Gpskevin Copper Canyon Ride Day 1

From Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. “Our lives are just specks of dust falling through the fingers of time,’ or something on the line or like that.”

A 68 year old around me is now talking to another retiree about his new flying wing aircraft. Another guy my age is planning a motorcycle ride to South America and the furthest point south- Ushuia. A future trip on jet skis from San Felipe, Baja down the Sea of Cortez is also in the works for 2023. And here I am stuck in the middle of all these conversations. These are the guys I’m now riding and traveling with. Your average guy that signed up to venture to all points Mexico on roads so sketchy at times that today Sean and I wondered where-all the federales were racing to. Well we found out much later.

It seemed to us from the looks of things that a semi driver took a road just a wee bit too fast and spread a load of laundry detergent containers all over the road. And soon the word went out over the police radio to come get your years supply before it’s all gone.

Now you see why I am, like I am?

There’s a saying that goes something like; you can’t soar like an eagle when you surround yourself with turkeys.

You too owe it to yourself to become as great as you can, in this very short life that we are all living; To go to the very end and with no regrets.

With these guys by my side, I know I’ll get to the furthest point in Chihuahua; there and back in one piece. The ride day numero uno is now over; around 289 miles traveled. I can’t help but, to smile, as I now sit on a possibly 100 year old bed that Pancho Villa himself may have once slept on. Everyone literally circled the block looking for the hotel Pardor de la Sierra in Madera Chihuahua but, couldn’t find it, as it’s new name changed years ago and is still on the hotel.

I arrived with a Mennonite cheese round firmly in my hand that I purchased hundreds of miles earlier. I was now wondering what to do with it. Then the two in the picture above showed up. Mennonite cheese is a big deal in Chihuahua so I stopped to have a look. It turns out that the Mexican guy selling the cheese lost his wife days ago and later today was the funeral. His business was not doing well and so after his five minute tour I felt like I needed to add a little more karma to my ride so I gave him a $20 US and rode off with the Mennonite cheese round that I knew I would never use.

And I know that I am fortunate to be, where few others dare to venture. Today Sean and I left the other riders at immigration. For some strange Mexican time warp sort of way it was taking an average of thirty minutes to process each rider through. We looked outside the building for any distortion of space and time but, failed to find the cause.

And so as we proceeded to leave Tim said he would now join Sean and I. A minute later his 701 Husqvarba motorcycle falls flat on its side from a broken kick stand. Now how often does that happen? Well never. The kickstand gave out. Now this is an almost new bike so, fearing any other weird phenomena we high tailed it out of there looking for breakfast. We finally found it hours later at a burrito shop in a town between two sets of topes. A topes is this protruding object on the road meant to slow a driver way down or else the vehicle and objects will become airborne real fast.

All the pain of getting our travel paperwork is now long ago forgotten. We expected a two to five pounder burrito like back in the states but, got two burritos each the size of a small taco bell taco. They were each delicious but, if you ask me what was in them all I can say is mystery meat.

We just had the most fantastic meals that money can buy. Who could ask for more.

Dinner today was fantastic. Authentic surf and turf fajitas, margaritas and a sampling of salsas. One red, one green and one with carrots, chilies, onions that turned out to be the crowd favorite. I would have a picture for you but, it turned out that the video was what was recording.

It’s 8:30 p.m and I’m now trying to end this day one story anyway that I possibly can so m, I’ll tell you a joke I heard today at the Sinaloa Mariscos shop where we enjoyed our second breakfast.

After a few weeks of going from village to village, to find anyone still alive that knew Pancho Villa he finally finds an old man who tells him he knew Pancho Villa.”

He asks the old man, “I understand you knew Pancho Villa?” The old man takes a drag on his cigarette. “Do I know Panch Villa? Let me tell you about Pancho Villa.”

“I was riding my horse in the desert and I saw a man. So I ride up to him and find out It’s Pancho Villa! And he has a pistol! So he tells me ‘Get off your horse!’ What can I do? He has a pistol, I don’t have a pistol. I get off my horse.”

“Pancho Villa gets on my horse. Then he say to me ‘Take off your pants!’ What can I do? He has a pistol, I don’t have a pistol. So I take off my pants.”

Then he says to me ‘Take a shit on the ground!’ What can I do? He has a pistol, I don’t have a pistol. So I take a shit on the ground.”

Then he says to me ‘Pick up the shit and eat it!’ What can I do? He has a pistol, I don’t have a pistol. So I pick up the shit and eat it.”

“And I can see Pancho Villa is about to shoot me! But then, a snake scares my horse and throws Pancho Villa off! And Pancho Villa drops the pistol! And then I grab the pistol!”

“And then I tell Pancho Villa, ‘Take off your pants!’ And what can he do? I have a pistol, he don’t have a pistol! So he take off his pants.”

“And I say, ‘Take a shit on the ground!’ And what can he do? I have a pistol, he don’t have a pistol! So he take a shit on the ground.”

“And I say, ‘Pick up the shit and eat it!’ And what can he do? I have a pistol, he don’t have a pistol! So he pick up the shit and eat it.”

“Then I get on my horse and I ride away!”

The old man yells, “So you ask me, DO I KNOW PANCHO VILLA? DO I KNOW PANCHO VILLA??!!”

The old man takes a drag on his cigarette.

“Si, we had lunch together once.”