I have not written for a while, but I have arrived in Guadalajara safely.
I pushed hard from Nogales AZ to Los Mochis, probably one of the hardest days I have ever ridden.
The following morning I awoke at 5:30am and proceeded to the HWY at 6:30am. Things was going smooth, until about 3:30pm, that's when I ran out of gas. I thought there were more gas stations on the stretch of MEX 15 from Mazatlan to Tepic, but I guess not. I kept looking for a gas station, but to no avail. Soon I was on the reserve tank and could see nothing in sight. Finally the inevitable happened.
I pushed the bike for awhile, cursing myself, the bike and the lack of gas stations in Mexico. After some time I came across another man who had broken down in his pick up truck, he said he had been there since morning. Of course I asked him if he had any gas and of course the answer was no. He told me he was nervous, he said that when the sun went down we were kinda screwed. He explained that there were men who would rob us and probably kill us, maybe if we were lucky they would allow us to walk out alive after taking our things. I began to have a lot of anxiety at this time.
After about 30 minutes federal police officer stopped and called a tow truck for the man with the broken down pick up. He told me that maybe the tow truck driver would have some gas. We waited and waited, all the while burning daylight. The man with the pickup said it was a good thing that the officer stopped and was waiting with us, but it was also a bad thing. He said there were men who might target the officer and the people he was with. Then the officer said he would stay with us until the sun went down, but after that he was out of here.
Every so often the officer would flag down a car to ask if they had any gas, the answer was always no. But, an old man in a pick up truck gave us a piece of hose, life saver I tell you.
When the tow truck arrived he did not have a can of gas but we were able to siphon some from his truck. The officer told me where I could get some gas but warned me to be carful because the police nor the military had any presence in that town at this time.
I got my gas and hit the road hard. I was watching the sun go down and not feeling very good about it. I had 1 hour of sunlight and 3 hours to ride, No Bueno. 30 minutes in a bee flew into my jacket, I did not have the time to stop, I just had to deal with it.
As the sun went down it got very cold, but no time to stop.
As I drew close to Guadalajara, I had never been happier to see a military check point. I passed the through the check point, paid the toll and was safe inside "the city gates".
The lesson to be learned, of course always know where the gas stations are but also when traveling in dangerous lands give yourself several extra hours of travel time. If the trip calls for 8 hours, figure 10.
El Charro Romantico
