This post is one of more pictures, I simply cannot write about a destination that will rival New Zealands best, found myself standing on the top of the crater with a small tear of appreciation trickling down my cheek. Simply WOW.

We left camp and set off for Crater Lake, it was -3 deg C or 26.6 F for you guys in the US.

It was a very crisp ride but short enough not to worry about putting on the woolies.

The day was warming up very quickly, upon arriving at the Lodge we asked to leave our riot gear with them for safe keeping.

They were very accommodating so we left them with our gear.

On exiting out of the lounge area through the door that opens out onto the lake we were instantly wowed,



I have to say we were both blown away, an older fello said he had been there a dozen times before and never seen the incredible reflections we had in front of us.



Our aim was to climb up to the top of Garfield to the viewpoint, this turned out to be very easy compared to Yosemite falls being only half the distance and one third of the elevation.

A tree on the way up being used as a stone store



Us ... luvin it



Ellens stalker shadow .. it seemed to be enjoying itself too :rofl



The view from the top :eek1 :eek1 :eek1





Big mounts in the distance



The edge of the lake



The lake was so still it looked plastic







The return walk was one of many photos as Ellen and I could not help bringing out the Two Photo Kiwis enthusiasts.



We were getting worried cos Ellens stalker shadow was getting bigger .... hmmmmm :evil



On the way around the crater we dropped in to see the hoodoos or pinacles





Back at the Lodge a coffee was had, pictures uploaded, gear picked up and we were on our way, we headed on our way to Diamond lake..

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Being care of driving because of dangerous everywhere!
" i will keep going with your trip". Thank you for sharing so many charming photos and storys.

谢谢， you can also follow on our chinese website: 两个摩托kiwi_新浪博客

and
从北极到南极 － 环球摩旅的Chinese woman - 色魔驴行 - 摩托车论坛 - 中国第一摩托车论坛 - 摩旅进行到底!

Cheers
Andi and Ellen

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Buenos tardes amigos, sorry for the last few days silence, we haven't r e a l l y been ignoring you (much)

Setting up and grounding our feet in Mexico has taken a little longer than hoped with one thing and another, but WE'RE BACK! with the new and improved Andi & Ellen :rofl

Andi's Take

OK, The USA Sum UP, mostly great but some grumbles, not everything is and skittles so don't be offended as this is just how we see it from the Kiwis perspective.

The USA has been a bumpy section of our travels for us with epic bike failures, time off the road, people belittling us trying to make themselves feel better or bigger or something... it must be a bugger to have a little tiddle

On the other end of the spectrum, on top of some of the coolest places we have been the people have made our trip, a few kicks in the nuts does not compare the many back rubs!!! :clap

Montana, we were greeted by huge fires which was kinda cool in a funny way, something different for us, a little less than ideal to ride through tho.

We met the coolest people in the campgrounds etc, we were surprised by really neat locations in the middle of nowhere and can kinda understand why a lot of Americans don’t travel out of the country as you have so much here ... that is no excuse to come see us though!!!!

I can’t begin to thank all the people along the way as (almost) everyone we met contributed to making our trip better and better with information, help and just great welcoming friendships.

For me being a total petrolhead Reno featured for me at Scott and Joannes, Scott and I doing the bloke ride hooligan day out was mint and something I really needed to do, the DR 43 hp is a workhorse but the 100 plus HP of the 990 and 950 was the devil inducing fun factor which I miss, doing 110 mph on the shingle just bought the kid out :evil.

How could a man not grin



People highlights, next sum up I do I am going to write it as we go with notes so my old memory can remember but needless to say without the people involvement there would be a lot less to write about, so many people were just interested in what we were doing which was so cool.

Scenery, where to start, you guys here in North America (meaning Canada and USA) have SO much on your doorstep, at worst you can ride from one end of the globe to the other with only one flight or boat trip through the middle ...GET OUT THERE!!!!, we will have to come back to see what we have missed so make sure it is still good nic when we return please :evil

The one thing I will criticize is Americans, not across the board but quite a lot have not even traveled out of their town or state which is a little sad given what your country offers you for recreation, scenery, locations and even the ease of getting either very fast or via cool as back roads, this is not a whinge just a suggestion from an outsider.

Another suggestion is the Yogi Bears in the National Parks probably don’t really need a 6L V8 double cab dual axle truck to change toilet rolls as we witnessed ... he was a WELL fed Yogi Bear too so a little exercise would do him good ....national parks could then be made more accessible cost wise to many more ... again just an observation and suggestion from an outsider, who will listen ... ha no one.!!!! ... but now I am lighter very venting it

The only disappointing National Park was Yellowstone, the park itself is fantastic and the hot pools etc just mint, unfortunately the Yogi Bears running the place are just idiots (as agreed by many not just us), sorry guys but no better way to put it, again we understand you need to run it properly but with a $1.00 badge and a dumb hat they are just angry over protective over regulated over the top fun police.



The nicest area for me was Crater Lake, we were given probably one of the best weather days while there which makes a huge difference but the location is simply stunning and an outstanding asset to the US, don’t take our word for it tho.

This photo for me is awesome .. just wow which ever way you look at it, you guys have some stunning landscapes :clap ... spoken from a kiwi heart from the heartland of kiwi where stunning scenery is in abundance.



Also Moab and Bryce Canyon are stunning, we see nothing like this in New Zealand, we will be back for another look for sure and to see all the stuff we wanted to but missed our due to bike failures and lack of time.

The National parks for the most were very well kept, the only disappointment was the ridiculously high camping cost in California coupled with the worst facilities, as a tourist and RTW adventure rider I would steer people away from California if you are on a budget.

The rest of the Parks were very inviting, Diamond lake even had showers and was a very reasonable cost.

The Government Machine and Bureaucratic bullshit is unbelievably heavy and probably the worst we have seen in all our travels world wide, some things are more difficult in 3rd world countries due to lack of technology, language barriers etc, none of this should be an issue in the USA but it is and it is overboard when it comes to Homeland Security, I appreciate the need for security but there needs to be a level of common sense that is not that common in this sector, grump over .

Super duper highlight was HU meeting Cambria, meeting people, comparing notes etc .... most excellent :clap, meeting Ted Simon and Greg Frazier .... mastercard moment you cannot buy.

Greg Frazier with us, we didn't charge him



Ted Simon with us, we let him off free too



Ma and Pa Hubbers Grant and Sue Johnson, you guys ROCK!! .... seems we were giving away free photos all day .... the things we do. :lol3



Ellen’s view

Because I’m in charge of the kitchen, I had a few observations for our American counterparts.

American’s don’t use a JUG

If you want a cup of tea, try to “put the jug” on in an American’s home, that’s kind of difficult because there is no such a thing called “jug” in their kitchen. Most people we know don’t drink tea, they drink “soda” instead. Finally I asked a friend what they do if they want to make a couple of tea, she said: “ we use microwave to heat water.” So now I know how to make a cup of tea in the US.

Toaster

The toaster in American’s kitchen is also different from our Kiwi’s. They actually use a small table top oven instead our four slice toaster. It was weird in the beginning, but to be fair, the toaster does a good job, you get evenly brown toast within minutes.

Coffee

I love my coffee, so do the Americans. But their coffee is very different from what we have in Kiwi land. Almost every household has a coffee machine, but not the fancy one which makes cappuccino, it is just a filter machine. Their coffee is half of the price we pay in NZ, also if you go to restaurant, you get refill as many times as you want. Haven’t seen any instant coffee in any home, they all have filter coffee.

Sugar, Salt and sauces

Americans use lots of sauces for their food. If you go to a restaurant, there would be at least four difference sauces on the table, tabasco, ketchup, ranches and mustard, plus salt and pepper. I found their food is covered with heavy sauces, not sure if the chief try to cover badly cooked food or people just used to the flavour of sauces.

Another thing I found is their dessert is far too sweet. We can’t taste other flavours of a cheesecake rather then sugar sweetness! Even the organic cereal has 26% of sugar. There is so much sugar, even a loaf of bread is sweet.

Food price is another interesting point. We paid $3.64 for two nectarines, they are not big. However, a big 7 inch cake only cost you $2.99. In general, fruit and vegetable are more expensive than processed food . $4.99 for a big No.12 chicken roasted, you can feed 4 people no problem, who would bother to go through all the trouble of cooking at home?

Fast food kingdom

McDonald, KFC, Subway, Denny’s, BK, that’s all I knew prior to this trip. My new list now is: In And Out, Chipotle, Dairy Queen, Panda Express. In and Out makes fresh burger, now becomes the biggest rival for McDonalds. My new favorite Chipotle serves Mexican food, new generation of fast food which has the healthy image, ironically it is owned by McDonalds



That concludes our view of the USA, in summary we loved it and will be back to see what we have missed better prepared next time with local knowledge under our belts, I will talk with Barack and discuss some of the shortfalls

Some useless information too, we budgeted $60.00 / day for two of us (per Naomi and Alberto), including bike repairs and maintenance it came in at $64.05 / day which included tires and all, without bike costs it came in at $60.45 / day so we blew our budget completely :rofl, also Naomi and Alberto came in at $60.25 ... damn ... beaten...gutted!!:eek1

Of interest, when staying at inmates, normalish mates and some humans places this saved accommodation costs but our piss drinking and good food budget went through the roof and got a hiding, conclusion, still cheaper to camp and self cook but one must also have treats on the trip.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

We had our own run in with the bloody yogi's at yellow stone.long story to do with "abandonment laws with one of our guys."we had the whole siren treatment.any hoo just a tool.the rest of the parks we visited were good.Im glad overall its been a rewarding trip.Noel

Heya Noel

Great to here from you again and glad you are enjoying it too, trip has been most excellent bar the bike issues (and overpowering yelloyogis)

Looking forward to enjoying Mexico now

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

I may have invited you to Mex City but if not you are invited. I can´t have any visitors until December 15th but after that you are welcome to come anytime.
Garry

Heya Garry

Yes you have invited when we were setting our trip up and yes we would love to take you up on your offer, we will get in contact with you closer to the time and organise things.

Much appreciated and we look forward to meeting you.

Many thanks.

Andi & Ellen

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Andis Take

Things I have learnt about me, firstly my fear of heights has come to haunt me, I have found with age vertigo has come to get me, assuming then it is bodily preservation with sensibility as a result of older age, I find myself telling Ellen to come back away from the edge....it hasn't worked!



She even takes the bloody bike too!!!



Secondly, dehydration and hunger are the two quickest ways to entering into a mindless navigational pubscrap on the side of the road, we have both found when it is late in the afternoon you are tired, hot and or dehydrated that a quick stop, food and water goes a l o n g way to having a sensible navigational discussion.

Leaving California today (1 November 2012) had mixed reactions, to say farewell to long term great mate Shann was hard, man hugs and hidden tears from me.

Once we hit the road trying to make it to the border as least as late as we can was the mission and a mission, several points of interest going into the "next time" tin due to the lack of time, the one thing I have come to hate is deadlines as this always seems to bring on more stress.

I cried in my helmet trying to get my head around the shit we have been dealt with the bikes, call me a baby but I struggled to ride properly and I didn’t enjoy it despite being on a great bit of road, I feel let down badly by Suzuki and thus my choice of our bikes for our trip has held up our trip and created difficulty for us, not our fault but our problem.

I have to admit the bike issues pushed me hard, so hard that on Wednesday I went for a walk to clear my head, this was after taking the bike back again for the mystery metal in the oil and having lost the G9 comms unit as Ellen did not put it on properly so it was smashed beyond repair and to get personal I had the shits (from being so wound up I think).



I was ready to chuck it in and go home ..... kinda weak thinking but when you are battle worn you start to think preservation or exit mode, something you have to kick yourself out of and step above, this my friends takes strength when you are down.

So back to the story, I walked into a shop as #2’s was calling and time was short with the crook guts, I was hungry and probably slightly dehydrated, after doing my deed I think I exited out a different door and carried on contemplating life, suddenly I found myself questioning which way I was going .... was the sun behind me or in front ... or beside me? :confused1:

Long and short of it I got completely lost and ended up in an area less than ideal, no way of knowing which way to go, all square blocks etc.

I could not think straight so I decided to head one way until I reached shops or something were I could use a phone, as luck would have it this worked, I looked across the road and saw T Mobile so made a B line for that.

I walked in and asked if Shann worked there .... yes, she said so that was a complete fluke which turned out ok., he returned from lunch some 10 minutes later and took me to the Clawsons Honda as they had rung about the bike which was sorted.

People say don’t sweat the small stuff but enough small stuff adds up, if you get 10 x 1 little issue you suddenly have some shit to deal with and when you are relying heavily on your equipment this deepens the issue considerably as it is closer to your heart.

So to finish this section up we are sitting in the tent writing this up two days before hitting the border, today is November 1st, we are meant to be out November 2nd and today to finish it off my headlight blew???.

Not a biggy ... just some more shit to deal before hitting the boarder on an already overtight time table.

Bikes

The Suzukis, our DR650s cost us 6 weeks off the road in six months, if not for the help through the ADV and HU members it would have been 10 fold harder.

Although Suzuki have repaired our bikes they have cost us dearly both time wise and monetary wise, FYI a Suzuki bought in the USA does not have warrantee in Canada even though we are still in North America, that sucks the big one for an international RTW biker, so my advice to all is weigh up who gives and international warrantee not just a back yard warrantee as this is useless of your bike breaks out of the US as we found out the hard way in Canada.

At least a BMW or Ducati which you expect to have issue with still looks cool when broken down!!!

The other thing I have found I miss is cats and dogs ... pets, luckily Shann had a crazy cat ... a spider cat that could climb cupboards in a single bound.




Ellen’s point of view

Some friends say we are on vacation, I would say we just changed our life style, because at least I don’t have a job to go back for so technically we are unemployed and homeless .



It’s also time to reflect who we are, why have we ended up here and to understand ourselves better.

We found the reflection ... but nothing changed!!!



The broken down bike hit Andi hard, but I have looked it from a different angle. We all like to take control of some part of our life, for Andi, particularly, he likes to take control of his bikes and buying Japanese and new you would think we would not have been put in the position we were put in.

That is all good if he buys a bike with no factory warranty, if you have a problem, too bad, fix it yourself. However, paying new price and buying new bikes the liability is on the manufacturer. That means you don’t have that control when the ball is in their court.

That creates the conflicts by itself. If the manufacturer didn’t come to the party as Andi would liked, there is another problem. Therefore, being fussy about quality and not having the total control looks like a beginning of the disaster. If that does not work once, and if you can’t control that part, why not change the way we do things. Maybe spend less money, buy a second hand one, test drive before buy it, if anything goes wrong, take full responsibility.

Next time we might buy a beater ... this looks fairly solid



At least you don’t have someone else to piss you off. Andi might not agree with me, it seems I’m on Suzuki side which I am not, just doing the devils advocate for future trip/shit management.

It’s my fault to lose our Scalar G9, it upset Andi even more when it happened while the bike was not fixed and causing stress, Jamie from Scala Rider kindly offered to replace the unit however we decided to run without helmet comms on this trip, sometimes it is hard to let it go but we had to make that decision, some people are destined not to have comms sets and we are on of them but I have to say we will use them again.

We had spent so much time repairing our bikes instead of traveling around USA, which was quite upsetting, we were off the road for 25% of our time. What we did was to accept what we have and make the most of it. We took the opportunity to visit places we didn’t go at the first place.

We had our most amazing sleeping experience in a Catamaran hull which was cool. Take the whole experience as part of traveling. We might have missed out some places, but we also experienced things which we would not if we hadn’t the misfortune with the bikes.

We learned always be positive for the situation which didn’t go the way you liked it. The moral of the story is: there is always a silver lining of the cloud although sometimes hard to find.

If you feel really bad just cry ... get it over with and feel better for it!!!

In conclusion

Traveling around the world on two motorcycles sounds glamourous and for 99% of the time it is great but you are more vulnerable to outside influences so you have to find a different sort of strength within to overcome the ripoffs, let downs, bad weather, breakages, crashs etc and realise that if you are still alive and well then the material things can be replaced.

Some people say that a bigger budget will stop a lot of problems, to some degree this is right however your inner strength and ability to cope and see normality and see through it will buy you far more ground than money.... however if we won lotto I would not complain .

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

For us the first few days were a struggle, we have enjoyed ourselves and through good karma and very friendly Mexicans we have had a tremendous amount of help which quite frankly we would have been stuffed without.

Couchsurfing, our 5th since being on the road from Alaska, we made contact with Alberto, we were his first surfers so he did not know what to expect, we didn’t know very much Spanish so we didn’t know what to expect ... what a crowd of geniuses.

We were invited into his home, he lives in a secure compound (not jail) with a courtyard out of sight where we parked up Chiwi and Hobbit, meeting at a local Thai restaurant which was a convenient place we shouted Alberto tea (dinner) for him accepting to take us in for the night.



We planned to stay the night then carry on, some dramas with Insurance and my then starting to weep shock held us back with progress, Alberto with his friendly approach said please stay and get sorted no problem at all. :clap

He left for work, we settled in to get our stuff sorted out and with a quiet house and Wifi it was perfect.

The Mexican insurance gig sent us off the edge so with help understanding what we were getting into Alberto helped suss things out in Spanish, even he had some difficulty which made us feel a LOT better as he is a design engineer so no dumby by any stretch.

That second night we were kindly invited to go to a baseball match with the lads, what a treat not ever having been to a match before so there we were watching two Spanish teams duke it out on the field, most excellent!!

Pictured here Javier, me, Alberto and Alexandro (sitting stealth) (think he was in the dunny)



Javier sporting his support painted tat :evil



These girls kept getting in the way while I was trying to take photos of the grass, sorry guys :wink:



Earlier that day we went shopping for food etc and made very slow progress with one thing and another, Ellen cooked up a Thai curry and one of Albertos mates Javier came and joined us for food, interestingly enough Walmart sell Mexican ADV bikes



You can conveniently buy shampoo too at an arms length :rofl



Given that we had become re-invited overstayers we set too trying to get a phone card, chains and sprockets sorted and my now newly weeping shock, apart from that we had nothing to do except tear our hair out and I don’t have much of that to start with.

Javier’s 41st birthday was on that following evening so Ellen made the famous Sushi, later that evening we went out to a night club for Whiskey, dancing and good times, this closed at 2.00am so they kicked all us oldies out back to the retirement village, Javier had a yummy cheesecake which he insisted we all have some of ... ok.

Sushi .... YUM!!!



Me, Ellen and Alberto



The birthday boy Javier and his good lady!!



Good times :freaky



More mates,



Ouwh old people dancing :eek1



We were impressed with the concrete floor



3.40am we all cashed it in, full of sushi, grog and cheescake ... classic .. not quite what we expected from a one night stay.

Friday morning Alberto was leaving to go back to Mexico city and said hey if we want to stay it would be no problem but he won’t be there, having still very incomplete business we decided to do this.

Saturday we did cruze around Hermosillo after getting mostly sorted, went up to the lookout and really enjoyed the day.

Some general pics











Cell towers



Thess little buggas are everywhere



Neat colours



Hobbit .... still going (touch wood)



Saturday evening was one of Albertos workmates party .... in the courtyard....straight outside our door so not far to stumble.

In true Mexican style we were invited to have Tacos and pasta, we bought a bottle of red wine and duly accepted, this was great talking to these guys, they wanted to know about our trip and we wanted to get local info and enjoy local peoples company only a 1.45 am finish this time.

Head chef and birthday boy



Does not need explaining!!! hmmm can you smell it!:evil





Sean and I having a chat





Sunday we went for a big walk on a local hill mountain bike / walking track, was neat for us to chat (kinda) with MTB locals, the weather was very nice an made it a pleasure, on the way back we stopped in at a supermarkdo and fooded up again for our assault on Copper Canyon as Monday lunchtime we leave, no photos as we forgot the camera.... broke the rules of NEVER leave the camera at home.

Tuna Blanco, this is what this piece of cactus leaf is called, we tried it and loved it, something we have never had before, very nice to eat as fruit.



Now for the credits on this part of our report, I have to be honest and say although we had a very lonely start to Mexico and struggled a bit but the warmth and welcoming of the locals here has been second to none, they have set the bar very very high now.

A special thanks to Alberto, your blood is worth bottling mate and Javier just for making us feel welcome like a local mate, you guys have made our stay just magic.

We are now insured, shipping sorted, have a phone card, fooded and ready and much much wiser for looking learning and listening, if the rest of Mexico is only half as cool as the last few days I am not sure we will leave ... but we have to.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

We left at 1.30pm from Albertos, we had 281 km to do before dark which is 5.30 pm.

No prob .... errr wrong, the first 100 km was straight .. ho hum.

The next 181 was like a cut up and broken supermoto track with more corners than you can poke a stick at, for 90% of it there are NO straights between the corners, totally sweet when having a dudes ride but not so great when trying to make time. :eek1

A military checkpoint was the main feature, we were stopped at 5.20 pm with 48 km to go, they took our VIN numbers, rego, names etc, opened cases etc so we blew about 10 minutes of precious time, so 5.30 when we wived goodbye and basically dark.

Upon leaving a vicious dog raced out and went for my leg, for those of you who have seen the movie “I Am Legend” with Will Smith you will know what it looked like....SPOOKY does not come close, anyway long and short of it I managed to get the first kick and got it clean under the jaw sending it of line and slightly dazed but he also had a crack at Ellen all be-it a slightly distant one so she was good....I think it was put off by me!! YAY

Arriving in Yecora in the dark at 6.30 pm we broke all the rules on not riding in the dark, anyway we got away with it and started looking for accommodation, at the first hotel the guy wouldn’t budge on his inflated gringoed price thinking he had a done so we left.

Zipping around town in the dark was less than ideal, we spotted another place and went in, the right price, Wifi, off street parking so that ticked all the boxes.



Ray of ligh from above .. someone was looking down on us :rofl



Turned out to be quite nice and quite, hot shower etc so very nice, when traveling the simple things like flush toilet, hot shower, Wifi and a sheeted bed are luxury items, throw in a can of Root Beer and there is no worries in the world.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

A nice day greeted us after a cold night outside, we carried on along the torn up supermoto circuit to find some first world race track, there is no telling from corner to corner what you will find next including quad bike sized rocks in your lane.:eek1

We had to do the same distance as the day before however we did have a few more straights to sit along.

Having left Yecora at a reasonable time we arrived in Creel mid afternoon, finding home again was the challenge.

Ellen wanted to camp as the weather was fine so we went to the only camping ground, the lady wanted $200 pesos just to camp, we had to walk to the showers and toilets and make sure the stray dogs didn’t piss on our tent, given we wanted to do Copper Canyon the next day sans gear this was also a concern for security.

I wasn’t keen to get ripped so we rode out, straight across the road to a nice looking hotel, they said $400 pesos, we wanted to stay two nights so I negotiated a rate of $250 pesos per night for the two night nights... that will do.:clap



It turned out to be a nice place and for the $50 pesos more each night it was worth having all the home comforts and secure lockup for our gear while at the canyon.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

We ventured into Copper Canyon the following day, it is about 45 km to Divisadero where the Copper Canyon park starts, this is the road, just stunning!!





$20 pesos each to get in was well worth it, the Tram was calling as a must do, at $250 pesos each we thought about it and agreed that we would not be back again so we would do it and yes it was worth while going across and back.





In this case the Red one does not go faster as the trams counterweight each other.



View of the base station from the tram



We had a stalker too :rofl



There were amazing small villages down in the Canyon



Some cattle looking like ants from the tram



The main drive cable and structural tendon block ... cool stuff



At the other end



Some locals selling stuff, very nice but we can't carry it.



It is a fookin long way down :eek1



Cantilevered platforms you can stand on and look through to scare you even more



View across the cables



This guy was following me where ever I went .... don't worry about the mexicans!!



They are all into scaring the crap out of their customers and charging them for it, I thought this was only done in New Zealand!



Cool hole in the rock way up in the middle of nowhere



Panoramic courtesy of Mike



Copper Canyon is 3100 feet deeper and I think 10 times? the size of the Grand Canyon....sorry mericans but size des matter :evil





Me on the edge



Ellen on the other edge



On our return back to the Canyon edge we met a fellow rider Mike who was on an 1150 GSA.



We got to talking about the canyon he had stayed in Urique the previous night so gave us the low down.

For those who want to know the road is paved for 75 km from the roundabout at the south end of Creel, you take the sign to San Rafal. We went to the end to find the huge roadworks and a detour with the road turning to hard gravel from there down to Urique.

The train tracks for the Chepe Train





This was our turn around point as we had run out of time but on good advice being two up we decided to call it quits and return to home base, Urique was not a must see, must do so we were not too worried.





The ride back to Creel was uneventful and nice but started getting cold mid afternoon when the sun is low.

On this corner if you make a fup god will help you by the looks of it.



On return to the hotel I decided we had enough daylight to clean the air filters, these normally get done at every oil change but that all happened very quickly in Fresno then exciting the US they did not get done so were overdue, they were still pretty well ok at this point as we had no been in dusty conditions.

Gordon, an adventure traveler from Canada rode past us, he didn’t se us and carried on into town, I was sure if he was looking for someone or just a place to stay, I rode into town and found him coming back towards me so I did a U-ey and we had a chat, seemed he wanted some accommodation so I told him where we were which was spot on for him, and he followed me back.



That evening info was traded as was cards etc, the following morning he was setting off to Copper Canyon and we were heading to Guacochi.

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Creel was a cool wee town, we stayed the two nights so had the chance to have a good look around.

Here is a few pics of central and shops.

Some local crafts



Groovy coloured corner shop



Girl with a puppy



A wall ... yeah I know



Jandels made from old car tires!!!



Local musicians and a stray



Guachochi......

Setting off on a chilly start it warmed up very quickly, a few km down the road the famous Elephant rock appeared so we took the usual photos.



The road was great condition and a really nice ride, Mexico has some beautiful Canyon roads and couple with a cool but nice day made it an excellent ride.

Arriving at Samachique we turned right to head to Batopilas to find out how closed the road actually is. From the turn off it is first world Laguna Seca for 99% of it then at Km 23 there is a sign, road closed!! at km 24 the road works start at that really is it, big machinery and no way through, talk is fours years to complete????, it is only 42 km from there to Batopillas.







On turning around it is 104 km to Guachochi which was our destination, again nice roads and friendly people, a far cry from banditos, narcos and military check points none of which we could see.

Overhanging rocks



Ellen



Arriving at Guachochi we were almost attacked by a pack of dogs .... but this time we had the upper hand

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

That was the game plan anyway. :eek1

Bedroom golf at 6.30 am (no photos :evil), alarm at 7.00 am so time to hop up and have a shower, breaky etc, 8.00am we started the bikes, went to Pemex to fill, left Pemex at 8.15 am .... 4 degrees C, the turnoff was at the north end of town to a little town called Yoquivo, the road is new and is Laguna Seca race track standard for 35km.

Tarmac greeted us for the first 35km then it end abruptly ... i.e. road carpet to trailbike track, this was on our return but the is the end of the race track into the pits .



The road through to Yoquivo was good fun, rough in parts smooth in parts, at times the dirt powder would have been 150 mm deep and very fine like talcum powder, Ellen really enjoyed that part of the ride, these pics are pretty indicative of the road to Yoquivo.







On arrival at Yoquivo our trip took a bad turn, I stopped to read the sign Ellen pulled up in behind me and dropped her bike, we are not sure but she may have broken the bone or at minimum torn ligaments etc as it is up like a ballon and she can’t walk on it.

She got her leg caught under the bike.



Not looking very happy :cry



She decided to stay there, the town seemed nice enough so I carried on down to Batopilas, just as well she did not go on as the road deteriorated and became quite a bit more technical, it would have been hard enough for her without the foot injury.

Going down to the bottom was spectacular with scenery and views galore, I had a few stops for pics but time was tight not knowing how bad Ellens foot was so it was a short and sweet visit to Batopilas unfortunately.

Bit fuzzy sorry



Beautiful day complimented by a beautiful view





Part of the road



Big overhanging rock



Close up



Half way down the canyon looking at Batopilas



DRart



Our world map slowly getting coloured in with cool places



Close up of the village from up high



I was stopped by a military blockade again (no photos, not allowed :evil), they were curious about me but were looking hard at the other vehicles, after a quick conversation and smiles in which no-one knew from either side what was talked about there was waves and farewells goodbye..... adios.

The road sign, straight ahead is where the closed road comes in from, this is right at the bottom of the canyon wher you turn left to Batopilas.



Bridge over the Batopilas River right at the north end of town



Upon reaching the bottom of the canyon I saw the Batopilas river, the Canyon base is very cool so I took a coupla pics then turned around and headed back to Ellen who was waiting in Yoquivo.

Proof!!!:clap



Two minutes for some pics before i turned around





I was here



Parked on the bridge and bugga me if a car didn't turn up when I was on the other side ... there was no traffic the rest of the time. :huh



From the bottom of the canyon looking north west



From the bottom of the canyon looking north east



The trip back was slightly quicker with no military stop this time and riding slightly quicker back up the hill.

This show the dust



Arriving at Yoquivo Ellen was not there ..... she had been invited into the house across the street for lunch, I happened to turn up just at the time so I was treated to a nice lunch too.... c h o i c e :clap





Cooking tortillas on a wood stove top



The rest of the return trip home was uneventful luckily, now we have to deal with the walking wounded.

Ellen is chip in now...

While I was sitting under the big tree waiting, a young man from the house come out said hola. I told him I hurt my foot, and try to ask how many people in his house, but got no idea what he replied. We tried to make some conversation, it seemed a bit difficult at the time. Anyway, he went back to the house and came with two apples in his hand. I accepted his kind offer. Then he left to somewhere for lunch.



I had a visit from another local



I needed a toilet, so went cross the road ask a the lady who was doing her washing there. I then was led to the house, there is a bath room there. No seat on the toilet, which seemed every body been to Mexico has been talking about it. I managed my deed then came back to my tree.

It’s was after 1pm, a car came to the house cross the road. About ten minutes later, a girl walked toward to me, she invited me to her house for lunch. As she didn’t speak much English, with my little translator, we got to understand each other. While I was sitting down, Andi came back, so he joined us for a very nice home cooked soup and tortillas.

The father



The family, this girl is a nurse



To be honest, I was thinking about quit the bike ride while sitting under the tree again. I am not up to it. Broke myself with no real reason, I was angry about myself. But after meeting the lovely people who helped me, trying talk to me, giving me food, I would not say quit anymore. I will carry on for the trip, because the experience of meeting generous people are has made up all the bad lucks and difficulties we have encountered.

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere