JT.- Mexico- "Danger, Danger, Danger!!!"

Mudd Missile · Jan 21, 2015

What can I say? :eek2:

When you mix JT and Mexico there is only one outcome, ADVENTURE!. So much that he came prepare not to be taken alive, if necessary.

But, if there was to be pain in the process, we were going to be prepared as well.

In case that one bottle of tequila wasn't enough to mitigate whatever discomforts were coming our way, we made sure we had plenty of spirits.

There were four of us, StingRay, JT, Izz and Mudd Missile. I haven't heard from JT in a couple of days. I wonder were he might be!
Anyhow, it is late and I shall continue the report tomorrow. I'll leave you with a bit of what is to come.
http://youtu.be/Ge-afaQxT3A

M38A1 · Jan 21, 2015

Vinny · Jan 22, 2015

YouTube video didn't work. It said it's "private"

BeemerlessBob · Jan 22, 2015

WoodButcher · Jan 22, 2015

Video is marked private right now so we can't watch. Looking forward to the debut though.

kojack06 · Jan 22, 2015

Licoreria?? That has to be a place that sells licorice... :lol2:

JMZ · Jan 22, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0YIJQ1jgEI"]Caddyshack - Well? We're Waiting - YouTube[/ame]

:lol2:

Mudd Missile · Jan 22, 2015

Okay, okay!
We have been talking about this ride since last year's Fort Hancock adventure. The plan was to start in Manuel Benavides and ride through some of the southeast mountains and valleys making a big loop to Ojinaga. The first two days of riding would be new territory. That means we would be exploring new trails that may not be there in the first place. Izz spent countless hours looking over tracks on Google Earth connecting hundreds of possible routes into a a doable one. I can't remember the total number of miles but we had to be prepared to ride at least 200 miles to the next fuel stop. Therefore, we had to carry plenty of fuel and water for two days of desert riding.
However, before we even got to Presidio, we took a short detour to this place.

I highly recommend it to any one who is around Marfa.

They have brew 5 different types of beer that are distributed locally and one that changes by the season.

Once we got enough to drink, we headed down to Presidio where we had reservations at the Tres Palmas hotel. Here we finished the last details of the trip and enjoy a good meal at Charley's sandwich shop.

SpiritAtBay · Jan 22, 2015

Subscribed

JT, where are you?

:rider:

Iceman Jack · Jan 23, 2015

SpiritAtBay said:
Subscribed

JT, where are you?

Probably sitting in his recliner with his lap top tuned into MapSource...........sound asleep!

M38A1 · Jan 23, 2015

Vid still isn't public. :-(

.

dualsportvet · Jan 23, 2015

Sub for another one

Hellwig · Jan 23, 2015

Ya killin me here!

RT_Slim · Jan 23, 2015

I'm predicting the ending will be much like the beginning. Big Bend Brewing.

Mudd Missile · Jan 23, 2015

Sorry for the first video. It was boring anyhow. We headed out to MB early next morning. I think it was Friday. We had no issues going through customs in Ojinaga. They asked us the typical questions and we answered the typical answers. The 60 miles ride to MB was cold and uneventful. We got there and looked for the fuel man. We found it and gassed up with no issues.

As we were gassing the bikes, this fellow driving an old beat truck showed up trying to sell us a wood carved image of something I did not recognize. I said I would love to but I had no place to hang it on the bike. He understood immediately and left.
We went on our marry way.
http://youtu.be/O6Lu4CE-sfc
The road just out of town was in very good condition, just like any dirt road around Texas. As we went further away from town, the road began to turn into an interesting class 2 road. Gradually, it went from great to worse, just what we wanted it.
[ame="http://youtu.be/NmIWXjTGezE"]FILE1262 - YouTube[/ame]

Mudd Missile · Jan 23, 2015

We passed the last homestead. The road began to deteriorate as we rode on. The cold feeling started to disappear as we worked a little harder at riding the bikes. Things are going alright!
[ame="http://youtu.be/YQrGWu5MYSE"]FILE1263 - YouTube[/ame]

Gravel Guy · Jan 23, 2015

matikrimerman · Jan 24, 2015

DaveC · Jan 24, 2015

I am not alone when I write " We are waiting, tease us not!"

_RG_ · Jan 24, 2015

Good job on that climb...looks rough. Y'all are following Izz??? :eek2:

Mudd Missile · Jan 24, 2015

Thanks RG! Izz is the man to follow since he created the tracks. He did an amazing job again putting together the whole route.

Let's continue. As we were getting farther away from civilization, Izz's bike started to act up. The electric starter went dead. So, he had to kick start the bike. The problem was that he had a bag hanging right next to it so it was a pain to unleash the bag, move it out of the way and kick start the bike. Consequently, Izz decided to stop only at tops of hills or, in worse case scenario, push the **** bike. The following vid is an example of the strategy. Also, we spent a lot of time riding on dried river beds or arroyos. I guess the mexican engineers like the path of least resistance. We would be in and out of creek beds that were in some instances empty of rocks and in some others full of baby heads or bigger. JT became the designated bag unleasher for Izz. I had trouble with my side stand since it bend way out when we were at a gas station in Ojinaga. We were afraid that it could brake at any time. I would stay on the bike as much as possible. Eventually, we were getting close to camp #1. Izz had chosen a place near a canyon that had some structures like an old house but no people around. We were to follow a creek bed but there was a chance that we wouldn't get through. we had an alternate route just in case though. As you may expect, we ran into a little obstacle inside the canyon.

This was a very cool looking place. As we were exploring the possibilities of finding a way through, Izz got stuck on a bunch of rocks and branches. Next to it were these cool looking paintings on the rockwall.

We speculated about their origin but were clueless. There were no known alphabetic words, just symbols. Since the near by rocks formed little pools of water, we speculated that some group of natives painted them as they hang around the waterholes.
[ame="http://youtu.be/Seg0lmLlu6M"]FILE1266 - YouTube[/ame]

Mudd Missile · Jan 24, 2015

Here Izz bike stuck!

Mudd Missile · Jan 24, 2015

We turned around and headed toward the secondary route. We had a bit of trouble finding the track but were eventually successful. We were running out of time and sunlight. By this time Izz's bike's electrical system was collapsing. The lights stop working, the battery stopped charging and it started to overheat since the fan could not run either. We had to keep moving at a decent pace so the bike could cool off. This meant no bushwacking!

We arrived at the designated camp site for the first day. We had a little and unexpected surprise. The place that was suppose to be uninhabited had people staying on it, the owner of the place. Unfortunately, I don't have video of the situation but it was kind of weird. They were completely surprise to see people on weird suits riding weird bikes in the middle of nowhere. I stopped near a little house no bigger than my kitchen at home. A man came up to where i was and I very politely said "Good evening"! The man replied with the same but was puzzled at what he was seeing. He first said that the road we were on had no way out, that it ended up at a water tank that he had there for his cattle. Now, it was late, the sun was already set and we were running out of sunlight. He expressed that the arroyo was a dead end as well and the only way out was the same way we came in. I asked if we could set up camp some where in his property and the man was a bit hesitant. He gave us some choices but Izz was not too trusty of the man at this point. Izz wanted to set up camp somewhere else away from these people but that meant riding with no lights. Our choices were an abandoned house with no roof but 4 strong walls around us or the cow pen area. We chose the cowpen area since it had soft ground with no rocks and tress for JT to hang his hamack.

it was a great campsite!

Mudd Missile · Jan 24, 2015

[ame="http://youtu.be/M8rhd6pkoGA"]FILE1270 - YouTube[/ame]

Mudd Missile · Jan 25, 2015

we set camp for the night and got the fire going. We were seating around the fire when Raul, the property owner, showed up with four freshly made empanadas filled with ham and cheese. He offered them to us explaining that his mother had just made them. We accepted them gladly and we spent the next half and hour or more talking about routes that we could take out of there and that would take us toward Coyame. He was doing his best trying to tell us the best route. It took a while for him to understand that we did not want easy gravel road but the lost trails that nobody uses any more. After he left us for the night, we pulled out our REM's and had dinner. The tequila and jack came out and we settled for a good chat around the fire.
Next morning, as we were about to start breakfast, Raul showed up again. This time w=he was bringing freshly made burritos with scramble eggs and salsa. We were getting spoiled by Raul and his family. After breakfast Izz began working on his bike with the assistance of JT and Stingray.

Using a voltmeter, we started to rule out the usual suspects. Everything was working as they should be but the electronic ignition switch was not working. The decission was made to bypass it with another switch. Izz had an spare one and JT had the cable from his air pump. Izz ended up with a new switch!!

We eventually took off around 1:00pm. While Izz finished putting his bike together and packed, Scott and I went down the arroyo to check out a small canyon that Raul mentioned to us.

We stopped by the house to express our gratitude and say our farewells. Raul was concerned that we would get lost so again he explain the routes and landmarks we should be looking for on the way out. He then preceded to invites back any time we were around the area. We have made a new friend.

We headed out toward camp #2.