It was time to jump on Blue Demon and head for the USA going to Chetumal where I had a chance to touch Belize then go straight across to Villahermosa and around the Gulf of "America" lol through Tuxpan and Tampico to Cadereyte before the US border. BUT not exactly a straight line due to a necessary detour to Merida for bent tire rim switch outs. Over all a tough time riding around the gulf in 38 deg C, toll roads that cost $1 every 10km, awful roads and traffic and a few motorbike issues. The saving grace was some economic food and accommodation for the most part and the drive to make it back to Canada...at some point, yeehaw! Oh and bike passed 40,000km.
Special thanks to Jer, Kaz, Adan and the hosts at Relax Home that helped me enough to keep going...
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Ready to Rock! Loaded up
with Guitar and all my stuff! |
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Is that going to be a problem from my highway
pothole one week earlier...Yes it is going to be
a problem and it's on both tires! |
Day 1-2 (350km) Chetumal from Playa del Carmen. Very exciting to hit the road and early enough the heat wasn't crushing me yet. A pretty straight route I had been on before except for the last 15km in to Chetumal at which point the bike was chugging from a fuel delivery issue...damn. I ended up staying an extra night to solve the fuel issue enough to be comfortable to continue and decide what to do about my bent rims from the week before the trip started. Turns out there was a used set for sale in Merida...
Chetamul was actually a nice little town right on the sea with a new Mayan Train station next to where I stayed (Relax Home) and a few restaurant options while I solved the bike.
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| Gunk in the breather hole |
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| Fuel pump looks ok |
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| Mayan Train right there! |
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| Quick tour of malecon |
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| Bike fuel issue still there, one more day stay |
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| More hills than expected |
Needing to stay through Sunday all I could do was clean the fuel pump filter and change the gas. After all was said and done (chipped the tank also) it turned out to be bad gas, but of course the cleaning didn't hurt.
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| make do gas bottle |
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| Looks tidy in the air delivery |
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| Still some grim, I got in there... |
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| Well it is supposed to be white |
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| Carb cleaner and elbow grease |
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That staining on the ground
from the fuel filter |
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| Success after fueling up! |
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| Taking in the Oilers vs Stars! |
Scary side story: I decided to check out the free zone between Belize and Mexico asking everyone the whole way across the bridge if I needed a passport which they all said "no". After 20 minutes in the unappealing Belize side it was time to go back. The return to my motorbike parked on the Mexican side seemed easy enough until I asked a likely drunk older Mexican official where the vehicle import office was to which he asked for my passport I didn't have it leading to me brought in to the office to explain myself to the other more official official...I quickly lost my ability to speak Spanish in order to fumble my way back to Mexico...Reminded me of the time I almost didn't get back in to Argentina from Uruguay...Borders can be so frustrating and scary some times.
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| 1 of 2 entry points to Belize |
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| Walking over to Belize |
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Security check point Belize
No one asked for a passport |
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Probably more up ahead, but without a passport
and 35 deg C I didn't want to go on. |
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Some shops with mostly duty
free Mexican stuff. |
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| Exit back to Mexico |
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I bet you can cruise around with a boat and
no passport...I really just got gringo treatment |
Day 3 (400km) Merida. I was so close to simply cancelling my temp import permit on the bike and returning to Playa to sell the bike and fly home, but my border experience shifted that needle a little more to "keep going" which was sitting dead middle until I found a set of used rims in Merida to swap with my bent rims. The initial plan when leaving Playa was to get all the way to Monterrey or USA to change them, but this Merida plan was much safer to swap asap, cheaper and a final decision point if it didn't work (easy back to Playa only 350 km away). The 39 deg C riding to Merida didn't help the needle move towards pushing on to the USA...ufff.
Highway 293/184 after Buena Vista C2R7T3V6 off main highway 307. Then 184 Jose Maria Morelos to Mayan zona C6R6T3V7. Finally 184 to Merida C2R6/8T2/3V6.
No time to change clothes, eat or take a rest as it was right in to it if we wanted to find shops that would change the bearings ($18 pricy) and tires out ($25, awesome) before closing time. In the end we figured it out finishing around 9pm which made for a 12 hour day for me.
Good news: New used rims fit, reduced used rim price by leaving my bent ones ($180 for both rims!) got a free spot to sleep for the night at Adan's.
Bad news: Rims didn't have ABS set up, got bad diarrhea from the late dinner!
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| bike balancing on centerstand |
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| So naked with out brake system |
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Bearings changed at one shop
then this guy did all tires.
I even gave him a tip!! |
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Imagine putting back your most
important part of the bike
IN THE DARK! |
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| The Mexican way |
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| Adan and me |
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Looked and tasted good, but
went through me... |
Day 4 (550km) Villahermosa. Another hottest day of the trip at a high of 38degC since I was riding in a Heat Wave! Temps did go down along the Campeche coast, but still around 34C sitting in traffic in Ciudad del Carmen which I didn't remember being such a hole...yikes. The perspective change going East to West. On this day the wrath of the Mexican Road Tolls began...$1 every 10 km if you can believe that and that's half of what a car pays since I'm on a motorbike!
Merida to Campeche highway 180, beautiful free road C2R8T2V6.
A tight road just after Campeche for about 30km C7R6/7T3V7.
Champoton to Isla Aguada along the Gulf coast to Ciudad del Carmen (Worst Traffic of trip) C2R7T4/5V8.
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Barely left hotel due to rain
and exhaustion and safety. |
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Comfortable with bike parking
right outside. La Maja Suites $30 |
Day 5 (750km) Tuxpan. Another big ride to make ground and hope to shed the heat by going North. Made a phone call to Kaz in Calgary to confirm I was doing the right thing riding home...I checked with Adan who said he could get a lot of money for the bike and in the end he really couldn't. Kaz had convinced me to take the adventure so I paid the tolls and rode the unknown (to me) road mostly off the coast that day through the state of Veracruz.
After a 350 km stretch it was on to new road going North on highway 180 to Veracruz C0R8T3V3.
Then toll booths everywhere, haha...300+ km of road C2R7/8T2/3V5-7
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To think I actually stopped on the side of the
road to play a song and lock in my plan. |
Although the place I stayed was comfortable, good parking and affordable it felt too far to walk to the main water front area and I didn't want to drive to deal with the military check point again. Rained anyway. Luckily I was able to feast at the hotel restaurant one block from my apartment.
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| Arrachera steak yes! |
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Apartment didn't look safe.
This is called La Villa Vista? |
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But it was really good once I found the
bedroom with A/C. |
A few bathroom video notes I sent to the rookie owner trying to start a rental business.
Day 6 (200 km) Tampico. In need of an easy day I decided to stop after only 4 hours of exploratory off the Toll Roads driving. That felt good and I got to see way more awesomeness. Small towns and ranches and beautiful scenery.
All day on hwy 180 Tuxpan to Tampico, relaxing. First 70km C5R4T4V7. Then hwy 180 to divided last 30km to Tampico. So C5R2/3T3V6 and C1/2R8T2V5/6 respectively.
Pretty good spot, but to be honest I have no idea where the good part of town is...I stayed by the water/lake at Laguna 2.
Checking out the main attraction Ferris Wheel?
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| The main tourist area? |
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| The Lake |
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$20 Mariscos Acuario.
Later found Pollos Los Enrique's
for a huge sirloin feed for $12 |
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| Mangos falling off the trees |
Day 7 (500km) Cadereyta The final stretch in Mexico before the border run. A little out of the way, but it was for good reason to avoid some highly suspect areas along the coast to the Matamoros area. Due to concerns I had planned to go to the Colombia Bridge crossing way over Northwest of Monterrey at Laredo. This meant driving to Monterrey or close and leaving myself a very easy 2 hours to get to the border the next day to be in the USA by lunch. Aside from the rain at the end of the day it was a great riding day with no road tolls, some friendly moto riders and mountain views returning to a place I had actually been before with my friend Luz.
Hwy 80/81/83 Tampico to Ciudad Victoria C1-2R8T2V6/7. Hwy 85 and 9 Ciudad Victoria to Cadereyta C2R7T2V7 Mountains.
Side Story: Arrived in the rain, took a break to check my phone as I couldn't do that in the rain. Went to Hotel Departamentos Amueblados, but not the hotel I was staying. It was their sister hotel and they were able to check me in and give me a room card. Ok...Went to where the hotel was supposed to be, nope. More rain...urgh. Then it turned out hotel was right in the heart of it all, but meant I had to park on the street (ok, but needed to take all bags up to room). Over all it wasn't so bad, but I definitely had words with the spirits above...
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| Well I'm here... |
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Nice big room where I spread
everything hoping to dry it |
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| Basically the only spot open |
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My last meal in Mexico
Pretty typical. |
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| Tomorrow's the big day - USA |
