The next day was spa day for me as Roberta owns a place in downtown Portland called Soakology. www.soakology.com It is a great place to relax, unwind, and I enjoyed a nice head, shoulder, neck, and foot massage for about 1 hour. I needed it! I had had some long days on the motorcycle and this certainly got all the kinks out of my shoulders. If you are ever in Portland, Maine you need to experience the place. So after the lengthy relaxing morning I was not on my way till about 2pm. Once again I took the interstate as I needed to be in Niagara Falls for my room reservation the day after tomorrow. I made it all the way to Syracuse area of New York State for a short ride the next morning into Niagara Falls, New York.
As I promised myself I would enjoy the day here seeing everything there was to see and participated in an all day tour of the area including the Cave of the Winds, all the falls, the boat ride into the Horseshoe Falls, the local up river scenery, and even the Niagara Falls Power Plant! It was a great day and all I can say is that all the photos I had seen over the years, this place has to be seen in person. It is definitely one of the Wonders of the World! Maybe not top 7, but definitely top 10. My hotel reservations for the night were in Niagara Falls, Ontario as I wanted to see the falls from the Canadian side as well. After the overnight, I went down to the falls and saw the awesome view from that side of the Niagara River and then rode along the river for miles and miles to the north to one again enjoy the sights and the massive homes along River Road. Finally I looped back around to the south and made haste to the border crossing back at the same border we had crossed a few weeks earlier. Of course it was just as busy and it took about 30 minutes to get through.
Hit the interstates again and even though I had planned to take 2 nights to get to Chicago, I was able to make it in one day and spent that evening and the next day there with a friend. In Chicago I had things to do like some helmet repair, visiting with a friend in Aurora, and then finding a shop that could work on my carburetor problems once and for all! The helmet shop turned me onto Motorworks where Steve knew my problem, so I left the bike there over night as a rear tire change was due anyway. The next morning I was all set to go and I highly recommend Motorworks to anyone needing service in the Chicagoland area. They were fantastic!
Short ride north to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to spend a relaxing weekend with my friends John & Jeanne in Muskego. As usual it was a wonderful time of eating, drinking, and enjoying the Milwaukee area. But the real tough riding was coming on Monday morning by me leaving there at 7am sharp to make it as far south as possible. I arrived in Tulsa, OK at about 730pm after a 740 mile ride very tired and after my GPS started acting up, I finally found a motel near a large Indian casino for the night. Early up the next day again at sunrise and as the day was progressing well, I decided to go all the way to the border instead a planned stop with my friends Ira & Linda Horowitz in Dallas. Arrived in Laredo under darkness at about 8pm after another almost 700 mile day. My butt was getting sore!
But I knew the next day would be the usual all day legalization process, so I could certainly rest. I arrived at the Hermanos Cuevas office around 1000am and it took a couple of hours to prepare paperwork and wait for one of their agents to take the motorcycle through Mexican customs. As you know from one of my previous blogs, cars are much more difficult than motorcycles!! I was given a ride across the border with all my possessions, as the bike had to be stripped, to their office in Nuevo Laredo to await the agents arrival. About an hour later he was there, everything completed and by about 330pm I was on my way south to make it to Saltillo by dark. A little small thunderstorm while I was fueling up along the toll road, it was a very hot ride south. I am sure well over 100F, probably 110F. I stayed at my usual place the American Business Hotel in the northern area of Saltillo.
My next day's plan was to head south to San Miguel de Allende to visit my client Sharon and spend the evening with her. Somehow the GPS go all screwed up and it was routing me on these side roads and it took about 30 minutes to get back on the toll road that I wanted to be on heading south. But finally got on the way and as I was nearing San Miguel it looked like afternoon thunderstorms were heading into the area. I have been around this area before in my car, but never made to the birthplace of the Mexican Revolution, so a quick stop in Dolores de Hidalgo was in order as I was just passing by. Then onto San Miguel to find Sharon's house. Since I could not get the address programmed into the GPS, I had to use her directions and after a few wrong turns, I called Sharon and she told me to stay right there and she would come to direct me to her house. A few minutes she was there and I probably would have never found her house without help! A beautiful development and house that was a museum to all of Sharon's travels around the world. We had dinner at her favorite fast food Mexican restaurant, as I was happy to have some food from my place of residence, Mexico. I actually missed it!
The next morning after a great breakfast made by Sharon and a fresh baked Balillo from the corner bakery I was off at 9am to get to Puerto Vallarta before dark. As I was leaving San Miguel I was passing a lot of Mexican people walking along the road. It seemed to be some kind of pilgrimage and then the road was closed due to construction. The GPS once again routed be somewhere along the lake near San Miguel and I thought about going back to get back on the highway. It turned out to be a fantastic 2 lane road where I could get into some nice speeds, no traffic, and start to even the wear on my tires as they were getting flat from all of the highway riding I had done the last few days. I am sure it added time to the ride home, but it was worth it.
Back on the toll roads and I am going past the big cities of San Luis Potosi, Leon, and into the heart of Guadalajara. Before and since the Goodwill Games last year there has been a huge effort in GDL to get a road built to get through the middle of GDL as quickly as possible. Most of it is complete, but there was a massive traffic jam for a few miles of the construction zone. I quickly learned some lane splitting skills (totally legal in all of Mexico) and made my way through the mess.
Onto the GDL-Tepic toll road I was back in familiar territory and was just itching to finally be back home after 32 days on the road. Once you get to Compostelo you have to endure the 2 lane road Hwy 200 for the next 100 miles. I was just hoping the traffic would not be too bad and with a motorcycle you can do a little quicker passing than with a car. Things were rolling along nicely until.............San Pancho. The skies began to cloud up and it looked like rain was coming, but I thought I could hold off with the rain gear. Big Mistake! By the time I got to Sayulita it was raining and there was also a partial lane blockage due some spill. Good time to suit up, but only put the jacket on. Another Big Mistake!
As I finally got back to 4 lanes and into Bucerias it became deluge of rain!! Here I was down to the last 30 miles and I was getting soaked for the first time on this trip. I was kind of numb and could not believe it. But I just rode through it and by the time I got to Nuevo Vallarta the roads were dry....completely dry! I do not remember it ever not raining in PV first! But I guess the storm came in from the north or east this time.
Back home to my condo around 730pm, a little wet, a little weary, but glad to be back after my 10,500 mile ride! It truly was a RIDE OF A LIFETIME!!
No comments:
Post a Comment