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!Viva La Mexico! The Ride

Kev95gs

goob
Allright.

I'm not real sure how to go about this, so the only way I know how is to start at the beginning and post a whole lot of pictures. Let me know if I've got to many or get to long winded.

We started talking about a trip to Mexico's, Copper Canyon around the camp fire at Blue Ridge Motorcyle Camp Ground, Crusoe, NC in October of 01 or 02, can't remember, but it came to fruition on 1/8/06. We met a several guys that night and 2 were coming south from PA after having been on a ride. One from MS and the other, I believe, was from TX. They told us about the area and we knew we needed to go.

We left home 1/6/06.
Dan, my sister-in-laws husband.

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our bud Jim

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and me, Kevin

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and least I forget, my ride...

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Dan and I met at the end of his street and we rode about 35 miles and hooked up with Jim at I-40 and Hwy 96 at 7:00 am. It was 35 and flurries all the way till about 40 miles east of Little Rock. (Thats where the pictures were taken when we finally saw the Sun.)

Hit TX around 3 pm and hit Dallas around rush hour... who timed this...

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We stopped for the night at the SLEEPGO around 7:30, it was a bed.

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We had about 768 BMW miles and it was a GOOD DAY!

It was a dry county... Meant we got out earlier and got to the border earlier.
 
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Day 2 we head out after breakfast at the Waffle House... a must... around 6:45 and chased our shadows for the rest of the morning

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We got gas and burritos in Pecos, TX...

Then on to Marfa,TX...is that ridges in the background?

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We got to the border around 4 pm, checked it out, and set up camp at an RV park east of Presidio, TX on Hwy 170.

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The sunset was nice and Mexico was just over those mountains! :dance

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I think we rode about 565, BMW, miles and it was another GOOD DAY!
:jose :beer
 
Up with the Sun... Big Bend is over there about 65-70 miles but we'll do that later... it got cloudy and it was about 38.
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The border crossing took us about 30 mins and we were in Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico... :bolt
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We're heading to Chihuahua, the capital of the State of the same name, and has a population of about a million people. We get to ride through the desert and over a few hills on the way.

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This is looking back into the good ole' U S of A :usa We've been climbing along the way.

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When we get in to Chihuahua it was BUSY and HOT.

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We stopped at the Pemex for gas and I noticed a Senor taking pictures of Dan while we're getting off the bikes and filling up. He was a reporter for the local periodico, El Diario, and with the help of another guy at the Pemex asked us some questions and said he was going to put an article in the paper the next day. What a trip...

After eating some lunch at a roadside taco stand, that was very good and on a busy road, we head on toward Cuauthemoc and we start getting into more fertile areas with pasture, hay, huge Apple orchards...Cuauthemoc was a pretty good sized town also and was very busy.

This picture is actually looking back east toward Cuauthemoc but it shows it well.

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As we get closer to Creel it becomes much more mountainous, we get pine trees and CURVAS... :rocker

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We went through San Juanito, a lot smaller than the other towns we had gone through, but still very active and busy. People out all over the main street and cars driving like they were in a parade.

We got into Creel around 4:30 - 5:00 and again, people everywhere, but not a big town.

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With the help of Raul (he stopped us as we came into town and lead us on his bicycle) we found 3 Amigos Canyon Expeditions to pick up some maps. I had e-mailed ahead and they were very helpful. Here is their web site, if you go there check them out.

http://the3amigoscanyonexpeditions.com/3amigos_001.htm

Raul is on the far left, and we are in front of 3 Amigos
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We talked with Salvador at 3 Amigos and asked about the activity in all the towns we went through. It was Domingo, Sunday, everyone goes to town and all the ladies dress up. It was quite lively and we saw our share of nice ladies, throughout the trip, regardless of the day.

We stayed in the Hotel Los Pinos for 350 pesos, a little less than $35, for a room with 3 beds and a bath.

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Jimmy had a little oil leak that was from the donut gasket around the spark plug. He had adjusted his values before we left and the gasket got pinched.

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We found a nice quiet place to "practice our Espanol" and relax a little. :drink

We ate dinner at the restaurant in front and it was good stuff. :eat

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It gets cold when the sun goes down as the town is at 7,669 feet and sits in a valley in the Sierra Tarahumara.

We head for the bottom of the Batopilas Canyon tommorow, to Batopilas, which sits at about 1,500 feet. I have "visions of sugar plums dancin' in my head" as I go to sleep.

We rode about 332, BMW, miles today and it was a DIA MUY BUENO! :clap :thumb
 
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Good on ya Kev, nice pics. A question for you, what insurance were you able to secure for you and your bike over in Mexico please? I want to take a trip late in the year and looking for ideas early...thanks
 
Nice photos!! :D Looks like you guys had a great time! Thanks for the link too :wow
So ,eh..... where is the rest of the story? :lurk :lurk Inquiring minds wanna know, you know? :bliss :rofl
 
Pudgy,
"what insurance were you able to secure for you and your bike over in Mexico please?"
I went through a link on Horizons Unlimited, another invaluable source of info. The link is below and the insurance portion is about mid-way down the page. It gives you quotes from a few different companies.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/country/mexico/entry.php

Rider,
Patience is a virtue... plus I only have about 400 photos to sift through. :type
the fun is just beginning... We're only through day 3, we got 10 more to go! :brow

Kevin
 
Kev95GS said:
Pudgy,
"what insurance were you able to secure for you and your bike over in Mexico please?"
I went through a link on Horizons Unlimited, another invaluable source of info. The link is below and the insurance portion is about mid-way down the page. It gives you quotes from a few different companies.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/country/mexico/entry.php

Rider,
Patience is a virtue... plus I only have about 400 photos to sift through. :type
the fun is just beginning... We're only through day 3, we got 10 more to go! :brow

Kevin


Thanks Kevin, I can't wait for the next installment...
Andy
 
Kev95GS said:
Rider,
Patience is a virtue... plus I only have about 400 photos to sift through. :type
the fun is just beginning... We're only through day 3, we got 10 more to go! :brow

Kevin

Yeah I know, but it's blowing hard and I am bored, 'cause I can't work and ride reports are cool. :D :D So I'll wait some more.... :lurk :lol :rofl
 
Day 4....
Let's go to Batopilas.... :bliss

Jimmy still had to do some maintenance work...

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Dan & Jim fix the steed, I'm not much help in that area, and we head for desayuna... breakfast...
These are early morning on the main street and highway in Creel.
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We ate in the front room and she cooked in the side room, which was her kitchen, her and her family lived in the rear.

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We had burritos con huevos y corrizo, esta bien.

People would be on the sides of the road most everywhere we went, I always wondered what they were waiting for...
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The back of these trucks would be "Standing Room Only" to the most extreme.

The roads had been good, so far, all the way. My only caution would be if its was raining or has been. The uphill grades are especially bad. The oil tracks in the center of the road would definitely be slick in wet conditions.

The road out of Creel was very nice. We took a "brisk" pace and stopped a few times to say WOW...
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After about 50 miles of smiles.... :D :D :D :D :D x10

We find our turn...
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The road goes to gravel for about 40 miles and it's time to let the air out and get on the pegs. The road starts out very nice and rolls through pine trees and pasture.

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Then you start to see signs of the Canyon.

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This would be Jimmy... I like to take my time and get a few photos so I stay at the rear.

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Looks like a drop off to me! :jawdrop

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This is what the GS is made for. We went Interstates, highway, twisty and now gravel. The roads were well maintained and well traveled. It would definitely be messy in the wet season and in several of the switch backs it was obvious that water would be there in the rains.

Jimmy again

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We had to share the road with more than other motorized vehicles.

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and as we descended the flora changed.

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We stopped at the bottom after crossing the bridge...

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The other direction...
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Since we are at the river level the road stays lower in the canyon through La Bufa and on to Batopilas.

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This picture of La Bufa is coming back from Batopilas, but notice the slag from the mines. The town once had thousands of residents and had some of the richest veins of the time. Now it has 1 family.

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Everything is up now!

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I came around the corner down here and there sits Jimmy in the ditch. He just ran off into the soft stuff on the side and just slid off, no get off. Everything was OK after he got it out, just a smelly clutch. I didn't have time to get a picture. When I got off, to go help, and put her on the center stand she sunk. I almost dropped mine trying to go help my bud.

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There was a nice view though.

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OK, Batopilas is just around the corner so we mount back up and head to town.

TA DA!!!! There she is!!!! !Batopilas is muy bonito!

Here is a link to some info on Batopilas.

http://www.coppercanyon-mexico.com/cc-mex/ccbato.htm


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The city is on the right side of the river and we drive down the old cobblestone streets.

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:nra I'm kinda feelin' like a cowboy. :jose

This is the street in front of our hotel, Hotel Batopilas, and the 2 people are Bob and Mary... more about them in a moment.

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Hotel Batopilas. Lt Dan is settling up with Dona Tina. Un cuarto con tres camas, 240 pesos. We had a hot shower as well. Our room was there on the left side as you went in the doors, right on the street.

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We inquired about aparcamiento, open the doors and pull em on in.

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So, we got there. Now I'm tired, I think I've had enough for tonight. I have a bunch to put in about some of the folks we met, places we went, food we ate and I don't think I can do it justice till tomorrow.
More Later... Hasta Manana mi amigos!
 
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Howdy All,

I hope everyone had as good a day as I did. It was beautiful today but I needed to clean up The Old Girl.

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Before...
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After....
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Anyway hope everyone had a great day.

On with the story.
 
After we got situated at the Hotel Batopilas we met Bob and Mary who were staying in the hotel as well.

Both live in CA and Bob had been coming to Baopilas for 20 years or so. His first trip he got stuck there by a rock side that wasn't passable for 3 weeks a lady took him in and kept him fed and he helped out around town and others. He knows many of the locals and had been a guide in the town and surrounding area in the past.

Mary works for a large pharmaceutical company and was up for an adventure and came down with Bob, they had only known each other for a short time.

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We went down toward the Central Plaza to see what we could see.

We saw this on the way.

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And this.

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This is looking back up the street toward the Hotel Batopilas from about 3-4 blocks south. The man in the yellow shirt and white skirt is a local Tarahumara Indian. We had also seen one walk out of the middle of the canyons when we crossed the bridge for the first time. (the one you could see from the top of the Canyon overlook from earlier).

Our new friend Bob gave us a bunch of pictures that he had taken of one of the Tarahumara villages playing thier version of football with a hand carved wooden ball against a neighboring village. They are very colorful and resourceful. These Indians are renowned for being able to run very long distances and having great stamina. They usually do it kicking one of the wooden balls.

If you turn right just past the Tarahumara, the El Zaguan is about a block down on the left. We'll go there in just a few.

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This one is a block further south still looking up the same street. This was a very nice old church.

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This was a swinging bridge to get to the other side of the river. There were a lot of homes and a school on the other side. Notice the yellow sign?

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It's a public safety annoucement letting everyone know what a save load limit is on the bridge.

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We headed down to the El Zaguan for a refreshment. We should have gone here first so would know where we were.

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This was looking out the back of the cantina area. Nice backdrop.

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This was the Cantina looking the other way.

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We met "Antonio" or "Romido", pick one, he told us he had 2 names gave them both and told us to call him Antonio. That night while we talking to Bob and Lynn, I haven't introduced her yet. She's about 60 and lives alone, full time, in Batopilas for about the last 7-8 years, has a small Jewelry store and sells some of the local Tarahumara crafts and I believe was from MI. They didn't know anyone named Antonio. We told Bob "the guy we were talking to ffor the last 2 hours at the cantina", he says "His name is Romido". We knew they knew one another as Romido's mother is who had taken in Bob when he was stranded and they had told us about it at the El Zaguan. I guess Romido thought we could remember Antonio better.

Jimmy is on the left, or Himmy now, then me, then Romido in the yellow shirt, Dan, Romido's best friend Carlos and I have forgotten the other guys name.


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Romido's father built the stone water tower you see in the pictures and Romido is a mason as well. He had been learning English and we were all practicing with one another. What a great experience. :beer

We went to dinner at the Swinging Bridge Restaurant that evening.
Here is Lynn, Himmy and Dan. The food was fantastic. We all had the same, vegetarian plate, and it was great. The rice had a lime flavor to it with a peice of fresh cilantro on it. The guacamole was fresh and tasty. :eat

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We also met Suzanna and her brother Nachito. Their father, Nacho, owned the restaurant and was a friend of Bob, Roberto as the local called him, and Lynn's.

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If you showed them their picture on the screen after you took it they got a huge kick out of it and wanted to see more. Too fun!

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and Batman.

The local police came in around 8:00 and ran all the local off. New law from the new Mayor. The visitors didn't have to leave till 10:00. Lynn and I hung out for a minute and I had to walk back to the Hotel Batopilas by myself.

This was on the plaza and a couple of kids were playing Soccer there as well.

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We had decided to stay 2 nights in Batopilas, we had only planned on 1 originally but knew after we had been there no more than an hour that we had to stay at least 2.
 
riderR1150GSAdv said:
Waaaaaay cool! :thumb Thanks for sharing the ride!!! :thumb :dance

Thanks Rider. I've seen other ride reports that I really got a kick out of so I figure I should try and return the favor.

I got a huge amount of info from Adventure rider. In particular from threads by gaspipe and lasvegasrider. Lasvegasrider talked to me on the phone about various things. Great guy.

Quick question for everyone. My wife says I tend to get a little excessive.
Should I try to trim it back some?

Kevin
 
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