Another night in bandit land
Trip Start
Mar 20, 2011
1
54
65
Trip End
Ongoing
Hermosillo, Northern Mexico, Mexico
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Culiacan to Hermosillo
Today was yet another day spent on the expensive toll roads of Mexico, If only we could have taken the planned coast routs and secondary roads the trip through Mexico would have been a much better adventure.
Today we left our hotel in Culiacan at about 07h30 and headed straight onto the motorway North up the coast. Right away there was the first of the toll roads and the first of about 7 in total today.
As all 15 of us made our way along the two more or less empty two lanes I was about 3rd bike from the back. Right ahead of me was John, then Craig and then Andy on his bag of bolts Harley Davidson. About 30 miles into the journey I noticed Craig overtaking Andy and soon after John did the same. It was not long afterwards that I also decided to overtake him and I was soon followed by Phil who was behind me. The reason for all of us wanting passed Andy was due to the extensive oil leak that had developed on his Harley and it was covering every bike behind him in dirty oil.
Finally he pulled up and we all went back to help him with his problem......yet again!!!! This Harley must have had more attention on this trip than all the other bikes as a whole!!
Problem solved we headed on along this expensive motorway. For most it was totally boring riding but for me there was something for me to keep my eyes on and that was the railway which followed this road for over 100miles. Other than the railway there was simply nothing much to see at all the whole length of the journey. Now and again the road ran though some small hills which made a good change from the long straights.
Apart from stopping at the toll roads to pay we never stopped much at all today, A cup of coffee at one shop and coke and ice cream at another was about all we had on this 400 mile journey.
You may remember me telling you about Scott's drive chain snapping yesterday on his Yamaha XT660, well today he was right ahead of me and doing about 75mph when his drive chain came off the sprocket!!! Not good at all. We soon had it fixed up and running again.
On this route today the motorway did end and we had to pass through a few towns. Last nights town was a very bad and dangerous place and today we had to pass through yet another rather dangerous town, in fact it is the 3rd most dangerous in Mexico. We had to stay very close as a group and were told not to stop for anything as we passed through. If for some reason we had to stop then the rest of the group must keep going. In other words, do not stop!!!
Finally at about 5pm we reached the town of Hermosillo which looked rather nice as we approached. It is surrounded by small hills and seemed rather clean when compared to many others
As per usual in Mexico this nice look about the town did not last and by the time we found the hotel it was in a tip of an area and no ways were we going out side after dark.
These last few days have sure proved to be a major problem for us all. Not being able to walk into the towns we stay in meant we cannot use ATMs or find nice restaurants etc. Of course on the country roads we could always get food and banks along the way but on motorways there is simply nothing to be had. When we do find ATMs they are always "Out of Order".
Tonight when I got here to the hotel I tried getting my laptop to connect to the net but for some reason it was not going to work. A few of us tried to repair it and finally after all of us trying everything possible Phil comes along and realizes I had accidentally pushed the Wi-Fi key which blocked the modem...silly me!!
So far on this journey North we have covered over 12000 miles since leaving Ushuaia. It sure has been a long hard task but has sure been an adventure of a lifetime. So much is going through ones head that most of us cannot even remember what day it is today or where we even stayed the last few nights. Even simple things like trying to remember what day it is is impossible.
Bolivia was perhaps the hardest section of the whole trip but looking back at the photos it looks like that was the best place out of all the countries for photography. The mile upon mile of wide open spaces. Far away in the desert one spots a small dust trail. It looks like another bike catching me up. I take a distant photo of the trail. As it gets closer I notice its not a bike but a car and stand here in the masses of open space between volcano's etc. The car is still miles away but the dust trail shows its presence. It gets closer and begins to look more like small van, then closer and closer and finally one realizes this vehicle which started off looking like a small motorcycle in the desert is actually a massive double HGV truck. As it approaches the dust thrown up by it is terrible and once its passed one cannot see a thing for a few minutes. Soon the dust settles and silence returns to the wonderful openness of the desert.
When I think what our bikes went through on all those dusty and rocky roads and how we hammered them through all sizes of potholes and bumps it is really amazing that they stood up to it all like they did.
One thing I am now for sure doing is riding my bike alone from Vegas to New York via Chicago, I think that journey is about 3000 miles more in total.
My body is taking this treatment really well except for my old right shoulder which I injured last year. It has a constant pain right in the back below the shoulder. Thank goodness for painkillers!!
Off to Douglas in the grand USA tomorrow!! It will be so nice to be able to speak to folk in English once again and have Dollars as our spending money.
Catch you later
