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Make Life A Ride !
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Sena 10C Evo Videos
These are the different Sena videos (using an EVO 10C EVo camera on my helmet) that I took during our trip.
Day 1 - Dallas, TX to Del Rio, TX
Day 2 - Del Rio, TX to Saltillo, MX through USA/MX Border Crossing Acuna, MX Piedras Negras, MX
Crossing the bridge into Mexico
Day 3 - Saltillo, MX to San Luis Potosi, MX through Ruta 20
Ruta 20 in the middle of the rain
Day 4 - San Luis Potosi, MX to Guanajato, MX through Hidalgo, MX
Arriving in Guanajuato, MX with tunnels
Arriving at hotel in Guanajuato, MX
Day 5 - Guanajuato, MX to Tamazunchale, MX
Day 6 - Tamazunchale, MX to Jalpan de Serra, MX through Xilitla and Las Pozas
Going down steep hill close to Las Pozas, MX
Riding in Sierra Gorda on way to Jalpan de Serra
Day 7 - Jalpan de Serra, MX to Real de Catorce, MX
Police and military presence in Jalpan de Serra
Riding in formation in the Sierra Gorda
Truck accident in the middle of the road
Cobblestone road towards Real de Catorce, MX
On the hill approaching Real de Catorce, MX
Entering and riding in the tunnel in Real de Catorce, MX
Arriving at hotel in Real de Catorce, MX
Day 8 - Real de Catorce, MX to Monterrey, MX
On the hill leaving Real de Catorce, MX
Curves close to Saltillo, MX on the Highway 57
Day 9 - Monterrey, MX to San Antonio, TX
Leaving Monterrey, MX with sunrise
Truckers sleeping on he side of the road
Truck traffic north of Monterrey, MX
Hammered by the wind on the way to Colombia Bridge
Hammered by the wind on the way to Colombia Bridge 2
Hammered by the wind on the way to Colombia Bridge 3
Day 9 - Monterrey, MX to San Antonio, TX
At dawn we had our bikes packed up and left the hotel and were surprised that even though it was very early on a Saturday there was already a lot of traffic. �As we traveled north, we were able to enjoy the sunrise on our left and by the time the sun was up we ere already on the outskirts of the city.
The travel to the border was done on Highway 85 where we had to pay tolls a number of times but we made good time. The amount of trucks on the road is amazing as this is main corridor for this type of traffic between this very industrial area in Mexico and the United States. We had to be quite careful as our motorcycles as big as they are compared to other motorcycles are no match for these 18 wheelers.
We had decided to cross the the Mexico-US border at Colombia bridge which turned out to be a great idea as there was little traffic and we made good time. The first process was to export the bikes from Mexico, which would release our $400 deposit per bike back to our accounts and then we had to get through immigration in the United States. All went very smoothly and we were riding north already in US soil before 12pm.
Paula and I needed to only do another 160 miles (260 kms) to get to San Antonio; TX where we would spend the night and Paula would get a flight back to Dallas, TX in the morning and I would need to do another 500 miles to get to the Big Bend National Park on the South-West corner of Texas.
Bo, Dave, Colin and Craig had another 450 miles (720 kms) to go as they wanted to get home by Saturday night.
We arrived safely in San Antonio, TX in about two hours and still had time to go to the River Walk where we had a late lunch/early dinner and by the time we got back to the hotel we started getting the messages that everybody had arrived safely at home.
I really enjoyed our trip where the main highlights for me was our first dinner in Los Compadres in Saltillo, MX, riding the Ruta 20, the beautiful city of Guanajuato, MX, riding in the Sierra Gorda, seeing the rain forest and Las Pozas and go back in time and experience the unique town of Real de Catorce, MX.
Make Life A Ride !
Friday, April 9, 2021
Day 8 - Real de Catorce, MX to Monterrey, MX
This would be the last night we spent in Mexico and we decided to do it in the city of Monterrey, MX.
But first we had to deal with leaving Real de Catorce, MX with loaded motorcycles which was another adventure. I specially enjoyed riding over the cobblestones with our GSA. What fun …
We approached the city of Monterey from the West and we would need to cross it to the North East. This city is one of the most developed and livable cities in Mexico and because of its proximity to the United States it is the base of many international corporations. Interesting to note that its GDP per capita is twice that of the national average. This meant that there was a lot of traffic that we had to deal with at over 100F temperatures. As we arrived at our hotel they had a little device that is supposed to measure body temperature (for COVID purposes) and our bodies glowed bright orange all over.
As we were enjoying the air-condition environment this part of the city got impacted by a major power shortage and we had to wait a couple of hours, under generator power, until the full power came back on.
The Holiday Inn where we stayed was quite new with great amenities and we specially enjoyed a great dinner.
After the power came back the rooms were nicely rolled down and we had a great night sleep.
Make Life A Ride !
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Day 7 - Jalpan de Serra, MX to Real de Catorce, MX
After spending the first hour dealing with the curves in the Sierra Gorda the road straightened out as we made our way North.
Eventually we reached the Highway 57 and slab it to Matehuala, MX where we took Ruta 62 and about 17 miles north of Real de Catorce we hit the cobblestones. It’s not easy to reach this former silver mining town, but as a fan of Wild West-style ghost towns, for me it was worth the effort and one of the highlights of this trip.
After the 17-mile cobblestone road we journey along a narrow 1.5-mile-long tunnel that is not for the faint of heart specially behind old Mexican cars with high carbon emissions. Once we went through the tunnel we felt like we had entered the twilight zone, gone back in tiie and we were in an episode of Westworld.
We parked the motorcycles in probably the most interesting hotel in our trip. It had a big patio in the back that overlooked the mountains and we saw the most beautiful and serene sunset.
As we still had some time before the sun went down we went to walk the town and see the church. We felt the rich history and that every corner had a story to tell.
Horses, sometimes with people on them, roam the streets and the sounds of their hooves on the cobblestones brought back memories of western moves I had watched as a young boy. The roads are very steep and slippery and walking or horse riding is the best way to get around town.
I wished we had at least another day or two in this unique town to see the many unusual sites in the area.
Make Life A Ride !
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Day 6 - Tamazunchale, MX to Jalpan de Serra, MX through Xilitla and Las Pozas
Another full day deep into the Sierra Gorda and the highlight of this day was the visit to Las Pozas in Xilitla, MX.
“Las Pozas ("the Pools"), near the village of Xilitla, more than 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level, in a subtropical rainforest in the mountains of Mexico, is a garden created by Edward James, an eccentric English poet. It includes more than 80 acres (32 ha) of natural waterfalls and pools interlaced with towering Surrealist sculptures in concrete.”
We spent about 2 hours visiting Las Pozas and were mightily impressed with the level of creativity and surrealism.
It is a unique place to see the over 30 Surrealist-inspired concrete sculptures “ranging from plant sculptures to winding staircases to nowhere, and cathedral inspired screens — some ornately finished, others seemingly incomplete, although it is unclear if they were ever intended to be “finished.”
We arrived at the site at 10am but we were only able to start the tour at 1pm so we stayed in a nearby restaurant, where we also had lunch, enjoying the tropical forest all around us.
The ride to Jalpan de Sierra was another one through many curves and very enjoyable.
Jalpan de Serra is also the site two of five Franciscan missions, including the first one, to have been built in the mid-18th century, and declared a World Heritage Site in 2003. Our hotel was just on the other side of the road of this beautiful church.
The Hotel Mission is very nice and we would highly recommend it. It has a pool that helped us decrease our very hot body temperature after riding at 110F (43C) and we stayed in for dinner on the inside patio of the hotel.
While we were having fun dining in the pool, walking in the main municipal square and seeing the church, a close by “lavandaria” did our laundry which cost $3.60 and they even delivered last thing in the day to our hotel.
Our hotel room that evening smelled of freshly washed clothes.
Make Life A Ride !
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Day 5 - Guanajuato, MX to Tamazunchale, MX
This would be one of our longest days on the motorcycle, even though in terms of miles we would only have to do 285 miles (460kms). The reason being the thousands of curves we would encounter as we made our way through the Sierra Gorda mountains.
So we left Guanajuato at the crack of dawn after negotiating with the hotel to have a driver come one hour earlier to move the cars so we could take out the bikes. We made it !
The Sierra Gorda is extremely rugged with high steep mountains and deep canyons with a very wide diversity of plant and animal life, which is due to the various micro environments created by the ruggedness of the terrain and wide variation in rainfall. This area is the second most populated natural protected area in Mexico, and it has severe problems with poverty.
For lunch we stopped in Zimapán which is the largest city in the Hidalgo portion of the Sierra Gorda. and was founded in 1522. It is primarily a mining center, extracting various metals and stones from the steep mountains that surround it. We had difficulty in finding a suitable restaurant but eventually we found Los Arcos and were very well served. We left the bikes outside under the watchful eye of a guard that we convinced to take care of them.
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing curve after curve and as we had communication working between us we kept commenting how well the curves were designed for our motorcycles. It was an absolute blast of a day of riding with the only problem being the very high heat and humidity that we encountered as we entered the rain forest.
When we arrived at the town of Tamazunchale, I can say we were happy to get off the bikes and just relax in our air-conditioned rooms.
Make Life A Ride !
Monday, April 5, 2021
Day 4 - San Luis Potosi, MX to Guanajato, MX through Hidalgo, MX
This would be the second shortest day of our trip (120 miles or 200 kms) as we wanted to arrive early in Guanajuato and enjoy the city.
We left at around 10am.
Our ride took us through the city of Hidalgo, MX where we were supposed to have lunch but unfortunately there was too much traffic and the police did not allow us to park the bike close to the main plaza so we decided to skip the stop there and go directly to Guanajuato and have lunch there.
The approach to Guanajuato from the north is amazing. The road (Ruta 110) is full of curves and the view of the city on the hills from afar is very nice. The main spectacles are the churches and the amazing colors of the houses.
Something I was not aware is that there is a maze of tunnels under the city called the Guanajuato tunnels which are a series of wide channels that extend under the city and help divert traffic away from the city centre. These tunnels were not primary constructed for traffic, but as a diversion for the Guanajuato River to prevent flooding to the early mining town. I was amazed how Bo with some help of a GPS that only worked now and then was able to work his way through this maze and take us to the hotel which was right in the center. We also had parking inside the hotel which we had to share with cars and we could only take the bikes out with two drivers moving the cars (more of that in tomorrow’s post).
Hotel Posada Santa Fe has a fantastic location and although a bit expensive by Mexican standards, I would recommend it just because of whee it is. Inaugurated in 1892, it offers a colonial type of experience in the historical centre. We were just in front of a garden and for the evening we had dinner in the outside patio where we were able to enjoy the mariachis and other street musicians that came around to show their art.
We had lunch at La Bohemia which has a view of the plaza from the first floor but we stayed downstairs. The food was good.
For $3, we took the funicular from the back of Teatro Juárez to the Monument to El Pípila on the mountains overlooking Guanajuato. It is a fast and entertaining ride straight up. The best part is watching the panoramic view of this beautiful city reveal itself. I would strongly recommend this if you are ever in this city. The views from the top and amazing and I specially liked looking down at the cathedral and the University next to it with its 83 steps which insures its students get an education and also a workout. The University was constructed during the 1940s from locally quarried granite. It has a gorgeous off-white color and a striking contrast to the red and yellow from the 16th century church adjacent.
We finished the day by taking a stroll through the city and enjoying mingling with the locals.
I have travelled extensively in Mexico and I would agree with a lot of people that say that Guanajuato is Mexico’s most beautiful city.
Make Life A Ride !
Sunday, April 4, 2021
Day 3 - Saltillo, MX to San Luis Potosi, MX through Ruta 20
I was specially excited about this day as we would be doing one of the best roads for motorcycle riding that we would encounter in our trip. This is the Ruta 20 that connects Arteaga, MX on the West to Santiago, MX on the East.
We left the hotel just after sunrise and our plan was to have breakfast in Santiago, MX.
Just as we were entering the most twisty section of the Ruta 20 were stopped by two policemen (one woman who was in charge and a man). She quickly told us we were not allowed to travel through the Ruta 20 because they had had a major fire and were not allowing anyone through but residents. That had a big impact in our great plans so we just huddled and started to see what other routes we would take to get back to San Luis Potosi. Unfortunately without being able to go east we would have to stay on the Highway 57 (so boring …).
I then had an idea … while I was planning for this day, I contacted a number of people in the area and knew about the fire and even got to speak to a colonel in the Mexican police (all through contacts of Mexican motorcyclists) that told us that the road was NOT closed. So I went back to the police woman, dropped the name of the colonel and explained to her what he had told me and asked her if she knew him and that I would get him on the phone. To be honest, I do not know if this did it or if she just took it upon herself to be helpful to a handful of motorcyclists, the bottom line is that 10 minutes after we were stopped and were ready to turn around, she called me and told me that she had received authorization for us to get through. We were over the moon and even asked her if we could hug her with respect. She agreed and some of us did it.
Onto the bikes and onward we went and what a spectacular ride we did. The terrain is up and down, left and right and we were also presented with the devastation of the fire in part of the way.
As we were going down the mountain we saw a nice place to stop the bikes and found a house with two ladies that cooked us a fantastic breakfast … eggs, beans, bread, coffee, crepes etc, etc all for $20 for the 6 of us. Amazing !
Bo stayed behind and we went up ahead and he sent the drone up to film us as we went into a beautiful canyon.
Unfortunately towards the end of the road, the weather changed and we got rained upon and had to significantly slow down our pace to ensure we made it safely to Santiago, MX.
We have hundreds of photos to choose from and this will be a ride that will stay ingrained in my mind for a long time. Highly recommended !
After finishing the Ruta 20, we turned South towards Linares, MX and then turned back West towards Galeana, MX. This road (Ruta 58) was also very nice. Curves were a bit more wide than the Ruta 20 and we could go at faster speeds and make up the time we had lost in the rain.
We eventually met with Highway 57 and turned South again and went through Matehuala and arrived in San Luis Potosi still during daylight.
Unfortunately our hotel did not have parking so we had to park the bikes in another hotel and walk about a mile back to the hotel.
That evening we stayed in the Plaza de Armas (center of the city where the big cathedral is) and went to dinner in a nice steak house.
This is the second time we have stayed at Hotel San Francisco and we would recommend it as a very nice hotel in a great location and excellent prices.
Make Life A Ride !
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Day 2 - Del Rio, TX to Saltillo, MX through USA/MX Border Crossing Acuna, MX Piedras Negras, MX
This would be our first day in Mexico and we would cross the border at Del Rio and Ciudad Acuna. We needed to do about 75 miles (120 kms) to Allende, MX where we would do the immigration and customs for the bikes.
Crossing into a Mexican city (Ciudad Acuna) from the USA is always an interesting experience because the colors and type of commercial establishments changes dramatically. I always enjoy seeing how countries so close by can be so different on each side of an imaginary line.
Riding in this part of Mexico was very calm as there was not much traffic.
We made it with no issues to Allende and all was going smooth until the young lady that was attending me realized that in the passport I had four names whereas in the motorcycle documents I only had three names (by the way these three names were all present in the four names in the passport). Based on this discrepancy, she tells me I am not allowed to get the motorcycle into Mexico. Fortunately she gives me an option and that is to go to the customs office Piedras Negras, MX which is 40 miles (60kms) one way to get a signature that authorizes her to give me the correct documents.
So Bo and Dave go on ahead to the orphanage in Sabinas, MX as we had brought a whole lot of stuff for the kids and Greg, Colin, Paula and I make our way to Piedras Negras, MX. When I get to the customs office a young lady looks at the document and signs it in 30 seconds so we make our way back to Allende, MX get the documents squared away and go in search of Bo and Dave. They, in the meantime went to the orphanage but were not allowed to get in due to Covid so they delivered the packages and came to meet with us in a very nice restaurant on the north side of Sabinas, MX. We had a very nice lunch, our first in Mexican soil and continued on our way.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent on the Highway 57 making up miles fast but without much to see.
We stayed in a very nice and cozy hotel in Saltillo, MX … The hotel Colonial San Miguel. Boasting a terrace with a nice pool close by and the rooms opening up to the terrace. Bo was able to do a very nice session with the drone and as we were leaving to go for dinner we met a bride and a groom that we took pictures with and suggested an amazing restaurant for our dinner that evening. Los Compadres turned out to be a great restaurant where we shared a parrillada - plate with a variety of meats that are grilled. We even had a session of photos with Mexican hats and dulce de leche dessert.
It was the perfect evening to start the bonding process between the six of us.
Make Life A Ride !
Friday, April 2, 2021
Day 1 - Dallas, TX to Del Rio, TX
On this day we all left from our homes and made our way South. The plan was to meet at Brady, TX for lunch at around 11.30am.
The restaurant that we had chosen was called The Locker Sports Bar and Grill. They had just opened under new management and we were quite happy with the quality of food and service. The restaurant belongs to this young couple ... the husband is the cook and the wife is up front taking care of the customers.
Shrimp was the main dish, served a number of different ways and it was very fresh and tasty.
All together we made our way more South and everything was going ok until all of a sudden Dave slows down and stops on the side of the road. His back tire had hit something and had a big slice on it. We pulled the bike to the side of the road and Dave started calling around and finally found a tire that fitted his wheel.
We took off his wheel and Greg, Paula and I made our way towards Del Rio (we were about one hour away) and Colin, Bo and Dave stayed with their bikes on the side of the road.
Greg stayed at T&T Cycles installing the new tire and I took Paula to the Best Western in Del Rio.
By the time I got back to T&T Cycles, the wheel was ready with the new tire and we must give 5 stars to the way we were treated by this motorcycle dealership. They were great !
We then made our way back to meet with the guys, put the wheel back and all together came to the hotel where we arrived just before sunset.
For the evening we went to have dinner at Don Marcelino, a Mexican restaurant which was fine.
We went to bed quite early as next morning we needed to be at breakfast at 6:30 and leave the hotel at around 7:00 as we had a long day ahead with a border crossing.
Make Life A Ride !
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