We had previously visited the Lake Chapala area several years ago on a packaged retirement exploration trip. That time, we flew down out of Dallas / Ft. Worth International Airport. We liked what we saw and decided to go back for a second look in the winter of 1997, but this time drive from our home in East Texas. We wanted to determine how long and arduous a trip it would be.

Since we had traveled in Mexico on vacations over the years, the country was not a totally new experience. We obtained our Tourist Visas at the Mexican Consulate in Dallas and arranged insurance and permits before leaving home. I changed the oil in our pickup truck (Yes, almost everyone in Texas does drive a pickup truck), bought spare hoses, fan belts and such to take along, just in case. Off we went.

We got an early start around 7:00 a.m., knowing this would not be the fun part of the trip. We had much ground to cover to reach our goal for the night, Laredo, Texas. I packed the truck the night before with everything except our toothbrushes. It was 17 degrees as we left. I thought it would be much warmer by the time we got to Waco or Austin or surely by the time we arrived at the border.

Wrong. It did warm up a little, but we still encountered bands of ice on the roads. We went in and out of icing conditions and the interstate was full of wrecks. The ice wasn&rsqu;0t that bad really, but people in Texas, especially South Texas, are not used to driving in ice storms.

We made the Laredo, Texas/Nuevo Laredo border by nightfall. Our motel room on the Texas side was nice, but seemed a little high at $50. On later trips we learned to stay on the Mexican side for half the Texas side price for equivalent accommodations.

At the border, we paid the small toll to cross the bridge across the Rio Grande River, and after getting lost only once, found the Mexican Immigration building. There, we cleared our vehicle and ourselves for a visit of up to ninety days on our tourist visas. Having done almost everything in advance through our insurance company, having all the originals of our documents plus multiple photocopies of everything before arriving, made the paperwork process go quickly and smoothly.

You can get the needed photocopies made there at the immigration office, but it is better to take multiple photocopies of all your papers including your driver&rsqu;0s license with you. Remember that your vehicle must have Mexican insurance, and if mortgaged, you must have written permission from the mortgage holder to take the vehicle into Mexico.

You can just drive on without doing the paper work, but you will be stopped and turned back at the 17-kilometer checkpoint. There we did have to open the rear of our camper covered pickup truck for a quick glance by the officer on duty. I suspect that all trucks get looked at more closely than passenger vehicles. We encountered several more checkpoints. My Spanish, as bad as it is, was helpful. At several stops, the officer in charge would speak with me as the male in the vehicle and the driver, but would look at my wife, Patricia (who is easily mistaken for a Mexican-American because of her olive completion and dark hair) as if to say, "Why are you not speaking to me in Spanish instead of letting your husband struggle to communicate in a language other than his own?" When I noticed that look, I quickly told the officer that my wife was half-Filipino and did not speak any Spanish.

After the first checkpoint the road is straight and long into the desert of the Northern Mexico. You see lots of cactuses. A barren, yet strangely beautiful landscape. The cactus often grows to the size of large trees. The desert reminded me of scenes of the ocean floor and the strange plants growing there. The cactus, of course, was not swaying but stoically stationary.

Some folks don&rsqu;0t care for desertscapes. If you are one of them, and a passenger, you may want to take a magazine to read during this part of the trip.

We were able to take the ring road (Periferico) around downtown Monterrey which leads to the AutoPista, also called the "Cuota" (the toll road) toward Saltillo, the next city on our route.

We thought we had gone well far enough south to be out of icing conditions by the time we got to Laredo, where it was cold, but not freezing; as we drove along the toll road, we were flagged down by a police officer. He was stopping traffic and sending the few of us that were out there back, the way we had come. He told us in Spanish as we stopped, "Ice, Ice up ahead. Go back."

I asked in Spanish, "How can we get to Zacatecas?" He told us to go back and exit the AutoPista at the first exit and then take the "Libre" or the free road to Zacatecas. The libre is old, bumpy, and riddled with potholes.

Fortunately, the free road was not busy, no doubt due to the extraordinarily cold weather. But the mountains were a challenge. It was only we and the big trucks on the Libre. We encountered no ice and had no problems, except dodging a few potholes. Sometimes the big trucks were only going 5 mph up the mountains.

We had left the border that morning around 8:00 a.m. and we arrived in Zacatecas a bit before dark. Not bad, all things considered.

Zacatecas is a beautiful colonial city resting on a series of hills. The city is about 500 years old and was made rich by its silver mines during the Spanish occupation. Surrounded by high mountains on all sides it lies in a high valley with an elevation of around 7800 feet.

Our two long days of hard driving through ice, desert, mountains and detours was rewarded by a picturesque city oozing with charm and history. Our hotel, the Continental Plaza, was right in the heart of the city. Our room came complete with a small balcony, a sitting area, color TV with more than 100 channels (about four were in English), and little bottles of fancy soap, etc. This was our "splurge" hotel after two long days of driving. The cost was $72.80 per day for the two of us.

After unpacking enough for two days, we went downstairs to dine in the hotel&rsqu;0s restaurant. The food and service were outstanding. The meal was served by candle light and even the busboys were wearing tuxedos.

On our first day In Zacatecas, we decided that a packaged tour would get the most sightseeing in the shortest time. But the secret of enjoying a walking tour of Zacatecas is to walk very slowly. The air is thin, and your heart and lungs tell you very quickly to slow down.

The tour took us to an old silver mine. Emerging from the silver mine, we found ourselves at a cable car platform. We all took the cable car, which runs along a cable between the mountain and a hilltop over the city. You get a fantastic view of the city, not unlike that from a helicopter.

In mid-afternoon, the tour ended. Tired and hungry we lunched at the hotel. In the Latin American tradition, we had a late lunch that lasted for several hours.

That evening we went to a hotel built around an old bull ring. Each of the numerous entrances into the old bull ring had been glassed in and made into a small, private dining room.

The next morning it was time to say goodbye to Zacatecas. The mountains between Zacatecas and Guadalajara are quite majestic. The road between these two cities is far from perfect, but we managed a comfortable 60 to 65 mph, except when climbing or descending the mountains. Ê

I was impressed by the courtesy of the drivers, especially the ones driving big trucks and buses. We have all heard about the daredevil types who pass on curves and up and down hills. Yes, there are some drivers like that in Mexico, just like in the U.S., but the drivers we encountered, almost without exception, were both skillful and courteous. An example: When approaching a slower vehicle from the rear on roads with no shoulder and only one lane each way, the driver of the larger vehicle would almost always put on his left directional signal to let us know that the road ahead was clear and it was safe to pass.

We skipped lunch, as we wanted to make Guadalajara before dark, and were not sure how long it would take to get there, though it was less than 200 miles away.

We made good time through the mountains and arrived in the greater Guadalajara area in late afternoon. We even managed to find the Periferico that almost encircles the city. Still, it took almost an hour go around the metropolis, a city of almost six million people.

Finally, we made it to Lake Chapala. As you curve around the mountain, all at once you see it, framed between mountains on either side. A breathtaking scene, especially with the sun nearing the horizon and glistening off the lake. A few more miles and we arrived at our bed and breakfast hotel, previously booked over the Internet, and located just off the picturesque plaza of Ajijic, with its old cathedral, bandstand and open-air cafes.

We had braved icy roads, navigated around closed roads, driven up and down and around curving mountain roads, and overcome minor car problems. But all and all, I&rsqu;0d say we did just fine, and so can you. Just do a little planning, use common sense and allow your spirit of adventure to spur you on.

(Note: The author is a Dallas Police Commander, looking forward to retirement and world travel. He and his wife, Patricia, plan to spend several months each year in the Chapala area to escape the extremes of Texas weather.)