Day 19 – Parras to Torreon

Breakfast was at 7:15 again and after a quick breakfast of the usual eggs and ??(bacon for me), we circled up the group and made our way out of town to the Casa Madero winery(est, 1597) and made some brandy and wine purchases. I'll taste the brandy one home, but it did get good reviews from Roger. We'll see. Brandy isn't my favorite form of grape beverage, but I'll give it a shot..

This winery/distillery has been here over 400 years. Amazing!

Wow, some copper pots those..

Some roof system..



Don, finalizing his purchase..

 Our ride today is a short 110 miles, so we soldiered on and made our destination in Torreon,the Fresno Galleria Hotel by 11:30 AM.

Map for Day 19 - Parras to Torreon

The plan was to visit a hard rock mine in the afternoon at the little town of Mapimi.

We had a quick lunch across from the hotel at a little tacqueria. I had pork & cheese tacos, very good.

After a brief retreat to the rooms, we met on our bikes for the trip to the mine. Roger figured it was about 25 miles each way. It turned out to be more like 45 each way, with the last several miles on cobbles. Sheesh, I thought I'd seen the last of those things. The mine, it turned out though, was an amazing piece of work, with an entire mining town, from headquarters, to sleeping quarters to eating quarters to brothels all built with indigenous stone, and boy were there enough around for whatever needed building. The town was built on a hillside that had some shafts sunk into the hillside below the town, but the largest part of the mining effort took place across a gorge that was a good half mile deep and connected to the town via a very long suspension bridge built just before the turn of the last century. It's advertised as being the second longest suspension bridge, behind the Oakland Bay Bridge. A very long wooden bridge. The mine itself dated from about 1537. Fascinating place.

Here's a photo essay of this amazing place..

After being amazed for over an hour, we figured we'd better beat it back to the hotel to avoid any further night riding occurrences. The park guide up top radioed the guide at the bottom to have him stop any traffic that might be coming up. Did I mention the cobble portion of the road is nice and steep, and one lane wide? Once out of the park, we tried out a “shortcut” back to the hotel Roger had scoped out online. It turned out to be a dud, with the pavement ending after about a mile and turning into a fairly smooth, but very rocky road.

Back into Torreon, we rested for a bit then and checked The Weather Channel website for weather on our route and found we had a 30 to 50 percent chance of rain on our route from Torreon to Chihuahua. Bummer. The local roads are especially greasy and really slippery-slick when wet. Oh well, hope for the best and plan for the worst(slow way down and allow lots of room to the vehicle ahead). We went next door to Tony Romas for dinner. As we close in on the border, more Americanized businesses appear. Backing into US food, several of us had their special, baby back ribs. I found them well cooked, but the sauce too sweet for me. Still a nice meal for our third to last day in preparation for re-immersion. Walking back to the hotel brought the first sprinkles.. Not promising. Sleep now....

Day 20 – Torreon to Chihuahua

Up at 6AM and check outside for the weather. Parking lot and cars are damp, but it's not raining. Relief. The Weather Channel still suggests 30-50 percent chance f rain through the day on our route. After packing we're off to the hotel cafeteria area for a buffet breakfast, make mine raisin bran, yogurt, OJ & coffee.

It's going to be a long transit day and am hopeful the roads will not be wet. Note that the asphalt roads in Mexico seem to be especially greasy, caused by whatever oil mix they use in the asphalt. A couple days ago, before Real de Catorce, there was light rain and a certain right hand turn gave everyone the willies as we wiggled around it. Just hoping today won't bring more of the same. The area of most concern is in the city, before the open road. Another note. Most highways go the the cities and villages on route. There are very few that actually bypass the settled areas. Mexico City is one of the few areas a bypass toll road does exist.

Out of the room at 8:15AM and dressed for rain, the parking lot is drying and the weather hasn't worsened, so things are really looking up for traction. Out onto the city thoroughfare and all becomes well.

Map for Day 20 - Torreon to Chihuahua

Out onto the open highway and we do a couple of 90 mile stints between gas stops when the weather lifts and blue sky replaces the now lifting, low clouds. I love it when The Weather Channel screws up the rain forecast...

We stop for a quick lunch-cart meal, Mexican style. Everyone, but me, enjoys what I a giant shrimp cocktail and I, not a huge shrimp fan, go next door for a couple of beef tacos. Mine are OK. The cocktails are proclaimed a huge success, and no one gets any unwanted pathogens to spoil their afternoon, so good on us all.

The rest of the way to Chihuahua is uneventful until the city, where it becomes a bit hectic on the city highways, but we're(most of us anyway) used to the pace and the flow of it by now, so glide through the hecticity to a gas stop just beyond the hotel, fill up and back track to the Ramada Encore Hotel. This would be my wife Kath's favorite stay. Frank Lloyd modern rooms with modern chrome(OK, so she likes satin stainless better) fixtures and a fabulous view from the 5^th floor of part of the thriving city of Chihuahua.

Roger comes by and delivers the good news that there's a free breakfast tomorrow and tonight, free beer in the dining area from 6 to 8. We'll just have to take advantage of that.

After a bit, we meet for free beer and snacks for an hour then migrate to a seafood restaurant next door, where more shrimp await us. Mine were breaded and fried and very good. Others enjoyed various shrimp recipes, including the ever popular, Shrimp Diabla. Very nice meal.

Back to the hotel rooms and a shower, then reading, writing and checking The Weather Channel. They still predicted showers the next day on our route to the border, but looking at their moving, interactive weather map showed all of the storm clouds had moved out of the area, by 2PM the previous day. Hmmm, Never seen rain without clouds, but someone seems to think it's possible..

A good sleep, thinking no rain will spoil our last ride..

Day 21 – Chihuahua to Las Cruces.

Home stretch. Up at 6:15, packed and ready by 8AM. Off to the dining area for another light breakfast and down to the vehicles for departure by about 9..

Out of the hotel parking lot, we make a quick run across our frontage road to the highway entrance and merge into the flow unscathed. 

Map for Day 21 - Chihuahua to Las Cruces

The day is sunny, but still rather cold on the bikes, so some of my rain gear stays put, mainly to keep the hands warm. Rain over-mitts on the gloves with the heated grips(work like a charm) turned up to position 2 of 4 and the hands stay warm. Should have taken my heated insoles, but hindsight doesn't make it so...

Out of Chihuahua and onto the highway. Nothing unusual for the morning and we beat feet toward mid day and a planned lunch stop at a seafood family restaurant. Most go for shrimp, Roger has a tray full of small lobster and three of us opt for marlin fish tacos. I should have had the shrimp. Just to fishy for my taste. The other two orders were wolfed down, but mine went half eaten. Oh well, not that hungry.

Onward, still sunny and getting warmer so a nice ride. Eventually, the Mexican border station appears and we park to go inside and get the passports stamped. Back out, and we file into a line to turn in our bonding tags. Did I mention that going into Mexico in a vehicle, you need to post a bond($350) on a credit card that you won't sell your vehicle in Mexico? When you leave, they take the bonding tag back and refund the fee to your card.

Once done, we proceed to the US border crossing for questioning about citizen status and whether any liquor is being brought in. I have my bottle of almond tequila liquor and let the young lady know. One bottle, no duty. Most of the bottles are in the truck, and Ken declares 15 bottles, which are $42 in duty, which we split up. The real good news was that Aero(our lost, then found Mexican pup) made it through with nary a glance. She now has a good home with Ken in Alamogordo.

That done we crank up the throttles and hit the 10 freeway(back in the US, remember) back the 30 miles, or so, back to Las Cruces, and the Days Inn. Checking in, the manager welcomes us back and hands out the room keys. We get a much nicer room, than when we got our arrival room, no cigarette smell anyway.

We rest a bit then Jim and I, with Ken's help, get the bikes back onto the trailer and strapped down for the trip home. A bit more re-packing and we head for our farewell dinner at the Double Eagle Restaurant. It was originally a large home where the final signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed to end the Mexican American War. It's now a Very high end restaurant and we dine in the room where the mother found the son and maid “engaged” when returning early from a trip, and stabbed them both with her scissors . Her ghost is said to still haunt the room. The meal was started with margaritas that are supposedly award winning, but too sweet for most. I did order an appetizer of baked Brie, which was great. A main course of Boueuf Bourguignon was almost Julia(Childs) perfect.


Celebrate Good Times!

 We discussed our trip and the things we liked and the things we might change. We all agreed, the trip was a corker, a real taste of each of the stops, and that was the key. I would have liked more time in some of the stops, but the idea was to give us that taste that might bring us back to the places we enjoyed most. The ride itself was discussed. The most fun twisties and the best off highway roads were debated and celebrated. The Camino del Diablo was my pick for the twisties and the off highway pick was the entire Copper Canyon “road”. The goat trail out of Real de Catorce was enjoyable, but more of a learning experience than a joy to ride. It was a great evening of camaraderie and we finally retired back to the hotel.

Roger announced he was treating to breakfast in the morning at the Cracker Barrel, but Jim and I decided to leave by 7AM, so declined the offer. We said our goodbyes and retired to prepare for the trip back to San Diego.

Postscript..

 My thanks to all in our small group, including:

• Roger, the patient leader and guide
• Ken, the ultra mechanic and friend to all the world's dogs
• Don, the Wyoming cowboy, riding "The Nepal Missile"(Kawi Super Sherpa)
• Tom, who claims his BMW GS 1150 is his "small bike"
• Jim, the off highway newbie, who was the only one(of the clients) whose bike didn't end up on it's side.

Then there was me who had a great time learning new riding skills on the VStrom, seeing new places, eating great food and making new friends.

 

What a cast of characters we had and what a way to bond them all together.

What good fun it was..

The trip back to San Diego:

Saturday morning, Jim and I had a quick breakfast at Eddie's Bar & Grill(the hotel breakfast) and headed out by about 7:30, saying goodbye to Roger, who was headed to the Cracker barrel. We had a reservation around Yuma for the night, but decided to cancel and keep on keepin' on for San Diego. Made it to my house around 6PM. My wife, Kath, and Jim's wife Jo were at play(we weren't expected til the next day), so we unloaded, and I headed for the larder and a glass of my favorite Scotch.

Home again and what a beautiful place it is..

Lucky we are!!