I kept a daily journal of thoughts while on this trip. I have provided a paraphrase of some of the notes I took. Most of the content is already in the blog, but what is not in the blog is just how terrible my mood was at the start of this trip.
Following are a few notes from certain days...
April 23 - Day 2 First day was terrible. Second day was worse. Horrible riding conditions. So far this is NOT fun. I needed this so much and focused onit so much that now that I am in it, I feel disoriented. All I can think is "28 days to go..." I am so gut level lonesome for my family. Right now I feel selfish and guilty. I know this trip is going to teach me much, but I think the lessons might be different that I expect. (How right that would turn out to be!)
April 24 - Day 3 Had nightmares last night. Rode the Old Ore Trail. I recounted the problems associated with dehydration in the blog, so I will skip it here.
April 26 - Day 5 Trip sayings: Just because it sux does not mean it is not fun. Just because it is hot does not mean it is not cool. "Somos Panochitos".
April 27 - Day 6 Recovered from dehydration and take first ride. Rode well. Talked to Beth and Boo. They gave me the peace to go ahead and change my mind and continue this trip in peace and confidence. I AM BACK!
May 2 - Day 11 This is the day on Route 16 to Hermosillo. My journal recounts my extreme stress level over the difficulty of this road. It fried my nerves. "The fear factor was extreme." "Absolutely stupid scary." My final note of the day said it well. "Days like today let you know you are alive. You cannot live a day like today and not grab life by the neck and wring every last drop out of it. Today is what I came here for."
May 5 - Day 14 Drank a bottle of El Jimador with the night guard at the hotel in San Carlos. He was a cool guy. But I had to pay him 50 pesos to "watch" my bike, even though it was in a lockedfenced area. You can never have too much security, I guess.
May 7 - Day 16 "Sometimes a crappy day can instantly turn around into a perfect day. That is what happened when we rode in to El Quelite today."
May 10 - Day 19 In a curvy part of the road on Devil's Spine, we meet a Ford Explorer. There is a kid hanging his head out the window blowing chunks as Daddy takes the curve on two wheels. We laugh so hard we have to pull over. After we gather ourselves back together we go on, and a few hundred feet down the road, we see where the kid puked even earlier. He had pineapple for breakfast.
May 13 - day 22 Riding through desert near Ciudad Camargo, we see numerous huge tornado like dust devils. Some persist for 10 or more minutes. Very spectacular, but we are not able to get very close to them. Probably saw 10 of them.
May 14 - Day 23 Went back to Big Bend. Re-rode the Old Ore Trail. Did not dehydrate this time! Got out to road at dark. Started raining cats and dogs. Got soaked.
May 15 - Day 24 This is the last rest day before the push back home, and I take the time to write a lengthy retrospective of the trip. Here are the highlights.
1. To say this trip was the "best in my life" would be wrong. But it was definitely the most stimulating mentally, emotionally, and physically. Continuing after the dehydration episode was a total victory.
2.) Really precious moments almost always cost you something. You do not get "the buzz" of this sort of trip for free. This has been a lot of work.
3.) All it takes is one significant incident, either good or bad, to transform an entire day.
4.) Flexibility is mandatory. You can't do this stuff with a fixed schedule.
5.) There is beauty in everything, even the stinkiest Mexican hell hole motel. Sometimes, it is the "strangeness" of a situation that defines its beauty, not simply the "pleasantness" of the situation.
6.) Americans often live in an insulated bubble that is oblivious to the rest of the world. America assumes that the rest of the world desires what it does in order to gain happiness. Do our beautiful houses and automobiles make us happier? I do not think so.
7.) You cannot fully Live unless you get into the world. Sometimes "living" means sleeping in a slum.
8.) Fear is fun. It stimulates. It rewards when you overcome. We have a tendency to pay too much attention to our fear. This keeps us from Living. Our minds amplify our discomforts and we retreat into our comfort zones because of fear. That is not Living. That is bondage.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly...
THE BUZZ AIN'T FREE!
Monday, July 30, 2007
34.) Big Bend Back to Houston, TX
On the way back to Houston, we stopped at Eagle's Nest, which is about 30 miles outside Del Rio. It is a very interesting canyon formation.
Ken's eagle's Nest Video
Somewhere between San Antonio and Houston.
Back home with my baby. A month is too long away from Mommy and Boo! I wish Mommy was in the picture too, but she was taking it!
I wish to thank both Beth and Boo for letting me chase this dream. I know fully well that I am a lucky man to have a family that is so supportive. I do not take you for granted.
Ken's eagle's Nest Video
Somewhere between San Antonio and Houston.
Back home with my baby. A month is too long away from Mommy and Boo! I wish Mommy was in the picture too, but she was taking it!
I wish to thank both Beth and Boo for letting me chase this dream. I know fully well that I am a lucky man to have a family that is so supportive. I do not take you for granted.
33.) The Greatest Day In Big Bend Ever Made
Our return to Big Bend was special. The weather was spectacular. In one evening, we got to see just about every imaginable weather phenomenon. Something like this is very rare, and I count myself lucky to have been blessed to see all this in one day.
There are numerous photos, followed by several videos. Watch them. They are awesome, and rare to boot.
Here goes...
I know all this page is devoted to wonderful nature stuff, but when you see graffitti like this you gotta wonder... Did Rusty switch teams?
Clouds entering the Basin of Big Bend
Raining in the Basin
Hailing in Big Bend, the Basin
Windstorm at night in The Basin
This was an absolutely phenomenal day at Big Bend. One might wait a hundred years and not see all that we saw here today.
There are numerous photos, followed by several videos. Watch them. They are awesome, and rare to boot.
Here goes...
I know all this page is devoted to wonderful nature stuff, but when you see graffitti like this you gotta wonder... Did Rusty switch teams?
Clouds entering the Basin of Big Bend
Raining in the Basin
Hailing in Big Bend, the Basin
Windstorm at night in The Basin
This was an absolutely phenomenal day at Big Bend. One might wait a hundred years and not see all that we saw here today.
32.) Doing Frightening Stuff on Mountains Between Presidio and Big Bend
If you read the initial pages of this blog, you found that dealing with fear was a big reason I endeavored on El Paseo Mexicano in the first place. Then my desert dehydration experience hammered the fear aspect of the trip home really hard and good. Sort of like having permanently mounted electrodes implanted into the gooch of your brain. So, the decision to continue with El Paseo Mexicano after the dehydration incident was a measured response to overcome fear.
Then we had the twisties of Mexican roads - which were a Fear Generation Device all unto themselves.
Even so, by the end of the trip, I still felt the need to suck up a little more fear. That is what this blog entry is about. And it has to do with my fear of heights, my only significant phobia.
Here is where the stuff took place.
This is the high point of the mountain pass between Lajitas, TX and Presidio, TX, on Rt 170. We essentially climbed the mountain you see the foot of in the left side of the picture. It was pretty dog gone high... At least to me it was.
When we got up there, the view was spectacular. One could see a full 360 degree panorama, with one side plunging to the road below, and the other side being sheer cliff exposure of at least 1500 feet down to the Rio Grande itself.
So, in order to overcome this fear thing I had going, I (with the full support and insistence of Jimmy) stood on the peak of the mountain, fully exposed to the cliff. Here is the photo proving that I can deal with some fear of heights... (Yes, I am proud of this picture :)
The following videos show what is up. This one looks down at the bikes on the other side of the mountain.
This one looks, as best possible, down the cliff exposure to show the Rio Grande looking like a speck below.
Here are some other shots of just how high up this perch was.
Finally, a general panorama of the view from atop this mountain. It was wonderful. If you look closely, you will see a hawk type bird catching the currents in the canyon.
Yes, climbing this mountain was a big deal for me.
Then we had the twisties of Mexican roads - which were a Fear Generation Device all unto themselves.
Even so, by the end of the trip, I still felt the need to suck up a little more fear. That is what this blog entry is about. And it has to do with my fear of heights, my only significant phobia.
Here is where the stuff took place.
This is the high point of the mountain pass between Lajitas, TX and Presidio, TX, on Rt 170. We essentially climbed the mountain you see the foot of in the left side of the picture. It was pretty dog gone high... At least to me it was.
When we got up there, the view was spectacular. One could see a full 360 degree panorama, with one side plunging to the road below, and the other side being sheer cliff exposure of at least 1500 feet down to the Rio Grande itself.
So, in order to overcome this fear thing I had going, I (with the full support and insistence of Jimmy) stood on the peak of the mountain, fully exposed to the cliff. Here is the photo proving that I can deal with some fear of heights... (Yes, I am proud of this picture :)
The following videos show what is up. This one looks down at the bikes on the other side of the mountain.
This one looks, as best possible, down the cliff exposure to show the Rio Grande looking like a speck below.
Here are some other shots of just how high up this perch was.
Finally, a general panorama of the view from atop this mountain. It was wonderful. If you look closely, you will see a hawk type bird catching the currents in the canyon.
Yes, climbing this mountain was a big deal for me.
31.) Ciudad Carmago Back to Ojinaga
This unique church was located on the side of the road between Ciudad Camargo and Ojinaga. There was no profanity in the graffiti. This was a very strange contrast.
This used to be an old mercury mine. Hence the red soil.
As we approach the return to Ojinaga, the following video captures the view.
Strange how the US lets you go into Mexico for free, but Mexico charges you to leave.
Gotta cancel those vehicle import permits before you leave. If you do not, then the next time you try to enter, you will be turned away.
Here we are in the middle of the bridge. One foot in Mexico and one foot in the USA. It is good to be home.
This used to be an old mercury mine. Hence the red soil.
As we approach the return to Ojinaga, the following video captures the view.
Strange how the US lets you go into Mexico for free, but Mexico charges you to leave.
Gotta cancel those vehicle import permits before you leave. If you do not, then the next time you try to enter, you will be turned away.
Here we are in the middle of the bridge. One foot in Mexico and one foot in the USA. It is good to be home.
30.) Something That Could Only Happen In Mexico
This could only happen in Mexico. Yes, this is a full fledged Interstate road. With 80 mph traffic. This was even more bizarre than seeing the fork lift driving 30 mph down a country lane earlier in the day.
Need I say more? Stuff like this happens in Mexico.
29.) Anaconda Wrestling - A Not So Funny, Funny Story
I want to tell you at the outset that this story is 100% true and it is just a little tasteless. I do not care whether you believe it or not. And if it offends, then I am sorry, but this was a very significant event in my life and I want to talk about it. If you don't like it, then you can stop reading now, but you can tell by what I have written so far that I am not going to go get all obscene or anything... :)
I give you a picture below to sort of set the stage for this. It happened in a very twisty part of the road that went on for miles. This section was north of Rodeo before getting to Hidalgo Parral. Very remote area. Kinda like this.
Nowhere to pull off. Nowhere to stop. No way to get off the road. No shoulders. No gas stations. No houses.
Nowhere to take a dump...
I start getting the urge to have a BM. The urge gets stronger, but the road gets longer. After riding like this for about an hour, things are really starting to get urgent, but there is nothing I can easily do. There is quite a bit of traffic, and even if I do stop on the side of the road, I cannot easily scale down a cliff to do my business. I start getting desperate.
So get this. Such is my luck. On one of the hairpin switchback curves, two tractor trailer rigs manage to wedge themselves together at the apex of the turn, thereby stopping all traffic. Marvelous. And the story is only getting started.
Luckily, right behind me in the traffic procession is a tour bus. Behind him are about 20 assorted cars trucks and busses. I get off the bike, and go knock on the door of the bus. I talk to the driver and explain my situation and ask if I can use the toilet in the bus. He refuses.
After about 5 minutes of negotiation, and a promise being made to exchange a certain sum of money, I get ready to board the bus to do my duty so to speak. My anticipation is growing, if you know what I mean.
Right before I set foot on the bottom step of the bus, the semi-trucks ahead on the curve unwedge themselves and traffic starts moving again. With 20 vehicles behind the bus, I cannot possibly hold them all up by entering the bus for some undetermined amount of time. So it is back to the bike I go... Without relief.
I start up the bike again and ride 20 more miles. By now, my intestines are severely impacted. Serious pain is happening here. Finally, we jet into a very small town. Like most small towns, it has a deposito (beer store).
I limp into the deposito and there are three Mexican men in the store. I say I have two problems. Number one is that I need some bottled water, and number two is that I gotta do a number two in a very major way.
They begin laughing at me. I turn red.
I tell them again that this is not a joke. It is an emergency. They laugh more. I ask if there is a toilet in the store, they say "no hay". (No) I ask each of them if they live close by and if they would be willing to take me to their house to take a dump. I would be willing to pay generously I say. Each of them says that nobody lives in the town. The town is only the store, and that there are no toilets in the town. I cannot believe this. I probably make a good 5 minutes of conversation with the men as they laugh at my situation!
Finally, one of the men tells me to do like they do. Just go behind the building and torque one there. This is looking like it is going to be the only option. So, I buy my water, grab a stack of napkins, and head for the door, fully intending on turning the corner to sniff the other piles behind the building.
As I get to the door, I try one last desperate question. I ask "how far to the next Pemex?" I know Pemexes always have toilets. They say, "oh there is one right around the next curve in the road, about 2 miles down..."
Two miles down the road! I have been having world class pain for nigh on two hours, and have been quizzing these guys for at least 5 minutes, only to find out that there is a toilet 2 miles away, and it is free, and I can use it!!! You would have thought that when I was asking each of the men if they would take me to their house to take a dump that someone would have thought of the Pemex.
But no, this is Mexico... Stuff like this happens in Mexico...
So, I get on my bike. I hit over 100 mph getting to that Pemex.
It was the most enjoyable encounter with a filthy restroom I have ever had in my life. I am already fully done and exiting the restroom before Jim gets to the parking lot. Needless to say, he is belly laughing. Finally, I can start laughing about it too. We do laugh about it.
There, I told it! Hope you are not offended. If you are, then you better just get over it, cause if you read this far, you have more than a little culpability in this obscenity thing here too!
I give you a picture below to sort of set the stage for this. It happened in a very twisty part of the road that went on for miles. This section was north of Rodeo before getting to Hidalgo Parral. Very remote area. Kinda like this.
Nowhere to pull off. Nowhere to stop. No way to get off the road. No shoulders. No gas stations. No houses.
Nowhere to take a dump...
I start getting the urge to have a BM. The urge gets stronger, but the road gets longer. After riding like this for about an hour, things are really starting to get urgent, but there is nothing I can easily do. There is quite a bit of traffic, and even if I do stop on the side of the road, I cannot easily scale down a cliff to do my business. I start getting desperate.
So get this. Such is my luck. On one of the hairpin switchback curves, two tractor trailer rigs manage to wedge themselves together at the apex of the turn, thereby stopping all traffic. Marvelous. And the story is only getting started.
Luckily, right behind me in the traffic procession is a tour bus. Behind him are about 20 assorted cars trucks and busses. I get off the bike, and go knock on the door of the bus. I talk to the driver and explain my situation and ask if I can use the toilet in the bus. He refuses.
After about 5 minutes of negotiation, and a promise being made to exchange a certain sum of money, I get ready to board the bus to do my duty so to speak. My anticipation is growing, if you know what I mean.
Right before I set foot on the bottom step of the bus, the semi-trucks ahead on the curve unwedge themselves and traffic starts moving again. With 20 vehicles behind the bus, I cannot possibly hold them all up by entering the bus for some undetermined amount of time. So it is back to the bike I go... Without relief.
I start up the bike again and ride 20 more miles. By now, my intestines are severely impacted. Serious pain is happening here. Finally, we jet into a very small town. Like most small towns, it has a deposito (beer store).
I limp into the deposito and there are three Mexican men in the store. I say I have two problems. Number one is that I need some bottled water, and number two is that I gotta do a number two in a very major way.
They begin laughing at me. I turn red.
I tell them again that this is not a joke. It is an emergency. They laugh more. I ask if there is a toilet in the store, they say "no hay". (No) I ask each of them if they live close by and if they would be willing to take me to their house to take a dump. I would be willing to pay generously I say. Each of them says that nobody lives in the town. The town is only the store, and that there are no toilets in the town. I cannot believe this. I probably make a good 5 minutes of conversation with the men as they laugh at my situation!
Finally, one of the men tells me to do like they do. Just go behind the building and torque one there. This is looking like it is going to be the only option. So, I buy my water, grab a stack of napkins, and head for the door, fully intending on turning the corner to sniff the other piles behind the building.
As I get to the door, I try one last desperate question. I ask "how far to the next Pemex?" I know Pemexes always have toilets. They say, "oh there is one right around the next curve in the road, about 2 miles down..."
Two miles down the road! I have been having world class pain for nigh on two hours, and have been quizzing these guys for at least 5 minutes, only to find out that there is a toilet 2 miles away, and it is free, and I can use it!!! You would have thought that when I was asking each of the men if they would take me to their house to take a dump that someone would have thought of the Pemex.
But no, this is Mexico... Stuff like this happens in Mexico...
So, I get on my bike. I hit over 100 mph getting to that Pemex.
It was the most enjoyable encounter with a filthy restroom I have ever had in my life. I am already fully done and exiting the restroom before Jim gets to the parking lot. Needless to say, he is belly laughing. Finally, I can start laughing about it too. We do laugh about it.
There, I told it! Hope you are not offended. If you are, then you better just get over it, cause if you read this far, you have more than a little culpability in this obscenity thing here too!
28.) A Very Special Place in Rodeo, Durango
In the town of Rodeo, Durango, we had a very nice surprise in that we found the coolest, cheesiest, and most atrocious motel of the whole trip. And all for $9 bux! It was such a buzz that both Jim and I took videos of the place.
This motel was complete with crowing chickens, pig stys, and a homemade Virgin of Guadalupe shrine in the parking lot, and nearly a full cathedral in the upstairs common room. Totally bizarre place. This place probably used to be an insane asylum.
Here is my video first.
Now here is Jim's.
Now, let's follow up with some photos. These are of Jim's room. How is that for luxury? Look, his curtain rod is crooked too.
I am jealous. He got tile in his bathroom.
This hallway to the room is positively frightening. See that water heater just sitting at the end of the hall. One house sized heater to serve a whole motel. Stuff like that happens in Mexico. And look at that floor. Does it look like a few lunatics have been pacing back and forth in there or what?
The ubiquitous Virgin shrine.
And this time Jesus is there too. Oftentimes He is not.
Jim is just way too organized for me.
This motel was complete with crowing chickens, pig stys, and a homemade Virgin of Guadalupe shrine in the parking lot, and nearly a full cathedral in the upstairs common room. Totally bizarre place. This place probably used to be an insane asylum.
Here is my video first.
Now here is Jim's.
Now, let's follow up with some photos. These are of Jim's room. How is that for luxury? Look, his curtain rod is crooked too.
I am jealous. He got tile in his bathroom.
This hallway to the room is positively frightening. See that water heater just sitting at the end of the hall. One house sized heater to serve a whole motel. Stuff like that happens in Mexico. And look at that floor. Does it look like a few lunatics have been pacing back and forth in there or what?
The ubiquitous Virgin shrine.
And this time Jesus is there too. Oftentimes He is not.
Jim is just way too organized for me.
27.) Durango to Hidalgo Parral
Heading north out of Durango lead us into some beautiful areas. The roads were not so curvy, but were rather long sweepers. Again made for that BMW K1200R. It was a shame to not have a bike that would travel at 130+ for these roads.
This next spot is one of my favorites. We took a lunch under a few of the trees, and enjoyed our Penguinos and cookies. Life was very good at that moment.
You could have some serious Enduro fun on the hills and whoops in this area. We did not do it though because we did not want to unload then reload.
The beastly KLR...
The beautiful Beemer...
This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. Don't ask me why. It just was very peaceful at that spot.
We get back into some curves. This area is quite remote. No little towns to speak of. The golden sunlight of the late afternoon is truly beautiful.
Along the way, we decided to visit the next pretty cemetery we came across. I was riding first and came upon one, and whipped into the gravel parking lot. About the time my kickstand went down, I hear this horrible grinding sound. It was Jimmy crashing his bike. Too bad my camera was set up for flourescent lighting, or this moment would have been immortalized.
We called crashes "Crying Babies". The vision was to get some stickers with crying baby faces on them and stick one to our panniers each time we crashed. The problem was that we did not crash enough to justify the expense. I crashed twice, and Jimmy only crashed this once. (And one of mine did not count, because it was in a wet parking lot in San Antonio on the first day of the trip. Well, on second thought, it really ought to count double!)
The cemetery we were anxious to see.
I particularly loved this one. The handmade marker says "Your wife and Your sons".
This next spot is one of my favorites. We took a lunch under a few of the trees, and enjoyed our Penguinos and cookies. Life was very good at that moment.
You could have some serious Enduro fun on the hills and whoops in this area. We did not do it though because we did not want to unload then reload.
The beastly KLR...
The beautiful Beemer...
This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. Don't ask me why. It just was very peaceful at that spot.
We get back into some curves. This area is quite remote. No little towns to speak of. The golden sunlight of the late afternoon is truly beautiful.
Along the way, we decided to visit the next pretty cemetery we came across. I was riding first and came upon one, and whipped into the gravel parking lot. About the time my kickstand went down, I hear this horrible grinding sound. It was Jimmy crashing his bike. Too bad my camera was set up for flourescent lighting, or this moment would have been immortalized.
We called crashes "Crying Babies". The vision was to get some stickers with crying baby faces on them and stick one to our panniers each time we crashed. The problem was that we did not crash enough to justify the expense. I crashed twice, and Jimmy only crashed this once. (And one of mine did not count, because it was in a wet parking lot in San Antonio on the first day of the trip. Well, on second thought, it really ought to count double!)
The cemetery we were anxious to see.
I particularly loved this one. The handmade marker says "Your wife and Your sons".
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