Driving north to Nogales in 2 days - where to stay?

I have done that drive many times the last year.  Do you want to drive to the border in 2 days or are you leaving in 2 days?

I usually take 3 days to drive with stops in Culiacan or Los Mochis the first night, San Carlos (friends house, great seafood) night 2, and across at Mariposa by 11am the third day.  I don't like to kill myself driving 11-12 hour days, 6-9 hours is good for me.  Hotels are cheap.

In Culiacan, I stay at the No-Tell motel (clean, sanitized, garage, only 350 pesos for 18 hours)  next door to the Paradise Hotel (good restaurant) or at the Zar hotel just up the road.

In Los Mochis, I stay at the Zar hotel.  There is a truck stop next door with decent food.

With the by-pass around Mazatlan open (46 pesos), you can save 45 minutes to and hour, so driving to Los Mochis is very doable now.

There is a lot of road construction on the north end of the Hermosillo perifico.  If your timing is right, I would drive right thru downtown.  There are a lot of hotels on the north side of Hermosillo at different price ranges.  Lots of restaurants too.

The 20k checkpoint is well signed.  On the right hand side are a couple of kiosks where you cancel the TIP.  You don't have to get out of the car.  If you have your original paperwork, it will take 3-5 minutes to cancel.  There is usually no long lines.  Right across the street is INM if you need to deal with that.  I just drive straight across the all the lanes to check out with them.

The Mariposa crossing is well signed but it is not called that in Mexico.  Just follow the signs for Puerto III Fronter USA and the big rig trucks.  Stay to the far left as you approach Mexico's Aduana for exports and Military checkpoint and the USA border.

Have a safe trip.