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This is not good. My water bag is a rock. What's
worse is that nothing is open for breakfast. What, no salsa and tortillas?
If that isn't enough, Forrest's bike won't start. These things make for
great memories later, but they sure are a pain in the behind when they are
happening. Well, it's not later. It's the here and now and Forrest's bike
won't start. |
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The battery is fine and the starter is working.
We think that the air filter might be clogged from all the dust yesterday.
Nope, that's not it. Maybe the side stand switch isn't working. Forrest
checks that out while I make a run for ether. The locals are having a good
time running me from store to store looking for something I don't know the
word for. I give up.
Back at the bike the side stand switch is fine. Maybe the bike is just
flooded. We are up pretty high and it was dusty yesterday. The mixture
might not be right. This is one of the reasons I carry a tow strap. We
hook the bikes together and put a show on in the street. My big GS could
haul 10 of these bikes behind it. Three tries and the F650 fires. Two
hours later and we are on our way to Urique. |
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Surprisingly, there are a lot of motorcycles in
Creel. I've easily got the largest dual sport bike and that's a concern.
Most bikes are serious dirt bikes. There is 60 km of pavement and, allegedly,
60 km of dirt to Urique. |
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The pavement takes us to Divisadero and one of
the canyons of the Copper Canyon complex opens before us. This canyon is
huge and deep. The view is beyond belief especially since it is green,
much more so than the Grand Canyon. Wow!
By the canyon are native Indian women selling their hand made wares.
They and their children are busy weaving baskets. We check out the
impressive motel clinging to the edge of the canyon. The lobby is worth a
look as is the beautiful entry. At $200 US a night it is beyond our price
range and we head further south. |
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In San Rafael the road turns to dirt which
matches the town. This place is just plain ugly. The only thing that
numbers more than the kids are the dogs and there are a LOT of kids. This
is the rule in Mexico. Rule #2 is that you don't see many cats. The ones
you do see look as if they could bring down a cow, not that they are big,
they are just tough. |
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If the roads in San Rafael were bad
the ones further south are just painful. They're graded once a year and
this process has just begun. We're traveling on a years worth of wear,
tear and erosion. We take over 2 hours to go 12 miles. The big GS is
geared way too high for some of the hills. I have to gun it to force it up
these hills, zig zagging all the way to find the best line. Sometimes
there aren't any. Rocks are the size of grapefruits. We're so focused on
the road we can't look at the scenery. To complicate matters we aren't
sure if we're on the right road since there are no signs. We pick the
"best" road at the intersections. |
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We make several water crossings.
Here in the states Forrest and I will find the deepest part and go
through. What he didn't tell me, but what should have been obvious, was
that we weren't in the US anymore and discretion was a better choice. I,
of course, go for the deepest part. In one river the bike took are sharp
left and all I could see was down stream and deeper water. My boot smelled
for 3 days after I put it down in that water. |
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| Forrest also gets shot at with a slingshot by
some kids and takes one in the helmet. That's the only reason we wear one.
This is better than being spit on as we were yesterday.
Finally we get to Bahuichivo, still a long way from Unrique. Forrest
decides to get up close and personal with me and runs into the back of my
bike. I had stopped to look at a sign in town just as he started the
accelerate and should have given him more room. The crash was like a
mosquito running into an elephant. Dumbo was fine, but the mosquito got
the worst. Forrest's bike fell to the right over a deep concrete gutter.
This could have been very bad. Forrest, of course, pops right up. Man, the
guy is limber. It takes both of us to stand the bike up. The bags are
worse for the wear, but functional and the rest of the bike is fine. We
were very lucky.
Because of the slow going, the lack of daylight and the lack of gas (81
octane was all we could find), we elect to head back. This was the hardest
decision of the trip for me since the scenery ahead is supposed to be
phenomenal and because I'm too hard headed to turn around. It's still the
best choice since it involves our safety and the integrity of the bikes.
This would be a bad place to be broke down or injured. |
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We are back to the funkiest bridge I've ever
seen. It's made from train track rails which are stacked side by side.
Some are higher than others. There is no guard rail and I paddle walk the
bike across as the rails shift under me. |
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Back in Creel our main goal is to
find a motel with an English CNN television channel. We end up at the Best
Western which is a very nice place. It's more than we wanted to spend but
worth it especially after a hard day. It's also very disconcerting being
down here with all the anti-US sentiment. At least the restaurant has
flan. |
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