Yo Sobrevivi el Camino a Batopilas

Translation; I survived the road to Batopilas at least that's what the T-shirt says. We not only survived the road to Bato but also the new short cut from Batopilas to Urique! Nine Mid-westerners and a Mexican head into Copper Canyon to see what’s new and exciting in this ever changing region of Mexico.

As always spectacular scenery.


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<style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; </style>New this year, Technicolor toes!


And the fast paced intense canyon lifestyle.


<style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; </style>Inmates on the trip are cwc, fugarwe, Sleddog, Powerhouse and yours truly. A couple of non-ADVers Bob and Ian then in Chihuahua City we hookup with Tury. A MN scouting party is on the road a week ahead of us Daggy and OwwMyEye who we’ll meet somewhere yet to be determined.

It all starts back in Minnesota loading bikes and gear in the trailer and RV in single digit temperatures with visions of above freezing warmth less than 24 hours away. The drive down got off to late start and a slight change of route to some avoid potential ice problems in Kansas but otherwise uneventful. That is until we’re near Marfa TX and the RV chugs to a halt. You may remember this same scenario form last year and even previous years. Some would say that we’re out of gas but fugarwe, the owner of the 36 foot behemoth is quick to point out “We’re not out of gas! There’s 5 gallons in the trailer!”


<style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> A wrong turn or rather lack of turn yields a photo op at the El Cheapo liquor store. cwc is know for his frugal ways and fugarwe wants to capture this father and son moment for posterity.

Fugarwe thinks this is a great idea, cwc not so much.


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We quickly make ourselves at home, note Grain Belt beer, at the Three Palms


<style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> and at the restaurant.

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In the morning we head for the border! The weather reports hints at some very un-Minnesotan temperatures a good thing but predict 50mph cross winds a bad thing on a KLX250.

Nice toes! :huh

Great pics, looking forward to the rest

Doesn't look like they had any more rain since our trip.

Nice to see you splurged for the premium refreshment.

I'll be checking in on you.

Subscribing - I'll be following this report.

Looking forward to seeing pics of that new route

Subscribed y Papa Chuy will be enjoying your report; Muchas Gracias Rick!

I'm keepin' an eye on you fellows

que bueno!

I'm the new guy on the Adventure this year, and about to have the "Best Time" because I haven't been to Mexico before, & everything is new!

Being from South Dakota, I drove south a little to meet the others in Des Moines.

cwc has been to the Copper Canyon several times & has saved tracks & created maps of the area.

Here he is, on the way down, getting everyones GPS loaded with the latest up to date data.



The guys told me to be sure to get a picture of my bike all clean & ready, 'cause it wasn't going to stay that way!



Tomorrow, we get to cross the Border & ride in the WIND........

On this trip Sleddog took 784 pictures, Bob took 771, Rick took 541 Ian took 453, Powershouse took 150+, Fugarwe took 50 and I took ZERO.

I have made some pictures since returning so will present them. Here is a map of the first day in Mexico. The track goes from the Three Palms in Presidio to the Maria Dolores in Chihuahua. Please note that if you follow this track exactly you will go one block on the sidewalk just before you get to the Maria Dolores.

Note also that the yellow track follows Hwy 16. The red line is where Garmin thinks Hwy 16 goes.

The tracks presented here will eventually be cleaned up and incorporated into my Garmin map.

Believe me, you'd much rather ride in the pulvo (dust) than the lodo (mud) that it becomes in the rain!

That and we slept in a hotel every night

With the big winds that are predicted today we should get up early and get across the border and on the road before conditions get bad but that's not our style. Most of the morning is final packing for most initial packing for some and of course there's breakfast. So we don't get the early start that real smart people would.

Border paperwork seems to be streamlined some until we go to get our vehicle imports stickers. There's a bit of a line and only two clerks handling things and well there are seven of us. Trouble with credit cards, paying with cash and a computer crash add to the wait but we're in Mexico and we really don't care. Once we reach the edge of town we can see how bad the winds are the horizon is blocked from view from all the dust being blown around. The good news I guess is that we've got a head wind not a cross wind. The two guys on KLR 650s are doing OK just loosing some gas mileage the rest of us are on 350 or smaller bikes and we spend the better part of the day with the throttle pinned, laid down on the tank and downshifting a gear or two for any hills.

Sleddog, fugarwe and Ian at the overlook outside of Ojinaga. Note the sculpture/monument in the background it is graffiti free :eek1 wow a new paint job.


We reach Chihuahua City and do the sneak down the sidewalk to avoid the one way street getting to the Maria Delores Hotel. In spite of the late start it's still not the least bit late so after we settle in we head out to explore the city some.

Righteous bro in Chihuahua City.


I don't know?? She's just standing on the sidewalk singing away.


Domino's Delivers.


PowerHouse scores some papas.




Andrew Lord stopped by to talk for a while avoiding leaving Chihuahua City.


The Canal Road in Chihuahua City.


Oh, I almost forgot the truck of the day.

Hey rick

Good to see what you do for fun when you are not on your fjr.

I have done some riding with sleddog and was happy to get beat by fugarwe last august.

Sleddog, get to work and post some of those pics!

Been waiting for this report! Can't wait to see where Charlie took the gang this year! Looks like a good time was had, aside from bruised toes!

And aside from flat tires. I felt like that sideshow guy for a while. Story to follow at the appropriate time.

The next morning some of us are up and ready to hit the road but others it seems didn't get to bed until 2:00AM To their credit they don't sleep as late as they might have liked and we're off to breakfast at a reasonable hour. Tury stops by the hotel with his bike in the back of his pick-up and we're off to Cuauhtemoc where he'll leave the truck at a friends. From there we'll head south to Carichi where we finally hit the dirt roads.

Across the road from one of our stops is a hotel with a kind of strange setup. There are big curtains across a garage opening?? These hotel are available by the hour, need I say more The curtains are to hide your car or truck from the prying eyes of the neighbors.


When you travel with old guys there are lots of stops.


We head west from Carichi and now the dust becomes an issue. There hasn't been rain down here for like five months so the eight of us get pretty spread out. The objective is to head west to Bocoyna (IIRC) then south on the paved road a few mile to Creel for the night. About 3/4 the way to Bocoyna I pull into a small town and find fugarwe relaxing across the street from a little tienda. Sitting in the shade and having a snack seems like a pretty good idea so I stop. We're entertained by a few young boys on their bicycles while we wait for those behind us to catch up. After a while tury arrives but hasn't seen Bob or cwc, the only others behind us at this point. So the three of us hang out and watch this sleepy little town drive up and down the street. It's been more than an hour since I arrived and now fugarwe and Tury are going to head back and look for our two missing Amigos. I'll head to Creel and tell the others what's up.

Downtown Sisoguichic.




Our entertainment for the afternoon.


Trick light set up on one of the bikes. PIAA's got nuthin on these kids.


Creel

Pano by Daggy

Once we check in to the hotel Daggy and Owwmyeye are there to greet us. Daggy is quick to whip out his camera and show us the video of Owwmyeye biffing a water crossing. According to Owwmyeye we are the only people in Chihuahua that haven't seen it yet
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Along the main street in Creel where most of the hotel and restaurants are there are these little kids under maybe eight years old that walk the streets selling trinkets to the tourists. It's both kind of a pain in the ass and sad at the same time. These little kids are out working I assume for their parents hawking these small hand made goods. I don't know if it's coached or if it's real but they all seem to have the "sad kid" face down to an art.


Now it's getting to be dinner time and those of us here at the Los Pinos are getting hungry but we still are missing some of our amigos. It's almost dark and we're now officially getting worried. Then fugarwe pulls in asking if cwc and Bob have shown up yet, that's a negitive. He spins around and heads for the internet cafe to see if there's any info there. Not that there's a wifi hot spot out in the boonies here but cwc is carrying a Spot tracker. When Fugarwe returns he's got good news cwc has sent an OK message not long ago. The plan if they don't get back tonight is to check the Spot in the morning and go find them.

In the mean time we're going to dinner. With friends like us...




We attempt to drown our worries about our amigos.


When we get back from dinner cwc and Bob are back! There's a story about a tube that wouldn't patch and much consternation around this flat tire. I'll let cwc add all the gory details. The good news is they're safe.

Here are some pics that Bob took of the tire repair, Charlie can fill in the blanks.








Truck of the day.