On the road in Mexico

    The two main rules we wanted to uphold were don't go home with anyone and don't drive at night.  We broke these two rules and lived to blog it.  The first day in Baja we were in Colonet drinking a coke outside the local Tecante trying to decide where we should stay when a lady in a big truck pulled up and took one look at us and invited us to her place.  She ran a mission on the out skirts of town.  It was too intrigueing to pass up.  We did hesitate momentarily before jumping on the KLRs and heading to her place, after all it was a mission.  Shirley and Martin showed us around their humble place and fed us a excellent meal, beans, rice and shrimp.  They showed us some real down home hospitality and we appreciated every minute of our time together.  They sent us off to bed at the hotel next door with a prayer and a blessing.  I think it was the best possible start to our stay in Mexico.
    Day 2 we broke the second rule.  We didn't intend to ride at night and promise it will never happen again.  It just got dark faster than we were riding.  Luck for us the little village of Rosalita had a bed with a hot shower.  We were enjoying a beautiful sunset approaching a plateau surrounded by mountain ranges then bang it was pitch black.  There was nothing in sight as we crawled along dreading the 80 + kms we had left to get to Guero Negro.  I was so happy to find a room in Roslita I would have paid any price just to get off the road.  The cook was a caring woman who took great care to give us a good meal.  I think she knew my nerves were shot.

Lovin' the view

desert vegatation

The Mission in Colonet

Yucca plants

More cati

Gassing up

The sunset that tricked us!

More Cati

Amazing views!

Mission in Loreta

   The scenery has been amazing.  The ride has taken us past coastal shores with waves crashing on beaches, through healthy farm lands, up and down mountainsides and through mountain passes.  The most fascinating scenery is the desert, it is alive and yet dead and desolate.  I didn't realize the variety of cacti and the vastness of the desert.  I describe it as trying to take a picture of the ocean, it is so big the wonder is lost in a tiny photo.
   I will finish off with some information about traffic calming divices in Mexico.  In order to get drivers to slow down on the highway approaching town there will be about 8-10 mini speed bumps followed by a large speed bump.  Apparently, we found out from Bill this evening, these are the passing zones for motorcycles.  This is the place for motorcycles to get around the big trucks. Also, there is the signage for sharp turns.  There are the normal black curves on a gold background but then there are the bends shown with 90" turn.  All bends, curves and 90" curves also have the black arrow on a gold sign.  There may be 3-12 of these on a turn.  The more sever the turn the more signs.  The sharper the turn the closer the signs are set together. If you come across a double arrow on a gold sign you better slow down.