Hubbard Motorcycle Adventures

DAY 72. HUAJUAPAN DE LEON TO OAXACA. 180 km And a nice relaxed day it was too. That is until we got a little lost getting to Oaxaca and again had to battle thru narrow and blind and blocked off streets with heavy traffic. Well what a nice city! Again magnificent cathedrals, lovely stone buildings and stone paved streets. When you consider that some of the building dates from 1550 you realize that it is older than some of the European cities Ancient Oaxaca culture on display Again we are close to the central square or plaza where the action takes place both day and night. Oaxaca often has clashes between the people and the government and we have seen several organized protests in front of the main government building And the government point of view- And I think there has been some connection between Oaxaca and the ancient Maori tribes of New Zealand. Why else would Oaxaca be pronounce "Oh a Haka " ? DAY. 73. REST DAY IN OAXACA And a good one at that after 6 days o

DAY. 70. MORELIA TO IXTAPAN DE LA SAL 300km Who is the handsome fella? And today we started the slow skirting of Mexico City. At the closest point we are within 100km of the city of 20 million plus people and we wanted to avoid be sucked into it by getting trapped in the motorway system leading there . So we started the day by skirting the old stone aqueduct in Morelia and then it was into the hills on a lovely winding road up thru the dense bush of a national forest area. As we rode it occurred to me that Diana of on the back fame had never experienced getting of the bike in a slightly forceful and sudden manner. So at a little layby as I pulled up to a halt over Mella went obediently on her side and over went Diana and I into the dust beside her. It was a good test and there were no bruises or scratches to man,woman or machine. To my dying day I will maintain that this was a pre orchestrated little exercise and I have no doubt Diana is appreciative of my thoughtfulness in

DAY. ? ZACATECAS TO LEON 240km Firstly let me say how lovely our hotel has been in Zacatecas. It is a very old building tastefully done up as a hotel with old staircases, split levels and beamed ceilings. Donde estas tu mi Juliet ! Aqui mi Romeo ! We started off the day with a circuit thru the centre of Zacatecas that was not entirely by choice. Again it was riding on old cobblestone streets which is somewhat challenging on a heavily laden bikes. And talking of riding on cobblestones reminds me that I thought today of my relationship with my front tyre. You see when we were riding the cobblestones she , that is my front tyre , developed a mind of her own. I fought her, she fought me ! After a while I found it best to let her make the individual decisions as to which direction to go over which cobblestone. I agreed with her that she would leave the big decisions like which way to turn at corners to me. It was a functioning truce and it worked fine. You see I have no wish for me an

DAY ? MAZATLAN TO DURANGO. 340 km Well today we rode the devils backbone or the Comb of God depending on which map you looked at. Either way it was a great day in the saddle. We left Mazatlan just on dawn to miss some of the oppressive heat and soon we were heading into the highlands with lush tropical rainforest at the lower levels . Woops For 200 km the road twisted and twisted and twisted some more as it seemingly tried to throw us off it's back. Oh dear, aren't I waxing eloquent. But it was that sort of day . Soon all the twists will be gone with this road now being built As we got higher and higher the forests all changed to the temperate variety and by the time we got to the top of the highest point we were at 9000 ft above sea level. That is quite a climb straight up from sea level On the way we crossed the Tropic of Cancer but something did not feel right about it. Now work that one out and the answer will be revealed in the next blogpost . And today wh

DAY. ? REST DAY IN LA PAZ Well,it was a sort of a rest day but not a restful day. Far from it. Let's back the bus up to the previous afternoon. We thought it a good idea to go out to the ferry terminal and buy the tickets for the ferry to Matazlan. So far so good. Then we went to get a permit for the bike to go to the mainland of Mexico. The nice customs lady explained that to do that you need a tourist permit first before you can get a bike permit .And where do you get those? Well only from Tijuana she said sweetly and you have to go back there. Well dear reader we have just spent 4 days and travelled 1500km from Tijuana to La Paz so that was not welcome news. No, not at all ! I do believe profoundities were uttered! Then a solution. The immigration office in town said they would give us a special 30 day tourist permit and this would enable us to get a bike permit. Six hours and many signed forms later we had our permit. As part of this process I was required to write a story

DAY 60. GUERRERO NEGRO TO LORETO. 460k Leaving the hotel down the front steps. ( as you do!) Today we headed over to the other side of the Baja peninsular on the Gulf of California side. We crossed to the nice looking sea side town of San Rosario where we had a long languid lunch. Unfortunately it could not be followed by a siesta - there was work in the office to do ! Impending military roadblock with cardboard cost saving measure! So it was back in ( or on ! ) the offices and it was a joyful run down the coast to the very affluent town of Loreto. Like its name Loreto is very pretty. We stayed in a lovely traditional hotel in the heart of the city complete with courtyard where we could park our bikes. Mid afternoon break on the way down the coast On the way I was practicing my reading of road signs. Then suddenly I was stumped. According to my rudimentary Spanish the road sign read - " Microwave the Angels " Now there were times when the children were young when I could hav