We leave Cordoba about 7 am….traffic is moderate…..Pedro says go…lead the way…shortly I notice he is not in sight so I pull over thinking he will be along shortly…..doesn’t happen so I find my way back up one way streets hoping he hasn’t had an accident and worried that we will not find one another as this is a city of one way streets. Luck is with us and as I pull up to the hotel we meet….he has been circling in the opposite direction. Now we head out of town following a Police pickup loaded with Policia.
Again we are on toll roads….did I say I hate toll roads almost as much as the topes….we do get one break….as we pull up to a toll, I note that their are several men dressed in grey pulling masks over their faces, a police cruiser with its lights flashing has followed us in but veers off to the left and stops. A girl in a BMW is in our lane but in front of us…..the men in grey start yelling and kick barriers across the other open lanes…the BMW reverses…she must be scared…..though the yelling is in Spanish I get the message is go…..no pay….must be a protest so I go to the right of the BMW just as she realizes its ok to go and all 3 of us zoom past the toll lady and into waiting police cruisers with the officers just standing outside starring at the commotion, we all speed away not daring to slow down and make our escape unscathed and best of all a freebie……..
Its getting late and we haven’t seen many motels….stop at an industrial area which is very modern with young employees getting off buses and heading to one of many factories…..this area is quite a contrast to some of the other places we have been…..along the road we saw maintenance people cleaning along the hwy…no litter…what a change. We stop at the gatehouse …again nada espanol…..but we get the drift that we can find a place to sleep and eat up the road…..Another Love Motel…after dinner Pedro negotiates a price 400 peso….my turn for the ceramic floor….he is not sharing the King Size bed….
Up early and on the road in fair weather……we ride a long day and well into the evening as we are unable to get modest accommodation. At 11 pm we find ourselves in the town we stayed in when we first entered Mexico…..so we make our way to The Durago Hotel with the help of a young biker, as we find that we are lost again……..
It’s only a half day drive to the border but 1st we have to check out of the country about 20 miles before Eagles Pass. The army is waiting and give us a once over then we go to customs and the aduana office to get our bikes checked out and some of our 479.00 us dollars back….thanks to a young lady from Portugal who translates for us, we are through this procedure in an hour…….then into the next town to exchange our pesos for the us greenback.
It’s a long wait at the Texas border…..a nice couple in the opposite lane notes how hot we are sitting there in our biker gear and motions for us to move into their lane as it is moving 4 times faster than ours…we are most great full…..while being searched by the Mexican soldiers….Pedro motions that his ak 47 looks heavy…suddenly the soldier hands him the weapon and Pedro…..mucho grande…while the soldiers laugh and startled onlookers watch.
We are free and back in America and can converse……..our 1st night is spent on the out skirt of San Antonio. In the dark of the early morning as I head unto the expressway my bike seems wobbly. I pull back into the motel to discover a 3 inch nail imbedded in the rear tire…….out comes the repair stuff….pull nail…rasp hole …stick in plug with glue….have small electric pump…..meanwhile Pedro has the motel manager searching for repair shops….he is such a worrier. I’m no mechanic but a tubless tire come on……Texas to Gravenhurst…I”m here….no further flat.
Somewhere around San Marcus I spot a Suzuki Dealer and pull off the expressway…..my oil was last changed at 6500k in N Carolina….I have over 14000k now….they book me in right away and we are soon back on the road…..as we head north we are initially releived at the cooler temps but that soon changes and we are now in winter gear and anxious to get home fearing ice or snow. The last night we are 120 miles south of Toledo on 75…..I am on the road alone as Pedro has decided its to cold and he will take a couple days……I want to be home by this afternoon as my son is home for the week end and its Thanksgiving. So averaging 120k…..I make it home at 3:15 pm….not bad considering the traffic, rain and high winds I encounter between Woodstock and Toronto.
Special Thanks
The Rodriques Family-Veracruz
Many others who I failed to get their names but translated for us in time of need.
Love Mexico
