detroit are also dangerous does not lessen the very real threat in Mexico. Yes, arsenic is a dangerous poison, but that doesn’t mean I want to ingest cyanide. I avoid any big city, anywhere in the country, whenever I can.

But in Mexico it is not just the big cities that are dangerous anymore. How many SKPs go to Palomas, Mexico when staying at Dreamcatcher RV park in Deming, New Mexico? We have many times in the past, but not any more. Here is a link to a story from March in which Border Patrol agents in Columbus, New Mexico recommend not going across the border because of the violence.

In a Travel Alert released October 14, 2008, the U.S. State Department warns Americans of violence in Mexico that includes “small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and, on occasion, grenades. Firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico but particularly in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez.”

I am sure there are safe places to visit in Mexico, and dangerous places. Just like anywhere. You might go to Mexico a hundred times and never have a problem. But if you DO have a problem there, you could have a REAL problem! Being a US citizen means nothing in a foreign country. If you are there, you play by their rules, or lack thereof.

Thanks but no thanks. I’ll do my traveling right here at home.

Thought For The Day – Money is a lousy way of keeping score.

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