So there I was... Sunday morning, and Probably Two hours outside of Mazatlan where I was supposed to meet Dave and Nian at church. It was maybe 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. After a crazy night of riding though freezing mountains, building a new chain, evading toll booths, and praying that I wouldn't die; one of my greatest fears became a reality. Busted Chain! I took a deep breath and got right to work fixing the piece of junk. After a solid 22 hours of straight riding I was getting a little frustrated. I wrapped my chain around the sprockets just assuming that I'd be able to just hammer it back together again when to my surprise, My whole master link was missing. So for the next 30-40 mins I was crawling around on my hands and knees along some old Mexican highway. Finally I got mad and started trying to wire it back together the same way I did when I was a kid stranded west of Fillmore. some old drunk dude came out and started telling me that i was an idiot. He was right. My wire job didn't really work on such a big bike. So I hooked the two busted ends of the old chain together and rode back two or three miles to this tiny town that the old man had told me about. I started asking if anyone had motorcycle parts and just got looked at funny. Turns out no stores like to open on Sundays. Not only that, there weren't any parts stores in the whole town. After checking two or three places I got directed down some long road in search of an old chop shop type parts guy. I went to where is place was and sure enough, chop shop. Nice bumpers, rims, and other car parts that were probably stolen off of cars. I knocked and yelled and started walking in his garage to see if i could find anyone. Not more than two steps inside his garage i found someone. His monster Doberman pincher and Rottweiler. They ran straight at me. I was ready to give up. I was just too tired for that. Just before they tore me apart, bam! They were both tied to long cables. Holy Crap! Soon after escaping death by dog a nice truck showed up and a bunch of guys piled out. They looked at me funny and asked if they could help me. I explained what was going on and most of them scattered trying to find me a new master link. The ring leader of the bunch pulled up a chair and started asking me questions. I thought is was funny that one of the first questions he asked me was, "So.. You smoke weed?" I told him no, and explained why. Then he pointed to his Polaris 6X6 ATV. I asked, "How did you get that thing down here?" He proceeded to tell me that he had send for it from the states. Puzzled, I asked him what the heck he wanted a 6X6 down there for.? He then explained how hard it was to get up to his Marijuana farm, and how no police officer could get up there because they don't have 6X6 ATVs. He then started bragging about how he had acres and acres of Marijuana and how he pretty much ran the town because of it. I think he expected me to be surprised, but I was so tired, that I was like, "OH that's cool.. so you think you'll be able to fix my chain?" ha ha He fed me some super good breakfast burritos and we set out on the hunt for a new chain or master link. We went to 5 or 6 places and everyone was closed or didn't have anything of the sort. Finally, we went back to his shop and tried to fix it ourselves. We ended up taking apart another link, putting it through the busted link, and pounding the two together with a hammer. I Push started my bike and it seemed to work fine?.. So I gave em $10 for their time and I was back on my way to meet Nian and Dave at Church in Mazatlan. It took me another two hours of solid riding to get to Mazatlan. By the time I got there I had taken off all my gear and I was back to shorts and a T-shirt and mad about how hot it was. I rolled into the south side of Mazatlan and knew right where I was. I've been there before on a cruise. When were were there we rented a rhino and drove the whole city twice. I drove right into town and headed towards the beach on the main road. As soon as I headed toward the beach I spotted the church! I had made it! Finally met back up with Nian and Dave. I rushed into the church just to find out that the meetings were just getting over. I asked everyone in there where the Americans were?! No Americans here. Almost heart broken, I washed up, walked out to my bike, push started it, and headed on down the road. I road up the beach for a while and decided to check my E-mail. No word from Nian or Dave..... I was pretty bumbed out. I stopped at the north end of Mazatlan and enjoyed a bunch of Mexican carne assadas tacos and flirted with the waitress for a while. I decided just keep going for a little bit while it was still light. I sent Dave and Nian an E-mail saying that I was going to keep going and that if I made it to the state of Sonora Mexico that I'd up a sign up for them on the welcome to Sonora sign. I saddled up and rode on. The next stretch going North from Mazatlan was brutally boring, not to mention the wicked head wind that kept my speed town to about 50 mph. Not only did that suck but it killed my gas mileage as well.. I rode North two or three hours until I was just so tired that I couldn't stand it any more. I pulled off the freeway and got some gas, there was one hotel but it was super expensive so I kept on riding. I rode over to the Ocean for a bit expecting to see a nice beach. When I got there the water was super brown, there was maybe 100 yards of sand and a ton of rock and trash everywhere. There was one paved road that was maybe half a mile long and both sides of it were lined with lowrider trucks and super mexi rides. I got creeped out so I hauled butt outta there. I was feeling better so.. I t my music on and jumped right back on the freeway headed North. Right before dark I started looking for places to camp or sleep. I was passing through huge farming towns and everyone seemed alot more friendly. I found nice place behind a truck stop where i could hang up my hammock but didn't feel good about it so I just kept on a riding looking for a cheap place to stay. Before I knew it was 2:00 in the morning! I was starting to get delirious. I was willing to pay whatever at that point. I just kept riding looking for anywhere I could pull off and sleep. Every little town was dark and it looked like there weren't any motels. around 2:30 am one of the scariest experiences of my life occurred. I woke up... Not in a motel room. But still sitting on my bike. Still moving. In the wrong lane. With a Semi truck right in front of me!! I instantly swerved into my own lane and escaped death by inches! Once again in my life I know that God has a purpose for me because I should have died right there on that Mexican roadside.! I struggled to keep my eyes open for the next 20 mins while I rode to the next exit. I was a Mess! I got some gas and a friendly gas station attendant told me where a "really nice place to stay" was. I rode down the street and there it was. Motel Amor. Love motel. It was pretty much a whore house. I rode in and the lady asked me how many hours i needed. I told her all night haha. This place wasn't too bad actually because every room had its own garage so nobody knows who's there doing what with who. I put my bike in my garage. went in the room, rolled my tattered self up into my blanket. and Passed out! I had been riding for 42 hours straight. I had ridden all the way across Mexico in one shift. I was a tired tired boy I had ridden almost around 1400-1500 miles without stopping to sleep. Thats gotta be some sort of record
Saturday, November 13, 2010
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