Day 3 was a pretty uneventful day for the most part, but we
had a very nice ride through the Mexican countryside.
Interestingly enough, Steve was teasing me about a dream he had.
He said he had a dream about two red bikes going down. "I'm
glad I have a black bike." he said.
After my nutritious and
healthy breakfast of Pop-Tarts and water, we loaded up the
motorcycles and got on the road around 0800. It was nice to
leave the border town and get out into the country for the scenic
ride.
We left Ojinaga and headed down to Chihuahua. We
stayed off the toll road, so the ride south was via a two-lane road.
For the first little bit it was quite boring, though the scenery was
great, and my first experience at a military checkpoint was
interesting, but eventually we got into some twisties which brightened up
my day...
Of
course somewhere in Chihuahua we got lost because we couldn't find
the loop that goes around the city. We stopped for directions
to get us through the center of town and back on highway 16...
Hal and
I parked on the side of the road at one point waiting for Steve and
Jon to catch up after they stopped to ask some construction workers
for additional directions. I saw a few construction workers
running over to where Jon and his bike were. The first red
bike had gone down per Steve's dream.
Apparently Jon went
to put his foot down, and there was no ground on which to rest his
foot (he had parked on a slope and not realized it). The big
1200 fell on its side, but fortunately the workers helped Jon
upright it. The damage was minimal... a small scratch on the
engine guard and a broken turn signal.
Continuing on...
I cannot
remember if we had lunch in Aldama or Cuauhtemoc, but somewhere
along the ride into La Junta we stopped for a bite to eat.
While the pig head looked good, I decided on a simple chicken plate
instead...
Hal, Jon and Steve.
It wasn't much longer until the second
part of Steve's dream came true. While getting gas along the
route, we pulled up to the little convenience store to get some
refreshments after fueling the bikes. I was sitting on the
curb next to my bike, and Steve's bike was parked behind mine.
Hal pulled up, and when he got off his bike, he accidentally
bumped into Steve's bike knocking it over and into mine. My
bike was on the side stand... when Steve's bike hit it, it caused it
to roll forward and off the stand. I jumped from the curb and
was able to catch it (kinda) before it completely went over. I
was able to hold it as it rested on the pannier while Hal, Jon and
Steve picked up Steve's bike, then they came over and helped me get
mine back on the side stand. 2nd red bike down.
Fortunately there was no damage to my bike, but the mirror clamp on
Steve's bike had snapped off. I guess he awoke from his dream
before the black bike went down...
Aside from the minimal damage, everything
else was fine and we pressed on.
We had one more stop for
refreshments before rolling into La Junta...
We
checked into the hotel in La Junta, and we were met by this girl selling
beads...
If you
look closely, you can see a little leg hanging down on her
right side. I'm assuming that's her little sister she was
hauling on her back. Tough life for such a young girl.
After
checking into our $22 room with no heat but thick blankets, we went
to work on the motorcycles. We applied JB weld to Steve's
mirror clamp and fixed a poor ground wire to the horn on Hal's bike.
Steve whipped out the orange electrical tape and within moments we
had Jon's broken turn signal looking good as new.
After the $2
dinner, we turned in for the evening as the temperature in the room
got down to 55 degrees...
Mileage = 250.
