Monster Ride home!

[machete]

A poser photo

The plaque is an homage to the men that worked the mines at the 100 year anniversary in 1992 of the bridges construction.

Parting shot of the bridge with the mountain in the background with the clouds hanging over. Was very cool.

The wooden columns that hold up the bridge on the town side.

The town is basically a ghost town, and the money earned from tourists and visitors has helped to begin the slow (very slow) process of restoring the buildings. They have done quite a bit actually in the last 15 years.

Last shot with the bike, about to head down the mountain.

 

[machete]

Making our way out of there.

Took some photos on the way down. 1st gear, gentle front brake application, as my rear brake really doesn't do anything...can't feel any use out of it, although if I have the rear wheel off the ground it will stop the spinning. meh.

Winding road sign

And an improvised road side shelter for selling things.

 

[machete]

We got back about 5pm and I just hung out with my aunt and cousins and their daughter (my niece) who is cute as hell.

Washed clothes as I only have 1 pair of jeans.

And waited for my buddy to call up as we're going to Torreon tonight to party for Sergio's bday (yep, Sergio was in Tyler the week before for my sisters wedding) Him and his brother were coming down here and we would all get together to drink beer and catch up at their cousins house.

My plan, get to bed around midnight as tomorrow I have a very long ride from Torreon to Mazatlan and maybe on to Culiacan starting about 7am. That's the plan anyway.

A shot of the bike in my aunt's driveway (inside the wall)

 

[machete]

A pick of my stuff packed and ready for Mazatlan. Not much.

So Picho picked me up and we headed over to his house for beers first and then to Torreon. There was a guy that would be there that he didn't get along with. So we figured, good excuse to leave about 11pm or so.

A couple pictures of us drinking and hamming it up in front of the house. Drank a lot of beer, reminiscing about our days in school down here and all the bullshit and crap and trouble that we got into.

One story: One time in Gomez Palacio, out drinking beer in the plaza of one of the nicer neighborhoods, there was a hell of a racket being made and some of the neighbors complained. We're all in High School. 10th to 12th grade. So they called the cops. Cops (The Judicial wears plain clothes) had new paddy wagons and suburbans, so no markings. hmmmm they rolled up and told everybody that they were taking us to the tank (jail) too much beer had been drunk to even care, so everyone starts loading up in the suburbans and shit, and one of the other school mates, Deeter, rolled up on his scooter. We always made fun of him for rolling around on a scooter, so he rolls up to the back of the suburban and asks, what we are doing. One of our classmates says, we're going to a party, come with us! He gets all happy that he's being invited and then remembers that he is on his scooter, we say we'll help him load it in the suburban. so we do, and he ends up in the tank as well.
Didn't cost much and let out later that night.

Well, after drinking a lot, we stuck around a lot longer than I expected. I got to my aunts house about 0430 and passed out about 0500. :| Set my alarm for 7:50 and was on the road at 0830. damn it hurt. (Day 8 of riding)

a couple shots of us drinking that night, catching up. Then the morning clouds as I rolled south out of Cd. Lerdo, next stop Mazatlan and the Devils Backbone.

 

[machete]

Roads are pretty bare this Saturday morning. The first couple hours sucked. But once on the road, I was pretty excited about hitting up roads I'd never been on, on the bike.

Took the toll road to the city of Durango, pretty sweet, clean and very fast. cruising near 100mph. Saw that big bull up on the hill. The sun made it a bit warmer, as it was cool this morning.

3rd photo was just after I had passed that area of construction. What it is, is a toll booth being put up on this section of the toll road. And the construction workers are sitting there stopping cars and asking for a toll. really?! One guy would put a cone in front of the car and the other would ask for money. fucking scams.

I had the smoke visor on, rolled up, the guy looked me up and down, I just stared at him, then he waved me through. Stopped to take a pic.

2nd to last photo is another section of the toll road. Not very confidence inspiring. Lots of construction on this part of the road, and there are no signs to tell you when there is gravel, when there are huge bumps, or that the road is actually.....broken up and full of pot holes. crazy. So I had to slow down a lot and watch for road hazards. One second your cruising on a regular road, in an instant, around a corner, you'd come up on a section of dirt or gravel road.

a shed made of all kinds of aluminum sheets and scrap metal along the road.

 

[machete]

First photo was early in the morning. Missed the shot by a couple seconds. Just moments earlier, this dude was drafting the dump truck right up on it's bumper at about 50mph, when I got the camera out he was tiring out and had let go. damn. woulda been a cool photo.

2nd photo is under a bridge. I was coming from the other side of the bridge, and saw the sign for the "toll road, straight" and then as I approached, realized there is this giant berm of dirt in the middle of the road. went around it, then saw the next photo and the little ridge in the distance on the road.

I went back and took these photos at intervals. The closer I got, the more fucked up I realized the road was.

Last photo is right at the potholes. This is the main road, if I'd gone at speed, I would have come up on this too fast.

I decided to go down the "libre" or non-toll road, since it would put me through the towns, no construction on it, and well...ain't too bad.

 

[machete]

Stopped in this town just to take some photos (first 2 photos)

Started to climb up the sierras and came onto a military checkpoint, no big deal, hell, they never even asked me for paperwork or passport the entire way, just wanted to check my tank bag.

The hay rolls are still cut and stacked by hand out here. Poor farmers without equipment make due.

Finally got off the bike to get a couple shots, one with a view of how high I'd climbed already.

 

[machete]

Kilometer marker

Saw this spot as the road narrowed and I was definitely up in the sierras. So I rode the bike up to this rock ledge and shot some photos of the valleys below.

The roads are full of gravel, mostly hard packed gravel roads, and some well paved sections. Slow going now. Haven't eaten and the hangover hunger is starting to wear on me.

 

[machete]

Took random photos at intervals throughout the road over the pass.

A shot of a house/tire shop for 18 wheelers. You can see what the road is mostly up at that level. Pot holes, gravel, but pavement. That would change.

Shot of the bike

Next to the sign "Espinazo del Diablo" = Devils Backbone

Last photo, you can see the down angle on the decent. Loads of fun.

 

[machete]

just liked the first photo

gotta watch for the 18 wheelers using these mountain roads. Sometimes they just plow forward on the downhills. They would come through this stop with their air brakes brrrapping like crazy.

The valley below

At this point I was getting pretty hungry. So I ate at the tented area behind the bike.

A sign depicting the 50th anniversary of the Durango City to Mazatlan highway construction and the amounts of money invested from 1941 to 1960.

 

[machete]

152 kilometers to Mazatlan (95 miles?) would take me about 3 hours or so.

A shot of the folks running the food stand. They had gorditas (pupusas to some) with all kinds of filler in the huge casserole bowls.

My meal. 5 gorditas. hangover, remember. Champurrado (a chocolate drink made with corn maza - so fucking good)
and I asked for hot sauce, and they handed me the molcajete with freshly crushed peppers (very hot)

The wood stove where they cooked the gorditas and heated up the chocolate drink.

 

[machete]

1st pic, I came on this traffic stopped in the road. Realized that there was construction ahead. Waited a couple minutes then rode to the front. Asked a guy there what was up, and he said they were doing construction..and didn't know how long the wait would be. He then looked at the bike, thought about it, and said...I think you can get through though, on that thing. Just go up the road to the construction crew. awesome.

Rode up to the construction crew, they didn't even bother with it, they saw me, looked to see if there was room (a whole lane ) and waved me through. love Mexico and what you can get away with.

I know had the road behind me free of vehicles.

Second photo is the gravel and work they were doing.

Some random stop and pics.

Three 18 wheelers coming up the other side of the mountain towards me.

..and then going down the side of the mountain that I took the other photos on.

 

[machete]

The roads seemed to get better for spurts, but you still had to watch out for livestock, namely donkeys.

Finally crossed into the state of Sinaloa. Which seemed like forever, in some spots I was doing 20mph cause the gravel was too heavy. Then I'd wick it up to 50mph when the roads were good. Fun twisties, when it was smooth.

the overexposed photo was of a rest stop, which are usually situated with a shrine of some sort so that travelers can pray or light a candle or something.

After that photo I was going down hill, on a left hand curve, a passenger bus coming the other way, and at the last second, a little white car comes jetting out from behind the bus, passing on the outside in a blind turn. motherfucker. went wide myself and he just barely got in. meh. (the times I wish I had a video camera on the bike, maybe next time)

 

[machete]

Soon after taking the first photo on here, I dropped down off the sierras and saw a sign that said "Road Type C" wasn't sure what it meant, but I think it was to tell drivers what kind of road it was (ex. what kind of curves) cause I was up to 75mph and no decreasing radius curves, and all flat out and smooth. rolling hills, but easy running. Made up some time. and it got hot as hell too.

Made it to Mazatlan and went out onto the embarcadero looking for a spot to stop and get a drink and a bite to eat.

A couple shots of the beach and the castle on the point.

 

[machete]

another shot of the beach.

I was at a stop light and a local high school cheerleading squad was out on the street performing their routines, making money for their group. I gave them bunch of pesos in change that I had after I took the pics. There is no way in hell you could get away with that here. They were doing some flips and tosses on the street. Mexico.

 

[machete]

A shot of the fort on the point, with canons still pointing out to see for defense way back when.

Saw this grass hut on the beach and stopped in, and relaxed. sweating like a pig, and made it into Mazatlan about 4pm local time. Figured some food and a bit of time to chill and think. I'm turning north from here, and heading home. The trip takes on the idea of going home now, and not so much of just going blindly south and away.

I have good daylight, so I will try and make Culiacan tonight.

A couple of shots from where I was having my seafood cocktail. shrimp, octopus, scallops and all the fixings.

a local denizen

before leaving, I wanted my hands in the sand. Geared up and ready to go, I snapped that photo and got back on the bike an hour or so after I had arrived.

 

[machete]

Gassed up and finally made it out of town, and decided to just pound some miles to Culiacan, Sinaloa on the toll road. This one wasn't very expensive, about 5 toll booths, about 45 pesos average cost each (approx 12 peso to 1 dollar)

Shadows growing long.

Sun setting on the road

The toll road was nice, fast and quick.

Arrived to Culiacan, and called a barfer who's living there and finally got directions to his place and arrived.

Was beat. Barely any sleep the night before, long days of riding and nights of drinking. I grabbed some tacos at the corner and ate and hung out before passing out cold!

 

[machete]

The next morning I woke up slowly, wasn't moving to quickly. Partly tired, partly not wanting this trip to end. The goal today is to make it to the border, simply. I think I'll pop my head out in Nogales, Arizona.

They were frying up the seafood and it smelled flipping awesome. The restaurant was busy as hell too.
Have to say, many thanks to Eric and Veronica for the hospitality and amazing grub.

I had some breakfast, dried swordfish meat fried up with some eggs, refried beans (which they don't really eat here on the coast) and some instant coffee. It did the trick.

Photo with Eric

 

[machete]

and what happens when shoddy pavement can't hold the weight of my bike up.

I got on the road fairly late (10:30) (Day 9 of riding) but figured I'd make up some time. Heading north along the coast and then inland to Hermosillo and then Nogales, Az.

a photo on the road, kinda blurry

random photo on the road. Lots of transport buses

a self portrait.

and a shot of a truck I passed (one of many). This is how they travel down here. Especially when the only vehicle is a truck in the family. Everyone piles in, in the back as well with all the belongings and hits the road.

I saw a truck driving about 40 mph on the hwy with about 4 kids in it. They couldn't have been more than 4 years old, if that. Oh well.

 

[machete]

In the first photo, you can see a kid riding his bicycle along the main hwy. What was even crazier, is that this was a 4 lane divided hwy. I was riding in the left lane to pass, and would see workers and local people riding their....wait for it...............bicycles, against traffic (towards me) in the left hand lane hugging the center median. Guess it seems like the safest spot.

second photo is of some construction I came on. So we are down to one lane, and this transport bus was going hella slow. You can see the warning signs, every other one is laid out, and every other one is standing up. So I timed it just right, and passed the bus on the right, as soon as I went around the first sign lying down, and just barely made it back in front of the bus before hitting the next one lying down.

Got gas at this spot, and some nasty ass hooker was trying to bum rides from truckers heading out. Dudes were giving her cat calls and shit trying to pick her up. x10000

Shadows growing long as the end of the day nears. Eric says the road is shit north of Hermosillo, but it turns out they have just repaved most of it, and I'm making up time there.