Day One: El Paso, TX to Benjamin Hill, Son, MX [475 Miles.]
Tuesday: Left about 9:30AM, between Las Cruces, NM and Demming, NM, on I10 I got caught in a road block. It seems that someone had found a couple of 300 pound bombs that were either close to the road on on the road, I never did find out which.
Anyway, traffic was halted in both directions on Interstate 10 for about 3 hours while we waited for the bomb dispossal unit from Ft. Bliss to come and deal with the bombs. This delay would cost me about 150 miles later tonight in Mexico, so I would have to stop shorter than I had planned.
Stopped at "The Thing" and grabbed a quick hamburger and a pit stop.
Caught the rush hour traffic in Tucson on the road to Nogales, seems a lot of people live in Green Valley and commute to Tucson. This is very beautiful country and I can see why they call it Green Valley.
It was still daylight when I crossed the border at Nogales. Made it to Benjamin Hill about 9PM and stopped for the night. Checked in to the motel and got something to eat at the restarant next door. Before going to bed, I just sat outside and looked at all the stars in the very clear sky and had a good view of Comet Hail-Bopp.
Day Two: Benjamin Hill, Son, MX to Mazatlán, Sin, MX [650 Miles.]
Wednesday: Arose about 4:00 am, it is cool, about 45 deg F. Gased up and on the road by 6:00am. Stopped for breakfast south of Hermosillio. The weather is beautiful, what a great ride.
By the time I got to Culican it was getting hot, took off jacket and helmet and let the wind blow through my hair(?) the last 135 miles to Mazatlan.
Got to Mazatlan about 7pm. Stopped by the marina and cleaned the bugs off the bike before going by Harley's to have something cold to drink.
Since I never make room reservations in advance, I started my room search. One room avaliable at the Tropicana, but price is too high (forgot this was a national holiday week for Mexico), so went to the Sands and got a room for 5
days for a total cost of $104.33. Got cleaned up and went back to Harley's for the rest of the evening. Since this was Wednesday, the bike club was meeting tonight and discussing the events to be taking place the next 5 days for "The Week of the Moto".
The biggest change was that the event was moved from the Marina to the Zona Dorado, to be more accessable to the locals and tourists. It also was more convenent to eating and drinking places for the riders. Harley's was right in the middle of everything. The main stage and welcome area was directly in front of the Jungle Juice.
Day 3-6: Mazatlán
Thursday-Sunday: The Week of the Moto begins!
Day 7: Mazatlán, Sin, MX to Jimenez, Chi, MX [500 Miles. ]
Monday: We met for coffee and donuts at the plaza about 9AM to say goodbye to all our new and old friends.
Since I had agreed to buy an extra set of pictures from Robert (Bob) of Canada, I waited around and visited with everyone until the pictures were devloped to take home with me.
We got the pictures back about 11:30AM. Also picked up a copy of the local newspaper "Noroeste" which had a write up about the rally. Upon returning home I learned that Mexican TV "Univision" was also there
on Saturday and filmed the wedding which took place before the parade and showed it on the national news that night. Some of my friends in El Paso told me that they had seen it.
I left about 11:45AM and headed toward Durango. I joined up with about 20 riders from Durango on the road and rode along with them to Durango. We stopped for a short break at the Devil's Backbone. We stopped again about 45 miles from Durango
and gassed up at the new Pemex station and then went across the road to a small restarant for lunch before continuing. The other riders were riding a little faster than me so we got strung out in the mountians but a random check point, where they stopped all the bikes allowed me to catch
up to them. After a brief check of papers, we were back on the road. We had gone thru a short rain shower before the lunch stop. The weather was turning bad by the time we got to Durango. I went on thru town alone and stopped for gas and a pit stop on the east side of town then proceeded to the toll booth for the trip to
Gomez Placio. At the toll booth the wind was getting stronger and a lite rain was falling.
It was getting dark when I stopped in Gomez for gas. On the road to Jimenez, I encounterd another check point, where I got the most complete search and questioning of the whole trip. Everything was in order and I continued on the Autopista to Jimenez and stopped for the night at my usual resting place.
Day 8: Jiminez, Chi, MX to El Paso, TX [380 Miles. ]
Tuesday I got up and hit the road about 10am. Stopped at a Super Mini market in Camargo and got water, CokeaCola and a Hostess Cupcake for breakfast. Stopped in Chihuahua City and had lunch. As I was driving thru town, I passed a couple of schools that were letting out for the day, and got a lot of cat-calls and whistles from all the young school girls.
Left Chihuahua about 2PM with rain storms on my left in the mountains for most of the 235 miles. Lightning had struck in the mountians and started a fire which was burning on the ridge line for a length of about 10 miles. Encountered horses in the road three different times. Got an El Paso radio station and found out it was 97 degrees F. in El Paso. Made it to the border by 5:30Pm and got home by 6pm.