Where to start. Its been 3 days and it feels like a lot has happened. All good though.





10-Nov-2009

Left Texas about 6:30 am this morning to a cold foggy morning. Made it about 20 miles before the heated gear had to come out of the bag. Hate to be spoiled, but hey, I am. It was a much nicer ride after that. About 100 miles to the border. We had no problems at the border, Ojinaga, about a half hour and we were on our way. We made the correct turn out of Ojinaga but it wasn't long before I was thinking we were going the wrong way. Didn't really care though, we just kept going. After we finally came to a cross roads we figured out that we were on a road that wasn't on the map. Between poor road signs and poor maps this could get interesting. We probably went a couple of hours out of our way but really didn't care very much. The highways are good, some tollways, some federal highways. We are trying to be cheap and stay off the tollways, the other roads are more fun anyway but they are full of big trucks and very narrow. Our driving style is not quite as relaxed as it is in the states. This takes our full on attention. There are no shoulders and big droppoffs, so trucks passing each other leaves no where to go. It's just part of the challenge though and we adapt quickly. We make it about 400 miles to Cuidad(City) Jimenez. It is a very nice city, clean, safe, friendly. It is very far removed from what you would expect of Mexico if you've ever only visited the border towns or resort places. They were just friendly people going about their daily lives trying to get by. We were of mild interest but not much more than that. Let's see, what haven't I seen since we've been in Mexico. Other motocycles, airplanes, english speaking people, Walmart, or McDonalds. I could stand a Starbucks but haven't seen one of those either. The hotel is very accomodating. They let us put our bikes in the lobby, very cool.

11-Nov-2009 1803 Miles

We leave Jimenez City for points South and East. We made a lot of southing but much easting is to be done to get to SA. We cover another 400 miles today. It is very cool watching the scenary change. It is mountainous still and will be for a while, but the air is getting more humid and the plant life greener. We go up and down and roll through long wide valleys. The roads are getting to be just good fun. It appears that the speed limits are just recommendations as no one cares. When you come to towns though there are speed bumps at the beginning and ends. This is wierd cause you can be doing 70 on what is a 4 lane divided hiway and then have to slow quickly for speed bumps.

LC was complaining today cause there were no indians to fight. He wanted to fight a Mexican but I told him that he was way outnumbered and besides they were being very nice. (Except for one surly gas station attendant) I had to point out to him that with one arm and no hands, his fighting days were about over. He should be a lover not a fighter. Then he started complaining about how he missed some woman back home. After he whined about that for the forth time I told him he could go beat up the surly gas station attendant. That shut him up for a while. At least I have someone to talk to while going down the road.

The picture of the women is our Carnita Chicas. Just a roadside stop to have a coke and carnita. Nick is a little paranoid of the local food. Not me, I figure I am going to enjoy it till it makes me sick. So far so good. LC was in a better mood after visiting with the Carnita Chicas.

We stay at this town called Ojo Caliente, which is about 50 miles east of Zacatecas. We are frozen and stop at this little place. The best technique so far is to stop for a beer or dinner and get some local info before getting a room. This works mostly but tonight we should have got a room to give us a recommend for a bar. Nick blames me for my fine choices in establishments. This bar is about an 8x9 room. 4 old guys(yes, even older than me Megan) are playing dominoes in the corner. My spanish is all pro at order beer, after that it is downhill. Asked about a bano(bathroom) and he points to the corner of the room to what looks like a built in planter box. I decided I could wait. But we did communicate enough to get directions to a hotel. 18 bucks. Oh, yeah, the pic is me in high stress mode. I couldn't decide whether to have just coffee or a cappa.

12-Nov-2009

Whew, caught up. We take it easy today. It is cold in the morning, 38 degrees, the bikes are wet from the dew. We put on the heated gear and head out a little around 8. We don't go very far today. Just to the next fairly large town of San Luis Potosi. It is a University town and very busy. The driving is just nuts, traffic comes from everywhere all at once and goes everywhere all at once. Lanes?, we don' need no stinkin' lanes, Stop signs?, we don' need no stinkin' stop signs, Turn signal?, we don' need none a dat either. We stop here and do some work, relax and enjoy a beautiful 70 plus degree day. Tomorrow we will be getting close to if not to the east(gulf) coast of Mexico. Looking forward to seeing the ocean.