Babbette’s Great MEXICAN adventure…
The first days in Arizona were spent
outfitting Babbette with bash plate, crash bars and a fat foot
for the side stand. Next she got a brand
new set of Continental TKC 80’s.
Then it was off to buy Mexican
liability insurance.
Once this was in hand it
was off to Aqua Pietro for a visa for me and importation papers
for Babbette. This
was accomplished by parking on the US side of the border and
walking across for the paper work. This was a lot easier than
driving in and out of Mexico for papers. This allowed us to
cross the border later at Naco, which was much quicker and a lot
less hassle. We met Ron Green in Bisbee, Arizona and headed
into Mexico. We drove thru Nogales, Janos, Dublan and spent the
first night in Casa Grande with Chuck and Ron in a rented
hacienda.
After a great evening meal and a good (cold) nights’ sleep it
was off to the south for about 400 kilometers to meet a few more
bikers in Creel, Chihuahua..
Plans were made to ride to Cascada de Basaseachic, the second highest waterfall in North America. Because of the draught in
Mexico it was less than dramatic, but still beautiful.
Back to Creel and Mr. Pollo which became
our favorite restaurant in Creel. Mesquite grilled chicken. A
whole chicken with grilled onions, grilled jalapenos, salsa,
chips, salad and limes all for 70 pesos.( less than $6.00US )
all washed down with plenty of Tecata, the cheapest beer in
Mexico.
This is a road side taco stand on the way to the copper canyon.
Jeff, Chuck and Rocky. We quite often ate at small outdoor
stands.
The next day the real adventure began as we
rode to Batapilas in the bottom of the Copper Canyon. This
entailed riding about 4 hours from Creel and then descending
into the Canyon on “dirt” for bout 40 kilometers, about another
2 ½ hours, which seemed like 6 hours. The beginning of the
“dirt” was in very rough shape due to the Mexican Govt. building
a paved road (blasting) above the dirt road and letting all the
rock debris fall into the lower gravel road. Then pushing the
larger rocks over the edge into the canyon below. This “road”
only lasted for about 1/3 of a mile. Then the road became much
narrower, steeper and less predictable in terms of tire
traction. Thankful for the TKC 80’s as it would have been the
ride from Hell without them….actually it was still the road from
Hell. Here is a picture from the start of the Canyon ride near
the top looking down into the abyss. The little white line at 5
o’clock is the road down to the river about 1/3 of the way to
Batopilas.
This gives you a sense of the roads.
Crossing the river bridge.
Some photos of Batopilas
Some photos of Batopilas
The road on the way out.. The “road”
Where the debris falls from above on the way out. We had to wait
2 ½ hours for a truck to be pulled by a caterpillar with tracks
thru this section of about 2/3 of a mile. I dropped Babbette
twice in this section. The above picture shows 3 Mexican men who
ran up and helped me ride (push) Babbette thru part of this
section. Chuck and I, headed back to Creel and Mr. Pollo. Then
we did a superb set of twisties from Creel to Yecora. 7 hours of
absolute bliss. Not a lot of pictures here because of the smile
factor.
Chuck and I headed to Ciudad Obregon, but used the GPS to skirt the busy roads and drove thru a beautiful valley with miles and miles of green crops and agriculture. Looked a lot like California and showed how so much of our food is grown in Mexico. The odd thing is you rarely see this food for sale in Mexico. It seems like it’s all grown for export. Next we headed to Alamos, circa 1620 and one of the places Mexicans go as tourists. It’s kind of there version of colonial Williamsburg.
We rented a casitas for a couple of nights in Alamos. It was very private with a secure courtyard, we paid about $48.00 dollars a night for it. Clean, comfortable with a great shower and satellite TV that played B movies in English with Spanish subtitles. Helped a lot with learning the language and now I can swear like a sailor in Spanish.
We did a few dirt roads around Alamos and Babbette had another drop.
After Alamos we headed to Guaymas and the coast. ( Gulf of
California). Then on to San Carlos and fresh sea food
And a fresh sea breeze.Then we headed north to Banamichi and a
few river crossings.
After Alamos we headed to Guaymas and the coast. ( Gulf of
California). Then on to San Carlos and fresh sea food.
We stayed at the Hotel Los Arcos de Sonora with hosts Tom and Lynn Mattews who run Wild Turkey tours in Mexico.
A beautiful hotel, the nicest we had on the whole trip.
Well I hope
this gives you a little taste of Mexico. See you Monday night
and I’ll try to show a 10 minute slide show that my buddy Chuck
put together after the trip.
Soleman