Hola!

I´m back! we are now 100 miles north of Oaxaca our furthest south destination. It is near the cave so we should get to visit it Sunday I hope. Tomorrow, Saturday, we are swooping in on the KTM dealer in Oaxaca. You should all say prayers for them, can you imagine us two gringos coming in and taking over? That should be a story! I´ll tell you about it next time.

Well yesterday we had to pry our selves out of San Miguel de Allende, the coolest place in the world, we headed south west hoping to circle around the westside of Mexico City. We got up into the mountains again, 9,400 feet to be exact, it was nice and cool, a pine forest winding through all these little vacation towns, it was pretty cool.

We stopped for a break late in the afternoon and I called Jerry´s brother who lives nearby. We had a long conversation then finally figured out I was talking to his father not brother!! No wonder he didn’t know any dirt roads around the city! Of course he was super nice and it was nice to visit with him. He told me that Jerry had said he had a hard time making friends in Indy. So much for that Hoosier Hospitality!

Again we rod too far before it got dark and left us wandering around Toulouse ( I can´t remember the name of the town, it´s a large town just south of Mexico City). We rode right down town into a crowd of school children just getting out of school, it was a zoo, like riding through a parade! We finally got a room after some struggle. Across the street was a little barber shop and I went to get my hair cut. Well I got my money´´s worth! I won´t need another for several months! It was less than $8 American so again, you get what you pay for.

We were awoken with a warm cup of Nescafe´ I was hoping for good coffee on this trip but every where we get instant, yuck. I noticed my bike needed rear brake pads and started changing them. Chuck is helping by telling me if I would quit slowing down, quit riding like a grand ma, staying safe in my little envelope…… It just goes on and on! He just rages on that big 950, he really rides it well, my bike is wandering through the corners and his takes the smooth line with out all that hemming and sawing that mine does. Oh well, I just cruise at my own pace, I´m on a holiday, I want to see sights and make it home. He is like on a supermoto rally and would probably be back in the states by now if I wern´t slowing him down!

Our route today went around a snow covered 14,000 foot peak, Nevado el Volac. ( That means it is an old volcano) Twisty roads and small villages, a street bike riders paradise, really. If I owned a street bike this is the country to go to. Sure we all want to go to the Alps and ride, but this place you can ride to and it´s cheap! Today, lunch and two drinks were under five bucks! I´m in no hurry to come home!

We did have to cross the valley adjacent to Mexico City, it got hot, waves like out of an oven hot. And the traffic was unbelievable. At home when you are in traffic, every one just sits in their place and behaves. Here it´s Moto On! Cutting each other off, slicing, dicing, total lack of compassion for the fellow man. We started out like nice motorcycle guys, waiting our turn, being polite, then a kid on a scooter passed Chuck and it like released a monster! He was an animal! Of course I had to stay with him because we don´t want to get separated. We don´t have a plan in case that happens. The back guy just has to catch up any way he can. Soon it was like a chase scene out of a movie, splitting lanes, cutting between stopped cars, up on the sidewalk, scurrying pedestrians, scaring children. Full race, it was the only way. My bike was on the red light for hot already. In fact my bike has had the red light on so much I considered fixing it the New York taxi method, that´s a hot ice pick through the plastic and break the bulb!

The traffic went on for miles, we were cold and hardened soon and showed no mercy. Trucks would hold up traffic for miles, we would jump on the dirt path paralleling the road and pass every one. It´s every thing you ever dreamed of doing on a dirt bike but it´s too illegal at home, we were laughing and having a great time before it was over.

Once we got back into the country we followed a large canyon with walls made of black volcanic rock. It has not rained here for quite some time and all the grass and plants were burnt a golden yellow. It looked like something out of the Heminway bull fight stories.

We had lunch at a little cabin in the woods. It was on a small mountain stream and the owner showed us his trout hatchery and we had huevos and trout. Oh the trout was out standing, stuffed with peppers and good stuff and wrapped in sour kraut and wrapped in tin foil and grilled. Oh it was a treat. This is the kind of thing I was hoping to do on this trip. Chuck has kept us on such a strict schedule of covering ground, I didn`t even get one photo in today. Sure we covered 350 miles but man it´s wearing me out. He´s on the 950 and my bike just won´t do it. The funny thing is he needs tires, the fron knobs are all worn off from heavy braking and the rear is pretty well burnt up too. So tomorrow when we get to the KTM dealer, AT the same time, he will have to buy tires and mine should make it all the way back home! Don´t you think I´´ll get a good laugh out of that?

Okay, I think that’s all, thanks for all the emails and keep them coming, I enjoy hearing from every one. I´ll talk to you tomorrow after the KTM shop, oh that should be a good one!

Charlie and Chuck