Day 301 Sunday 7th May Red Ranch to Reynosa Mexico 592km

We are in Mexico !!!!! We  heard from Peens that he just rode through the border when he crossed into Mexico 5 days ago, “it was very easy he said, no paperwork, no stamp, no nothing.” And today it was the same for us, lots of Camera’s from 4 angles when we left the USA, but no person in site. Then we arrived at the Mexican side and once again, lots of cameras but no people, then there was a toll-booth where the operator confirmed no passport stamping at his booth and to ride through. Happy Days, we thought. We met our new best friends, Doc, Rodger, and Edwardo on the other side of the border, after some hugs and greetings we were told to follow Doc to the border offices where we had to get Permits for the bikes to travel in Mexico and pay R7000-00 deposit which will get refunded to each of us when we leave Mexico. We had to get more permits for us and passports were checked, our American Visas was all they needed to see to allow us in, but we had to pay R34-00 for two photo copies etc. Peens is hoping to get a very big surprise when he tries to leave Mexico, or maybe not, time will tell.

I forgot how stressful a border crossing is, we have not had to cross any major border (I am not counting Canada as that was a breeze,) since 2016. Pie was the reason for today’s stress, in the past at all of our border crossings Tex was there to get his 2 bikes through the border, (Pie’s bike is in Tex’s name,) but as he is not with us on this Leg Pie just had a letter from Tex giving him permission to ride his bike in other countries, plus he had the original Title (we call it the Registration Papers,) of the bike. The Custom official just refused and said you can only ride your own bike in Mexico and that this was a “very big problem.” Doc was talking and talking and talking to the guy and then it turned into a negotiation and eventually the problem got “sorted out” and hands were shook, wink, wink, and then problem was solved.

Maybe Peens will sort out his problem with fish, yes, he caught lots of fish and even had some of it cooked by a vendor. He now has a cooler box on the bike full of fish which I am sure he is using as a method to trade himself out of trouble or a way to get favours. Let’s hope the fish stays fresh for another week before he tries to cross over into Guatemala.

His load is getting heavier and heavier, los of furniture on that bike.

Speaking of furniture, we had a close call with furniture twice today, 1st we had to swerve for a table that blew off someone’s truck and then later there was a double bed’s base lying on the road. We left Tex’s Ranch at 7h00 and had a cool ride for the 1st 2 hours, the sun was behind rain clouds, but no rain, and then we rode right into the rain and we had to stop to put on rain-suites. After an hour in the rain it eventually cleared, and then it got hot, very hot, 38 degrees at one stage, so ice-cream was needed.

Last nights Fund Raiser was a huge success, all thanks to Tex’s Better Half, this lady of his is a phenomenal organiser, and all of that organising was taking place while she was managing several Building Projects as well as several Re Decoration projects, after last night I have a lot of respect for her, she is not shy to work hard, well done to her.

I guess there were close to 200 people, the food was amazing, and there was an open bar. The main event was the Horse Racing and we all bet on a horse, I was ecstatic when my horse won, but you also have to choose the horse that comes in 2nd, and that is where things went wrong for me and I did not win. There was a roulette wheel and Black Jack tables with real Croupiers to take our money. Tex and his daughter (who introduced us to Hanger Steaks when we visited her in Napa,) were having more fun than the rest of us as they manned a type of Horse Race Wheel where I again lost more money, but it was for charity, so I did not feel too bad.

It was a fancy affair and us ugly under dressed bikers did stand out like a sore thumb, but we parked our bikes at the entrance to the “Party Barn” as Tex calls it, so they people could put 2 and 2 together that you don’t ride around the world with a hat and nice clothes.

We were also not the only South Africans there.

Milsy with our Mexican Riding Buddies, sitting outside the Custom and Immigration offices, watching the Formula 1 on a phone while Pie was practising his “Hand Shake.”

It is nice to now have three BMW’s in our group.

I can’t believe it but both my Front Forks have started leaking, how is that for bad-luck, DadAss was standing at KTM for 8 months and days after I pick her up she is leaking oil. So tomorrow we need to buy Fork Oil and then we will dip into our spares and also put Pies Technical Skills to the test. But tomorrow is going to be the longest day we will have in Mexico, so no time to do the seals tomorrow afternoon, it will have to be done on Tuesday after the day’s riding.

I am looking forward to trying some real Mexican food tonight and taste what a real Margarita tastes like. I will tell you all about it tomorrow.

Later Friends

Fleisch