The Beginning - Colorado to Mexico
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2006
1
8
51
Trip End
May 26, 2007
Matamoros,
Mexico
Thursday, October 12, 2006
First, to those that may not have heard, I am off on another adventure. This time, its a motorcycle ride to South America. The main goal is to get to Machu Picchu, Peru. Everything south of there will be icing on the cake. The cherry on top will be if I make it to the southern most town in the world Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. If I make it to Ushuaia, then there´s a possibility that I will catch a boat to Antarctica. Antarctica is a big if though, since most boat trips to Antarctica cost $3000 or more, but who knows.
This whole trip is finally coming to fruitation after a year of planning. Countless hours were spent doing research on the internet, ordering parts and equipment and tearing the bike apart and put it back together countless times. It was a lot of work and at times felt like a full time job. Don´t get me wrong though, I had great fun during the whole process.
Originally, my departure was going to be last spring, but I found that I was enjoying the summers in Summit County so much that I spent the extra time going over and over my ever lengthening list of things to be done. It would have been easy to spend another year planning this trip, but finally I came to the conclusion that I was as ready as I could possibly get and decided it was time to hit the open road before the onset of winter.
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My departure from Keystone was a little more rushed than I wanted. There was a major snow storm homing in on the Rocky Mountains and I knew that if I didn´t make it out that day, I would be delayed for atleast a week maybe more. I stuffed my panniers hastely. I asked myself "Why was I racing to shove the remaining things into my boxes at the last moment???" With the extra months through summer, I had no excuses. I just shrugged and figured I would get the panniers straightened out when I get down to my brothers place in Colorado Springs. I hugged my dad good-bye, straddled my (hopefully) trusty bike and took a deep breath. Starting her up, it was now the time of launch into the unknown. The sky was overcast, dark and showing signs that it was now or never. I turned my bike east on Hwy 6 and headed over Loveland pass. Nearing the 11,990 foot summit, it began to snow.
It turned out to be a wise move to get out of there when I did. The snow storm ended up dumping close to 3 feet of snow in some areas. Obviously, this would not be a good thing to ride through on a motorcycle.
Over the next few days I visited with friends and family in the lower elevations of the Rocky Mountains. This was also my chance to play 3-D Tetris (i.e. - unpack and repack my gear multiple times) in an attempt to weed out anything unnecessary. I was stumped at how to get rid of anything else. I knew that I will need my tools, spare parts, clothing, camping gear, cookstove, food and especially water. Hmmm........?
To get to Mexico, I set a goal of avoiding all interstates. The smaller, shoulderless roads of the countryside were my only way through the maze of high volume, straight and boring, yet admitedly convenient 4 laners. At times, this goal proved difficult and added countless hours to my drive, but I would not have changed a thing.
When I left my brothers house in Colorado Springs, I went West, into the southern mountains of Colorado. My first night, I camped in a deserted National Forest campground near Poncha Pass. This was a great place. My tent was right next to a little lake and surrounded by aspens in full golden colors of fall. Elk bugling in the distance near sunset and a crystal clear night with stars and the milky way out in HD(high definition) made for a wonderful night. It was a along time since I slept as soundly as I did on that night.
The following days, I zig-zagged my way across beautiful New Mexico. Most nights were spent camping out in vacant State Parks or roughing it in the desert of Lincoln National forest near Carlsbad, NM. Texas was another issue.
Since there were fewer places to camp out legally in the Lone Star State, I tented it when possible yet hoteled it when necessary. As for the state itself, lets just say I found it very interesting. Is everything really bigger in Texas??? Lets just say that they certainly like things big. I have never seen so many greyhound bus sized RV's barreling down the roads, in my life. 7 out of 10 vehicles are large pickups with most having deer pulverizing front bumper grills. The nicest suprise I received was how curtious Texan drivers are. Slower moving cars always moved on to the shoulder to let the faster ones pass, lots of waving and "you first, please" waves at stop signs.
Butterflies, sh*t loads of 'em. I could not believe the amount of butterflies in Texas. With in an hour of driving each day, the front of my bike would be plastered with butterfly guts and parts. By the end of the day, the bike and the front of my panniers were covered a solid color of yellow. By the time I left Texas, I bet I killed thousands of them and to this day I am still finding dried chunks of them in all areas of the bike.
Crossing the border...
This is probably the most dreaded part of touring with a vehicle. My experience wasn´t horrible, but it was a pain in the ass! It took me multiple attempts and visiting two different border crossings to actually get into Mexico. I first went to the Pregosa, TX crossing. I chose this one because it was smaller and supposedly easier and less time consuming. After paying the bridge toll and crossing the so called mighty Rio Grande(which actually was a mere dismal trickle), I stopped and looked at the signs. Knowing virtually no spanish, I was a little dumbfounded. "Where the hell was I suppose to go?" I knew that I had to get a tourist card and a temporary vehicle import permit. I just took a guess and some how lucked out. Now I had to search out the Immigrations officer and then the customs. Of course no one spoke english. My only way of communicating was via butchered spanish as I flipped through my phrasebook and cheriads. I wouldn´t doubt that in stead of saying, ¨I would like a temporary import permit¨, I unknowingly said some like, ¨I would like temporary testicle permit¨ After awhile, he finally understood that I will be transiting Mexico on my way to Central America. This is where things went south. From then on, all I got from him a head shaking no and a finger pointing east. O.K....? So I hopped back onto the bike and decided to skip the north bound Mexican immigration and sneak out the way I came in. I got a harsh wissle from one Mexican officer while he and another gave chase of foot. Playing dumb I just continued over the bridge and once I was on the far side in line for the US immigration, those giving chase backed off, probably deciding that I wasn´t worth the effort.
For the next 30-40 minutes of waiting for my turn, I was slowly being basted in my own sweat under the early afternoon sun. I can tell you one thing, sitting still on that very hot and humid 95 degree day with full gear is like nothing I have ever experienced. Looking back, I wondered why the hell I didn´t pull off and take my jacket off. Dumb ass!!! Guess I was to desposed with figuring out what that Mexican Immigration Officer was trying to tell me and why I wasn´t allowed in the country. Oh well..
Finally, my turn at the booth came. Once the US officer noticed that one of my previous passports was stolen (in India) he looked at me as if a large red flag popped out of the top of my head. During his long 10-15 minute (or so it seemed), interrogation all I could really think about was to get moving, to get upto 70 mph and let the wind clear the sweat and cool me off a little and get to the next border crossing to the east. It was getting late in the day and knew that I had to either get into Mexico in the next couple of hours or put it off until the next day.
Luckily, the next crossing went fairly smooth. I was finally in Mexico! But then again, it was beginning to get dark and I had no desire to learn the in´s and out´s of riding a motorcycle in a developing country at night time. If Mexico´s roads were anything like India´s, it would be like having a death wish. Trucks and cars without working headlights, animals roaming freely, people walking in the streets, potholes, and rocks in the middle of the road marking danger zones make riding at night like doing an obsticle course blind folded.
So instead of heading south and away from the border towns that I wanted to avoid, I headed east to the closest one. With a lot of luck and some help from my GPS I found my way through the maze of unmarked streets and found a hotel. I ended up staying here for a couple of nights.
