There's a news story about a marine who "made a wrong turn"  in SoCal and ended up in mexico with his three guns and got arrested.

Are there  roads  with no border crossings where you can possibly make an innocent wrong turn and innocently end up across the mexican border into mexico?

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/SD-Andrew-Tahmooressi-US-Marine-from-Weston-Being-Detained-in-Mexico-Prison-on-Weapons-Charge-257728191.html

Is this possible?

No Cliff, no road with no boarder crossings. Born and raised in San Diego myself and having taken many jaunts to Tijuana at all times of the day and night to party and tear it up when I was young pup, it can be confusing if you have not been through there before. There is a point of no return when you are on the I-5 going south, I cannot remember where that point is but once you get about 1000 feet from the boarder, there is no return, you have to go through the a point where 6 lanes turns to 3, and through Mexican gates, then you have to navigate through a strange course of overpasses and roads to make this U-turn that takes bout 10 minutes to navigate back to the US-Mex boarder to cross back into the US. Now if you miss just one turn once you are on the Mexican side, then you are shot through downtown Tijuana before you know it, and once you get in the down town area, it's a night mare of one way streets with virtually no traffic signs etc. So yes, I could see how he could have easily been lost in that area.

Now you may be asking, why did he not take the last chance turn off while still on the freeway, well the last chance turn off is clearly marked, but if you are not expecting it, it may be hard to change lanes if you are in the far left fast lane, you may not be able to make it to the off ramp in time. Once you pass that last chance off ramp, well you are headed into Mexico. It's a mess.

Sounds like a legit mistake by the Marine, and now he is in the hands of Mexican law, and that prison he is in, unfortunately I know it enough to know that it is a very bad place to be for an American. Back in my youth, late teens and early twenties when a wild streak ran through, me and my surfing buddies got into trouble (our fault) a couple times, and the only way we got out was a bribe from my dad to the warden in charge, it's a tough place to be incarcerated.

I pray for him, he'll be there for some time before the law in Mexico moves on this, just like the last Marine who got nailed for carrying an antique shotgun through town, you can read that one here http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/marine-released-prison-mexico....

It's the risk we take when we travel to other countries, we have no rights actually, we are at their mercy. That being said, the current case does seem like a complete mistake by this unfortunate Marine. But the Mexican govt does not see it that way, just like our law in our land, ignorance of the law is generally not excuse.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Thought I'd brush up on my knowledge of the geography at the San Ysidro border crossing in  San Diego, and it appears their maybe a closer last chance to turn around lane, but just looking at the crossing still makes my head spin, it's a crazy.

If your interested just Google Earth San Ysidro Border Crossing.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker