Crossing the Rio Grande

Having left Lerma and heading towards Zitacuaro we were now fixed and back on the road looking forward to meeting our amigo Octavio. Octavio was going to meet us en route but we couldn’t find the exact spot he had described. It did not matter, he found us on the side of the road while we were getting our bearings. The route back to Morelia was winding through the mountains and enjoyable. Octavio is a good rider, he pays attention and is very protective of us, I almost wanted to remind him we’ve been riding for a little while already but it was just a nice gesture so I left it alone.

 

When we got back to his place in Morelia there was cold beer waiting, a wonderful family and fantastic food. Octavio went out of his way to host us and we would spend a few days with him to get our route planned, meet people and rest up. He took us to a breakfast of his unofficial BMW group, we acquired some awesome shirts and had a brick oven pizza party at a friend’s place where we gave a very brief presentation to a house full of riders. The house’s host was an architect and had a really beautiful home, fantastic.

Finally it was time to leave our good friend Octavio, it felt like leaving family behind and we had to admit that this was a special guy with a wonderful family who we will definitely see again.

The route North would be fast and efficient, by our rules it would suck but by design it would be the most risk free and direct route through the red zone and into the infamous Nuevo Laredo where we would spend the night at an old high school friend of Deya’s, Roy.

We pretty much hit the road hard and made good time stopping at least one seedy and regrettable hotel in Matehuala. We survived the all night prostitutes, un-lockable doors and sketchy vehicles coming and going all night. We stayed on the ground floor near the bikes despite the suggestion of the drunk guy to stay upstairs when we first arrived.

Nuevo Laredo is an average town, much nicer than most border towns and pretty quiet. We headed out at night to a popular Mexican restaurant since it would be our last chance for authentic Mexican food and had a fantastic meal thanks to Roy. We searched about for cake in the late hours and realized that while going out at night isn’t a great idea it is also not a show stopper and nobody burst into flames for doing it. Generally speaking, the media terror about Mexico is not justified for travellers but sticking to your general risk management rules should always be high on the list when visiting a new place.

The border crossing started out a little confusing, we got onto the wrong side of the exit process and the retard asked for documents that were not required saying that we would have to pay twice. Hot and frustrated we went to another location and the stamped release was fast and they didn’t even check for the proper documents, I’m not sure what is worse. Regardless we were done and ready to cross the hot and busy bridge into the USA and I was glad for that.

 

Motorcycles get to go past all the traffic, HA!, and to the front of the line, HAHA! A long line up turned into 10 minutes, the crossing was a breeze and the US Customs were just impressed at our journey. I was ecstatic, it was the first time I felt really excited to be in the United States and it gave me a sense of coming home and an appreciation of the value systems and people that are somehow similar to Canada’s despite the differences.

We drove through the border town and hit the highway towards Austin, our first stop was at a beautiful rest stop and visitors centre. I went inside to ask for a map, as I entered a young guy said, “Welcome, can I help you?” I responded, “Yes, do you have a small map of Texas?” to which he mentioned a map that was pretty large in size and I joked that of course it was because Texas was large. You can’t imagine the happiness I felt at that silly little conversation, it was seamless, simple, witty, without effort and something I haven’t been able to due for almost two years. I was happy to be in Texas and had a new appreciation for our American cousins!