Day 1 Tallahassee to Saltillo

I had been doing my best to prepare for my trip. I like to drive at night. So, I stayed up late the night before and slept during the day before I left. I woke up about 6:30pm, got ready, and finished loading my things. I got out of Tallahassee with a full tank of gas around 8:00pm. My trip to Laredo was pretty uneventful this time. It was a little tough during hours 11 and 12, so I made an extra stop to get some coffee and walk around a little. I arrived in Laredo in record time 15 hours 9 minutes. I drove the same speed that I always do, but there seemed to be less construction on the road this time.

I took me about 2 hours to get the bike off the truck and all my gear loaded onto the bike. I seemed like I was moving in slow motion. I crossed the border and hammered down to Saltillo. I arrive around 3:30pm their time. I was tired, but I didn't want to sleep because I was visiting with Lulu and Viensay. Viensay is growing, talking, and into everything. She is 20 months old. Everyone looks very well in Saltillo. After Jorge got home from work, we dropped the baby off with a neighbor and went to meet some friends. I think it was couples night out, because I was the odd man. We had a good time, but I was very sleepy by the end of my 30 hour day.

Day 2

This was a day of rest for me, but unfortunately, I woke up early. The family and I ate breakfast together. Then, Lulu, Viensay, and I went looking for a car wash. We left Jorge at home trimming the hedges. I had ran into about 10,000 yellow butterflies the day before. I decided to get professional help with the cleaning. It cost me $3.00, a bargain. While we were waiting for the car and the bike., we went to downtown Ramos Arizpe. Jorge and Lulu live in Ramos, it is a suburb of Saltillo. We visited the town square and the City Municipal Building. They had some nice murals there.

In the afternoon, we went over to a cookout with some friends from Jorge's city league basketball team. We drank beer and ate so much. The weather was a little deceiving in Saltillo, it was warm, but the wind made it cold. I was getting cold, but luckily our host was a big guy and had a sweat shirt that fit me. We got home in the early evening. Jorge had to go to work from 9pm to 12am to do some computer upgrades. I decided to go to bed early.

Day 3

As usual, I woke up early. I tried to be very quiet. When I was almost ready to go, I woke Lulu and Jorge to say goodbye. Lulu insisted to fix me breakfast, and I was happy to eat it. I still got out by 8:45am, good time for me, because it is always hard for me to say goodbye.

My goal was to arrive in Ciudad Valles for the night. One of my GPSs has elevation, and I was surprised to see how high the area was. Saltillo is around 1600 ft elevation, as I went south, the elevation rose to over 6000 ft quickly. I spent almost all day riding in high elevation. I had my cold weather gear on and I didn't take it off until later in the afternoon. I was on good high speed highway most of the day, but the end of my day was mountain highway. It reminded me of the road from Durango to Mazatlan, but on a smaller scale.

After 7 hours and 400 miles, I arrived in Ciudad Valles at 4:00pm. I found a motel for $25.00 a night. It was a little bit of a dump, but is was clean, and on the right highway out of town. When I have stayed in places like this one, I always think about some of the members of my family and laugh to myself. Some of them would rather die that to rough it in a $25.00 motel. I ate bacon wrapped shrimp for $8.00 at the Resturante de 7 Mares (7 Seas), just up the road. They were delicious. Then, I returned to the motel. I only had two channels on the TV, but  I made the best of it.

Day 4

I woke up a couple of hours before daylight, so I took my time getting ready. I left the motel at 7:00 to get gas. I left Cd Valles at 7:30 heading south. I had picked one of those routes less traveled. I lost about 20 minutes looking for the road east. There was some confusion on my map. I was looking for a town named Pedro Antonio de Santos on my map, but it was called simply Ciudad Santos in the area. I got on the right road, but it was in rough shape so the going was slow. Then, ended up on a hard packed dirt road that was made with dirt and stones. I could go only about 35mph. The road ended at a river, and I paid $1.00 to take a ferry across. It took me 3 1/2 hours to cover 85 miles. The area was beautiful, and I am sure many of the people that I encountered had never seen a foreigner traveling on a motorcycle before. My plan was sound, but I had one problem. I had to be in Veracruz that afternoon. By 1:30pm, I was ready to get off the bike, but I still had many miles to go. So, I sucked it up, and put the hammer down. In 9 hours, I covered 360 miles from Cd Valles to Klaudia's house in Veracruz. Klaudia was home when I arrived. I was glad to see her and she me. I peeled of my protective gear and rested while waiting for the rest of the family to get home. I spent the evening with Klaudia, Martha, Beto, and Carolina. They fed me well and I enjoyed visiting with them. I arrived at my hotel about 10:00pm.

Days 5 through 11

Klaudia had to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, but then she was off until I left. We did many things together. We spent a lot of time with her family, I had to meet the parents. (I haven't had to meet the parents in quite a while.) It was all good, I had a very good time with all of them. I met Cousin Erica's new 12 day old baby boy, Sebastian. We celebrated Klaudia's grandmother's birthday. We never could decide her exact age. She said one thing, and her daughter said another. I think she is in her late 80s. We went to the Ruins of Cempoala, about 30 minutes north of Veracruz. We visited the Baluarte de Santiago. We went to the dentist and shoe shopping. Good shoes are expensive. A $60.00 pair of Nikes is $100.00 in Mexico. Klaudia said she had the same pair of Nikes for eight years.

I enjoyed the time I spent in Klaudia's house with Martha, Beto, and Carolina. Martha is Klaudia's older sister. She is special, she's the kind of person who is aggravating a times, but will do anything for you. She made sure that I was treated like a king in her house. Martha hand washed my clothes, and fed me until I almost exploded. Martha loves to eat and she is very happy while eating. I took the family out to eat a few times, Martha ate 10 tacos one night that we went out.

I had a great time in Veracruz, but it was very hot. Unusually hot for October.

Day 12

I had planned to leave Veracruz at 8:00am. I had taken my dirty clothes to a laundry that is a few blocks from my hotel, but they had not finished them in time the night before. They were on Mexican time and did not open until 8:30am, even though the sign said 8:00am. By the time I got packed and said goodbye to Klaudia, my 8:00am departure turned into 12:30pm.

It was difficult to go fast, because I was riding north on a two lane highway. The sun was in my face, and it was hot. I hammered down as hard as I could until I got to Tampico. I was running out of daylight, but I decided to break my golden rule. That rule is "NEVER RIDE AT NIGHT IN A 3rd WORLD COUNTRY". I decided to push on, because every mile that I didn't ride that day I would have to ride the next day. I discovered that the headlights on my bike are very inadequate for night driving in the sticks. After 8 hours and 400 miles, I called it quits at the first motel I found. I had to pay $40.00 for the night. It wasn't a whole lot better that the $25.00 motel. I was happy to end a very hard day of motorcycle riding.

Day 13

I woke up early and hungry. My supper the night before was two bottles of water and a small bag of chips. That was all they had at the motel, and I was too tired to go out. I left at first light to look for a gas station with a store. Just my luck, found a station, but no snacks. It was 95 degrees in Cd Valles when I left at 7:40am, hot hot. I decided to push on to Rio Verde. I had stopped there on the way to Veracruz.

I arrived in Rio Verde a little after 9:00am. I had to ride the mountain road once again to get there. It was a good road though, not like the road to Cd Santos. I got some snacks and drinks at the gas station. I spent about an hour there before heading north. Not long after leaving Rio Verde, I was in the high desert again. I rode the rest of the day in very pleasant temperatures. After another 400 mile day, I arrived in Saltillo at 3:15pm. What a difference good four lane highways make. I spent the afternoon and evening visiting with the family. I brought Viengsay a baby doll from Veracruz. She loved it.

Day 14

This was a day of rest for me. Lulu, Viensay, and I went to Centro Saltillo to look around. They had some neat things there, but I was not in a buying mood. We ate lunch at Tia Juani's house, then went back home. I decided to get another $3.00 bike wash. I figured it would make it easier for me when I arrived home. When Jorge got home, we went over to a neighbors house for a few minutes, but ended up staying a while. The Mrs. fed us, of course. When we got home, Lulu fed me again. I went to bed stuffed. I guess that made up for my supper on Day 12.

Day 15

Everyone had something to do early. Jorge had work and Lulu had a meeting, so I got out of Saltillo at 8:30am. I rode hard and was across the border around noon. I was hungry, so I stopped for a Whataburger. Then, I went to the storage to load the bike. I did not waste any time getting the bike loaded. I changed my watch to Tallahassee time, lost an hour. I departed Laredo at 2:45EDT. I was feeling good, and considered driving straight through to Tallahassee. On the west side of Beaumont, TX, there was an oil spill on I10. I lost two hours there. That killed my plan to drive straight though. I drove a little past the half way point, then got a hotel room for the night.

Day 16

Not much to say. I got up and drove another 8 hours home. I arrived about 5:00pm.

Overall, a very good trip. I had a very nice visit with my girl and her family, and I had no problems on the road. I also, got to visit with the family in Saltillo. I feel blessed.