Day 9 couldn't come fast enough. We had our maps, and
we were ready to explore!
We woke up around 0630 to make our 0700 departure time. The
plan was to gas up, eat and head out.
At 0705 we were trying to determine exactly what the role of the two
men sitting at the PEMEX station was. You'd think they were
the guys who worked there... the pump-the-gas-take-the-money-sorta
doods.
Well that would be incorrect.
I asked them what time they opened, and one of the men said 0700.
Again... Mexican time. After some strained translation, I
figured out that whoever it was with the keys to the pumps wasn't
there yet, but of course, he'd be there shortly.
Since we still needed to eat, we asked the guy where we could find
some breakfast. He pointed directly across the street at the
sign that said "Restaurant"... D'OH!
The restaurant was more of a house with "Restaurant" painted on the
front than a restaurant with a house in the back. My
assumptions were confirmed when what I assumed to be the
granddaughter appeared and sat down for her breakfast. A short
while later, the mother of the girl, and I assumed the daughter to
the older woman appeared as well.
After placing our orders, we took a seat in the kitchen and waited.
And waited. And waited. WTF? How long does it take
to cook ham and eggs?
Thor, Gangplank and Brewer patiently waiting for their food.
After what seemed like forever, our breakfast arrived...
$4.50 per person for breakfast... we were in a tourist town.
After riding back across the street and fueling the motorcycles, we
headed off to El Divisadero for a view of the canyon. Once
again, the road that would take us to our destination was full of
twisties... FUN!
As with many photos with topics of this magnitude, scale is lost.
It's just something you need to see in person anyway...
It was early morning, and the view into the canyon was east, so the
sun presented a problem. We planned to come back in the
afternoon...
Adventure begins where planning ends.
On the way out of town, we did find this little gem of a church...
It seemed that none of the churches we visited had locks on the
doors. Though I guess in reality, what would you steal anyway?
Continuing south to San Rafael, the paved road became dirt.
The twisties didn't stop... only the pavement.
We took the low road per Ibarra's advice and were not the least bit
disappointed. Absolutely fantastic sans the occasional large
truck or livestock in the middle of the road... though at times that
was exciting too!
We stopped just outside of San Rafael to air down the tires, then
the four of us began the dirt journey to Bahuichivo.
The dirt roads were fast, but there were several dips that caught me
off guard running at such a high rate of speed. I also never
knew what was around each corner, so I had to slow my speed
accordingly (or at least try).
The
packed-to-loose-rock road took us through several increases and
decreases in elevation (some more dramatic than others) while
taking us through forest areas with tall evergreen trees and
sections with unbelievable rock faces.
We stopped in several locations for photographs... and once again I
find myself trying to explain the scale of things... which I
sometimes find difficult to capture in photographs... but perhaps I
pulled it off in this shot.
"Nice rocks... so what?"
Look closely...
See El Diablo Rojo (my red motorcycle)?
In terms of scale, that pretty much summed up the ride... just
fantastic!
Many sections of the road were switch back after switch back, and
the water crossings were an added bonus...
Again,
just look at the scenery...
See the road?
So on to stupidity...
I like to ride in the front of a group for a few reasons...
I'm usually the fastest... though not in this case...
Gangplank and Brewer can hang. Thor... well, he's Norwegian, but he
never drops the bike (more later). I also stay cleaner
in the front, but the main reason is that I like to stop and take
pictures...
I had just made it through a decent-sized water crossing. I
wanted to take a few shots of the guys coming through, so I stopped
to get the camera out.
Well, when I stopped, the foot on the end of my short leg found no
ground beneath me and over I started to go. I was able to hold
it for a few seconds, but eventually gravity won, and I gently
lowered the bike to its napping spot. I tried to get it up
before the cameras came out...
Bastardos!
... good thing we took the mirrors off the previous evening.
We were about a couple of hours into the ride when we reached
Bahuichivo. As we passed the train station, we saw a little
place to get a well-deserved snack.
Hopping off the bike, my eye was drawn to the ugliness of the
situation...
You ever wondered what a blown fork seal looks like? Now
you know!
"Well that's nice."
I had a replacement fork seal at the hotel. We were simply a
two-hour, dirt-road ride away, and from the looks of things, I had
lost a significant amount of oil. Even if I were to take it
easy, I was going to loose more oil...
hmm...
Oh well, it could wait until after my Coke and Doritos.
We sat in the warm sun on the elevated concrete sidewalk at the side
of the tracks and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The reality
was I wanted to continue on to Urique, but it was noon. UGH!
I decided to ride back to the hotel and change the seal, because we
were leaving the next day for Basaseachi.
I told the guys to go on... I would go ahead and make my way back to
the hotel.
I'd need to take it semi-easy, but I'd be fine... and, I didn't want to
ruin anyone's day of riding because of an issue with my bike.
They all declined and said they were coming with me. I felt
bad that the ride came to an abrupt end, but I would have done the same
thing if it were the other way around. Besides... we now have
a plan for when we return to Mexico...
After our nutritious lunch, we loaded up and headed back the way we
came. It was just as beautiful, challenging and fun. And I even took it semi-easy... until I reached one of the deeper
water crossings...
Gangplank was sitting at the edge of the water. (I'd later
find out he had literally just picked up his bike when I arrived,
but he can deny it since no one got a picture of it). On
the way to Bahuichivo, we went off to the side of the main road where the crossing
was narrower. Of course, being an idiot, this time I had to go
through the wider, and as I would find out... deeper... section on
the return trip.
As I entered the water and watched my front wheel go completely
under, I quickly realized the water was deeper than I first thought.
As I came to a stop in the middle of the stream as a result of the
front wheel hitting a large rock, I felt the cool rush of water
filling my left boot. I decided I better get the hell out of
there. I nailed the throttle and hopped back on the pegs and
was happy to see my wheel again as I entered the shallower section.
I decided to keep on keepin' on when I reached San Rafael... the
guys would eventually catch me.
I rolled into El Divisadero to see several members of our group who
didn't accompany us on our little side trip. I parked the bike
and got a few comments on the dirt and general condition of my bike.
I was proud!
Vegas
let me borrow his air compressor, and the little kids who showed up
begging for Pesos were quite impressed by its operation and noise.
We'd been hit-up by the kids in many of the little towns we visited.
They'd walk up and with the saddest little faces and somber tone in
their voice say, "Quiero un Peso?"
I pretty much gave all of them a Peso or two. A Peso is about
a dime... hopefully they went to the local candy store and bought a
treat...
But this little fella... he was different. His toy was a
bicycle wheel which had no hub or spokes. Its flat tire was
bald, but he was pushing it around having a great time.
He just walked up to me in his bare feet, looked up and didn't say a
word. I asked him if I could take his picture and fired off at
least 10 or-so shots. He never moved. I gave him all the
change I had in my pocket.
As he rolled his wheel away, I had no idea I had captured such a
difficult life in a face so young...
I'm not exactly sure what time we made it back to the hotel, but
upon arriving, I immediately tore into the forks to change out the
seal and dust cap.
As
I was taking the fork off, a few more of the folks who hadn't
accompanied us to Bahuichivo showed up and offered some moral
support as I tried to get the friggin seal out.
The seals were still the originals, so they had more than 36,000
miles on them... and by default, they had 36,000 miles worth of crap
helping to hold them in.
I finally just gave up trying to pull out the seal without
disassembling the fork and simply unscrewed the lower fork bolt and
with the help of one of my supporters, we were able to separate the
fork into its two halves. Easy enough.
The fluid still remaining in the fork told me I had only lost about
50ml, though looking at the right side of my bike, you would have
thought I lost a gallon. I decided 50ml low would be OK until
I got home.
After putting it all back together I went for a test ride... some
heavy braking...
... perfect, no leaks. Time for a shower and dinner.
When
we had pulled into the hotel the previous day, this little girl (11)
and her younger sister (4) showed up before we even had our helmets
off. They both had their "if you don't buy some trinkets from
me my father will beat me" faces on.
Carrying a handful of beads and jewelry they asked us if we wanted
to buy anything.
What I found interesting, was they would go to each and every person
and ask. Even if you were standing with a group, the little
sad faces would make eye contact with each person, and until each
person acknowledged them, they wouldn't leave.
After my shower, I stepped out of my room and there she was again...
I could tell the sad face was more of an act than a reality, so I
got a genuine smile from the 11-year old after a little teasing.
Cute kid.
As I was making my way into town (literally a 30-second walk to
the main street) guess what was still on my mind? The
damned ticking. It was still there... and still pissing me
off.
I decided to head over to the internet cafe and have a look at the
FAQs on F650.com
to try and figure out WTF was going on with my bike. After
some extensive reading, I figured it out. Cam chain tensioner.
Without going into a lot of boring detail, the cam chain tensioner
is a hydraulic piston that keeps the cam chain (timing chain...
whatever...) tight. When it fails, the chain will slap
against the guide inside the engine at lower RPMs and make a loud
ticking noise. After reading that I felt better.
Since I was on the Internet, I went ahead and sent some pictures to
Anna (an inmate) and she was kind enough to not only host them but
post them... thanks Anna.
I also burned several CDs of pictures to share with Steve.
While doing that, Dr. Josh popped up on MSN messenger, so he and I
had a chat about Mexico. Sux he was not with us.
After 2 hours in the Internet cafe researching the cam chain
tensioner and burning disks, I headed over to the restaurant to get
something to eat. I found a new friend standing outside the
Internet cafe waiting for me...
Me, "Dog" and Ed.
This goofy dog didn't seem to like Mexicans. He'd pretty much
growl, bark and/or chase any Mexican he saw... especially kids and
women. He favored his right leg, so I figured he either had a
run-in with a car, or he growled at the wrong person. But
gringos? He loved gringos! He followed us all over
town... especially restaurants. He'd sit outside and wait... I
guess he knew the handout was coming... which it did. Smart
dog!
Aside from slow service at dinner and making a list of all of the
parts I needed to order and things I needed to fix, the rest of the
evening was pretty uneventful... that is until the thunder and rain
from Hurricane Paul rolled in at 0430...
Mileage = 120.
