I'm breathing a sigh of relief

Now that you have a bit more time I'd like to recommend a place along the way. It may not be your cup of tea but I absolutely enjoyed it ...but then I love trippy things.

Google "Gardens of Sir Edward James". It's just outside of Xilitla and seems to be near the route you're taking.

Sir Edward James used to do peyote and then design trippy and weird art installations while under the influence. If you get there first thing in the morning before the tours arrive you'll have the place to yourself. It's in a sweaty and jungly area. I walked around all by myself listening to the jungle sounds while walking all over what I called "Escher meets Alice in Wonderland".

I second the recommendation for San Miguel De Allende. It's probably one of the more expensive places to visit along the way but still cheap compared to the USA.

Since you're planning on visiting Yaxha (I camped right at the site and loved it) you should also consider Tikal. Yes it's overrun by tourists but you can stay right at the site. There are hotels (not cheap) and there was even a cheap campsite back in 2010. You will then have the site almost to yourself in the very early morning and in the evening. It's a wonderful experience once the disrespectful masses of tour groups, who often treat it as an amusement park rather than a sacred site, have left.


...Michelle

I am currently in San Pedro la Laguna Guatemala, and have done much of the route you are planning on, some of it several times. When I ride from San Antonio, I usually cross at Piedras Negras/Eagle Pass or Laredo. I spend the first night in Saltillo, and the second in San Miguel, as someone mentioned earlier. San Miguel is worth taking a day off the bike for, but you may not want to that early in your trip. After the first couple days, you will get an idea of the conditions, but remember, those will be the fastest highways of the whole trip, in northern Mexico.

This trip, I took twelve days to get from San Antonio TX to the Guatemalan border at La Mesilla. That included a few days off the bike to see Maya ruins and Xilitla, as some mentioned earlier. I think you are in the ballpark with your schedule, but it will leave less time for sightseeing than you think. Yes, there will be days when you ride all day and go 200 miles and you wonder how that happened, but it does. Other days on the toll roads, you can go 500 miles without much trouble.

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Andy Tiegs
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/ts...lsouth-america

RR.Hatzler---- Take note here that Andy T has done this trip a Number of times ,he now knows the border routines well and is familiar with the routes to take. He can now pace himself and make the destinations in comfort while he can pass by much he has already seen and explored earlier .He is probably never consulting a map or GPS for this trip now.He speaks Spanish, I think .
He is not going by way of Cumbres de Monterrey either, for which you expressed an interest.

You as a " freshling" at this will most probably find yourself fumbling around at times and stopping often to check your map or GPS. You might actually get " lost" a few times. ( DO NOT WHILE RIDING look at tank bag maps or the GPS screen. Stop the bike first!)

From the border to Saltillo is a fairly long ride for beginners and a late hour of your crossing and time taken for processing can crimp your available time for riding from the Laredos significantly .
From Piedras Negras border the ride is longer inside Mexico but less complex , and the border paperwork is handled NOT at the border but 53km " inland".
All kinds of stuff you need to know. You should stop often to look at things that strike you as different and give yourself the time to do short exploring rides through several blocks of the towns' centres you find along the way.They are not much like in " Michiana" ( although they do have Mexican restaurants
= )Do you have a good paper map of Mexico already for planning ? AAA has a good usable map for this but not very fine detail .

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I did not realize there was a second page y'all had posted on.

Thanks for the added info and advice! I plan on taking this to heart, believe me. I can possibly stretch my number of days but want to stay in the 14-day area. I have a little flexibility at work.

I'm still looking for a KLR or DR to do this trip on. I'm checking Craigslist (lots of KLRs, but few "Farkled-Out". On Adventure Rider there are a couple in my neighborhood. I actually met a guy from Greenfield, IN at a coffee shop in Goshen, IN interested in selling his (maybe), was hoping to get an e-mail from him.

Michelle, Gardens of Sir Edward James sounds like a winner to me and camping on site at Yaxhall and Tikal sounds fantastic. I will research San Miguel De Allende. Always great to here about your adventures and route!

AndyT, I just might leave from San Antonio, TX as I have a "brother" there and he would store the bike for me. The cities you mention are new to me, would love more feedback on your route and what to see along the way.

Sjoerd, as always words of wisdom. Hahaha we have a lot of Restaurantes Mexicanos Auténticos. How do I order your book?

If. finding Page 2 of this thread surprised you , you will have another surprise if you tap on the blue link at the bottom of this post

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My partner and I stayed at that hotel when we flew into Cancun and rented a car to get outta there as fast as possible. It's indeed very lovely and away from the hustle of Chitzen Itza itself. If you're in the area check out some of the cenotes. You can swim in a small underground lake. All the water in the area is basically underground in the limestone. I can't for the life of me remember the cenote near Piste where we went but it was pretty cool.


...Michelle

The value of the bike will be established by Aduanas (custom office) and not by your statement .
Unless you will have a really ancient bike , it will cost you anything from $1000.00 up .

Okay, here's a bit of refinement. My plans are to leave from San Antonio and go through Eagle Pass 200 miles, 2 hours. Ride to Saltillo spend the night 280 miles. Try to do this all in one day if possible. 480 miles, I know thats a lot...

I'd like to ride by, around, through Cumbers de Monterrey Park. Road out of Saltillo 57D south to 20 East to Santigo. Take 85 South to Linares than back west on 58 through the park again to 61 south to Pablillo than La Ascension into Matehuala? Is that doable in a day, just riding stopping for the odd picture and lunch? 480 kms = 300 miles they say 8 hours might be too much? I could stop if I see a place depending on daylight.

So tha's the paln for the Day-1 and Day-2, feedback please...

Hold it right there! Stop dreaming !
You are regressing to your old ways , and I thought we were getting along well in the process of counselling and retraining you .


Look at what you just wrote ..San Antonio to Eagle Pass in ... " 200 miles , two hours" !!!!
Wake up , that is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN , and certainly not on a KLR ....
And your envisioned first day is 773 km which includes navigating unfamiliar roads and doing the border processing ( FMM & TVIP) at the km 53 customs terminal on Mex 57 at ALLENDE , COAH, plus a gasoline stop and pee breaks and a photo stop ( .... one , maybe ?)
Totally unrealistic assessment
You should feel satisfied if you get as far as MONCLOVA , COAH the first evening before dusk .
That ends any fantasy of completing the
" second day" as you imagine it . That in its own right is also far too greedy for distance .Once you leave the major highway you will be on narrow paved rural roads which get very curvy into the mountains and your travel speed will drop and you will want to do more than stop only for potty breaks , I hope .
As a first time passage on these roads you should feel obliged to give them all the attention they deserve . Don' t blast by every village and city - slow down and ride into the center, see what sort of shops , houses, streets , there are. Notice the names of automobile dealerships ,some brands not seen in USA .Discover the fragrances ( both the good and some unpleasant ) of Mexico and how they differ during the day.
Out in the country observe the desert features and agricultural practices of Mexico. Stop at the various vista points as you get into the mountains and try to identify some of the distant towns you see as related to the dots on your paper map.

There is nothing wrong with the chosen route you described when considered as a route
.Wander as much as you desire but get off that bad habit of wanting to do so bloody many km in a day .
. Again this is not an ironbutt contest to get a little piece of paper that certifies you are able to cover xxxxxxxxx units within 24 hours , somebody else' s decision that you did such and are a certified tough dude . Nobody cares.
Find yourself a bunch of free time and start your trip , ride comfortably each day to wherever you get , NOT stuck to some route you now set up out of ignorance of what awaits you roadside in Mexico .
If you cannot find more free time then shorten your loop of Mexico to something that can be done in the available number of days .

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Thank you! I get it, that's why I'm posting each leg of the ride so I can get your sound feedback. I posted a typo on the San Antonio to Eagle pass: 144 miles, around 2-3 hours. Sounds more like 3-3.5 hours realistically. I had picked Saltillio because Andy T did it on a KLR on his trip, maybe he did it from Lareado.

I can do Monclova (end Day-1), spend the night proceed into the Park and ride around till it starts getting dark (end Day-2 in Santiago?)

Ride aroound the park south to Matehuala (end of Day-3).

I would then like to hit the Cave of Swallows and Xilitla (Day 4 to get there, Day-5 to explore) Does that sound okay?

Remember, I welcome your expertise and sage advice.

Since you have never been there it is understandable that you do not quite get what the Cumbres de Monterrey National Park is . Do not expect to find a set of groomed and signed loop roads with parks service markers pointing out the features nor a set of official tourist welcome centers with toilet buildings. When you ride in you can not have any clear idea as to when you will exit.
The marked off park area wraps around the south and west of Monterrey to protect the rugged landscape from commercial development by the cement industry and urban sprawl of wealthy enclaves seeking privacy in nature.
West of Monterrey toward Saltillo you can see entire mountainsides already mined away and the valley is a mass of suburbs climbing the slopes . There you are actually riding through" park" area on Mex 40 and other busy highways.
In the area you are thinking of you will be travelling on state and township paved roads, gravel if you wish , in the extended Cumbres region but not officially park .
It is a set of sharp mountain ridges squeezed together in a set of arcs, with a mix of small villages and tough farming, orchards and ranching in the valleys. The eastern part is the most rugged, if you come from Saltillo you will be riding up into the broad valleys that spread out from the Cumbres and you might wonder where the rough land is . Very scenic stuff , fun to ride through on the 20 and other roads that connect across it east to west . Certainly you can put together a very interesting ride loop set around there, check your detailed paper map. You can spend a day doing that or more days, it all depends on how enamored ,or distracted , you get by the scenery .

This leads to your planning method. It appears you are trying to micro-manage every hour of your daily activity .You can not do that .
If you do make it to Monclova for the first night, have breakfast, ride to and through Saltillo, lunch maybe ? it will be after noon before you even find the roads leading into the Cumbres from Mex 57
and you will not have time available to do any riding around . You will probably get nervous about making it through there before dark, then you race along 20 to get to Santiago.

Timing is everything, preferably start on such back road projects early in the day and have the time to get through in relaxed style. You will be surprised at how much fun it is to not make much headway .


I just surprised myself - actually succeeded in putting an attachment with this post, the Roji map of the Monterrey and Saltillo area , for you to see the available roads of the Cumbres area and the green outline of the protected "Park "

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Double the time you think it will take. Riding in a third world country is a LOT slower than the States. I had one day in Mexico that I was only able to cover 75 miles. The signage also sucks, plan on getting lost a lot and do not get frustrated with the locales when you ask for directions. They know nothing of highway / road numbers only town names.

Actually Mexico is not a third world country although probably all Americans still refer to it as such. It has known as a "NIC" and has been for many years. Big difference between the two. Carry on.

I am getting the idea that I need to slow down and really cut back my expectations. I wanted to get the "Cumbers Experience" but I might just cut it short, I want to spend time at the Mayan and Teotihaucan sites more. Cave of Swallows and a couple of Colonial towns.

I understand that I must be flexible with my time because of roads, getting lost and traffic. I have 14-days to get to Guatemala. I could possibly take longer if necessary but I think 14-days is a good amount.

Still looking for a bike to do this. A KLR650 with the mods is my preferred but am open to others as well. As I posted, I wish to donate it at the end.

I'm looking for some good maps and of course there's the Guia Roji Carrateras Mexico 2015 (Spanish Version) available on Amazon. It's in Spanish but is the most up-to-date. There's a Guia Roji Tourist Road Atlas 2002 in English. I was wondering how big of a deal the year differences make. Here in the Midwest there's been a huge amount of roadwork and they've even re-designated roads and built new highways. So I'm concerned about that. How big of a hindarence will the Spanish Version be to this English speaker.

Is there a Guia Roji equivelant for Guatemala?

Also saw some nice National Geographic Road/Adventure maps that are laminated..I realize theres a scale difference but liked the details offered on the Nat Geo maps of Mexico and Guatemala.