This afternoon all fourteen riders began dribbling in at the Estancia Inn in Tecate, after individually crossing the border and taking care of the necessary land visa and temporary motorcycle import permits. Jens from Colorado, on his GSA1200 was the first rider I met at the hotel. Before long we’re swapping stories. This is his first ride with Gpskevin’s group of wayward boys. We shared a few stories before proceeding on to the hotel check in.
It didn’t take the rest of the guys long before figuring out that Roberto, David, Luis, Ray and yours truly all spoke fluent Spanish. Soon I meet up with Paul and immediately we began to recollect our 2017 British Columbia ride. Paul now has a titanium collarbone after cartwheeling his GSA 1200 on that ride. Russ and I were right behind him when it happened.
I can’t help but reminding myself about how fortunate we all are to be here. We get to see places that millions of people living in the country never even knew existed. Old injuries heal and soon become memories. We have plenty to be appreciative about!
Puerto Penasco – We have arrived at the Mexican version of Dubois. It’s literally a city created out of nothing but sand and nearby Sea of Cortez water. Two large windmill power generators adorn the city buildings.
The happy tourist mostly from Arizona seem to all be running around on either golf carts or side by sides. We’re staying the night in a two story hotel called Hotel Playa Azul. Probably one of the first places built for the workers. The rooms are decently air conditioned, clean and the staff is friendly and accommodating. Across the street are bars that look like they were built from the left over scrap.
Earlier we experienced a desert rainstorm that lasted for about five miles. The sand you see in the picture is just a small indication of what we at times rode through. At one point I said to myself why’s Todd riding so slow now (I looked down and I was doing 91 mph) earlier the two lane Sonora 3 road just begged to be ridden hard. For miles and miles and miles all you saw was sand on either side; I don’t believe we were riding slower than 125 mph. I’m not sugar coating the ride. We’re the first three (David, Todd and yours truly) on the Rumarosa, the highway of death and from highway 2D we passed by one town whose swap meet was the highlight of the locals.
Last night: Dinner and drinks. The Estancia Inn is now well known to this ride group for their excellent cuisine and drinks. The same bartender as last year happily greeted us. Soon the margaritas began to flow and so did the ride stories.
Roberto’s hand stimulators. That’s what happens when you are suddenly and spontaneously ejected from your motorcycle but, your hands refuse to let go.
There’s this thing called passion and you either have it or you take yourself away from the next ride. Everyone in this group is up to the task. We live to ride and ride to eat.
Mexico 2D highway is a toll road that took us through Tecate and on to Mexicale. For breakfast we stopped at La Cabana de Abuelo.
It’s only noon but, the desert rain has caught up and is now keeping us hostage. From a 52 degree morning to 84 degrees and rain now.
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