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Cuatro Viejos and Hooliah too...

_RG_

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In the beginning:

“Ride dirt across the Sierra Madres in MEXICO!!!???

Are you *********?!!!”


And as it ended:

“So, what happens if Milton really can’t find his passport?”

“Eee as to stay heeer…HA! They tell heem…go baaaack…go be a Mexican.” (Raynaldo the border guard)

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But, let’s back up a bit and add some details in between…

The Adventures of Cuatro hombres viejos (four gentlemen of maturity)

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To address your first question: Is it really safe to ride in Mexico?

Answer: NO…it’s tragically dangerous and takes a great measure of caution even to survive. Oh, it’s safe as can be - far as the people go. They’re great. It’s all the danged livestock that’s so hazardous. They’re everywhere! Donkeys and burros- with attitudes- running in packs. Suicidal chickens, pigs, horses, goats, sheep, armadillos…you name it. They’re all over the roads. I kid you not…in downtown Dr Arroyo (a large city), right in front of their super Walmart- mid day, we have a herd of horses walking across the divided four lane without any adult supervision in sight. Out in the hills…well, just don’t get too happy with the throttle, eh mate?

Ride format: The plan was - travel to McAllen, enjoy a nice meal and then spend a leisurely night at the Motel 6. Next day, cross over early to Reynosa, take care of our paperwork and ride to beautiful Galeana, check in to the hotel, drop the bags and then make day rides from there. Yeah, well…that pretty much got tossed out the truck window somewhere along I35 between Austin and San Antonio.

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We burned tires for McAllen, hijaked a parking spot at the airport, dropped the bikes and gear, dash over to Reynosa, get delayed with paperwork because a certain clown didn’t know the difference between his registration renewal and the receipt part that he always throws away soon as the license sticker comes off. And then, ride like bandits though the frontiera towards Cadereyeta…freezing (no, not just unbearably cold) the entire way. Getting through Reynosa traffic at night was interesting. :shock:

End of a really long day finds us in a reasonably decent hotel in Cadereyeta (just east of Monterrey). Late at night but the "desk" clerk was still up and fascinated that four crazy old gringos were riding motorcycles through the mountains of Mexico.

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By then I was so tired I'd have gladly slept in an auction barn. We choose up roommates based on each person’s claimed snoring coefficient. I drew Milton cause JT and Stingray are widely known commodities. I’ll make no salacious accusations here but I will say that the bathroom floor turned out to make a fairly good bed. And with the door closed and fan running was just quiet enough for folks to get some sleep. :giveup:

Next morning was bright, clear and warming. Time to hit some trails. :rider: :dude:

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I'm in. Always loved your trip descriptions. :clap:
 
We need to bump this to the top but, I don't want to get ahead of the story, so I'll just toss in a couple of pics.

Unloading at the airport,
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The road from Cadereyta to Santiago,
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Presa Rodrigo Gomez, the reservoir at Santiago, NL.
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Well come on guys, I can't wait any longer, what happens next??? :bbq: :popcorn:
I lived in Austin for 6 years and never got to visit Mexico as we have been waiting for our green card to arrive. We now have it, so when i move back there in 4 years time, a trip to Mexico on the bike with the misses is high on the list of tings to do..

Gary
 
El dia dos (Day two…)

Staggering out of the hotel early, it was still doggone cool and there was talk of the bikes not wanting to run until warmer times - no doubt latent trauma from the previous night’s multinational snotcicle run. You can see they're still huddled together trying to stay warm.

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But, our enthusiasm to hit some dirt somehow overcame whatever silly concerns we had over frostbite. That - and when we looked to the south of our hotel, there were mountains! Real mountains…like really big, green mountains with squiggly little white lines zigzagging over them that seemed to go on way past the horizon. Cold? What cold? Put on another layer, kick that pig and let’s ride!

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Foraging for breakfast was immediately forgotten and miles were made. This would pretty much be the morning format henceforth. If the trails were really good, breakfast got rescheduled to lunch and if things were downright awesome then lunch could easily get tossed for something somewhere later. It’s a weakness but we somehow live with it.

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The run was southwest to Santiago. It sits on a lake called Presa Rodrigo Gomez. Those are the lake picts that JT shared. Pretty place and our first opportunity to rub some dirt. The climb from the dam involves some tight switchbacks and we soon discovered which bike was running top heavy.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jEkIbKsPQc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jEkIbKsPQc[/ame]


The tip over was coming out of a switchback and was likely one of those “accelerating in neutral” things but switchbacks can be mischievously unforgiving. And then there’s that pesky gravity thing. Meeltone can describe the events way better but this was the route to a broken wrist that the dude rode with for the rest of our trip. Pretty rugged cat, eh?


Meeltone led us over to a really nice restaurant on the south side of the lake. It’s the La Paloma and is on the square just across from the church.

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We noticed there's a much finer quality of dogs running around Santiago than the common mutts seen across most of the country.

This might be ole Santiago himself or it could be the guy who sweeps up after the restaurant closes. Good painting either way…

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Yeah, you ordinarily see pictures of a meal as it appears beforehand…well, I was hungry. Trust me, it looked beautiful and tasted great. Use your imagination. :eat:

One thing that did stand out, corn tortillas…not flour. We had to make it darn near back to the US before seeing another flapper made out of flour. Way too abrupt transition. Someone should have mentioned this so I could stash away some in my bags for the trip. :shrug:

Onward! I can’t help taking pictures of unsuspecting plants. They don’t even have to involve any psychoactive qualities either. Just have to look neat or unusual. Here’s some…

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After (lunch?) we headed southeast to Allende, grabbed some gas and hung a quick right - straight into the mountains.

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Now, it gets really good - really quick...if you know what I mean. And just when you think it’s as good as it can get, it gets even better. Spectacular, awesome, dramatic, breathtaking, downright cool…whatever. Fill in your own superlatives.

You must know that pictures just fall dramatically flat on showing this kind of stuff - especially with me behind the camera - but that’s all I have to work with so here goes…

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In the afternoon we headed to Cienega…the center of the known universe. The sign says so! This was to be my first real cultural awakening of the adventure. One of many. More as we go…


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Wow. Great start. I'll see if I can remember how to post.
 
Onward! I can’t help taking pictures of unsuspecting plants. They don’t even have to involve any psychoactive qualities either. Just have to look neat or unusual. Here’s some…

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Ummm, the plant in the 2nd picture would be a type of belladonna, no? Otherwise known as Dactura, or Deadly Nightshade? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. And the point is it reportedly harbors some psychoactive qualities. Me thinks.
But I guess you knew that?
 
Well, I guess we're all in this together.

These are Scott’s pic’s but I’m gonna show them anyway. Cause I think they’re good.

Money exchange. Always an awkward moment.
These places are fairly civilized now and even give the air of a bank. RG, however, proved to this old timer that they weren't above a good haggle.
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Border formalities at McAllen/Reynosa.
You forgot your what?
You forgot your registration papers ?..... Do you have any money?
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For the record it was frigging Freezing that ride out of Reynosa in the dark. I really don't recall what possessed us to ride past the last Reynosa hotel at night. You know the rules. Like never travel after dark on the highways in Mexico.
Did we expect a string of Rt.66 motels along the way? (!) Our trail boss finally stopped just long enough to let everyone layer up with everything we weren’t already wearing.
But we had to hustle ‘cause we were in known cartel-shoot-‘em-up country. Can't stop here. Chop. Chop.

Later I took a roll in the sand crossing the no man's land median between the divided toll road lanes. A Mexican Highway cruiser sat nearby, its occupants observing closely but choosing not to interact.

And that night I slept like a baby at the Cadereyta hotel. Not a peep out of my roomie.

I would have called this Repressa La Boca, but what do I know?
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Chilaquiles all the way around. Oops. Another Stingray Scott photo but a good’on.
Chilaquiles con pollo. Now that is a breakfast.
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Helmet?, check.
Concours video camera?, check.
KTM?, check.

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Boys ready to ride.
Villa Santiago. Some 9 hours from Austin God Willing and you know what you're doing.

Story goes that Santiago was an old stage coach stop out of Monterrey.
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After (lunch?) we headed southeast to Allende, grabbed some gas and hung a quick right - straight into the mountains.

Now, it gets really good - really quick...if you know what I mean. And just when you think it’s as good as it can get, it gets even better. Spectacular, awesome, dramatic, breathtaking, downright cool…whatever. Fill in your own superlatives.

The road and terrain between Allende and La Trilnidad.
The highest ridge, and the furtherest back is La Cebolla. La Trinidad, the Capital of the Universe, sits on the next ridge down, just above the columnar rock La Piedra Parada.
Some of the more treacherous switchbacks have been paved.....,
but I remember when.........(said with a quiver in his voice)
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Now, it gets really good - really quick...if you know what I mean. And just when you think it’s as good as it can get, it gets even better. Spectacular, awesome, dramatic, breathtaking, downright cool…whatever. Fill in your own superlatives.


That particular road is just so awesome that it currently is my favorite dirt road in Mexico. Of course, I haven't ridden all the dirt roads in Mexico...yet. :-P
 
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El Dia Dos – Mas (more of day two)


ALRIGHT! Awesome pictures guys. You'll notice that Meeltone can do outright visual magic with his camera and JT has a keen eye for stuff that people like me never would see if somebody didn’t point it out to them. Stingray takes a lot of picts and they always seem to look like someone knew what they were doing behind the camera. Hmmm…

ANACDOTAL BACKGROUND: While plumbing the depths in a bottle of Cabrito *early* on New Year’s Eve, we enjoyed a lengthy and spirited discussion on photography and editing. It was pretty obvious who happened to be the one with the most to learn. It’s no accident these feller’s picts look this good. And mine...well...

EVOLUTION: “So, why should we anchor ourselves to Galeana? We all have bags and none of em fell off yet. How bout adventuring from somewhere to where ever each day and see where the trail takes us, explore some new territory? If we get in over our heads, we’ll turn around” “OK…cool. We can do it!” :thumb:

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And where ever shall we go now? :pirate:

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SIDETRIP
: Good many bikes buzzing around in Mexico. Some of them are recognizable even to me. I was enjoying some tacos on the square one evening when some biker chaps pulled up. RX1, RJ and some shiny V block of American desent. Noisy bunch, too. Mostly the bikes we saw were different. Here’s a few…


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Alrighty! Let’s get on down the trail and see where we end up when shadows grow long. Hope there’s a place to stay…




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Seems that no matter where we were – and some of these places are very near the edge of the known world – Meeltone would know folks…and they’d know him! :chug: It reminded me of the old joke that goes: I don’t who that guy up there in the Vatican balcony with the beanie is but that’s Meeltone standing beside him. :drums:

We pulled into this utterly remote mountain pueblo and one of the 25 families there go berserk because Meeltone is back. This is their backyard. Heck, I’d be willing to hang out clothes with a view like that.


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We had a right fine visit with the mayor ( in blue ) outside their shopping mall. That’s the place behind StingRay.


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This is the municipal water system ( no, not kidding ).


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Yes, that would be a hollowed out log with a spring piped into it. At this elevation, probably as pure water as one will ever find.


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We had us a StarTrek moment here with the mayor. And I fear we pretty much blew the Prime Directive. StingRay has an app on his iPhone that you speak to in English and it speaks and writes it back in Spanish. Does a darn good job of it too. He demonstrated it for Nico. The mayor was then certain StingRay was El Diablo himself and nervously began looking for a way to high tail it out of there or gather up some kin to burn him at the stake. :angryfire

These pueblos are tranquil as the Buda’s belly button. :zen: I could have just called it home right there and sent the office a note asking them to make other arrangements. But, we needed to find a place to lay our heads before night…preferably with separate rooms or some really thick walls so it’s onward ho.

Time to ride...



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We wind our way on through the mountains and around every turn is more scenery beyond anything I can begin to adequately describe. Late in the day, we wheel into Cienega. Sure enough, guy is walking down the road, sees Meeltone and throws up his hands. It’s a friend named Fito who lives there. He walks us over to a cabana for the night.


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I'll let the crew describe "supper" if they wish.

AWESOME DAY!!!


Buenos noches and crank up that heater. :sleep:
 
Sorry about the wrist Meeltone. I too have experienced the body going faster than the feet can run phenomenon! :lol2:

Thanks for the report guys. I like to see what i missed. :rider:
 
Aw, man! This is the stuff. Thanks for taking us along on your adventure.virtual.
 
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