AZ-J
Riding where it's hot!
Months of preparation paid off with a fun and trouble free motorcycle trip to Mexico. Seven AZ Beemers went South: Don Stanley, Brian Boles, Melanie Boles, Matt Kas, Enrique Garza, Jordan Meschkow and Noel Campbell.
Friday, October 10: Four of us left a day early to avoid Hurricane Norbert. Good call by Brian “El Jefe” Boles! BB, Don, Henry and Noel were already ready to go with the Banjercito – Mexican Vehicle Import Permit attached to our bike’s windshields. All we had to do at the 21km Inspection Station was to obtain our Mexican Tourist cards. We stopped in the wonderful Sonoran village of Magdalena for lunch. I have always been impressed by Magdalena, a clean and handsome city populated with very happy citizens.
We AZ Beemers learned that Enrique “Henry” Garza’s mother was born in Magdalena. As many of you also know, AZ Beemer Martin “El Gobernador” Osete was born on a rancho outside Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
We hit an intense and blinding rainstorm between Santa Ana and Hermosillo at 4pm, but made the Hotel Armida in Guaymas by nightfall. We had a nice swim in the pool and fantastic steak dinner in the Armida’s fancy restaurant.
Saturday, October 11: Today’s ride felt the effects of Hurricane Norbert, as we encountered wind gusts up to 50mph; luckily they were mostly tailwinds.
We stopped at VIPS’s in Ciudad Obregon for breakfast; delicious desayuno!
The heat was intense and we had to stop many times for water breaks. We encountered toll booths approximately every 50 miles too and there’re slow.
The four of us spent the night at Hotel La Siesta at Olas Altas, in the old historic section of Mazatlan. We had incredible camarones at El Shrimp Bucket which is attached to the hotel; opened in 1963, the Bucket was the first of the international chain of Carlos Anderson restaurants. Don, aka “Chuy Medina–El Burrito Ballerina” really recommends: The Shrimp Boat.
Sunday, October 12: Another day was spent in Mazatlan at the Azteca Inn, right across the street from the Hotel Playa Mazatlan. On future trips we are not going to make any hotel reservations in advance, we hated the fact this limited our abilities to change plans on the run and enjoy new found hotels.
Monday, October 13: Rode to San Blas and arrived early enough to enjoy the pool and to explore La Playa. Had delicious fried fish on rice – pescado late lunch under a palapa on the sand looking out at the waves. AZ Beemer Jordan Meschkow flew into the Puerto Vallarta Airport at 4pm and picked up a rental BMW F650GS. After a long routing in a pounding rainstorm, AZ-J joined the AZ Beemers Group at 10pm. BB took him into town via taxi to get Jordan fed and our group was now up to five AZ Beemer riders.
Tuesday, October 14: Rode to Tapalpa via Tala and Santa Cruz de las Flores. We stopped for photos along the way at the beautiful valley….overlooking Laguna Sayula. The roads through the Sierra de Mascota mountain range reminded me of the roads in the Pyrenees that Stef, Hook, Mek, Caba, Orestes, Dr. Bob and I rode last May!
We stayed at the charming Casa de Maty.
We were also fortunate to be there for the Harvest Moon Festival Parade. The town was charming and the local school children were dressed up that day as harvest items, corn, squash, and apples and were cute ninos!
Wednesday, October 15: Let the BMW Mexico Moto Clubs International Convention Begin; FIESTA! Cinco amigos rode to the Guadalajara airport where we met Melanie Boles flying into the aeropuerto.
BB put Mel in a cab and the five bikes followed the taxi to the Fiesta Americana; base camp for the next two nights of the Rally. We boarded buses at 7pm with our newly found 700 amigos and rode to the Estado de Jalisco Cultural Cabanas.
At the hotel we were united with our seventh AZ Beemer – Mr. Matt Kas arrived. We also adopted an eighth AZ Beemer–Chuck Denison of Laramie, Wyoming became part of AZB and we’re now the Magnifico Ocho Amigos!
In the hotel was a parade of BMW motorcycles. In the fifth and sixth pictures is the BMW that started beemerdons on a forty year career of owning Beemers: 1966 BMW R60/2. A very similar-looking bike, the 1968 BMW R50/2, is what AZ-J learned to drive on from his Dad, and started AZ-J’s forty year streak of riding motorcycles.
Friday, October 10: Four of us left a day early to avoid Hurricane Norbert. Good call by Brian “El Jefe” Boles! BB, Don, Henry and Noel were already ready to go with the Banjercito – Mexican Vehicle Import Permit attached to our bike’s windshields. All we had to do at the 21km Inspection Station was to obtain our Mexican Tourist cards. We stopped in the wonderful Sonoran village of Magdalena for lunch. I have always been impressed by Magdalena, a clean and handsome city populated with very happy citizens.
We AZ Beemers learned that Enrique “Henry” Garza’s mother was born in Magdalena. As many of you also know, AZ Beemer Martin “El Gobernador” Osete was born on a rancho outside Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
We hit an intense and blinding rainstorm between Santa Ana and Hermosillo at 4pm, but made the Hotel Armida in Guaymas by nightfall. We had a nice swim in the pool and fantastic steak dinner in the Armida’s fancy restaurant.
Saturday, October 11: Today’s ride felt the effects of Hurricane Norbert, as we encountered wind gusts up to 50mph; luckily they were mostly tailwinds.
We stopped at VIPS’s in Ciudad Obregon for breakfast; delicious desayuno!
The heat was intense and we had to stop many times for water breaks. We encountered toll booths approximately every 50 miles too and there’re slow.
The four of us spent the night at Hotel La Siesta at Olas Altas, in the old historic section of Mazatlan. We had incredible camarones at El Shrimp Bucket which is attached to the hotel; opened in 1963, the Bucket was the first of the international chain of Carlos Anderson restaurants. Don, aka “Chuy Medina–El Burrito Ballerina” really recommends: The Shrimp Boat.
Sunday, October 12: Another day was spent in Mazatlan at the Azteca Inn, right across the street from the Hotel Playa Mazatlan. On future trips we are not going to make any hotel reservations in advance, we hated the fact this limited our abilities to change plans on the run and enjoy new found hotels.
Monday, October 13: Rode to San Blas and arrived early enough to enjoy the pool and to explore La Playa. Had delicious fried fish on rice – pescado late lunch under a palapa on the sand looking out at the waves. AZ Beemer Jordan Meschkow flew into the Puerto Vallarta Airport at 4pm and picked up a rental BMW F650GS. After a long routing in a pounding rainstorm, AZ-J joined the AZ Beemers Group at 10pm. BB took him into town via taxi to get Jordan fed and our group was now up to five AZ Beemer riders.
Tuesday, October 14: Rode to Tapalpa via Tala and Santa Cruz de las Flores. We stopped for photos along the way at the beautiful valley….overlooking Laguna Sayula. The roads through the Sierra de Mascota mountain range reminded me of the roads in the Pyrenees that Stef, Hook, Mek, Caba, Orestes, Dr. Bob and I rode last May!
We stayed at the charming Casa de Maty.
We were also fortunate to be there for the Harvest Moon Festival Parade. The town was charming and the local school children were dressed up that day as harvest items, corn, squash, and apples and were cute ninos!
Wednesday, October 15: Let the BMW Mexico Moto Clubs International Convention Begin; FIESTA! Cinco amigos rode to the Guadalajara airport where we met Melanie Boles flying into the aeropuerto.
BB put Mel in a cab and the five bikes followed the taxi to the Fiesta Americana; base camp for the next two nights of the Rally. We boarded buses at 7pm with our newly found 700 amigos and rode to the Estado de Jalisco Cultural Cabanas.
At the hotel we were united with our seventh AZ Beemer – Mr. Matt Kas arrived. We also adopted an eighth AZ Beemer–Chuck Denison of Laramie, Wyoming became part of AZB and we’re now the Magnifico Ocho Amigos!
In the hotel was a parade of BMW motorcycles. In the fifth and sixth pictures is the BMW that started beemerdons on a forty year career of owning Beemers: 1966 BMW R60/2. A very similar-looking bike, the 1968 BMW R50/2, is what AZ-J learned to drive on from his Dad, and started AZ-J’s forty year streak of riding motorcycles.
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