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It´s not an adventure...

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Monteray is not a place you want to just go for a nice motorcycle ride. I can't believe we got out of there in one piece. I think they have Austin beat for crazy drivers.

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This is our Federale Escort saying Audios. I was hoping he wouldnt call his Zeta buddies and have them pick us off on the Toll Road since now he knew we were cops. My silly fears getting in my head again. This really was a great trip and I can't wait to go back either.
 
1042rider said:
We had planned to go to Monterrey and get on the main tollroad and head north to Nuevo Laredo, specifically the Columbia bridge. While approaching Monterrey, we saw signs to take the highways to Nuevo Laredo. We, however, had planned to take Hwy 1 out of Monterrey which we were supposed to intersect in the Northeast part of the city and be home free.
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Hwy signs are tricky in Mty. Stick with the Cuotas (toll roads). Maps may mislead. Hwy 1 signs, for the most part, are someone's idea of a practical joke for for'ners. Don't ask how I know. I see lots of traffic signs "advertizing" Columbia around Mty, don't fall for 'em. They are a trick. The only way to do Hwy 1 without getting lost is coming south from the border. Yes it is 2-lane. Mty has its good days and bad days but mostly fairly bad what with all the concrete production around. For the last 6 months or so Mty has been hopeless snarled with some sort of hwy reconstruction on the north end of town.

Monterrey on a good day (Not my picture, BTW)
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I rode Hwy 1 south from Columbia to Monterrey during the recent Mountain Recon. It really is a 2 lane road. The toll road is much faster so, in the future, I'll be using the toll road.
 
Mexico = the land of personal responsibility

And maybe that's one reason I love it
viejo said:
There is danger everywhere caused from other peoples negligance. Its a country where you are responsible for your actions, not someone else.
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That sure is a great picture of Montarey. If that had been taken the day we were there all you would see is a cloud.
 
It's baaaack...

I am back from Monterrey with my GS. It is now safely tucked away in the garage.

In case any of y'all were wondering...Monterrey traffic SUCKS!!! :headbang: Oh, yeah, what street signs DO exist are intended to trick you like the ones in the road runner cartoons....

Still and all it feels REAL good to have my bike back under me. -Fletch
 
Congratulations! That seemed like it went pretty quickly...
 
Gilk51 said:
Congratulations! That seemed like it went pretty quickly...
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It seemed like an e...t...e...r...n...i...t...y... to me. :zen: The bike was actually ready about 2 1/2 weeks after we dropped it off but it took me awhile to get the time to get back down there for it.
 
I meant once you arranged to go rather than the waiting part. I can see the whole episode seeming to last forever.
 
Oh, yeah, I forgot the epilogue to this story....

My very, very good friend volunteered to drive down to Monterrey with me in his truck to pick up the bike. We went down yesterday and spent the night in Saltillo just chilling. This morning we got up early to be at the BMW dealer when they opend up. Instead, we got HORRENDOUSLY lost. It was like a comedy skit in a Chevy Chase movie as we continuously managed to drive within SIGHT of the dealership with no way to actually GET TO the dealership for about an hour. Eventually, however, we did find our way into the extremely busy shop. We loaded the bike up and headed out of Monterrey. We negotiated a couple military checkpoints, aduana, migracion, etc then we paid our 2 bucks and crossed the bridge and rolled up to US Customs.

The officer at the window asks for my passport. He looks at it. He looks at me. He looks at the GS in the back of the truck. He looks back at me and says, "I wondered when you would be coming back through with this." It turns out he remembered the four of us coming through last month and the remaining three returning without me. After some small talk about the 'reliability' of BMWs he waved me on. As I have said throughout this thread - It really is a small world.

(still don't want to paint it, though)
 
Gilk51 said:
I meant once you arranged to go rather than the waiting part. I can see the whole episode seeming to last forever.
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Oh, yeah, sorry for the confusion. It actually went VERY quickly. I could've easily flown down and ridden back in one relatively short day or driven down, picked it up and ridden back in a doable medium-long day.

We made it from north central Austin to our hotel in Saltillo in under 8 hours including about 45 minutes to get an importador and FMTs at the border.

We made it home from the dealership in central west Monterrey to my home in SW Austin in just over 7 hours including a sit-down lunch en route.

One thing I have definitely taken away from this series of events is that the Saltillo and Monterrey area is MUCH more conveniently located than they might seem at first blush. The distance-to-adventure ratio is highly favorable.
 
Hey Fletch, did they fix you bike? Are you going to have Steve open it up and make sure they did it correctly?

I am already anxious to go somewhere. Whats next? Lets go sking!:rider:
 
Viejo said:
Hey Fletch, did they fix you bike? Are you going to have Steve open it up and make sure they did it correctly?

I am already anxious to go somewhere. Whats next? Lets go sking!:rider:
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I got the bike back and it is fixed. They even left all the old parts in one of my panniers. I have not decided whether or not to bring it to Steve. Thoughts?

Next trip? AusWife wants to go skiing but I want to ride....was thinking of a West Texas ride around the holidays. -Fletch
 
Hey Ausfletch, those were some great photos taken in Mexico, what camera were you using?
 
These photos were taken by all of us but Todd is the one who has an amazing eye for great shots. Most all the best photos were taken byTodd. He and I both have Canon Digital SLR's but did not bring them out of fear they would be stolen or something. I think Todd uses a Nikon cool pix as his back up and I used a Canon G2. Many of these photos were from AusFletch and I am not sure what Camera he had.
 
RHARN said:
Hey Ausfletch, those were some great photos taken in Mexico, what camera were you using?
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Sorry, not ignoring you...just didn't see this post until Viejo posted up. Thanks for clueing me in, Bill. Bill's right...if they are good pictures they are not mine. I use a run of the mill compact point and shoot Sony DSC-something camera. Like I've said before, from now on instead of a tool kit I'm bringing Bill and instead of a camera I'm bringing Todd on my trips. -Fletch
 
The camera that I used for this trip is a 4 year old Canon A80...4 megapix...point and shoot. The 1st key to good pics is to have a camera with you at all times...like in my pocket! Then comes the light. Mistakes with exposure and composition can always be corrected in Photoshop...specifically levels, unsharp mask, and cropping...anyone confused now? I also use AV setting on any point and shoot I use...this means aperture priority. I want to control the depth of field and let the camera do the rest. This way I can control how far beyond my subject will be in focus, ie. portraits(blurred background) vs landscapes(everything in focus). Thanks for all of your compliments and I'm happy to be the team travel photographer(as long as someone else brings the wrenches...yuck!)
--Guapo aka Todd
 
Dang, just realized I have another user name on this computer at work!

--AKA 1042surfer!
 
Thanks for taking us on that excellent adventure in Mexico. I really am impressed at how colorful everything is there. My personal exposure to mexico has just been trips to the local Walmart. LOL. I enjoyed the report from start to finish.
 
CaptTurbo said:
Thanks for taking us on that excellent adventure in Mexico. I really am impressed at how colorful everything is there. My personal exposure to mexico has just been trips to the local Walmart. LOL. I enjoyed the report from start to finish.
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I am glad you enjoyed it. The colors in Mexico are a big part of what makes Mexico special. I hope you get a chance to see it all fristhand someday. -FLETCH
 
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