Day 7... and then there were 14.
We assembled in front of the hotel in the morning...
The first thing I was aware of is that 14 people are much more of a
pain in the ass in getting people on the same page than 4 people.
Trying to get 14 motorcycles loaded and ready to go all at the same
time just doesn't work well. It worked... just not well.
As I was waiting for everyone to get ready so we could depart, this
fella wished me a fun and safe trip!
At some point, all of the motorcycles were started, and before long we were
rolling through the border into Agua Prieta. The plan for the
day was to ride along the border on highway 2 and turn south and
head into Nuevo Casas Grandes.
As we rolled through Mexico, the group quickly broke into smaller
groups. Some folks seemed to ride faster than others... it
seemed a few of us made our way to the front.
It wasn't long before one of the bikes decided to act up.
Maralan's bike died and left her to coast down a hill until she
could find a place to pull over. We all pulled in behind her
and began to try and figure out what was up...
The first issue to be addressed was the 14 bikes there on the side of
the road. The decision was made to send the majority of the
group on to Nuevo Casas Grandes, and the mechanic-type folks would
try and figure out what was up with her bike.
We started with the kill switch... Nope. Then we tried the
battery... Nope. We tried the VR... and even went so far to
pull the VR off Steve's bike and try it on Maralan's... Nope.
Then we tried the ignition switch... Nope. Finally Steve
started futzing with the side-stand switch... Yep. Ugh!
We put all of the motorcycles back together and continued on our
journey. We stopped for gas and tacos in Janos as we chased
the first group to the Hotel Hacienda.
The rest of the ride to Nuevo Casas Grandes was uneventful... just a
straight shot to our destination. We weren't too far behind
the first group, and we had plenty of time to go exploring.
After
unloading the majority of gear from our bikes at the hotel, our
first stop was to see the ruins. The original city, Casas
Grandes, was settled by the Puebloan people. The ruins are all
that exist of a civilization that existed for 700 years.
While interesting, it all seemed to look the same to me after the
first 20 minutes or so...
Maybe I have no culture, which I'm sure is the case, or perhaps I'm
a bored teenager in a grown up body, but pretty much all I saw were
short walls.
I kinda did the Grizwald Grand Canyon thing and snapped several
photographs of the place. But even as I look at the
photographs now, all I see are a bunch of short walls. Perhaps
it's like opera, 'cause damned if I get that either.
I guess the reality is... I hate organized tourist stuff. And
this is what this was... a path to walk on with signs explaining
what everything was... the gift shop where you could buy a bottle of
water and some trinkets to collect dust on a shelf and wind up on a
folding card table at a yard sale 10 years from now...
... I digress.
For those of you who like this sort of thing, here you go...
Me and the short walls.
Our next stop was to go check out some pottery in Mata Ortiz.
The road to the town was scenic, but I was too lazy to stop for
pictures. The curves through the hills were long sweepers with
scenic views of orchards in the distance. Nice!
After a short time, we traded the pavement of the highway for the
dirt streets in Mata Ortiz. The paved road to the town was
only built to accommodate the tour buses. We stopped at the
Juan Quezada gallery...
They definitely had some nice pottery; I can even admit that... but
it wasn't long before I was ready to go. I mean, I didn't come
to Mexico to go to some pottery gallery. Pots for sale... WOO
HOO!!! Shit man, I can go to Pier One Imports and buy
pottery...
Surely there's a dirt road where I can open up the throttle and
create an 80 mph dust cloud.
We
were about a mile out of Mata Ortiz when I saw a dirt road.
Why the hell not? Three of us, Brewer Gangplank and I, took
off down the road to see what we could find. It turned out to
be a dead-end ranch road, but not before I found an 80mph section.
Things were looking up!
Making our way back to the hotel on the slab, we saw Jon and Hal's
bikes parked at another pottery place. Standing out back with
an older Mexican gentleman, Jon and Hal waved at us to come see.
Turns out the man was about to begin a tour of his pottery
operation... all in Spanish... all in his back yard. This was
much better than the tourist crap we had been to earlier.
He took us from one station to the next showing us every process
involved in making a pot. It was fantastic!
Brewer getting his pot lesson on the raw materials.
This is where he lets it dry out.
He crushed it into a fine powder.
Note the lids of the kilns... car hoods!
This is where the painting happens... all by hand.
Final stop of the tour.
And we didn't leave empty handed (well I did... I had enough crap to
carry). Gangplank bought a pretty pot from the man and
strapped it to the back of his motorcycle in the box the man's wife
neatly packaged it in to protect it along its journey.
We saddled up and headed back to the hotel with one stop at the
PEMEX for tomorrow's ride.
When we arrived back at the hotel, I noticed my bike was ticking
even more loudly than earlier. Damn it! I was ready to get to Creel so
I could change my oil with the hope that perhaps that was the issue.
We all met in the restaurant for dinner. I called it a day and
turned in early looking forward to the next couple of days... Creel!
Mileage = 216.
