Originally I was supposed to take a 'Pancho Villa Moto-Tours' (1-(800)-233-0564) six day tour of the Copper Canyon region of Mexico. Unfortunately the tour got cancelled so I was offered a spot on a ten day tour of central Mexico running at the same time. I didn't have enough time to ride my bike down to Texas, so I agreed to rent a BMW for ten days at $60 US per day.
I flew from Victoria, British Columbia to McAllen, Texas with stops in Seattle, Phoenix, and Houston. Flying the weather was decent except a little turbulence just east of Phoenix. I saw Mt. Rainier in Washington, and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Flying over New Mexico the deserts were very red.
My luggage missed the connection in Houston, so I arrived in McAllen with no gear except my helmet and jacket, which I had carried on. Also my credit cards and bank cards wouldn't work in any Texas bank machines, though I tried several banks. Pancho Villa boss Skip Mascorro agreed to put $200 US through on my VISA in exchange for 600 Nuevos Pesos. (A new peso is worth roughly $0.35 US.)
The airline then phoned and said my luggage would show up in McAllen at 11:30 PM. Whew!
I test rode my rental BMW, a 1985 R80-GS. This is a dual-purpose 800 cc boxer (opposed twin). It had a nine gallon fuel tank, a low Corbin saddle, Metzeler Enduro tires, and hard saddlebags with decent liner bags. Wierd but likeable.
I'd been told that BMWs have 'tractor-like' transmissions, but I didn't think it was bad at all. It didn't have a distinct 'stop' when shifting but worked fine. Shifting felt kind of spongy and had to be done with deliberate moves. Steering felt a bit strange due to the high enduro handlebars.
The sidestand and centerstand were the pits to use. My legs were too short to put the sidestand down while seated, so I had to climb off the bike just to put the sidestand down. I was told that most BMWs have handles for the centerstand, but this R80-GS doesn't.
I met the other riders. Ed from Wisconsin would be riding his Gold Wing. This fellow was 68 and would be my roommate throughout the trip. He constantly liked to tell tall tales and old war stories. He reminded of a combination of 'Cliff Clavin' from Cheers and 'Grandpa Simpson'.
Also riding were:
Rich and Jan from Colorado on an older Gold Wing,
George and Audrey from Ontario on a Gold Wing,
Paul from North Carolina on a Gold Wing,
Paul's friend Fred on a BMW K100LT,
The guide, Frank, on a BMW K75RS,
Darryl from Texas on a Harley Softtail.
The support van (with trailer) driver, Clem.
I was the least experienced rider by far, with only two years under my belt. All the others had been riding for at least several years.
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Tuesday, Apr. 19, 1994 (Day 1):
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We headed out to the border crossing. Pancho Villa had all the paperwork, insurance, and permits done. Everyone else got processed in only twenty minutes. I, however, had a major problem: my rental bike was registered in Skip Mascorro's name, but the border officials expect to see a rental vehicle registered in a company's name. They were going to send me away until I dug up a copy of my rental agreement that had both Skip's name and the company letterhead.
You can't ride a borrowed vehicle across the border into Mexico. Period. Rental vehicles must be documented.
You must have a major credit card to pay for your entry permit. Cash or cheques will not do. I suspect this is to ensure you have enough 'credit' to pay for repairs, etc. while in Mexico.
You must have the original title of ownership, NOT a photocopy.
You must have a valid license.
Mexico has a helmet law, but it didn't seem enforced away from the border. I saw many Mexicans riding bikes without helmets.
I don't believe it's mandatory, but you should have Mexican auto insurance: American or Canadian insurance won't cover you in Mexico. Skip gets a special group rate from Sanborn's that includes basic liability, theft, and medical for about $4 or $5 US per day (NO collision). If you insure your bike on your own, I think you can get only basic liability and medical in Mexico (NO THEFT or COLLISION) so don't take a motorcycle that isn't expendable (ie. don't ride your Vincent Black Shadow into Mexico).
After running through all the paperwork (one rider called it a 'Chinese circus'), the border officials put a hologram-type entry permit sticker on your bike's windscreen. We had to put this sticker inside the map pocket of my BMW's tank bra.
After paying a toll booth 25 cents, we finally cross the bridge over the Rio Grande into the border town of Reynosa: we're in Mexico! We rode by many small white buildings with archways. Lots of open-pipe diesels. Tons of litter scattered along the road side.
After twenty minutes we get out into flat (very flat) dry farm country. There are dozens of buzzards and hawks circling overhead. The road is as straight as an arrow. It was sunny and about 80 Fahrenheit; the air was a bit humid and muggy.
Shortly after going though a government checkpoint, we stopped to buy gas. There are two kinds: leaded 81 octane NOVA in blue pumps, and unleaded 89 octane MAGNA SIN in green pumps. Diesel is in red pumps. The pump attendant tried to short change one rider by five pesos ($1.65 US) so watch out for this!
We stopped at a bar called 'Le Granjosa'. I ordered a clubhouse sandwich (real Mexican, I know) and slurped down two bottles of Coke. I really wanted beer, but I figured with the heat, it might affect my riding.
After we got riding again, the group's speed was about 65 to 70 MPH (110 to 120 KM/H). I found the R80-GS a tad clunky shifting until I got used to the big 'throw' from first to second gear. Second and higher were quite smooth shifting though. The boxer's engine had a very nice broad powerband and was quite pleasant to use (I thought). The switches were laid-out a bit oddly. The clutch action was very good, but the brakes were crap (especially the front). This was a pre-Paralever shaft drive, but I didn't notice any shaft effect, and I was looking for it. I did notice a slight torque effect when standing still and then giving the throttle a quick twist.
One flaw: handlebar vibration. The left grip had a soft foamy grip but the throttle had a hard rubber grip. Even with my thick insulated gloves, my fingers started to 'tingle' after an hour or two of riding.
Traffic: a lot of freight trucks, buses and pick-up trucks. Mostly Mexican plates, but occasionally you'd see US plates (particularly Texas). There were many horses, cattle, chickens, goats and sheep on the sides of the road to watch out for. Riding was pleasant but not exceptional. This was a boring straight farm road with very few curves and not much scenery: mostly fields of sorghum, corn and some citrus groves.
I missed the turn-off to our hotel and rode on for about five miles before George and Audrey caught up with me to warn me. I should have read the maps instructions more carefully.
We stayed in the Hacienda Santa Engracia, an old ranch hacienda built in 1924. We had a good Mexican dinner, then sat around B.S.ing and drinking Cokes. Mexican beef tends to be tough, so steaks are sliced very thin. That night it clouded over: we heard thunder but couldn't see any lightning.
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Wednesday, April 20, 1994 (Day 2):
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We had a very good Mexican breakfast and then headed south on highway 85. We gassed up and then skirted around Ciudad Victoria to Ciudad Monte.
Along the way we went through some decent mountain twisties. We had a great view of two volcanic cones rising from a huge bowl-shaped crater. It looked like one of the alien planet's in a Calvin & Hobbes 'Spaceman Spiff' cartoon. Really, it did!
We stopped at a little dirt shack where a very poor peasant family were using burros to turn a grind stone. They were crushing sugar cane for molasses. They also sold honey by the roadside from their shack.
We rode through some twisties, but nothing strenuous. Many cargo trucks belching black smoke. Lots of sugar cane on the road. Tons of road kill. I saw buzzards circling ahead over a curve so I slowed down. Sure enough there were two dead colts on the side of the road. Yuck!
We passed through several small towns, but most didn't have topes. Topes are speed bumps. They're usually no big deal, but sometimes you'd see metal topes. These are a row of steel egg-shaped ovals set into the asphalt. It's a ***** to ride over them without your bike tires being shunted to one side or the other.
We rode across the Tropic of Cancer, marked by a ten foot-wide orange concrete ball on the side of the road. Naturally we stopped to take pictures. We also passed Ejido 1917, where the Mexican constitution was written.
As we got into Ciudad Valles, my signals, ammeter, and tachometer stopped working. I figured I'd blown a fuse and kept going. We rode through Valles and arrived at the Hotel Taninul. After settling in, we rode to the nearby town of Tamuin. We then ended up on an absolutely abysmal road: it was more potholes then asphalt. My R80-GS did great, but the heavier bikes had to go very slowly.
We saw a ceremonial _Huastec_ pyramid temple. Very interesting: it had a central area where priests and royalty were buried. Some original frescas were still visible.
Most of the group stayed in Tamuin for dinner. I rode back to the hotel with Fred and Paul, where we all had a good meal and a couple of beers.
Frank checked out the boxer: one of the fuses had a dirty connector. We cleaned it and then the indicators and gauges worked fine. I like these simple fixes. The sidetrip was about 30 miles for a total of 215 miles that day.
We saw a badly sunburned man riding a Suzuki GS650. He'd flown to Miami from his home in England. He then bought the Suzuki for $700 US, rode to through the southeast US and Mexico to Guatemala, and was now riding it north to Alaska or bust!! And he was only 22 years old! He said the bike was running well and the only problems he'd had were:
army checkpoints in Guatemala had ordered him to turn around and go back on two roads (which he did - hard to argue with someone pointing a semi-automatic at you!).
he'd had a good helmet stolen in Mexico (and was wearing some cheapie 'bucket' until he got to a motorcycle store in the USA).
Someone had stolen his motorcycle cable lock when he'd left it sitting somewhere.
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Thursday, April 21, 1994 (Day 3):
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| We had breakfast at the Hotel Taninul and then headed south on highway 85. We started to climb into the Sierra Madres Orientale (eastern). There were constant sweeping curves, and the vegetation quickly became very lush and tropical. It started to rain so heavily I had trouble seeing the white line on the road. |
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