Tuesday Mar 11, 2008
Cuatro Ciénegas to Rio Grande, 332 miles
Loved my hotel room in Cuarto Ciénegas. Saltillo tile floors and spacious bath. High, rustic ceiling. Thank you Lonely Planet. It reminds me vaguely of the Hotel Hacienda Santa Engracia, only better.
I played with my Epson P2000. This Walkman sized device allows me to download my camera cards on a 40 GB hard drive without a computer, and then allows me to view the photos on a 4 in screen and begin my selection process. The newer P3000´s are better, but I bought this one off EBay without first doing my homework. But basically I´m pleased with the P2000.
Excited about riding
Out of the room at 9am. Hotel breakfast, Italian dude, morning show Mexican TV where periodically everyone gets up and dances. Goofed around the plaza looking for milk bottles. Internet Ciber Cafe. Check list the bike. Load. Ready to roll at 1pm! Well, there´s one thing to be said about being meticulously cautious and ready to go --- when you are ready, you are REALLY ready to go. I was excited about riding.
It´s 122 miles from Cuatro Ciénegas to San Pedro with nothing in between. Tanque Nuevo, which owns a spot on my maps? One abandoned building. Don´t count on gas there. No gas for 122 miles. A couple of places that looked like "living" stores, maybe. Incredibly there are dirt roads leading off to other unseen communities off in the horizon distance. I could only wonder what lies at the end of those tracks.
Pretty kool ride actually. Somewhat like the Big Bend area. Across Chihuahuan Desert. Ocotillo, creosote bush, picaya cactus. Much of the territory is unfenced. The road straight and true, very little traffic. I saw trucks carrying logged trees headed north, trucks carrying huge blocks of rock, 3 at a time, headed south.
About 85-90 miles into the ride on the other side of a little mountain range called Sierra Las Deicias, the desert turns white flat NOTHING. No creosote bushes, no cactus. It was shocking. I guess this is part of what they call Desierto Laguna de Mayrón. Not really sure why they call a desert a laguna.
Torreón, La Perla de la Laguna
From San Pedro de Colonias to Gomez Palacio to Ciudad Lerdo, it was the usual dodge-and-dance traffic around Big-City Torreón. Not only do you have to watch traffic and deciper road signs, but also you watch the road conditions immediately ahead, which can change drastically without notice.
So lets see, the priorities in descending order -- watch road, watch traffic, watch signs. I guess its not all that different from the States. Just seems more intense here. Don´t look at the 8 people and wheelchair in back of that pickup. Too distracting. Eyes on the road. Taxi whizzes by on my right. Speed Bump!
Its 5;30 when I´m finally on the other side of it all. 4.5 hours for the 1st 183 miles.
And then its Autopista (toll road hwy, comparable to our Interstates). $12 toll for 46 miles of super hwy, worth every damn centavo. Huge Nazas river just south of Torreón. It´s the Central Highlands. Setting sun casts long shadows on rock formations and arid mountain ranges.
I exit the Autopista at Cuencamé (it continues on, Durango bound). It gets dark and colder and the road is rough and hazardous with traffic to Juan Aldama, where I finally pause for food. This is a bus stop spot, decorated with pictures of Marilyn Monroe. 3 huge buses are parked outside the gas station cafeteria. Delicious burritos ($3.50) I can´t figure out how you pay for them. The gals behind the cafeteria line watch over me. When all the buses leave, the place is deserted. It´s 9;15, I push on for another 42 miles of Mexican night riding. Good choice. The road is much better and traffic is lighter. Just gotta get used to the oncoming cars/trucks passing on my side of the line, with me coming. They expect you to move over. It´s a little unnerving.
10;15pm, Rio Grande, Zacatecas. OK, I´m ready for a room now. Rio Grande is a small farming community. Lots of fertilizer smells coming into town. Hotel El Carreton, $18. It´s a motel located directly across from one of the bus stations. I´m skeptical, but tired, and in the end, grow to call the place home. I am so adaptable.
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