Belize Ride 02': It was early September while I eat lunch with some friends at work. I expounded about these cool motorcycle trips I've gone on and all the bikes I have when my buddy Luke said "So...., how long has it been since your last big cruise?". In horror I figured over twenty years. I said out loud some thing like "What the hell am I doing?" Heidi always said, I should be riding a Harley. OK, so I Picked up a 95' XL1200 with under 5,000 miles for a song. Or should I say, one of those 0% credit cards offers. Next, I booked a flight for Heidi to Vegas and I remember telling her that "A team of wild horses couldn't keep me from riding out there" She thought I was nuts.

The Adventure Begins:
Now three months later I'm having a restructuring at work. I'm hearing I don't have to do much more then show up for the next six months until we start our new thing.

OK ......Yo! ....Helloooo...! Time for THE BIG Cruise.

Central America has been a fantasy of mine since I was sixteen. While cruising solo to Yellowstone park on my R5-350 and checking out the road atlas I borrowed from my dad, I'll never forget the feeling I had when I saw you can drive all the way through Mexico to Central America. Thinking about finding places to camp and communicating with Mexican's kind of gave me a chill. I knew then that some day I would cruise south of the border. The TIME is NOW! I Have ... No .....Excuses.

Photo- Digging the bike out of the snow - northern Wisconsin January, 2002

One month later, two new dual sport tires, an oversized gas tank, a can of flat black spray paint and flaming skull decals, I'm ready to roll!

My excitement is reaching a boil, I've never driven to Mexico before and all that bike preparation in such a short time and to a bike I've never worked on before. I'm just hoping that new tank I painted and that weird petcock I put in won't leak. I can't sleep and was on the road before 5:00 AM. Heading south in my rusty 86' full size Blazer. I'm pulling the 1200 on a converted $100 snowmobile trailer I bought from a buddy a couple weeks ago (this is January in the north). With the back seat out of the Blazer I have a great little camper.

Taking the fast route to Texas, I35 south to San Antonio, then to Mc Allen where I unload the bike.

Near the border a 10' X 30' storage unit awaits me "The Best Little Warehouse in Texas". This is where the Internet is great. I pick a spot on a map close where I think I want to store my truck, go to yahoo!, click on 'yellow pages' select a City near that place then search the yellow pages for keyword 'self storage'. The place I picked has an employee working there 6 days a week ready to check me in anytime during business hours. Checking in was smooth. With my own padlock I just paid for my 5 weeks storage and was given a pass code to let me into the automatic security gate. Bingo, pulled her right into the unit, trailer attached.

Now I have this calm cool heightened awareness setting in. I'm here plenty early, I get the bike off the trailer and loaded up with all the gear. I'm still looking over my guide books and maps having all these wild ideas of what the places are going to be like over the routes I take. My mind and body are on full alert, I'm so alive. My Spanish is ready, my documents are ready, Go.

Mexico:
The border is less than 20 miles away, I get up early Sunday morning and head to an out of the way crossing. I was the only person waiting to cross. I went with the flow, got all my stuff 1, 2, 3 and was on my way. Sweet. ... I'm in Mexico!

I made Ciudad Victoria in no time. Pancho Villa tours stop here for the first night after crossing into Mexico at Mc Allen. Nice City but it was early and I wanted to check out the Eco- forest reserve, plus I thought I would try to camp the first night, thinking it will add to the adventure.

[Note] Any photo can be double-clicked for a bigger view.

Photo--My First night in Mexico down a dirt path in the heart of the Tropic of Cancer, Eco-Forest Reserve. The trail was hardly noticeable from the road but I've been practicing looking for camping spots like this ever since I can remember. The trail ended at this old corral. It looked like a good spot to camp and was. That evening and the next morning was filled with loud weird sounds. Waking up here was so cool, Espresso coffee, the perfect camp spot, screeching exotic birds with the feeling I was in a foreign land. I had a tightness in my throat thinking about where I was and what I'm about to do, Yeah!

Obviously I didn't know how available water was going to be in Mexico.

Getting Lost in Mexico:
I started a zigzag pattern the second day having fun with the maps. The further inland I went the cooler the landscape. Map reading and navigation is everything. Towns mostly have new names and roads are marked as to what town is down it. Way way cool! This IS the adventure I 'm looking for but at the same time I'm thinking 'what the hell am I doing!' While checking out the mountains I didn't want to get to close to Mexico City. I've read stories about the heavy traffic in the City and I don't want any of it.

Photo - This road should have taken me to the other side of this ridge that was plainly visible while driving along. Then it should have led to a road toward the coast. Beautiful ride, I ended up in some small village way up. It seemed like the village was having a celebration in the beautiful town square. I found out later it was just a normal Monday. I'm really liking life.

I was totally lost in the Mountains for over a day. The road (or trail) was this steep and steeper. It seemed like I was standing on my pegs for hours and spitting rocks out with my rear tire as I was goosing it to keep my balance. All three maps I had showed a connection between two highways. One map even showed a red line, I'm thinking a state highway. There was none and 50% of the towns listed are either not there or the names have changed. I did find some beautiful Mexican villages on my way to nowhere and had a great time. In the mountains along the road there didn't seem like there was much unused flat land open for camping. The little villages I came through had zero tourism and the motels were not obvious and looked WAY primitive even to me. That night I camped on a Mexican family's driveway, with their permission. They were unreal friendly people. The man of the house kept telling me he has never met an American before and he wants his sons and daughter to meet me, or I think that's what he was saying.

The kids hung out with me all morning. After I used up all the Espanol I knew they just had a ball watching me pack up my gear. Super pleasant and well mannered kids.

I had to double back further north to highway 70 east then south on 180 to Tuxpan. I have good roads now and coastal scenery. I'm in a dream.

Tropical Port City:
My guidebook said Tuxpan is a small lively tropical port City, I had a good idea what that meant. I checked into a motel room right across the street from the water and a half-mile or less from town square. $26 a night. That night the guard had me pull my bike into the Motel lobby, standard procedure.

Near the town square there were lots of bars and small shops. The bars seemed like the kind where a ships crew would hang out and get some fool drunk, and then the drunk would wake up and find himself the next day in a ship headed out to sea to be part of the crew. Lots of live music and lively atmosphere everywhere and No tourists. This is Mexico, the one I came to see. The bars always had a few Chicas lined up ready to serve the customers or sit with the customers and drink or dance or whatever@*~, ? I'm in my element and liken it.

This is the view from my room. A billion birds race along the shore from tree to tree just outside my room.

Touring the Emerald Coast:
Cruising south of Tuxpan is fantastic, good roads with seascape. It's called Mexico's Emerald Coast.

I drive my cruising buddies crazy. I like to stop often and smell the roses or in this case check out all the pre-Spanish archeological sites. Maybe that's why I cruise alone alot?

These guys tried to flag me down on my way down the trail but I wanted to get to the site. On the way back out I stopped. They wanted to give me a coconut out of the tree and talk. The people are so friendly here in Mexico. I often draw a small crowd wherever I pull over.

The emerald coast if full of great chillen spots