Postscript..

 My thanks to all in our small group, including:

• Roger, the patient leader and guide
• Ken, the ultra mechanic and friend to all the world's dogs
• Don, the Wyoming cowboy, riding "The Nepal Missile"(Kawi Super Sherpa)
• Tom, who claims his BMW GS 1150 is his "small bike"
• Jim, the off highway newbie, who was the only one(of the clients) whose bike didn't end up on it's side.

Then there was me who had a great time learning new riding skills on the VStrom, seeing new places, eating great food and making new friends.

 

What a cast of characters we had and what a way to bond them all together.

What good fun it was..

 

The trip back to San Diego:

 

Saturday morning, Jim and I had a quick breakfast at Eddie's Bar & Grill(the hotel breakfast) and headed out by about 7:30, saying goodbye to Roger, who was headed to the Cracker barrel. We had a reservation around Yuma for the night, but decided to cancel and keep on keepin' on for San Diego. Made it to my house around 6PM. My wife, Kath, and Jim's wife Jo were at play(we weren't expected til the next day), so we unloaded, and I headed for the larder and a glass of my favorite Scotch.

 

Home again and what a beautiful place it is..

 

Day 21 – Chihuahua to Las Cruces.

Home stretch. Up at 6:15, packed and ready by 8AM. Off to the dining area for another light breakfast and down to the vehicles for departure by about 9..

Out of the hotel parking lot, we make a quick run across our frontage road to the highway entrance and merge into the flow unscathed. The day is sunny, but still rather cold on the bikes, so some of my rain gear stays put, mainly to keep the hands warm. Rain over-mitts on the gloves with the heated grips(work like a charm) turned up to position 2 of 4 and the hands stay warm. Should have taken my heated insoles, but hindsight doesn't make it so...

Out of Chihuahua and onto the highway. Nothing unusual for the morning and we beat feet toward mid day and a planned lunch stop at a seafood family restaurant. Most go for shrimp, Roger has a tray full of small lobster and three of us opt for marlin fish tacos. I should have had the shrimp. Just to fishy for my taste. The other two orders were wolfed down, but mine went half eaten. Oh well, not that hungry.

Onward, still sunny and getting warmer so a nice ride. Eventually, the Mexican border station appears and we park to go inside and get the passports stamped. Back out, and we file into a line to turn in our bonding tags. Did I mention that going into Mexico in a vehicle, you need to post a bond($350) on a credit card that you won't sell your vehicle in Mexico? When you leave, they take the bonding tag back and refund the fee to your card.

Once done, we proceed to the US border crossing for questioning about citizen status and whether any liquor is being brought in. I have my bottle of almond tequila liquor and let the young lady know. One bottle, no duty. Most of the bottles are in the truck, and Ken declares 15 bottles, which are $42 in duty, which we split up. The real good news was that Aero(our lost, then found Mexican pup) made it through with nary a glance. She now has a good home with Ken in Alamogordo.

That done we crank up the throttles and hit the 10 freeway(back in the US, remember) back the 30 miles, or so, back to Las Cruces, and the Days Inn. Checking in, the manager welcomes us back and hands out the room keys. We get a much nicer room, than when we got our arrival room, no cigarette smell anyway.

We rest a bit then Jim and I, with Ken's help, get the bikes back onto the trailer and strapped down for the trip home. A bit more re-packing and we head for our farewell dinner at the Double Eagle Restaurant. It was originally a large home where the final signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed to end the Mexican American War. It's now a Very high end restaurant and we dine in the room where the mother found the son and maid “engaged” when returning early from a trip, and stabbed them both with her scissors . Her ghost is said to still haunt the room. The meal was started with margaritas that are supposedly award winning, but too sweet for most. I did order an appetizer of baked Brie, which was great. A main course of Boueuf Bourguignon was almost Julia(Childs) perfect.



Celebrate Good Times!

 We discussed our trip and the things we liked and the things we might change. We all agreed, the trip was a corker, a real taste of each of the stops, and that was the key. I would have liked more time in some of the stops, but the idea was to give us that taste that might bring us back to the places we enjoyed most. The ride itself was discussed. The most fun twisties and the best off highway roads were debated and celebrated. The Camino del Diablo was my pick for the twisties and the off highway pick was the entire Copper Canyon “road”. The goat trail out of Real de Catorce was enjoyable, but more of a learning experience than a joy to ride. It was a great evening of camaraderie and we finally retired back to the hotel.

Roger announced he was treating to breakfast in the morning at the Cracker Barrel, but Jim and I decided to leave by 7AM, so declined the offer. We said our goodbyes and retired to prepare for the trip back to San Diego.

Day 20 – Torreon to Chihuahua

 

Up at 6AM and check outside for the weather. Parking lot and cars are damp, but it's not raining. Relief. The Weather Channel still suggests 30-50 percent chance f rain through the day on our route. After packing we're off to the hotel cafeteria area for a buffet breakfast, make mine raisin bran, yogurt, OJ & coffee.

It's going to be a long transit day and am hopeful the roads will not be wet. Note that the asphalt roads in Mexico seem to be especially greasy, caused by whatever oil mix they use in the asphalt. A couple days ago, before Real de Catorce, there was light rain and a certain right hand turn gave everyone the willies as we wiggled around it. Just hoping today won't bring more of the same. The area of most concern is in the city, before the open road. Another note. Most highways go the the cities and villages on route. There are very few that actually bypass the settled areas. Mexico City is one of the few areas a bypass toll road does exist.

Out of the room at 8:15AM and dressed for rain, the parking lot is drying and the weather hasn't worsened, so things are really looking up for traction. Out onto the city thoroughfare and all becomes well. Out onto the open highway and we do a couple of 90 mile stints between gas stops when the weather lifts and blue sky replaces the now lifting, low clouds. I love it when The Weather Channel screws up the rain forecast...

We stop for a quick lunch-cart meal, Mexican style. Everyone, but me, enjoys what I a giant shrimp cocktail and I, not a huge shrimp fan, go next door for a couple of beef tacos. Mine are OK. The cocktails are proclaimed a huge success, and no one gets any unwanted pathogens to spoil their afternoon, so good on us all.

The rest of the way to Chihuahua is uneventful until the city, where it becomes a bit hectic on the city highways, but we're(most of us anyway) used to the pace and the flow of it by now, so glide through the hecticity to a gas stop just beyond the hotel, fill up and back track to the Ramada Encore Hotel. This would be my wife Kath's favorite stay. Frank Lloyd modern rooms with modern chrome(OK, so she likes satin stainless better) fixtures and a fabulous view from the 5^th floor of part of the thriving city of Chihuahua.

Roger comes by and delivers the good news that there's a free breakfast tomorrow and tonight, free beer in the dining area from 6 to 8. We'll just have to take advantage of that.

After a bit, we meet for free beer and snacks for an hour then migrate to a seafood restaurant next door, where more shrimp await us. Mine were breaded and fied and very good. Others enjoyed various shrimp recipes, including the ever popular, Shrimp Diabla. Very nice meal.

Back to the hotel rooms and a shower, then reading, writing and checking The Weather Channel. They still predicted showers the next day on our route to the border, but looking at their moving, interactive weather map showed all of the storm clouds had moved out of the area, by 2PM the previous day. Hmmm, Never seen rain without clouds, but someone seems to think it's possible..

A good sleep, thinking no rain will spoil our last ride..

Day 19 – Parras to Torreon

Breakfast was at 7:15 again and after a quick breakfast of the usual eggs and ??(bacon for me), we circled up the group and made our way out of town to the Casa Madero winery(est, 1597) and made some brandy and wine purchases. I'll taste the brandy one home, but it did get good reviews from Roger. We'll see. Brandy isn't my favorite form of grape beverage, but I'll give it a shot..

This winery/distellery has been here over 400 years. Amazing!



Wow, some copper pots those..




Some roof system..



Don, finalizing his purchase..

 Our ride today is a short 110 miles, so we soldiered on and made our destination in Torreon,the Fresno Galleria Hotel by 11:30 AM. The plan was to visit a hard rock mine in the afternoon at the little town of Mapimi.

We had a quick lunch across from the hotel at a little tacqueria. I had pork & cheese tacos, very good.

After a brief retreat to the rooms, we met on our bikes for the trip to the mine. Roger figured it was about 25 miles each way. It turned out to be more like 45 each way, with the last several miles on cobbles. Sheesh, I thought I'd seen the last of those things. The mine, it turned out though, was an amazing piece of work, with an entire mining town, from headquarters, to sleeping quarters to eating quarters to brothels all built with indigenous stone, and boy were there enough around for whatever needed building. The town was built on a hillside that had some shafts sunk into the hillside below the town, but the largest part of the mining effort took place across a gorge that was a good half mile deep and connected to the town via a very long suspension bridge built just before the turn of the last century. It's advertised as being the second longest suspension bridge, behind the Oakland Bay Bridge. A very long wooden bridge. The mine itself dated from about 1537. Fascinating place.

Here's a photo essay of this amazing place..

After being amazed for over an hour, we figured we'd better beat it back to the hotel to avoid any further night riding occurrences. The park guide up top radioed the guide at the bottom to have him stop any traffic that might be coming up. Did I mention the cobble portion of the road is nice and steep, and one lane wide? Once out of the park, we tried out a “shortcut” back to the hotel Roger had scoped out online. It turned out to be a dud, with the pavement ending after about a mile and turning into a fairly smooth, but very rocky road.

Back into Torreon, we rested for a bit then and checked The Weather Channel website for weather on our route and found we had a 30 to 50 percent chance of rain on our route from Torreon to Chihuahua. Bummer. The local roads are especially greasy and really slippery-slick when wet. Oh well, hope for the best and plan for the worst(slow way down and allow lots of room to the vehicle ahead). We went next door to Tony Romas for dinner. As we close in on the border, more Americanized businesses appear. Backing into US food, several of us had their special, baby back ribs. I found them well cooked, but the sauce too sweet for me. Still a nice meal for our third to last day in preparation for re-immersion. Walking back to the hotel brought the first sprinkles.. Not promising. Sleep now....

Day 18 - Real de Catorce to Parras

Breakfast was planned at 8:15 our time down in the Restaurant el Real, so 7:15 alarm was set and observed. There were bells all night long at 15 minute intervals, but Jim & I both slept well.

Up at the alarm, I was down making a few repairs, then packing, getting the duffel in the truck and off to breakfast. Same walk down and up, but easier after rested muscles. Jim & I had light fruit, juice, toast & coffee breakfasts.

After the Himalayan trek back to the hotel, we got our bikes loaded and turned around(no easy tasks with the narrow cobbled streets) to head for the easiest path down and out of the cobbles. Luckily it no rain had appeared and the cobbles were dry this morning. We made our way down to the trail we would take out of town, with only a couple of delays. It's amazing how generally patient people are when it comes to a street blockage caused by someone unloading people or goods..

We descended to the trail, which we thought was going to be a piece of cake, although it was described by Roger the night before as a goat trail. We took that to mean a fairly steep two track(meaning a trail for a 4 wheeled vehicle) trail and it was. The kicker was it was very steep at the top and very rocky, much like the town cobbles but laid out by Mother Nature, not masons. Up near the top, off to the left, down in a ravine was the ruins of a silver smelter with a huge(200' tall – estimated by Ken) masonry chimney. Most impressive.

After a white knuckle 3 Km of natural, steep, cobbles and small boulders, it eased up a bit.



Jim at the end of the knarly downhill.. !!



And Kenny in the RAM at the same descent.
He had quite a view over the edge of the narrow "road"

 The rocky stretches then eased into a dirt track through several small villages and finally out onto a secondary asphalt road. Got the blood boiling alright, as Roger described it, along with the sweat and adrenaline glands,

After that morning fun, the rest of the day was a piece of cake, spent mostly on freeways with nice road surfaces. We had lunch at another Pemex gas stop, but this was at a proper restaurant. Several had cheeseburgers, which included a great piece of ground beef, nice cheese, a slice of ham, avocado and the usual other partners(lettuce, mayo, tomato, etc.). It came with sauteed quartered small potatoes, instead of fries Very good after a small breakfast anticipating cobblestones and then enduring the unexpected goat precipice.

After lunch , we noticed some huge industrial complexes. Signs indicated the first set was a large Chrysler complex. A second complex a bit further on was a Diamler factory that had a large inventory of new large diesel truck cabs parked outside. As we continued up the road, a couple of dozen very new Mercedes/Chrysler large buses rolled by us toward the Diamler Chrysler complexes. It was about 2PM our time, and I'd expect they were bringing second shift workers to the plants. Interesting place.

This brings me to a sidebar about the vehicles we've encountered during the trip. We've seen lot's of neat smaller autos we don't see in the states. There are El Camino (front half auto with a small pickup bed in back) vehicles from Chevy(appear to be a Cobalt front end) and VW(with a Golf/Jetta front end). There are Siats(Spanish Fiat) and Peugots and smaller Vws(Polos) that we don't get in the states. There are many “city” cars by Hyundai, Fiat(Panda) and others. Kinda fun. Like you're a kid again seeing what cars you can ID. Motor scooters and small 100cc Honda(and clones) motorcycles are ubiquitous the further South you go. They're almost as plentiful as Prius’s in Hollywood.

Another nice break from Cali is I haven't seen one Prius, since entering Mexico.

We rolled into Parras and the Hotel el Farol about 4:30 and relaxed for a bit before dinner.



A rather unassuming entryway



With yeat another wonderful courtyard!!



 For dinner, Jim & I both had chile rellenos, two per serving, one with cheeses and one with a ground meat mixture. OK, but not great. After dinner, some of the group did a quick walk of the shops and made a purchase or two, I think Tom got a cowboy hat.

We did have a heater in the room, which we put on low for the night, and after the teenage dating/mating game going on outside abruptly died at about 8PM(kinda neat, the kids must actually respect and observe a curfew), we slept well.

Day 17 - San Miguel Allende to Real de Catorce

A bit of a post script about San Miguel Allende. Forces conspired against us to see really any of the town. When Roger led us into town for the first time he'd intended to show us the town square on the way to the hotel. It was blocked off because of Constitution Day celebration, which was all weekend and into today, Monday. We decided to wait to go for a town walk til after Roger and Jim returned, but it was too late once they returned and our distant relatives were awaiting us in the hotel for the Super Bowl party. Bottom line, we didn't get to walk the city. Oh well, another year, maybe.

Breakfast was at 7:30 in the hotel dining room and was pretty light for most. Fruit with granola and some creme fresh with coffee for me.

We aid more good byes to Javier, family and friends and made our way out of the city, stopping at a spectacular overlook for some pictures.



Some panaoram of the city

  


A cathedral of many spires.. Form the overlook.



Typically, many colors ripple through the city's structures..

 Most of the day was freeway and toll roads. Along the way, we noticed large truck chassis((only) being driven on the opposite lanes. Each had a helmeted driver dressed in very warm clothing and sitting on a wooden bench. Seems like a fun job to us macho bikers.

Lunch was at a family run operation at our noon Pemex stop and were fabulous vendor small chorizo tacos. Onions and red chile sauce were all the additions needed. Bona Petit.

The afternoon ride was more of the same, but the temps went down and up and down from 54 to 74 to 60 degrees with some showers starting just about the time we turned onto the cobblestone road to Real de Catorce, which was a huge silver mining town in the early to mid(and later?) 1800s.

Now that I've safely reported home, I can confess that in a moment of brain fade, my speed over the cobbles(it had been raining) led me to a close encounter with the road surface. Too much speed led to a low side(rear end trying to pass the front resulting in the bike resting on it's left side supported by the front guards and the rear pannier. I did it right and kept my feet on the pegs. A small patella bruise was the only body damage, but the left pannier didn't fare as well. Bent, but it fullfilled it's secondary purpose, protection. It's at home in the garage awaiting a planned refurb.. Love those Happy Trail paniers!!

Back to Real de Catorce, it is at 8800 feet and reached via 14 miles of the cobblestone road. At the end of the cobbles is a tunnel 3Km long that was originally built in the early 1800s for access to the silver mines. It's a one way tunnel and traffic is directed at each end by highway personnel with walkie talkies.


20 pesos toll for the amazing tunnel..

 We slithered(and slid) up the slick cobbles to the tunnel and held while opposing traffic finished flowing out and then took our turn in the well lit flat bottomed hole thru the mountain.

Back out into the sunlight and Roger hired one of the several young men, who guide tourists to destinations, to show us the way through the narrow, shop lined cobble streets to the hotel. His direction led us to a place only sheep and goats could ascend, and remember it's slick and wet, so Roger dismounted and went to the hotel for some help. Milo, one of the Hotel el Real's employees came to our rescue and sat shotgun in Ken's truck, directing him to the Hotel el Real. A beautiful rustic place. There was a nice boutique shop in the hotel center and the owner came down and opened it up for our perusal.



A late afternoon view of the village cathedrals



WooHoo.., we have internet..



The hotel boutique. Jim bought his wife Jo a dress.. Fingers crossed..




Nxt morning, Tom ready to load up the bike



Some photos of the gorgeous courtyard!!

And, at the desk, here's beautiful Nancy from Montery.
Ken was in love..

We lounged a bit with a beer and then found our way to dinner at the Restaurant el Real run by Milo. One block over and a block and a half down, and I do mean down. I'm gonna guess 150' in a block and a half, this is a steep place. Dinner was Lasagna for three of us and it was just great, but each was a serving for two. Milo said the leftovers would go to the donkey, no problem. Milo turned out to be an interesting fellow, born in Italy and had 1 year stops in Ireland, England and Spain. Hist Italian accent had a great Irish brogue. Strange, but it works for him. He'd been in the city for two years, so it was long term this time.

Back to the hotel, remember it's about 150' walk up the cobblestones at 8800'. After dinner and a couple of beers. I stopped at least twice.. Into the room with no heat but a great set of blankets and off to sleep

Day 16 Teotihuacan to San Miguel de Allende

Breakfast is scheduled for 8AM, but most of are up at 6:30, so a shower, packing and a diddling with a couple minor issues with the bikes gets us to the dining room about 7:30. They have the weekend buffet breakfast, like yesterday, but unlike yesterday, I limit myself to raisin bran, orange juice, fruit and coffee.

We get the bikes out of the convention room and are ready to roll by 8:45.



My WeeSrom, ready to roll



Jim & Tom, ready for the day's activities..

Off again. We retrace quite a bit of road from yesterday, but it's much more friendly in the daylight. From bumpy straight highway onto the toll road, back to the West and finally off on another toll road toward San Miguel de Allende. We have a final bout of 2 lane highway, then enter the town on asphalt to cut stone(flat) and finally cobblestone for a nice steep downhill run for about a mile(invigorating). We reach a point where the road is blocked, and have to turn back around. Up the cobbles, onto the cut stone then asphalt. No problem for Roger, He leads us a bit further past the town then down in directly to the Hotel el Real Quinas.



Some place..

Nice venue for the Super Bowl. A large convention room with feeds
in both Spanish & English



Beautiful lobby with dining area off to the left..





Bikes were parked out front for the night.. No problem.

What a place. Into the rooms(nice), but Roger finds he's lost his fake wallet. Let me explain. We carry most of our cash, good credit cards and passport in a stash wallet, either around our neck or waist. The fake wallet contains a copy of our driver's license, expired credit card(s) and daily pesos. Anyway, Jim thinks he remembers something flying out from under Rogers bike, so they climb back on the bikes to go look.

About the time the game started, they returned with good news, wallet found just after the last toll booth we went through. Roger must have had something a bit more precious in there than the standard throw away wallet contents.

Ken made the observation that this trip seems to have been blessed(so far). When Ken hit a very large rock down in Copper Canyon and seriously bent the steering arm, we were able find a machine shop to repair the bend and Jim had a backyard method for setting the alignment(discovered wile restoring old Jaguars) to get the truck back into perfectly drivable condition. We've been blessed that Don hasn't seriously injured himself, despite multiple attempts, and we hope that string of luck continues. Finally, finding Roger's wallet was a very good thing.. Keep the luck coming please..

When Jim got back from his wallet rescue, he met Javier in the lobby. Explanation: Jim's wife Jo and her sister Lynn are my cousins. Lynn is married to Victor, who is a Mexican national. Victor's sister is Luriliss who is married to Javier. They live in Pachuca and Javier is very active in his local BMW club. Jim and Javier had been communicating to set up a meeting with our group, and possibly ride part of the way with us. Well the ride fell through, but we all met tonight in the hotel for the Superbowl party. Javier's buddies Rubin and Daniel were there along with a few other relatives.

The hotel had a buffet set up and a large banquet room had two feeds of the game going, one in Spanish and another in English. The town has a large American ex-pat. Population. We all had our fill of burgers and chicken nuggets with flagons of Modela to keep the party going. We talked bikes and watched the game. I lasted til the 3^rd quarter and fled the noise to the room to watch in peace and do some journaling.