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Blazing Saddles - a hot ride in Mexico

Reluctantly Going Home

Sunday morning was beautiful. There were just a few clouds in the sky and the temperature was pleasantly in the high 60s. The weather app on my phone was predicting a chance of afternoon rain showers, which was no surprise - that had been the weather prediction every day of this trip.

Our plan today was to ride north on the Gold Standard route and then head east for McAllen. With a little luck we would be back in Texas before the sun set today. If we ran into issues we were prepared to stay another night in Mexico.

We wanted to get a somewhat early start so we decided to ride an hour north to Rayones and grab breakfast there.

A last view looking back toward Galeana
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Milton knew of a fine little restaurant in Rayones, so that's where we went. I was surprised to see a couple on a R1200GS when we arrived. Then, during breakfast a number of other riders showed up. They were riders from Monterrey out for a Sunday ride and this restaurant was one of their normal ride-to-eat destinations.
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The owner and his wife.
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After breakfast we rode north toward Las Truncas and the turn-off for The Gold Standard route. As was my habit I stopped frequently to grab a picture here and there.
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Cabanas are a popular lodging option in this area. These particular cabanas are owned by the guy who owns the restaurant in Rayones.
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The views never fail to satisfy.
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In Las Truncas we stopped to take a short break. Three young locals swimming in the river decided we were more interesting than swimming and decided to hang out with us. With a little urging we were able to get them to sing a song for us. Very cool.
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Shortly after leaving Las Truncas, we began the climb up the mountains. The Gold Standard is a fantastic dirt road that goes up and over the mountains to Mesa de Oso and then on to Laguna de Sanchez.
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Yes, the road really is that steep in some areas.
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Once over the top we were treated to a magnificent view of the tops of the mountains above the clouds and the clouds sweeping into a valley between two peaks. A Kodak moment if there ever was one. :sun: Even the non-picture takers stopped and took a picture.

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After that the road became an easy class 1 but the views were wonderful.
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Once we reached Laguna de Sanchez we stopped for a short break at El Mirador restaurant. It was packed with couples and families out and about on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. In fact, from this point until we reached the toll freeway to McAllen, there were people everywhere taking advantage of a fine Sunday afternoon.
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The view from the top deck of El Mirador
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A short time after we arrived at El Mirador the afternoon rain showers showed up. We ended up riding in the rain for about 1/2 hour. Once we exited the mountains to the desert below we were mostly out of the rain.
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The last good riding of the trip. After this it we were out of the mountains and headed east across the desert.
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We made it to McAllen at dark. A short time later we were holed up in the local Motel 6, drinking a post-ride beer, calling family members to let them know we had cheated death at the hands of drug lords, and checking email and text messages.
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We collected a few battle scars on this trip.
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Thanks for reading - I hope you enjoyed our journey.

I'm going to do it again next year on Memorial Day weekend...
 
We collected a few battle scars on this trip.
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Thanks for reading - I hope you enjoyed our journey.

I'm going to do it again next year on Memorial Day weekend...

Yea, that's not infected. You'll be fine!:rider:
 
Inquiring minds want to know( at least I do ).
After riding with you and your Super DRZ are JT and Milton ready to do the changes on their 400's? :rider:
 
In the afternoon of Day 3, after the Bee Trail, Buena Vista and Agua Blanca, the 6 of us split up into two groups. Rich & John back to their digs in Galeana, while the more adventurous headed for a night in Aramberi. There are numerous places to pass the noche in these parts, even if you don't count sleeping on someone's porch.

We checked into the Hotel Maria Luisa, our favorite. They stoked the wood burning hot water heater for us, and soon we were showered, clean and ready to explore the town, just in time for a torrential downpour that lasted hours, flooding the streets. All dressed up with no place to go, we decided against going out and ate at the hotel restaurant.

It poured that night at the Maria Luisa
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After dinner yarn telling on the patio.
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In the morning the evening's rain had washed everything clean and crisp. A few shots from around Aramberi.
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Scott & I explored around town a bit, looking for someplace to eat breakfast. People around here aren't too early to rise.
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Day 4
We had come this way to explore the back way into Camarones, a route Chuck & I had blazed in 2008, see my Smugmug album. We remembered the route as being cow trails, especially in the parts nearer Aramberi, and we fretted about the effects of last night's rain.

We found many changes in the road, this is one of the shots past Lampositos
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Past Rodeo the road became a muddy slog. We stopped, conferred, and then mounted back up
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Everyone I asked told me we would have no problems getting thru, still, you never know
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This looked familiar
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And what's this? The cow trails have actually been improved.

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Yep. Maquina. This was the toughest part back in 2008.
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Deep in the woods. Having fun now.
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The down side of the little pass, a killer back in 2008, we were praising ourselves for such good decision making
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Seasoned JT, he made life a lot easier
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The community of Alamos
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Rejoining the main road on the other side of Alamos.
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Inquiring minds want to know( at least I do ).
After riding with you and your Super DRZ are JT and Milton ready to do the changes on their 400's? :rider:

I can't speak for them but I can tell you that I very much appreciated the Super DRZ during this ride. The wide ratio + big bore + Lynx combination really worked well for me.

I told both Milton and JT they could ride my DRZ anytime they wanted but mysteriously neither took me up on the offer.
 
Yep, fantastic pictures and ride stories! :clap: You guys sure have the rest of us salivating for a ride into Mexico. Glad you all had a great time, and nobody got hurt, got weigh laid by mechanicals, or caught them selves on fire. Sure hope I can do this one next year. :rider:
 
Yep, fantastic pictures and ride stories! :clap: You guys sure have the rest of us salivating for a ride into Mexico. Glad you all had a great time, and nobody got hurt, got weigh laid by mechanicals, or caught them selves on fire. Sure hope I can do this one next year. :rider:

This would be awesome to do. One day for sure!
 
Thanks for posting and sharing yall's adventure with all of us (by comparison) couch potatoes.
some day.....
 
Walking around the streets of Aramberi in the early morning Milton and I pass a Tortilleria who's employees were hard at work. We stopped to have a look and they invited us inside and gave us free samples.

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On the way out of town that morning we took a paved road heading into the mountains that had been effected by land slides:



The sign to El Saucilla had remnants of a goat carcass hanging on it:
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As we enter the mountains Milton asks the locals about the road ahead:


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We ride upon a group of cows that wanted to show us who really owned the road:



On the last stretch of our route we came upon a few washed out bridges. We decided to work our way through the first few obstacles before ultimately turning around and slabbing it back to Galeana before dark.

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Chuck initially tries an alternate route out:
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JT gives goat herding a try:
 
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Man that pic inside the tortilleria really speaks to me. I bet it smelled heavenly in there. Just give me a stick of real butter... and it's on! :eat:
 
Here's the last of my pics.
Hotel in Aramberi

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Roughing it

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The wood fired water heater
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Is this Avocodo?

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Hotel guard horse
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breakfast in Camorones (sp)
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The singing chitlins
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Last but Definitely not least
THE FAMOUS EL RAY

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Had a great time and look forward to next year
 
Here's my last pic of the trip, in front of Milton's house. We unloaded Milton's bike. Rich lives a few miles from Milton. I live about 20 miles north.

So, I unloaded my bike, and rode to the Great North Austin.


Here's the Dos Amigo's saying Adios.

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Those two guys are such good buddies, and they go way, way back....their friendship kinda reminds of good old Roy and Dale:


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgw_yprN_-w"]Roy Rogers - Happy trails - YouTube[/ame]


Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
 
C'mon Man! Roy and Dale? Really? That's just not right...


Truth be told we are more likely to remind folks of these 2 fellows.
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What does JT have on his hands in the shot with him smoking the pipe?
 
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