It was still closed. We hung around the armory which was the designated location for stranded travelers for a while, then we caught a movie, The Monuments Men (which was pretty good), and then we hung out at the man s mall, Fleet Farm for a while. We went back to the armory and found out that the north bound lanes of I 35 were open, but the south bound lanes were still blocked by jack-knifed semi s and weren t expected to re-open until at least 9:00 PM.
Finally, we heard that a parallel two lane road was open to by-pass I 35. So, we got back on the road and headed south. There were three of us taking turns driving Kevin s Grand Cherokee pulling my trailer with our motorcycles. Kevin brought along his BMW X Challenge 650, Tom had his KTM 640 Adventure and I brought my KLX 400.
Eventually we made it back onto I 35 and arrived in Presidio, Texas about a day later than our original plan. We stayed overnight at the Three Palms Hotel in Presidio. They let us park our truck and trailer there while we re in Mexico.
Sunday morning we got up and packed the bikes and went through both Immigration and the temporary importation of the motorcycles. This time I tried using my registration card instead of my bike s title and it worked fine. It felt good to be back on a motorcycle, it s been a long, cold winter.
Usually, there is a customs check-point about 20 miles south of the border where they check to be sure you properly imported your motorcycle. This year, that checkpoint was closed, the windows were boarded up. Another twenty miles or in there is usually a military checkpoint. It was closed last year and is still closed. In general, I d say that this year we saw fewer federales, police and military than most years.
About 50 miles from the border there is a small town called Coyame that we usually stop at for coffee and a snack. Just outside of town there is the Grutas de Coyame or the Caves of Coyame. We d seen this advertised along the side of the road for years but never stopped to see them. Since we hadn t really made any firm plans this year, it was easy to talk my geologist friend Kevin into stopping there to tour the cave. We had already talked to our friend Arturo from the city of Chihuahua and he met us in Coyame with two more friends, so there were 6 of us that toured the cave. Nico insisted that we had to park at the bottom of the hill, so it was a long stair climb in my motocross boots! Once we got inside, they suggested we leave our motorcycle jackets in the lobby. Other caves I ve been in have always been cool, so I thought maybe the jacket would feel good, but this cave was very hot and humid inside, so it was a good thing we left them behind.
It was a nice cave tour, electric lights, paved sidewalk, a stand-up walk around type of tour. It was not a really colorful cave but it had lots of stalagmites and stalactites and other cave features. It was fun and well worth the stop and very reasonable at less than $3.00.
We rode the rest of the way into Chihuahua and stayed the night in the Hotel Maria Dolores, which is our favorite in Chihuahua. It is close to downtown and restaurants, clean and reasonably priced. Arturo came with us to supper, all four of us crowded into a cab to go to restaurante Se or Camaron (Mr. Shrimp) and had a great seafood meal. I had grilled fish stuffed with shrimp and sauce in foil, mmm. Taking the cab was cheap, we didn t get lost and we didn t have to worry about riding after having a few beers.
Next morning we ate breakfast at the old standby, the Caballo Loco (the crazy horse), packed up the bikes and took off. We rode through Cuauhtemoc and on to Carichi on the pavement, where we finally hit some dirt roads. The road was a very nice smooth gravel road up to where they had built a man-camp for a pipeline project. After that, the road was rougher than usual. My new to me KLX 400 had the suspension set-up very stiff and it took me quite a while to fiddle with both the compression damping and rebound damping adjustments on both the front forks and the rear shock before it gave me a nice smooth ride. Both Kevin on his BMW and Tom on his KTM just rode away from me at least until I softened the suspension. Somewhere along this stretch I lost my front fender bag containing a front tube and tire irons. I sure hoped I wouldn t need them the rest of this trip!
We originally thought about spending the night in Creel, but it was still early in the day and so we decided to press on and head for San Rafael or Bahuachivo, since that would give us more options of where to go next with our shortened schedule. Since it was getting late we didn t stop at the Divisidero overlook. We took the low road into Bahuachivo. One bridge is still out and they now have Dave s favorite bridge made with railroad rails under construction so you have to ride up the middle of the river for a ways to get to the crossing point. Luckily, the water was low so we had no trouble.
The sun was getting low and casting long shadows so we decided to stay the night in Bahuachivo. We stayed at the newer hotel at the bottom of the hill where Rich and I repaired his front wheel at couple of years ago. I met the guy with the truck that hauled both of us and our bikes back to Creel that year.
We went to dinner in a small restaurant, it was just the three of us eating in the dining room of their house. They had no menu, so it was a bit of a struggle to understand what she offered us for dinner. I had to ask her a couple of times to speak more slowly so I could understand her. We ended up getting chicken stuffed with cheese and bacon, mmm! So far, the food has been great!
We had to make a decision about where to go next. We could go the more familiar route of Urique to Batopilas, but we knew the road out of Batopilas was being worked on and the last we heard it was only open to traffic at night. Since we avoid riding in Mexico at night, we decided on a new route to me.
In the morning we headed to Chinipas. I ve been to Chinipas once before, it s an improved gravel road the whole way, but it s an interesting, curvy gravel road. So, even though it wasn t challenging, it was a fun road to ride. The hotel that Kevin had stayed in before was closed so we found a new hotel. It was practically new and a little expensive at 400 pesos per night (about $33). The cable TV didn t work in my room! We ate at Gaby s restaurant. The food was good, but she has decided that gringos can afford to pay more!
Next morning, we saddled up and headed out to Uruachi. I had never been there before so I was anxious to see the roads. They were terrible! So much fun, they were challenging without being impossible. Steep, loose inclines and descents, switchbacks, rocky, potholes, riding on the edge of the canyons with no guard rails this was a fun ride. This road gave our suspensions a workout. We were in first and second gear all day long.
We stayed in an old hotel where the fenced parking area was across the street and we were up on the second floor. You access your room by walking along an open walkway cantilevered out from the side of the building, suspended above the street. It s a little tight for a big guy like me, carrying saddlebags and riding gear, but it held. I walked into the room and had to duck and weave around the ceiling fan blades. It wasn t running, but it would hit me about mid-forehead. This room was intended for people much shorter than me!
We found a small tienda (store) that let me use their phone to call home in the US. While there, he asked us if we wanted to use his computer. So, he let us into his office across the street from the store and let us use his computer. It was really slow, but Kevin was able to send a couple of emails. People in this town seemed very nice and friendly to us. Later at dinner, we ate in the dining room of the owner s home. She served us a kind of beef stew that was delicious, but again, with no menu it is sometimes a struggle to understand what she was offering.
The next morning we climbed a set of stairs up the second floor and ate in a small restaurant overlooking the square before packing up and heading out to Magurachi and on to Creel. Again, these were roads I was not familiar with. After a while, the road was obviously not used much anymore. There were weeds growing in the tracks, and obvious erosion along the edges. I noticed that I hadn t seen Tom or Kevin in quite a while. I hadn t seen any tire tracks in a long time either. I hung back on purpose to stay out of their dust cloud, and they had been consistently riding a little faster than me. I checked my GPS, I was pretty sure I was on the road to Magurachi, so I kept riding. A great road for riding, very desolate country, beautiful views. Still no Tom or Kevin. Hmm. If I m on the wrong road, they are going to wonder why I rode for so many miles in the wrong direction. I d better turn around and see if I can find them.
I rode all the way back to a fork in the road, that wasn t shown on my GPS tracks. It was a better road than the one I d been on, and I thought I d remembered Kevin saying something about both a good road and a bad road to Magurachi. I waited at the intersection for about a half hour and didn t see anyone. I decided to try the good road. I rode for a few miles until I saw a guy on horseback. I stopped to ask him directions, he said that this road did not go to Magurachi, it only went to a mine. I thanked him and turned back. Just as I got back to the intersection, I saw Tom and Kevin there talking to someone in a pickup truck, asking if they d seen me!
It turned out I had been going in the right direction and should have just kept going. They got to a bridge crossing over a river where the bridge approaches were washed away, there was no way across so they turned around and came back.
We headed back to Uruachi, and then took the improved gravel road back toward San Juanito. We hadn t gassed up in Uruachi on our way back through, but I figured I had enough gas. Kevin s bike has a really small gas tank, so he carries an extra gallon with him, Tom has a huge tank on his bike and didn t bother to fill up at our last stop. Tom ran out of gas about 20 miles away from San Juanito. Kevin poured his extra gas in his bike and we drained about 3 pop bottles worth out of my bike and poured it into Tom s. We made it into San Juanito and filled up at the Pemex. Between all three bikes we had enough gas!
From San Juanito we took the paved road back into Creel. Tom had a favorite hotel in Creel but when we got there it was overrun by tourists getting out of buses. So, we tried my favorite, the Los Valles. I always ask for a room with three beds, but this is the first time we didn t need two rooms. They gave us a suite, it had 3 queen beds and a set of bunk beds, along with a living room and kitchenette. That worked out great. I remember not being too thrilled with my choice of dinner that evening, but Tom s choice looked fabulous.
It was Friday morning and time to head back towards the border. From Creel we took the pavement back to Bocoyna and the same dirt road back to Carichi and re-traced our path back to Chihuahua, where we stayed at the Maria Dolores again. I can t remember the name of the restaurant, but it is a short walk across the bridge from the hotel. It is near the hospital where Arturo works, and he knows every waitress in the place.
We skipped breakfast in the morning and tried to beat the traffic out of Chihuahua. Kevin did a great job as usual of navigating through Chihuahua, I almost always get lost. It is a big city, population over 800,000 people. We stopped in Coyame for breakfast and went back through customs and the reverse motorcycle importation process in Ojinaga. The guy checking the motorcycle is required to take a photo of the VIN number on the bike frame to prove that we are bringing the right vehicle back. He could read it just fine, but the photos just weren t getting enough contrast to be readable. He tried over a dozen times and finally left us to go check with his supervisor. While he was gone, at least a half dozen trucks pulled in waiting to check out. Eventually he came back, and just started taking photos again. He finally got one that was good enough, and started in on Kevin s bike. Same problem with the photo. Kevin reached down on the ground for a little dirty oil and wiped it on the number on his frame. Presto, great contrast!
Going through the US customs in Presidio, Tom got randomly picked to be searched. He said the officers said they had never searched a motorcycle before, and weren t quite sure what to do. He asked if they wanted to see in his saddlebags, so they took a look and sent him along.
We got back to the Three Palms, loaded the bikes on the trailer, put away our riding gear and headed home It was 85 degrees in Presidio when we left. I remember packing my snow boots and stocking hat thinking I wouldn t be needing those for a while!
By the time we crossed the Texas / Oklahoma state line it was below freezing and we were driving through an ice storm. We got hung up in Oklahoma City for about two hours just parked on the freeway due to ice and jack-knifed semi s.
We dropped Tom off in Bloomington and Kevin dropped me off at home at about 8:00 Sunday night. It took us about 29 hours to drive home. At home it was about zero degrees and the snow was hip deep. The bikes, the trailer and the truck were covered in road salt and slush, yuck. Back to work bright and early Monday morning!
It was a great trip. We had great weather for riding, no mechanical issues, no bad crashes. ( I did drop my bike once. I came around a switchback and the road forked in two directions. As I was trying to decide which way to go, I lost my momentum and fell over at zero mph.) The roads we found were challenging and fun, the food was great. It was probably a good thing we didn t make many plans ahead of time, we would have had to change them anyway and we might have missed out on the cave and the decision to go to Uruachi.
Paul Streeter