As we stood around the drowned GS, we knew we'd finally stumbled across the title for the ride report we'd put together after returning. Five amigos on big dualsports. Two of us riding all the way from the Sierra Nevada foothills, three trailering to Bisbee. All of us up for an adventure as we made our way through northwest Mexico, down and around Copper Canyon and then back home. So here it is, day 10 of 16, and it's pretty clear now that we're finally on an adventure ride. Sure we've done our best to take an interesting, dirty route as we've made our way south. We've all fumbled with our spanish, had our share of tacos, and seen kids peering around corners as we made our way into their small villages - seemingly miles from anywhere. The country is beautiful, the roads are great, and the people friendly. Surely we'll come back with lots to tell and pictures to share. But is that really all we're after? On this day we've ridden hard, eaten pounds of dust, and been smiling for hours. And then as we push on, with the hour getting late, with miles of unknown route to go, a bike is drowned in a moment. Perfect. I think in some ways this is just what we've all been waiting for. Day by day posts to come.
Truckee, CA is high on the Sierra Crest, just a few miles north of Lake Tahoe. Robbie and I plan to leave our homes and make our way down to San Andreas in the Sierra Foothills on Saturday where my nearly new 990 Adventure waits. It would be great to ride from our homes in Truckee, but at nearly 7000 feet we're still in winter's full grip. Robbie will trailer his 1200GS down and we'll pack that afternoon to begin our ride on Sunday February 24th. Our three amigos are all trailering down to Bisbee and we plan on meeting up the morning of the 27th. However as Friday morning rolls around it's clear Robbie and I need to get moving - a storm is moving in fast with promises of big rain and snow. The Donner Party was stuck here in Truckee 160 years ago. Not us - we're going to Mexico. Neither Robbie or I have ever ridden in Mexico. It's all new to us and the pressure of leaving in a hurry is a bit intense. What are we forgetting? Nevertheless we make it to mi padre's casa near San Andreas on Friday night. My father, is envious. He's made the ride to Copper Canyon but can't join us for this one as he's still recovering from injuries inflicted by a foothill meth-head who rear-ended him as he sat innocently on his R100RT more than a year ago. He goes over the maps with us and you can really feel his pain. I stay up late loading all the gps tracks I've managed to find as well as some our group has put together after eyeing maps. It's 1:30 am when I finally turn the lights out. Saturday morning and we're off to load the bikes and hit the road. The trips off to a momentous start as Robbie hits the wrong button and deletes all the GPS tracks I've loaded into his GPSMAP 60CSx. No problem, we'll detour back to my fathers house and reload. It's noon when we finally head off. The riding is beautiful as we follow wonderful twisting roadway down highway 49, though Mariposa and Oakhurst before making the downhill ride to Highway 99. We need to make some miles to get ahead of this storm and so far we're good - not a drop of rain. We take a lunch break in Tulare and then down to Bakersfield and up over Tehachapi to the Mojave desert. The sun is going down as we crest the pass at Tehachapi and the rain is starting to fall. I need gas and I guess it's time for a room. Not much fun riding at night in the rain. We head into beautiful downtown Boron. Ah, Domingo's Mexican food. Maybe what we really need is a kickoff Margarita. After downing one each and sharing a meal we're off in search of a room. We're on a Mexico trip and somehow we've already got expectations as to how much a room should cost us. In our cheapness, we pass on the first as too high, only to find ourselves at a second prospect, still higher, and then stubbornly back on the road for Adelanto where we hear there are plenty of cheap motels. After another hour or so of riding in the rain we end up at the Budget Inn - probably the worst place I've ever stayed in the U.S., and yep, even more costly than what we could have had back in beautiful Boron. Oh well, we're smiling and already learning little lessons along the way. We'll wake up tomorrow to clear skies and the beginning of Day Two.
We packed up and headed into Victorville in search of breakfast. We then headed through Lucerne Valley and down Hwy 247 toward Joshua Tree. It was nice to be under mostly sunny skies as we proceeded south. I found this stretch of highway a bit boring and at one point decided to see what the 990 had in it. Although fully loaded I quickly had the thing up to 123 (gps) but quickly dropped down to a sane level having proven to myself that this beast could indeed ramp it up. No need to ever do that again. As we neared Yucca Valley I spotted a loop up into the mountains that would add a little distance, but give us a break from the monotony of 247. And so we enjoyed a little twisty action up through Pipes Canyon and then down through Pioneer Canyon Road in Yucca Valley where we fueled and got a snack. From there it was just a few miles east on 62 to our turn-off into Joshua Tree on Park Blvd. Couldn't resist getting a couple of pics of the new bike as we proceed south through the park. After taking a quick run up to the Salton View we continued along the pavement until we found ourselves at the turn-off for the Geology Tour Rd. This double track was a delight as it wound itself southward across areas with great open views. Look closely in the picture above and you'll see that Robbies new Jesse pannier is askew and he's just about to lose the bag altogether. This gave us a chance to stop and execute our first field repair. With a bit of tweaking it all seemed to go back together a little more securely. Soon we found ourselves in the somewhat more technical terrain of Berdoo Canyon. A bit of sand and rocks gave us a nice little intro into handling the fully loaded beasts. A leg injury prevents Robbie from using a brake pedal. His rear brake is therefore mounted just above his clutch. This was a new setup for him and this little bit mixed terrain in Berdoo convinced him that his lever setup needed a bit more work. Berdoo dumped out onto the pavement and from there it was a quick ride down into Coachella for fuel and our turn onto I-10. Robbie had been eyeing the 990 for the past couple days. It was clear to him the thing was vastly more dirt-worthy, now he wanted a chance to see how it was on the interstate. So we traded bikes for this stretch of freeway and he continued to ride it as we turned back onto the dirt at Wiley's Well and Milpitas Wash Roads. We made good time on this as we headed south toward I-8. The views off toward the Colorado River to our east we beautiful as the low sun angle brought out the colors and textures of the terrain. After an hour or so we were back onto the pave and quickly down to I-8 and a short hop into Yuma where we holed up for the night at the local Motel 6. I'm sure Robbie nodded out to dreams of his very own 990 .
The early rush to beat the weather has given us an extra day to kill. We don't need to meet our friends in Bisbee until the morning of the 27th. And we'll have all day tomorrow in Tucson to deal with buying and mounting the knobbies we'll ride on south of the border. So we decide to take the scenic route towards Tucson and after breakfast hit the freeway for Gila Bend. From there we ride down Hwy 85 to Why, AZ, and then continue on to Organ Pipe NM. This ride gets prettier and prettier the further south we go - at times the road cuts through rocky areas with beautiful cactus among the outcroppings. After gassing up in Why, we continue south to the visitor center at Organ Pipe. I've checked out the maps and it looks like we'll be able to visit the park and then make our way eastward along the Mexican Border and then northeasterly through the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation back up towards Tucson. As I'm standing looking at a model of the local area, a pony-tailed ranger walks up to me and strikes up a converstation. I half expect him to be anti-bike, but he's immediately asking me about the KTM, etc. Nice guy. He makes a very strong recommendation that we do the dirt loop up into the Ajo Mountains. The poppies are in full bloom and he insists it's a site we don't want to miss. Sounds good to us, but how about our adventurous route eastward. No dice we're told. The border patrol has those roads locked down. We'll have to return to Why and take 85 east through the res and over towards Tucson. So we cross the road and begin the dirt loop up into the Ajos. It's absolutely gorgeous and I'm soon wishing I had a helmet cam so I could try and capture the 360 degree visuals. We eventually realized that we needed to keep moving if we were to make it to Robbie's inlaws home in Green Valley before nightfall. So back up to Why we go and then it's a pleasant couple hour ride over to Tucson where we pull-in hungry at sundown. Tucson is a big place, but we soon find a chinese restaurant and make it down the road to Green Valley for our next two nights with Robbie's inlaws, Bill and Irene. These are the nights I sleep in luxury. Thank you Bill and Irene. Just before bed Robbie decided to tackle some mods of his clutch/rear brake lever setup. Would you trust this guy working on your bike? Tomorrow will be tire day in Tucson.
No pictures for this day. What I really wish most for is a way to express the frustration of trying to get around Tucson and it hellish freeway construction project. What were these people thinking? So far we've made the ride down on regular road tires. Me on the stock Scorpions and Robbie on his Tourances. Day Four is tire day. First stop is to visit Blaine at SW Moto Tires. We make two passes in the area just trying to get off the freeway. Eventually we make it. I buy a new Dunlop 606 front and 908 rear and head off for the KTM dealer a few miles away. Blaine has told us in advance that as a one man band things are pretty hectic. It might take him all day to mount four tires between packing orders. So our approach is divide and conquer. Robbie will pull his wheels, Blaine will mount his rubber. I'll go to the KTM dealer and let them do mine along with a countershaft sprocket change. Robbie is done well before me and comes over to the KTM shop while I wait, and wait, and wait. Just as they're finishing my bike I pull the cell phone and find that our three trailering amigos are just passing through on their way to Bisbee. Perfect. We chase them down and meet for lunch. This is the first time I meet Doug and the first time Robbie gets to meet Doug, Bill or Steve. We talk about our rendevous tomorrow in Bisbee where they'll leave the trailer while we're all down in Mexico. They continue on and it's back to Bill and Irenes where Robbie and I are treated to a great meal and good wine. Tomorrow - Mexico at last.
Robbie and I got up early to make the ride to Bisbee where we'd meet the trailering gang for the ride into Mexico. The ride from Green Valley took less than two hours and I was a bit disappointed that it didn't leave me time to explore Tombstone along the way, or walk the streets of Bisbee - a town that seems to have a bunch of character. Everyone was anxious to make the quick ride to Douglas and get across the border at Agua Prieta. As soon as you cross the border you must go inside and do the required paperwork - vehicle importation, tourist visa, stuff. However as soon as you park it seems folks crawl out of the woodwork to ask for change and eye the bikes. Our approach was to leave two of us with the bikes while the first three went in and did the paperwork. Once they were finished, Robbie and I went in and quickly dealt with ours. This was really the only place while in Mexico that I had immediate concerns of getting ripped off. One guy actually told me he was security guard and that I shouldn't worry about leaving the bikes in his care. Yeah, right I thought. Our border crossing took less that an hour and we were soon on the road for Cananea. This ride was fast two-lane blacktop and seemed to take a little more than an hour. Cananea served as a lunch and fuel stop and then it was a short backtrack to Hwy 89 - Ruta de la Misiones. This road offered nice twisties and scenic value as it wound south stringing together a bunch of small towns and villages that had been founded back in the early 1600s. Our first snack stop found us in Bacoachi. It kinda served as a great place to stretch the legs, strip off extra layers and have our first encounter real locals. Kids were always interested in the bike and the strangely dressed guys who rode them into town. We settled into a nice pace as we strung out and twisted southward. Soon we were in Arizpe, another great mission town, somewhat larger than the many we had already ridden through. Bill and Steve had stayed here on a previous trip and knew right where to find the ice cream. It seems that my father, on previous Mexico trips, had always been the one to search out ice cream no matter where they were. Since his injury prevented him from being on this trip, Steve felt is only fitting to raise his cone in my father's honor. Arizpe, like nearly all the towns along this route had a mission to admire. We eventually made our way to the great little town of Banamichi. Bill negotiated a nights stay in a very nice hotel located on the towns plaza. The rates were a bit high, but the rooms and general ambiance were quite nice. Bill (el jefe) also managed to squeeze full breakfasts into the negotiated rate. The hotel provided us with a great place to enjoy a few cervesas and secure parking for the bikes. With the room situation all settled, and a couple of daylight hours remaining, Bill, Robbie and I decided to take off and see how our new knobbies would feel in the dirt. We simply chose a road that seemed to head up steeply into the mountains and rode. Only our first day in Mexico, and I've gotta say "things are looking good." Little did I know that the best was yet to come.
Well my pricate message from Offroute told me to get off my ass and post so here is my first ever ADVrider post. Just FYI I am Robbie in Offroute thread. From here on out I assume I'll be Loco Moto. I guess everyone can tell that Offroute is a misnomer because every detail of where we were and what happened is in Offroutes post. Well on day one with my GPS track dump I get us off to the start where Offroute said "oh you're going to be "that guy" on this trip". Yup, I proved to have a few more "oops" as you will see. Day one also saw my GS side panel fly off and hit me in the knee as I was passing at about 80 +++. First fix of the trip. Offroute's 123 mph run almost had him off to jail cause there was a cop stationed about a 1/4 mile past where he slowed down. Close one I thought. My saddlebag decided it did not want to go to Mexico with the bike. 2nd fix in only two days. I was beginning to think I was "that guy". What was I getting into? This was only the 2nd day and we had many more to go with many more miles. Should I abort now and head home? The left hand rear brake re-do was the third fix of the trip and we still have only been gone 3 days. Stay tuned for adventures to come. We haven't sunk the ship yet.
Off route, am loving your ride report...reminding me of what a great trip we had. Can't wait to see what we did next! Good thing we didn't meet up until Bisbee, sounds like we would have had an all out race seeing how fast that new 990 would really go, but after riding 2 weeks with Robbie there's one thing I know for certain Robbie would have been the last one to turn off the throttle, rear brake or no rear brake! Haha. I'm just happy that we were able to meet you in Bisbee, especially after seeing how far we could go on an empty tank of diiesel along Highway 40. Thanks for the reminder of enjoying the Victor ice cream, I think I'll go have one. Thanks guys, talk to you soon. I'll send a few pictures of my own on my next reply.
Loco Moto (robbie), Looks like spsjustride has you all figured out. spsjustride, working on Day Six now, but having a hard time with it cuz I can't quit thinking about where we should be going next...
I got up knowing this was going to be a good day. In my mind there were 2 things that were going to guarantee fun: 1. We were headed for the dirt. 2. We didn't really know if our planned route would work out or where we might end up. The hotel in Banamichi had been a nice place to stay. Since we were five, and most rooms are available as doubles, I usually slept on the floor. This place had a GREAT floor - outside with the sounds of the courtyard fountain to sleep by. So after a great nights sleep, we got up, had our breakfast , and hit our final few miles of the paved Ruta de la Misiones. Very soon we found ourselves in the little town of Baviacora. We parked our bikes along the town plaza and admired the mission. El Jefe and sjsjustride seemed a little discombobulated. I kept hearing about hot dogs, hot dogs, but as it turned out we had just eaten breakfast. Well, if you look to the other side of the street you will see the small stand operated by "the hot dog lady." Our timing was just plain wrong, but as I discovered a few days later, this is one hot dog stand you don't want to miss. Soon after leaving Baviacora we were at our first military checkpoint at Mazocohui. The soldiers half-heartedly poked at our bags but seemed more interested in hearing about either how much the bikes cost, or how fast they'd go. El Jefe managed to get the shot above. I was told to put my camera away... La Junta was our jumping off point for the unknown dirt route ahead. Sand. Early on it was wet, but as the miles went on the sand seemed to get drier and deeper. Rumor has it that a couple bikes need to take naps along this route, but I won't be the one to post the picture that memorializes the nap taken by "that guy's gs." I found this great fun, but was very happy I was on the 990 rather than the V-Strom or one of the big GSs. I own a V-Strom and know from experience how much more difficult it is to ride in these conditions. My hats off to those guys and especially sjsjustride as he made the BMW look like it was no big deal. The sand wash eventually led higher into alternating double track that was much faster. In the photo above, we're taking a break at a point that I am officially naming Skidplate Junction - the dedication was made by none other than "that guy," Loco Moto (Robbie). We had already negotiated several cattle guards. The one above is being negotiated by Doug, our V-Strom pilot. I'm kicking myself for not taking pics of many other guards that also had the rails running with the roadway. The difference is that most seemed to have rails made from pipe instead of flat steel like in the above, and the rails seems to be spaced just so you'd wonder if there was anyway to get your narrow front wheel through the thing. I found myself cringing on several of these. Sjsjustride demonstrated how to deal with this cattle guard as he lofted his front wheel altogether when crossing it. I immediately looked toward Loco Moto knowing what was to surely come. Not to be out-done, Loco Moto makes a run at it, get's airborne, bottoms out, and.... Skidplate junction is dedicated. El Jefe makes his way through the scenic canyons. Ah, Mexico - sounds so sweet I just gotta go. We eventually made it to a small village called Alamos (not the bigger Alamos we'll hit later) and took a break for some refrescos. Sjsjustride and I were out in front for the several miles before this - riding side by side over sometimes rolling and twisting terrain. Definately one of my greatest memories of this trip. We continued on to Mazatan where we fueled and had lunch. From there it was a short bit of pavement and then back into the dirt for relatively high speed dirt down to Tecoripa. Sjsjustride earning style points just outside Tecoripa. We had a great meal at a taco stand in Tecoripa. Sitting along the roadway, enjoying a few beers and watching the evening life of Tecoripa go by. Dogs, cats, kids - it all just felt so relaxing after the great day we'd had...
Well guys, they say what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico. But, I just got an email from a couple of gentlemen that apparently saw Loco Moto's stupid manuever over their Mexican cattleguard. They gave it high marks but they couldn't believe how these CRAZY Americans get their thrills! They have enclosed their photo so that the next time you pass down their trail, you may want to say hola. <A href="[/IMG]https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/k/ktmrider8_StevesMexicoTrip2008005Small.jpg" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" ?> <CENTER> </CENTER>
I was a bit happy to leave our zero star hotel in Tecoripa. Sleeping outside looked better than in, but the bright lights kept me up most of the night as I tried to sleep amongst the bikes. We headed into town for a breakfast prepared by the wife of the local Tecate purveyor - a guy El Jefe had befriended the night before. Soon after, we were on a great section of highway 16 as we headed eastward. I got out in front on this section and enjoyed it thoroughly. We twisted along it for maybe thirty miles or so through the mountains. Somewhere along the way I rode by this guy coming up the embankment. Robbie soon caught up and decided to go back for this pic. Thinking back on it, I'm pretty sure this is the only other human we saw along this stretch of highway. Soon we met the point where our hand drawn GPS tracks directed us southward. This point came soon after crossing Rio Yagui. From here down to Alamos our route would be almost entirely dirt. The first town we came to was Onavas. You hit the edge of town and boom, the roadway goes from dirt to cobblestone. The kids line up along the schoolyard fence to watch you ride by. You arrive at the towns center, get off the bikes, and are immediately struck by the peace and quiet of the place. A couple guys may be relaxing on a bench. A few faces may be peering around corners. There is a simplicity of life you just want to sit down and absorb. How cool is this? Next time I'd like to make Onavas a stop for the night. Leaving Onavas, we immediately back into the dirt. Occasionally we come across short sections like the above that have been "improved." But all along the way you're wondering "who have they improved this for" - you just don't see anyone else using these roads... And then boom, you round a corner, and come into another village. And smiling faces peer out at you as you ride through waving. We leave Rio Chico and continue down to Movas. Great open river valleys and the weather is perfect. You find yourself standing on the pegs just to take it all in. Here is Loco Moto making a successful river crossing in style. Three days later and things won't be quite so successful! After crossing the river the road winds back up into the mountains. It's hot and we all collect in the shade to take more of it in and enjoy a few snacks. As we continue to Rosario, we're seeing more and more improvements to the road. It becomes more graded and we follow miles of it where power line poles are being set. I'm sure we view this progress quite differently from those in the villages we have just ridden through. I hope my amigos will chime in when I'm off in this description. I'm pretty sure this is our lunch stop in Rosario. We pulled into town and asked a couple guys on small motos where we could find lunch. The jump on their bikes and escort us to this spot. The brotherhood of motos. Miles and miles to go today and it's all just beautiful. We pass through a few more small villages and then climb up into the mountains. The double track seems to narrow and then as we start to make our way downhill, we encounter road construction on a major scale. More "progress" I guess, but it's difficult to conceive of why such great effort is being put into a road here. Our hand drawn gps tracks have done a great job leading us here, but now they've taken us to a spot where the river crossing looks difficult, if not impossible. After fumbling around looking for a crossing we head back into what my GPS calls the town of Nahuibampo and are directed toward a modern concrete bridge. El Jefe makes his way down to the bridge across Rio Mayo. Once across the bridge we resume our normal spacing for dust. Sjsjustride joins me out in front for more two abreast and we blast toward Alamos, our destination for this day. Miles and mile of graded dirt road. Little traffic. The speeds are getting high. Fun. Down in the saddle, up on the pegs, down in the saddle, up on the pegs. We cruised into Alamos with about an hour of daylight left. El Jefe and Sjsride take off to find us rooms for the night while Doug, Loco Moto and I hang back near the town mission and grab ourselves a beer. Lots of gringos here - it's beautiful, but has an entirely different feel from all the other towns we've been though thus far. A helpful Gringo appears giving us his take on where to stay or ask around for affordable rooms, but it soon becomes apparent that he may be taking a liking to Loco Moto. Loco Moto can have a room at no charge. I think we're all pretty sure that his "massage" will be thrown in for free... Loco moto thanks him for his helpful advice and offer, but takes off with what I believe to be a real sense of determination. Doug and I sip our beers in amusement. Loco Moto soon returns. He's found us cheap rooms and secure bike parking. He's apparently quite willing to give up the offer of a free room and massage. After settling in we all take a walk to dinner and then another around town. More ice cream. Friday night in Alamos is a parade of cars, all with blaring music, making half mile circuits. Tomorrow we'll leave this bustle and start moving toward Copper Canyon.
You might not believe it, but that guy is the "unofficial" security guard. He watches out for everyone. Really a good guy.. As soon as you cross the border you must go inside and do the required paperwork - vehicle importation, tourist visa, stuff. However as soon as you park it seems folks crawl out of the woodwork to ask for change and eye the bikes. Our approach was to leave two of us with the bikes while the first three went in and did the paperwork. Once they were finished, Robbie and I went in and quickly dealt with ours. This was really the only place while in Mexico that I had immediate concerns of getting ripped off. One guy actually told me he was security guard and that I shouldn't worry about leaving the bikes in his care. Yeah, right I thought.