Western Adventures 4x4 Driving School
& "Explorers Club" Guide Service

Western Adventures, Explorers Club Adventures - All Adventures which include lodging and meals are for two persons in one room. Any additional persons or separate rooms are an additional charge. All dates are subject to change. If any trip is canceled or the date is changed, Western Adventures will give you the option to get a refund or exchange to a different date.

(To find out what we are doing and when we are
doing it - just click on a Month below)

2008 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun
Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

NOTE:  The 2008 dates are for planning purposes and are subject to changes for both dates and cost. New adventures may be added and others only on a special request. Call the office to confirm your adventure. If you send a deposit and the adventure is canceled you will get a full refund. Due to contracts with the U.S. Government, we may need to cancel an Adventure or Driving School. If this happens you will be notified as soon as possible and refunds or adjustments to your reservation will be made. We do not list private, corporate and government contracts on our calendar.

Please Read - Important Change of Schedule as of 22 April, 2008:

 ON HOLD - All adventures scheduled for Mexico are currently on hold until further notice - Frenchie La Chance.

How safe is Mexico today? Is Mexico a place where you should go to today? These are some serious questions to ask yourself before you go to Mexico.

This is the view from the 4X4 tourist guide's point of view, who travels to Mexico a lot. I have been going to Mexico since the 1950's and never felt the concern that I have now.

After the last adventure into Mexico's Copper Canyon with clients, I would have to change my mind a lot to return into Mexico now. I have heard about the problems the others have had in the last 6 months. I got to see it first hand on this last trip. I returned on April 19th. 2008.

I am not a big player in the scheme of things. My clients only bring in about $750,000 a year to Mexico. The cost of the loss goods and money this last trip was over $20,000 for myself and my clients. I guess we were lucky that we got out with ours lives.

The story of this adventure:

The adventure into the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico and Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) is a 14 day exciting adventure in of itself. The first half of the trip went very smooth as usual. While we were setting up camp along the Rio El Fuerte for one of our camping nights. We were visited by a local resident, packing a 45 caliber pistol stuck in his belt, riding his mule into camp. This is a location where last October we had some drunken locals partying and shooting their guns as they crossed the river. They eventually left after about 3 hours. The local resident did not threaten us in any way while he visited with us. The evening was peaceful after he left. This is a country where the citizens are not allowed to have personal pistols. Upon our departure in the morning we spotted another local with binoculars on a hill. Again this did not bother me, though some of our clients were concerned.

The next week was smooth again as we were heading back to the border at Nogales. We were in Hermosillo, Sonora when we stopped at a nice restaurant for lunch. We were pulling off-road trailers so we parked in the parking lot where we had room to pull through. We got seated in the front of the restaurant and our vehicles were just out of our site. We were in the restaurant for about 30 minutes when we returned to our vehicles the front Passenger windows were shattered. This was a "smash and grab" type of break-in. They cleaned out our vehicles in a minute or two. The security guard who was watching the building across from where we parked came over, but not to close. The security guard disappeared when the cops showed up. This was reported to me by my wife and the clients later. Was he a real security guard or a part of the gang of thieves? We did as you should and filled out the theft report with the Police. We called the Mexican insurance company about the incident and to our amazement they are as bad as the American insurance companies. They have more loopholes then a block of Swiss cheese has holes. We got our copy of the police report and headed home.

The need to return was hastened by the fact that they took prescription medicine that I needed that evening. We were left with only our clothes on our backs (literally) and some pesos in our pockets. Upon my return, I contacted my insurance company in the good old USA. I find out that I can only get up to $.10 on the dollar, minus the deductible (and a few days of paper work to get receipts of the stolen goods). I have not got a penny yet from anyone so the show is not over. I am now a believer in the saying "Show me the Money".

Due to the stories in the last 6 months about Mexico, robberies, assaults and killings, I thought that we were being very careful in all we were doing. I have to be responsible for myself, my family and my clients.

Now back to the questions from the start of this story. How safe is Mexico today? Is Mexico a place where you should go to today?

My answer to the questions:

I have canceled my adventure trips with my clients to Mexico for the present. When the Mexican government can make their country safer to an reasonable level I may return to Mexico. This decision is not a easy one for me to make as for the most part the Mexican people are wonderful. I have a responsibility to protect my clients while they are with me. Until I am assured that I can do this I will follow the lead by the surfing community and stay out of Mexico. The adventure trips I lead into Mexico make up 75% of my guide business. This will be a hardship for me financially, but it is the safest thing to do for the moment.

Frenchie La Chance

Last updated 04/23/08

Western Adventures   P.O. Box 2451,  Ramona, CA  92065
(760) 789-1563

E-Mail:  "Frenchie"

We will answer all e-mail as soon as we can.  We are some times gone out of the office on one of our adventures and it may take us some time to get back to you.  Rest assured we will answer your e-mail!