Mexico The Adventure Begins

I have always wanted to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I now have marked that off my list, but with all the OHV trails available we might need to return for an extended adventure.

North Rim, has a lot less tourists and is IMO more spectacular than the southern part.

A Kabil squirrel, pretty cool.When we departed N. Rim we headed south to Phoenix. There we spent an evening with my sister Robin. Our route south from Phoenix took us through Patagoni, Az. and the border crossing of Nogales, MEXICO. From there we just rode, and began our adventure that would be our longest ( 6 months) most mileage ( 20,500 ), most expensive ( ????? believe me it hit the bank HARD) ride to date.
Below is an old Movie set, near Durango, MX.

Zacatacas, MX. This donkey had some liquid beverages that were a hot item with the locals, and daring tourists . We weren't part of the daring. The fact is, in Mexico, locals do whatever it takes to make a Peso. In this town of Zacatacas, we saw a man skinning a big ass rat to sell. Oh, and he had quite a few for sale.

These were an interesting fruit from Cactus. Tempting, but again not for us.

Zacatacas temple, church. We actually took a tour of the city on one of those double decker buses. Traffic is, and was crazy in all mid to large towns throughout this ride.

 A car show/cruise in, funny this guy had his dash out and most cars were not in great condition.
Below, we visited 4-6 churches in, and around Zacatacas. Later the placard shows all we visited.

This was a nice remote, quaint Cabin . It was located just outside of Los Posas. Our view off the back side deck was great.

A nice sunset at our night the beach and our only night of camping in Mexico. It's just so cost effective to find a room.
Below, Palenque Ruins.

The indigenous people would store and then bring their wares from the forest. We gathered they were somewhat honest with each other, the wares aren't secured in any way.

Oh, we saw monkeys! The howler monkeys and their howl is something to hear!

Town of Campeche.

We definitely saw numerous Iguana's, some were absolutely BIG!

Below, we hiked down into a cave. The color effects put a nice touch to it. We were the only visitor's.

This photo, I just like the color contrast's in it. Must have been a professional photographer that snapped the shutter on this one.

The Farmacia, amazing what you can buy over the counter. Not to mention the minimal price compared to the U.S. Of A.

Hey, I'm trying to relax here, can you please move along?

Chichen-Itza Ruins

Miss Linda Boutin, this is for you.

Sorry, looks like I scared them off, but look at those sexy legs, and the water as they scamper off to a safe place.
Below, Ek Balam Ruins

Below at the Tulum Ruins gate a Coti . This guy was darn cute. I wanted to take the friendly critter with me. That's saying something . At one point I had my back to it, then the security guy looked at me and next to my right arm was the Coti. Big smile on my face.

Tulum Ruins, these, people were the smart ones. What a view of the ocean, and the grounds resembled a golf course. By the way on this complete adventure, I didn't see one golf course.

Don't fret it gets even better than this.

Top photo, look closely cow in the back of the truck. This is for you Tony.
Cenote, quite a few of these you could swim in. for a fee of course.

Great photo of Chichen-Itza, we arrived before all of the tour buses. Nice and quite, without numerous people in our photo range.

Look at us, looking good and relaxed.... One of the issues of leaving so early , THE HEAT! It was a killer. Sometimes by noon we were already checking into a hotel due to being wiped out with heat and humidity. Now try checking into a hotel in U.S. of A. by noon.
Below, we passed by a fruit stand and I noticed Pineapples. We turned around and I bought one. Funny, I just ripped it's crown off, and handed it back to the lady. She just looked at me in surprise.

Don't stop me! We found this pub and they had Franksizer bier. I'm in on that .

Beeraholics paradise. You want it, they more than likely have it.
Below, this particular photo brings back BAD memories. Guess what is in that Ice drink? yep, ICE and it came out all wrong, if you know what I mean.

I asked myself this many times. Lo and behold, Stacie pointed me in the right direction numerous times.

Palenque and the vendors setting up their wares.
Below in Palenque, the hotel that we stayed. All my clothes were dirty , we walked through the streets, me shirtless looking for a T shirt. The locals were amused, I guess.

Roadside cafeteria's and food trucks are the best. This was in a very small town and we were starving, HOT, and needing a rest. A whole chicken cut up , with chips and salsa. It cost about $5.00 for everything.

Many hotels allow you to park your bikes in their lobby. We always tried to find secure parking for the bikes. Truth be told we never had any issues with thieves.
Below, our hotel in Valladolid. This was refreshing after trekking around the ruins .

This was North of Zacatacas, the hotels were sold out, due to bull fighting and holiday. We backtracked to the only hotel vacant. This place was bad, bed sucked big time, the bath had running water alright, but it was everywhere. Oh, and I killed dozens of spiders in our room, we called it The Spider Hotel!

Zacatacas, a lot of the streets ended in a flight of stairs.

Steady woman, you might fall out. Funny that I just happened to have camera ready in case she did. LOL

Auto Zone parking lot. Bought the necessary items( funnel,spill pan,oil.) I took 2 oil filters, for each of the bikes, and every other oil change replaced the filter.

Remember that placard of the churches I mentioned this is it.

Las Posas, a rich guy built this fortress like structure in the 1940's. Resembled The Winchester Mystery House in Ca.
It had some pools to refresh in as well.