Day 2: Saturday A.M.
breakfast at the overwhelmed Clarion then gas up and permits at the office. Groups of 6 or 8 rolled towards Montemorelos and Miguel's for lunch. We had a minor mishap when JP's KTM catastrophically blew a rear bearing. 50 miles from the border, 120 from Galeana. What to do? Luis and JP limped along at 20 MPH while Jae and I went farm to farm looking for a truck. We found one farm, with the one guy, with the old truck, and a buddy who fixed bearings. Loaded up an unoptimistic JP into an old propane fueled truck that looked like it hadn't moved in half a decade. 10 PSI tires? No problem.
Some good natured ribbing about Keeping Two Mechanics (KTM's)
Shortly after loading up JP we had an electrical snafu on my bike. The 5 minutes I test rode it in Phoenix were sans side panels. Apparently I kicked loose the charging plug from the voltage regulator. Dead battery as I was highway riding. 5 minute diagnosis, cold regulator, plug reseated, a quick bump start, and we were on our way. Whew!!!!
Off to Mike's for lunch on the square. His wife helps out on Saturdays. Mike and wife, proud owners of La Fonda Miguel, Montemorelos.
As we were late to lunch we saw most everyone else head off. 30 minutes later....good news...the KTM bearing is common, automotive, installed, ready to roll in 30 minutes at the only bearing shop in the region. Luis and JP appeared just in time for leftovers. Woo hoo!!! But, weather was becoming a factor. We lost JP within 10 blocks of lunch. To be fair, we were lanesplitting midday traffic. one driver must have had enough and as JP was bringing up the rear decided to scoot in his path, just enough, for JP to glance the curb and topple over. 30 minutes later we were regathered, gassed, and heading into the mountains.
leading up to the trip we were keen on watching the rain and weather. Luckily Jim Bender was 4 days ahead and giving us reports that showed stellar off road conditions and reasonable temps in Galeana. Against scathing online reports of 80 or 90% chances with thunderstorms daily for the first half of our trip.
John P rode in from California through 40 degrees and flooding. He was definitely hoping for a change in the weather.
[ame="https://youtu.be/0wNMqv4ajdo"]Mextrek #8 John driving from LA in rain - YouTube[/ame]
Then a hurricane came into play, sure to swipe over us with even more of the same and worse. Saturday was just the first of it...
Visors up, 20 MPH, hard to focus...
And to put a damper on our photo, someone spraypainted and toppled our photo rock. No bueno mexico!!
Going was foggy, slow, with no sign of blue skies or dry conditions. We were running late, going slow, worried about dirt conditions.
but my gosh was it beautiful!
[ame="https://youtu.be/4dXPAWUojxk"]Mextrek #8 Beautiful Clouds near Rayones - YouTube[/ame]
And the little 500 was loving the mixed gnarly concrete. TKC80's slippery as advertised on the slick asphalt.
We were in dead last, tired, foggy, and the raods were slicker and slicker. I stopped to take a video of the last of the "Slow Group" dropping down into Rayones. Keen eyes will see 3 go in, 2 come out.
https://youtu.be/3tSJXx-JtC8
Unufortunately JP's newly repaired bike decided 3rd time was the charm and gave up it's grip of reality (and asphalt) and spit JP squarely on his shoulder. Pain, pain, and more pain ensued. To his credit, with a pain level of 8 or 9, JP continued on to Galeana like the bad to the bone trooper he is. 15 MPH and a 30 minute after sunset arrival and we were feeling very accomplished for a 4 time mishap crew (5 if you count a rider out of gas). Hello Galeana!!
Dinner and copious drinks at The General de Casonas and I slept like a big snoring baby bear.