| It's 5:30 AM and we are on the road. I'm glad to
be out of Parral, especially leaving at this time. It's almost sunrise and
the sun is trying hard to put on a show. The horizon is a beautiful
orange. That's all we see though due to the cloud cover. |
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We come out of the hills into the high desert at 6,000 ft and encounter
our first checkpoint. Once again we open up our bags and are on our way. |
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Today is becoming the mini US tour as we pass through Santa
Barbara, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Buena Vista on our way to Durango.
In the distance we see one mountain range, but suddenly we are in the
mountains. How did that happen? We dropped down into them which was a very
strange feeling. |
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We cross a muddy river using a bridge for a change and a
green valley appears before us. The shades of green on the trees is very
striking. Everything would be picturesque if it weren't for the enormous
amount of liter along the road. |
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| Not as many people are along the road today as
there were yesterday. There are some waiting for Mexico's excellent
intercity buses. On Sunday it appeared that we discovered the Mexican
National Pastime. The whole country comes out and stands alongside the
road along with their dogs, cows, burros, horses and pigs. Most of them
have nice clothes on. This must be their version of television. Nobody
waves unless we wave first. |
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Out of the green valley and we are in the high desert again.
The road is not as straight as it was outside of Parral. We pass through
two more checkpoints. By now all of our belongs have been poked, prodded
and displayed. At least they don't do a body cavity search. At a
checkpoint near Durango the soldiers have retractable pointers. This is
clearly where the money is. |
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We are near Durango and another motorcycle joins us for
several miles. I never get to meet him before he turns off, but Forrest
has a chance to ask him if he's a police officer. Nope. It sure was nice
to have another partner with us. Does three make a motorcycle gang?
We must have come into Durango on the affluent side. It's fairly clean.
There's a Walmart, Sam's Club, McDonalds and other US companies. Coca Cola
has the biggest presence in Mexico and their pickup fleet alone is
impressive. We hit the Best Western for about $75.00 US a night. Our plan
has been to go cheap and then splurge. After Parral we need to splurge. |
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Walmart looks like US Walmarts except for the parking lot,
which has covered parking. We have fun checking out the different brands
and find our now favorite snack, Golden Nuts. These are peanuts coated
with chilies and limes. These and 10 liters of water are our main
purchases. You can never have enough water. Forrest has been searching for
a pair of warm gloves to replace the ones sitting on his table at home
where they will be safe. He's been having a tough time keeping his hands
warm and has been using a pair of my gloves to go over his. This was
better than the pair he bought a couple of days ago that didn't even last
1 hour before they ripped. Their construction can only be described as
pressed leather fibers.
We eat at McDonalds which could be a US McDonalds, right down to the
kids in their school uniforms. We watch CNN in our motel room. Durango
more than makes up for Parral. |
