A Mexican Adventure Expedition

[LaOutbackTrail]

Two of us planned a trek into Mexico after Christmas.

Two of us planned the trek. Three of us went on this adventure. Our stallions were six fifties. Nearly 150 combined horsepower.

We kicked butt on this ride because we are some bad mo-fo's. We did what they told us not to. We camped with coyotes howling outside our tents. We plucked cactus thorns from our boots and tires.

The Plan was to have no plan. We just went for an ride in Mexico. No routes. No Schedule.




Here be me.

Here be Richard on his seisciento cincuenta caballo-

oh wait... thats just a friendly Mexican.

Here is Richard.

And Don Quixote himself. Clueless as ever. Slow and steady. He fought off killer cactus windmills with a hunting knife.

LOGISTICS
Hidalgo border crossing (McAllen to Reynosa)
Insurance purchased online through Sanbourns
Temporary Vehicle Importation Permits purchased in advance through Banjercito.

Bikes
1997 Honda XR650L

• Dirtbagz saddlebags, Wolfman Enduro Tankbag, TUSK atv tank panniers, Ortlieb dry duffle bag.
• Acerbis 22L tank
• Kenda Trakmaster II front and rear tires.

2006 Kawasaki KLR650

• Ortlieb Thin Dry Saddlebags. Wolfman Explorer tankbag.
• Continental TKC80 front and rear tires.

2006 BMW F650GS Dakar

• Cortech saddlebags. Walmart dry dufflebag.
• Pirelli MT21 front and rear tires.

(will direct questions' answers here)

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Night number one brought us to McAllen,Tx. 10 hours for Jim and I. Richard, although he lives in Houston, drove down from around Kansas City after visiting the in-laws for the holidays. 18 hours in the car for him.

Day two. We run all the way down to the border.

"You SOBs are slowing me down... don't you know your bank can get you the money before hand?!?"

Not too late...

But now it is. LOCK AND LOAD!

Bienvenidos a Mexico!

 

[Hltoppr]

I'm jealous! My schedule isn't conducive to a springtime Mexico trip on the motorcycle....

...Not to say that I'm not going...in something else...:costumed-smiley-007

Love the mule drawn cart.

-H-

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

I'm jealous! My schedule isn't conducive to a springtime Mexico trip on the motorcycle....

...Not to say that I'm not going...in something else...:costumed-smiley-007

Love the mule drawn cart.

-H-

H,

Planning another one for May. :bike_rider::sombrero:

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

I'll give some details on getting across the border. GO AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! Make an S-curve so the bullets miss your head.
Thats the BS for all the BS-ers sitting at home right now.

The truth for those who are wanting to get going south, do as follows.

I highly recommend getting your vehicle permit online. It only costs about $20 more to do it that way, but should save you a good amount of time.

On the flip side to that, you must still get your tourist permit (visa) which costs $230. That's pesos. But Jim reckoned it was $230 bucks. Poor Don Quixote.

This process may only hold true for the Hidalgo crossing.
1)Go to the Migration counter, give em your passport and they give you form.
2)Fill out paper.
3)Have copies made at next window.
4) Go to Banjercito window and pay your dues.
5) Go back to Migration window and have passport stamped. "Bye-Bye. Vaya con dios!"

Being cute obviously helps you with the process.

Welcome to Mehico.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Yes. Welcome to Mexico. The land of drug runners, angry Mexicans who hate Americans. The land of burros and goats on the road sides. Horse and burro drawn buggies holding up traffic. A place of crazy drivers. A place where you can pass cars in a curve, or a line of cars slowing for topes. You can just about do what you like with little restriction. Yes. This is Mexico.

T-I-M. This is Mexico.

Ok, well the first sentence can only possibly true. I have never met so many friendly people in my life. In this state, coming up on a car while blasting down a dirt road only gets you a dirty face and a bit of aggravation. In Mexico, everyone pulled over to let us pass. Most even gave a friendly honk and a definate wave. T-I-M.

Our first day in Mexico was great. The maps dont match the roads worth a crap... so our navigation was left up to richard and his E132 GPS mapset... he'll give you a speil on that later

Has your wife ever wondered where your winter time oranges come from? Give me her number and I will explain in great detail.

We even had a great lunch.

We had no clue exactly what the meat was, but who the heck cares? It was red meat, char broiled to perfection. Add a little lime and a tortilla and its bliss.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Oh yeah. Bring it on, suckers.
We left off with pavement, a curve, and a sharp drop off. We finally made it to the mountains near Montemorelos. MON tay Mo ray LOS. A zig and a zag later we meet our first switchback.

Exercising the outer muscles of my tire.

Go this way for dirt. Yes. This way Richard. Not that way.

Good dirt. Great dirt. Don't eat dirt.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

This senor came up to check out my caballo. I told him he had a beautiful view from his casa... he says "no."

Old shoes. Nu shews.

Puente de Dios

Enchiladas suizas. good shtuff.

Feliz navidad and prospero ano nuevo.

Us three and then a few guys with backpacks from monterrey.

Thats the first day in Mexico. Amigos.

 

[Rexsname]

Thank you! It does take some effort to stop down and write things down. Thanks for takeing the time.



REX

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Richard tried getting too far ahead of himself/ourselves. One day at a time brother.


Day two. Ask a burro which way.

Ricardo done did told you about Don Quixote enjoying his breakfast bars for breakfast. I read the label on them, 90 calories and something like 1g of protein.

Well what do you know. Early mornin sunlight allows for great photos.
T.I.M.

This is Galeana, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

It was a clear day so we decided it would be a good one to run up Cerro Potosi. 935 meter providence over the area. 12,000 feet overall. Lets get going!
Ricardo's photo is good. Mine is better.

This road is the wrong way for those of you who are going on this ride. You can do it easily on an unloaded seisciento cincuenta, we made good fun of this adventure. Once we got a few miles down we decided we would find our way through to get to Mimbres. Richard's GPS didnt keep up with the Mexicans, so the routes we need to take dead ended.... atleast 5 times.
Como se va a..... eh Los Mimbres? Blank stares.

These guys did their best to direct us the way. He even told me that Ricardo no entiendo bien. I got the drift that we needed to go over the mountain and take a right down a hill.... but never really found the road. They were quite worried that the trail would be too much for our bikes. "Es muy erecta" Bueno!!!!!!
3 trips back to this little village and a hand drawn map later....

we still didnt have anything. We went back and I asked someone closer to the direction we needed to go. They finally told me to go back dosciento metros and un izquierda abajo y mas erecta. :dunno Gracias.

(Gun and machete wilding Mexican. Looks menacing, atop his half HP burro, doesnt he?)

T.I.M.
On our hand drawn map, the guy had "rio pequeno" "si" for this way and a "no" for that way.
Oh here is the rio pequeno.

I stood in the middle of this rio pequeno to bring you this photo.

So, go over the hill from the burro man village. You will then pass the gun/machete wilding Mexican and start up a rocky climb. You will see a trail going off the edge of the cliff. Take that route. :nod

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

This is where we were having to stop and ask directions... notice the number of trips we made???

San Lucios, I guess was the name of the village, but the marker for GE is actually too far west... but you get the idea.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

This really is where the fun started. I enjoy asking directions. It seems like I did a lot whenever Ricardo's GPS led us astray. Didnt too often, but it had its glitches.

This trail is quite rough. Grapefruit rocks everywhere and then there is a gate.

And yes. It is steeper than it looks... especially after you stop to open/close the gate.

Another little ways down the road, is another gate.... and just after the gate, Srta Vaca doesnt like motos. Came around a bend and the cow jumps straight up.... I didnt know whether to go off the cliff or between it and the edge.... I went between and grabbed clutch.

T.I.M.

We get down the road and have lunch. Across the valley are a few homes in ruins.

We had lunch at an old home site too.

This is where I find the giant asparagus.

And after our spam and crackers, we have suckers.

On to Mimbres.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

On to Mimbres.

We missed the harvesting in this valley.

If you look really closely, there be a horse pulling a plow on the hill.

This is Mimbres. My favorite village from this trip. They also have the coldest cokes.

Don Quixote slurping a coke.

Modelo is good cold.

Roadside burros.

Farther up into the mountains, the maiz was still being harvested.

On to the "Dual Sport Double Dragon"

Let me learn you about the lesson I teached myself. DONT screw around with prickley pear. They suck! I saw some on the roadside... went a plucked one off the cactus. Of course I had my gloves on so I didn think anything of it.... until I go to take off. The dang trichomes(thorns on the prickley pear) that blessed me with the irritation and necessity to buy new gloves. My gloves were full of the trichomes. I rode the rest of the day without gloves... and up to 12000ish feet. It sucked. And it sucked to pull the trichomes out of my fingers. Dang trichomes.
********** prickley pears.

 

[adventureduo]

Im speechless. Thanks for sharing. Keep it coming brotha.

 

[Cabrito]

:lurk:
This is good and getting better.

-m