July 28, 2015

It was already (still?) stifling when I loaded up Tuesday morning to head for the border crossing at Anzalduas. At various times over the past year, this trip has morphed from a solo trip on a big bike to a two-person trip on a big bike, to a two-person trip on two small bikes, to a solo trip on a small bike. Now suddenly it was once again a two-person trip on two small bikes. At the very last minute, a new friend from Wimberley decided to join me for the first leg of the trip.

James showed up at my hotel Tuesday morning, his little XT225 Yamaha loaded like a pack mule. We’d only known each other for a short time, and had never ridden together. Now we were headed to Mexico for a month, and perhaps further.

Into the mountains

The heat finally subsided as we climbed into the mountains and rode into Galeana, to a familiar hotel where I had stayed a couple of months ago on a shakedown ride for this trip. By the time we arrived the temps were down into the 80s.

Beating the Heat in Mexico

We parked behind the Hotel Magdalena and unloaded our gear, then went to dinner. La Cason de General is a great restaurant with a large menu. Last time I was here, I was tempted to have the Mole Enchiladas, but one of my cohorts managed to snag the last order. This time there were plenty to go around…

After dinner we walked back to the plaza, and among the vendors was the same guy that was here when I was here in May, selling ice cream. Unfortunately he was out of Tequila flavored ice cream, but he had Mezcal flavored ice cream. It was still very good.

The temperature had dropped to around 70 after dinner, and I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Wednesday would be the first day into new territory for me.