• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

JT.- Mexico- "Danger, Danger, Danger!!!"

Forums New posts
"curious as to what happened in the prior visit at the "stay away ranch" location..."

RB, a couple of years ago we were exploring a new route trying to connect one valley to another. We found a mountain crossing and we ended up at this ranch. As we unknowingly approached the ranch we ran into several dead bodies that were lying on a dried creek. Even though they bodies were of cows, it kind us spook us. That year was the year of the big drought so we saw lots of dead animals. Anyhow, we ran into a corral and fences so we new we were at a ranch. We decided that I would approach the house by my self and the rest would wait back by the tree line. There were two people by the corral and as I approached them one went away into the house. I addressed the standing older man and we talked for a bit. He was puzzled at what we were doing there. He asked me all kinds of questions. Some of them were not too, shall I say, ,comfortable. "Do you have any money?", "How expensive are your bikes?", etc. As I was talking to the man, Izz came up and something funny happened. The man addressed Izz in Spanish and Izz explained that he didn't speak Spanish. I am of Scandinavian descend and speak fluent Spanish. The man couldn't understand how a Mexican looking man like Izz couldn't speak Spanish and I, a Menonita looking fellow could do it. The whole situation was weird and we felt that we were under somedoby's haircross. Eventually, he suggested we go through his corral full of cattle to reach the road we needed to get to. We said our thanks and got out of there faster than a bat out of ****. So, on this trip, we were goinf to be near the same ranch and decided to stay away from it this time around.
 
We went trough the long valley that you could see in the previous pics. We took a turn and we ended up having to turn around. This is what happened next. JT had no problems getting through. Izz had some difficulties. Scott said, " I like adventure", so he went. I found an easier way.

http://youtu.be/6w8np-SKn1Q
 
JT is the oldest , in the oldest bike, and makes it :doh: :clap:
 
Thanks for taking the time to do this report. I now how involved it is with videos and all. You're doing a great job with it. :thumb:
 
izz said:
Camp 1 while watching Mudd Missle eats Ramen Noodles for the very first time in his life- not joking, I am mostly a very serious guy:

Ramen_zpsw2alj529.jpg
Click to expand...

We had a serious laugh with this one. You see Mudd Missle is an EXCELLENT cook. Several of our adventures are based out of rental cabins and he is always the cook. He develops a menu and plans the meals in advance. He's cooked some of the better meals that I've ever had and I have never seen him read the directions. So watching him "learn" to cook Ramen for the first time was a hoot.

Here he is in action during an adventure in New Mexico. He always has a lot of wine around him.......
100_0425-L.jpg
 
So, Izz went after JT and he crashed and burned as you saw on the previous video. I observed what was taking place and played smart. I found myself an easier way. However, Scott was defiant and went for it. This is what happened next.

[ame="http://youtu.be/7AHsDsgaMvA"]FILE1293 - YouTube[/ame]
 
In many instances the trail would disappear and we would have to bushwack around till we found it again. We have been riding on and off this dried arroyo for quite some time and voila, it is gone. So off we went looking for it till we found it again. The funny thing is that here in the States it is illegal to ride on a dried river bed while many of the ranch road and other public road make use of them more frequently than not. The good thing is that it sharpens your skills of sand/rock riding. One thing in common with the States is that you can find fences on the river, which means that you have to find a different way around it.

[ame="http://youtu.be/Sw9RSfzTjzk"]FILE1296 - YouTube[/ame]
 
It is the second day of riding and it is getting late. We had a late start and we already know that we won't be making it to the designated camp 2. We are way too far from it to make it. At this point we are doubting we are going to complete the whole route. So, we started to scout a place to spend the night. The criteria for the ideal place involves high ground, isolated, with wind cover, and woods for cover and fire. So far we have been riding on this river bed for quite some time and we finally reach a main creek. The arroyo got bigger and we saw tire marks now. There is people around and that's not what we wanted. So we pulled into this abandoned ranch by the river. We scouted the place, decided that it was not the ideal place, that it could still be inhabited, even though the roof was mostly gone but the gate at the corral had a decent knot. Besides, there were no trees and the ground was full of rocks. JT would have none of it. The only trees available were right by the river bed, too close for comfort. We put a time limit as to how far we would go searching. If we did not find something better, we could come back to this place.

[ame="http://youtu.be/i6G_cm3fmcA"]FILE1300 - YouTube[/ame]
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dao
stingray said:
Here he is in action during an adventure in New Mexico. He always has a lot of wine around him.......
100_0425-L.jpg
Click to expand...

That was the best fed rides I've been on. We eat & drank well. :sun:

Thank to all y'all for doing this ride & the report. :clap: :rider:
 
First of all, thank you all for the nice comments. I do appreciate it!

End of the 2nd day of riding is approaching fast and we are looking for a place to crash, I mean spend the night. No crashing allowed on this trip. Help, according to the SPOT people could be 15 hours away, if we are lucky. In case you are wondering, no, it won't be the Coast Guard or US National Guard. It would be the Mexican Army of some sort!. Anyhow, most likely it would be a beaten up truck that one of us had to go look for and pay a huge amount of US dollars to extract the pour soul and his bike.
We eventually ran into this nice place that, although still close to the river bed, offered some level of cover, if no one was looking our way. Scott and I waited by the river bed while JT and Iz went to explore the possibilities. They radioed us things were looking good and we joined them.
The first image is the abandoned ranch we stopped by. the rest are from camp 1 1/2.

IMG_1030-L.jpg


IMG_6980-L.jpg


Scott setting up his tent!

IMG_1031-L.jpg


IMG_1032-L.jpg


IMG_1033-L.jpg


IMG_1034-L.jpg


View to the back of the camp

IMG_1035-L.jpg


IMG_1036-L.jpg


IMG_1037-L.jpg


View from the dried river bed

IMG_1038-L.jpg


IMG_1039-L.jpg

IMG_6983-L.jpg


IMG_6981-L.jpg


IMG_6977-L.jpg


JT could not find a suitable tree so he decided to only use his tarp and a sleeping bag. I was concerned that he was too close to the dead tree. They are usually full of scorpions and tarantulas. He did not care! He had plenty of tequila left. He won't be feeling a thing by the time he go to bed.

IMG_6978-L.jpg


JT using whatever is available to fix his broken boot.

IMG_6973-L.jpg


Getting ready for dinner!

IMG_6975-L.jpg
 
The night came and we had to light up the bikes. No need to carry extra stuff such as Tequila, Jack Daniels, food, or any extra weight. So, we pulled out what we got left on our saddles and bags and took care of it properly.
IMG_4741-L.jpg


IMG_4742-L.jpg


The next morning started as a cold one, but not as cold as the first one.

IMG_4744-L.jpg


IMG_4747-L.jpg


We eventually got our stuff together and took off toward what would have been camp 2, a site near the Peguis canyon. I was excited about this place because, according to the tracks on the GPS, we would be very close to a place where we could be right at the edge of the canyon or so. I have seen the canyon from a canoe point of view, but not from the top. I would let Iz post the pictures from that trip. Not many of us, I was betting, have been there, so it was exited to think we would the firsts.
 
Tourmeister said:
I had pretty much the same thought... I suck at finding and fixing electrical problems. I'd almost rather sell a bike at a loss and get a new one that try to fix electrical problems :-P
Click to expand...

Not to hijack an excellent ride report, but I agree, sadly the 990 is sitting due to electrical problems:( Hasn't been on road in a month. I don't have time or knowledge,lol. Shame on me. Back to ride report now! Sorry
 
We knew that we were close to civilization because of the tire marks on the river bed. Also, we heard truck noises on the distance that night and the GPS indicated we were close to some sort of village. It did not take us too long before we hit a small town called by the locals La Mula, oir Prado del something I can not remember. I stopped by a house where I saw a couple of guys getting into a truck and asked them where we could find fuel. They were happy to point me in the right direction and I communicated the info to the rest. We found the place and gassed up.

IMG_6985-L.jpg

IMG_6986-L.jpg


As this fellow was filling up the bikes, we talked for a bit and he was telling me that he used to live in Colorado and did construction work. Then he moved to Dallas and was part of a construction crew and was trying to learn English on his spare time using community based resources. He told me that he could understand a lot but talking was pretty hard for him. He decided to come back to this place and told me that he was happy working at this shop. He had no worries and was surviving just fine.

We paid our bill and took off on the main highway. I can remember the hwy number but soon after we got out of town we ran into a an Army checkpoint. I went first and had a little conversation with the soldier in charge. He asked me the usual questions, where do we come from?, where are we heading?, any guns, drugs, etc? He saw my helmet camera and asked me if I have been filming. I told him it was off since we were doing just hwy. He them smile and said, "if you are going from here to Ojinaga via the sierras you are going to have something to film". Off we went and turned left into a dirt road.

We follow this road for most of the day but it didn't stay as a road for too long.
 
This track took us quite some time to go through. We hit many gates and we established the system of, first to get to it opens it and the one following would go to the next one and open it. The track would get difficult in some areas and then it would become passable for a high clearance vehicle. In one the many gates I came first upon a Cherokee that was pulling a trailer. I was surprised to see a vehicle since we haven't seen one since day one on the route. They were in the process of closing the gate when I came upon them. My first impression was that they were military. The whole outfit was camo and the two passangers on the front seat were wearing camo jackets and pants. They were also wearing aviator sunglasses and big mustaches. I pulled aside next to their front window and stop to say hi. I was a bit nervous since I did not know what to expect. A third man had gotten out of the vehicle and was behind the trailer. The rest of the guys were a few yards behind me waiting to see what was going to happen. Of course, after I said the requiered "Buenas Tardes, como les va", they proceeded to ask me what we were doing around there. I told them what our plan was since there was not much of a choice there and they were kind of okay with it. They just told me to make sure we close all the gates. I then asked them what they were doing around there and they told me they were hunting gringos that were riding red bikes and were trespassing. Fortunately I was riding an orange KTM so I pointed them in the right direction. They told me that that rider didn't look like a gringo so they just left. The guy who was standing behind the vehicle came out and got into their vehicle. He had a side holster with what looked like a 45 revolver. This is the first time in Mexico that I see a civilian looking fellow sporting a side arm. They were dear hunting!

[ame="http://youtu.be/mGXFnqP6Q5k"]FILE1307 - YouTube[/ame]

Ahead of us was an area that had us making all kind of hypothesis about what could it be. If you look at this area from Google Earth, you can see that it looks like a pattern of roads that had no end. Tracks go on every direction but to nowhere. It is kind of weird.
 
This is just a small sample of those tracks I mentioned before. They are all over the place and we could not figure out why. As we rode on we passed a small structure that looked brand new or recently built. We have heard stories of a Chinese base back in Terlingua years back. Some drunk fellow at La Kiva was going on and on about a Chinese base been built across the Rio Bravo and about where we were. All we saw was this :

IMG_1042-L.jpg


and more of this

IMG_1041-L.jpg


We were getting closer to what would have been camp 2. We could see it on the distance.
IMG_1043-L.jpg
 
We got to an intersection of the road where there was a new looking corral made out of welded steel pipe painted red or maybe yellow and an abandoned looking ranch house. We were running out of daylight. Our plan now was to make it to Terlingua at a decent time and find a hotel room at the El Dorado, have dinner at the Starlight and maybe have a drink at La Kiva if we were very very lucky. Chances of the later were very but very small. We would settle for the Boathouse. Anyhow, we had to make a decision about checking out what would have been camp 2 or leave it to our imagination. We decided to give it 25 minutes to check it out. If we did not get to it for whatever reason, we would turn around and head to Ojinaga. So, we went on and this is what we ran into.

[ame="http://youtu.be/MPUaT1HCOBE"]FILE1314 - YouTube[/ame]

We went on this track for a while and we kind of like it. It was challenging but not too bad. Like the man said, it wed our peaks! we kept riding and seeing what it looked like the beginning of a canyon. We hit a couple of false peaks and we went up and down for a while already passing our 25 minutes window. We reach a small canyon but it was not it. We were already mostly there but we had another hill to climb, or so we thought.
The place was full of rocks and it looked like flash-flood had recently hit the place. We walked around a bit scouting the place for a way to get across and we found it.
 
Even though it looked like it was going to be a lot of work, we went for it. We were mostly in so no reason to pull out. Like Bill Crystal said in the Princess Pride, "he is not dead!, he is mostly dead!". JT been the adventurer went first follow by the rest of us.

[ame="http://youtu.be/Jh6m_GOKojc"]FILE1316 - YouTube[/ame]
 
Mudd Missile said:
This track took us quite some time to go through. I was surprised to see a vehicle since we haven't seen one since day one on the route. They were in the process of closing the gate when I came upon them. My first impression was that they were military. The whole outfit was camo and the two passangers on the front seat were wearing camo jackets and pants. They were also wearing aviator sunglasses and big mustaches. I then asked them what they were doing around there and they told me they were hunting gringos. The guy who was standing behind the vehicle came out and got into their vehicle. He had a side holster with what looked like a 45 revolver.
Click to expand...

It is all in the context of the story.

:rofl:

RB
 
We all went across and spotted each other just to make sure there would be no broken legs or bikes been so close to the end of the trip. We still had some ground to cover so Izz went ahead and check out a possible gate that we could see from the bottom. He radioed us letting us know that everything was kosher and we headed out to join him.

[ame="http://youtu.be/DdBkrYP1GVs"]FILE0840 - YouTube[/ame]

After this climb we headed down for a few more minutes till we reached another abandoned looking ranch that was our camp 2. We passed it and headed out to a possible single track trail that could lead us to Peguis canyon. At the end of the trail we stopped at the head of a single track trail. We quickly determined that it was better to hike it than to ride it.

IMG_1045-L.jpg

IMG_1046-L.jpg


IMG_1047-L.jpg


IMG_4754-L.jpg


IMG_4755-L.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top