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The Wild Bunch In The Remote Backcountry of Mexico's Sierra Gorda

Wonderful attention to details
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The Hostal del Cafe

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Forgive me for the watermarks. They are leftover from the Roxy Roca uploads.
 
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Alejandro's father was a Spainard, I forget what part, who came to Mexico after the Spanish Civil war.

A forgotten and tragic war where Hitler got to test out all his military might and strategies while the west stood by and watched.

I visited Spain under Franco's rule many times and the wounds were still very visible. I would imagine Alejandro's father was a Republican sadly forced to flee his homeland. More good reading would be George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia."
 
Think I've read something about Guernica. There was an artist that did a famous painting about it too. Can't remember who
 
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Days into a moto trip on great bikes with great guys you know down deep you're going to cherish that experience for a long, long time.

This trip after that ride from Agua Zarca to Tilaco and then overnight in Las Lagunitas on Mx 120 cemented that reality.

Motorbikes are the equivalent of horses of the day. They may throw a shoe from time to time and they need their care and feeding, but when you and your iron steed go through something together, there is a bond.

If you the casual reader are going to try a route from this report, I highly, highly recommend you get a hold of the .gpx file on the route between Agua Zarca and Tilaco. It will as good a ride as you will ever do in Mexico.

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Side Note: Check out the buildings in the background and note all the political banners. They were everywhere we went.

And remember: Vote Juliana! :deal :freaky[/QUOTE]
 
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Highly recommended to always check the weather with a professional Mexican TV weather girl on each and every trip :deal:
 
If you the casual reader are going to try a route from this report, I highly, highly recommend you get a hold of the .gpx file on the route between Agua Zarca and Tilaco. It will as good a ride as you will ever do in Mexico.
And I say just go. You don't need those stinkin' tracks. Just go and be open to the experience.
:trust:
 
I would imagine Alejandro's father was a Republican sadly forced to flee his homeland. More good reading would be George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia."
When Alejandro told me the story of his dad's immigration, I mentioned Hemingway, and Alejandro replied Orwell.
 
Day 6 - Putting an exclamation point on it

So far on this ride of discovery the roads and adventure had been everything I hoped they would be. If that was all, if we didn't discover any other great roads as we slowly worked our way back to Texas I would have been completely happy with the way things had gone. But luckily Mexico wasn't done with us and had one last bit of great riding in store for us today.

JT and I had been discussing our planned route for the day with the owner of La Posada. There was a major river in our way and the owner believed the road did not actually cross it. If he was correct, it meant a very long, time-eating backtrack.

Further, I had been studying the terrain northwest of Jalpan and lusting over the density of the dirt roads in that area. We had not included that area in our original plan because it was pretty far out of the way. But since our plans had changed so dramatically, it was now very feasible to ride that area. JT and I discussed it and decided to go for it. Sweet!

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Breakfast today was courtesy of the hotel restaurant and consisted of the standard staples of eggs and beans.
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We hadd riddend the section of Hwy 120 west to Jalpan earlier in the trip but once past Jalpan it was all new to us. And as good as Hwy 120 is to Jalpan it, unbelievably, is even better west of Jalpan. What a fantastic section of pavement! Highly recommended.
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In addition to being exhilaratingly twisty, the road also climbs to serious altitude. I kept checking my GPS and the highest I saw was 8300 feet. At about 6500 in height we reached the clouds and spent an hour or so riding in the fog.

Passing through the beautiful town of Pinal de Amoles we had to stop and take a picture. And add an insulating layer. Pinal de Amoles is about 7000 feet and was about 55 degrees or so when we arrived.
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West of Pinal the road started to drop in elevation. A few miles outside of town we dropped below the cloud ceiling, meaning better visibility and a dry road.
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In the town of Camargo we turned north to explore the dirt roads that had lured us here. And they didn't disappoint. For the next several hours we were treated to superb riding and beautiful panoramic landscapes.
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This picture of Stingray Scott pretty much sums up our emotional reaction to today's riding.
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We passed through a few little villages as we rode. This one welcomed all who travelled this way.
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This section of road appears to be abandoned. It leads into a small village so there must be another, newer road that the locals are now using to get into town. In any case, this section was particularly fun.
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Here is what that abandoned section of road looks like from a distance. I took this picture as we climbed out of the valley where the town is located.
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The views continued to impress.
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Time for a break. I believe this was the village of Alpujarras.
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We rode another hour and a half or so of dirt and then arrived at Hwy 69. That was the last dirt I rode on this trip. We were headed for the town of Tamasopo and even though the map showed some dirt roads between here and there, they all turned out to be paved. Fun riding, but not to the same level as we had enjoyed earlier. But at least there were cows on the road. :lol2:
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The Hollywood of Mexico.
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Okay, not really. But the sign is nice.


Our hotel accommodations in Tamasopo.
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What did we do when we found a rare wi-fi hot spot? Catch up on email, text messages, and other such things.
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Hey, look at that! A sighting as rare as a clear photo of Bigfoot. Yep, that's Milton, finally rejoining the group. His bike fixed and his elbow working.
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The Last Day - for me

Morning in Tamasopo.
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The building codes appear to be vastly different than those in Texas.
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What are these plants?
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How do they make orange juice in Mexico? By freshly squeezing it. Most places that serve orange juice seemed to serve it fresh. And it was delicious.
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At breakfast, Milton showed off his elbow. Black and blue from wrist to bicep.
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Roof dog. Barking at everyone who passes by. I don't know why there are roof dogs in Mexico but there are. And barking at you as you walk by is what they do.
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There was considerable debate amongst the group about what to do next. JT, Chuck, and Milton wanted to take the next two days and ride a circuitous route north to Galeana and then slab it to Texas from there. In contrast, I was done and advocated that we take a more direct route to the border. Eventually, we decided the best solution was to split the group. Milton headed off to explore the area around Bustamante. JT and Chuck peeled off once we arrived in Ciudad Victoria so they could ride the road from Santa Engracia to General Zaragoza. Bob, Scott, and I made a beeline for the border.

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This is sugar cane territory. There were miles and miles of fields of sugar cane. Workers manually cut the cane in the fields.
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It is then loaded in large trailers.
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And hauled to the sugar cane factory.
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Not much story to tell after this for my group of three. We rode back to Reynosa, processed ourselves and our bikes out of the country, and overnighted in McAllen. The other guys will have to fill you in on their continuing adventures.

In summary, I would have to say this is one of my three best motorcycling trips ever, rivalling my trip to Copper Canyon and the first ride to Galeana. It's a long ride so I don't expect lots of adventure riders to venture to the areas we went. But for those that do, I expect they will discover it was well worth the effort.
 
Well that was awesome, thanks guys for reconnaissance work, beautiful photographs & great ride report. Next question is; when will MexTrek II be available for purchase?

:thumb:
 
Re: The Last Day - for me

Roof dog. Barking at everyone who passes by. I don't know why there are roof dogs in Mexico but there are. And barking at you as you walk by is what they do.
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They have 'em in Peru also. I don't know why but they do.
 
Re: The Last Day - for me

There was considerable debate amongst the group about what to do next. JT, Chuck, and Milton wanted to take the next two days and ride a circuitous route north to Galeana and then slab it to Texas from there. In contrast, I was done and advocated that we take a more direct route to the border. Eventually, we decided the best solution was to split the group. Milton headed off to explore the area around Bustamante. JT and Chuck peeled off once we arrived in Ciudad Victoria so they could ride the road from Santa Engracia to General Zaragoza. Bob, Scott, and I made a beeline for the border.
All sugar coated. Hee hee. Even among the best of friends there can be differences of opinion. And this was one of those times. I can remember being so upset with Richard I snapped. Yup. That's what I done.
I said I'll just go back on my own. Kinda felt like a mutiny. Or desertion.
Feeling there were too many cooks in the kitchen, or too many Indian chiefs, as my mom used to say, I muttered under my breath, "There are too many brains in this outfit."
TricePilot, ever the gran payaso, overheard and snapped "That's why they invited me, to kinda even things out."
 
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Falling is easy offroad, it´s the "getting up" part that hurts. I was in a large group of riders 5 or 6 years ago chasing the tail lamps of some quads and slid into some muddy ruts and bam I slammed down into the mud on my left arm. My arm looked like Milton´s.

Some younger riders behind me stopped and was kidding me about being too old to ride like that. An older respected rider in the group turned to the young guys and said something like this: "El piloto que se levanta es aún más grande que el piloto que no ha caido."

...The rider who gets up is bigger than the one who never falls. I´ll never forget that.
 
I had just lucked into the Hostal del Café.

Alejandro in his wonderful library. I've always wanted a room like this.
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Holed up in Xilitla. This will do for the night
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What a great find Milton!!! :sun: Wish things worked out different, I enjoy your company - that didn't sound right! enjoy your conversation!!!
 
...Milton!!! :sun: Wish things worked out different, I enjoy your company

I was fortunate to have filmed Chuck and Milton's reunion. Here it is
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwXanLZfvrQ"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwXanLZfvrQ[/ame]
 
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