I went to
(Photos
and story by codys, jaybob, and paochow)
It started out as your normal
plain
By the time they rolled into Nuevos Casas Grandes, paochow knew it was now or never, one slab ride to Creel on
a DRZ was enough for this lifetime, no need to make a second. Pulling over to
the side of the road, he requested volunteers to explore a dirt route to
Jaybob, Codys and paochow, henceforth refered to as
JCP, encountered a overly friendly good samaritian, who was likely trying to get his cut for
referring them to a local hotel. He instructed the trio that trying to go to
The road from Nuevos Casas Grandes to Casas Grandes and onto Benito Juarez was uneventful. JCP passed
another group of AZ plated adventure riders, henceforth refered
to as "
The lead Hoillywood rider seemed to know the route
very well (good since the rest of the group proclaimed they were pretty much
lost at this point) and gave the trio the GPS Waypoints for the "Road to
JCP left the group of knobbed street bikes and accelerated on their way. Maybe too fast. Jaybob realized
several miles in that his tank bag pocket was open and his headlamp had fallen
out. While he doubled back, paochow and codys took a few glamor shots....
By the time Jaybob showed up, a man on horseback
arrived informing them that this road was his driveway...
A few turns (U-turns?) and JCP was back on their way.
After passing
After several attempts to dislodge the truck,
Once underway, it was some time for some scenery...
Followed by some river crossings...
More Scenery...
Followed by more river crossings...
and yet more river crossings....
And yet more scenery..
and celebrations for reasons that are now forgotten...
Then after several other apparent dead ends, the road pettered out at this small village....
Paochow asked for directions and was told the way to
So on the tracks they went....
The man was right after several miles, the rails disappeared,
this was then followed by the removal of RR ties, which unfortunately had deep
holes left by their removal...
So with intense vibration they continued south. Codys
finally got to drive the tunnels he wanted...
After a while the tracks became more road like. Then
all of a sudden the RR seemed to disappear. The most obvious route was up a
steep hill which the group proceeded up. The views were spectacular...
Unfortunately, the road ended at a large iron gate, complete with padlock. At
this point, codys' 950Adv
low fuel light illuminated, jaybob's KLR appeared to
need reserve, and the shadows were beginning to trail the bikes, foreshadowing
the arrival of darkness. The decision was made to head back down the hill to
search for other routes. The group stopped at this cabin, and actually
contemplating crashing there for the night.
Paochow with 3/4 of a tank ran a few exploration runs
down potential roads. The most promising was a ~1mi long tunnel followed by a
mud bog from hell. Paochow returned to the group, and
JCP made the decision to return via railroad hell back to the village for the
night.
Approximately 5 miles back on the tracks, codys
ran over paochow's plate, which had been vibrated off
earlier. Another 5 miles or so the duo waited for jaybob,
who never arrived. Paochow doubled back to find jaybob's KLR parked and jaybob
collecting firewood. Despite their efforts, checking fuel and choke position
the KLR refused to run reliably acting as if the main jet had fallen out, dying
with any throttle input. It was pitch black at this point so JCP did some
conversing and arrived at the conclusion that they would need to camp out for
the night. A survey of camping gear revealed paochow
had a full on sleeping bag, jaybob an emergency bag,
and codys....
A fire was made from broken railroad ties, (mmmmmm
cancerous creosote) and a nearby stream provided water for boiling as CP's camelbaks were on the low
side. Some nearby abandoned cans from the railroad removal
crew, saved jaybob's panier
lids from charring.
The trio began the night with 60 degree temps and a 15 ft radius around the
fire.
By 3AM temps in the freezing range, had
them laying in triangle formation within a few feet of the railroad tie fire.
By 7AM, all were ready to get moving to regain their body heat. Paochow and Jay disassembled the troubled KLR. The carb, ignition, and other wiring checked out. Removal of
the air filter showed an excessive amount of dirt within the carb boot.
Codys boiled
some final water for the camelbaks, and took some
parting shots of the camp.
Jay said he would try to ride the bike as far as possible. Codys
being low on fuel (still?), headed out first. Jay made it several blocks,
before dying out. Paochow attempted to ride the
damaged beast, but found it refused to run at pretty much all RPM's. Out came the tow strap. Paochow's
frame to jaybob's fork tube was the first attempt.
Despite the severe weaving, this worked for several miles. As they entered the
area where the ties and tracks began again, paochow
noticed an immediate increase in towing resistance. Looking back he noticed jaybob lying on the side of the tracks about 100 ft behind
the KLR he was dragging.
Jaybob was banged up but ok. Crash damage was fairly severe, the front end hit directly on the tracks when it
fell. The front fender, fairing, and instruments were destroyed.
Here are some of the post crash photos...
Last time the KLR would see the rev limiter...
The crash damage opened up the front end so that the tow strap could be hooked
directly to the frame. This lead to the tow strap rubbing on
the front wheel occasionally, but seemed to work ok. After another mile
or so the tracks smoothed out. Paochow began to revel
in how easy it was to tow the bike/rider. Then he looked back and realized that
he had been towing all 10 oz of the broken strap for the last few blocks. Paochow told jaybob to take off
his fuel tank and that he was going to see how far they had left.
Meanwhile back at the edge of the small village. Codys
armed with only the Spanish language he learned off a Taco Bell menu, waited
for his translators and snapped pictures of the "wildlife"
Paochow drove the remaining 2 or so miles and dropped
his luggage of with codys, who helped him lift the
DRZ in a 180. (Ever try to turn around on railroad tracks?
)
Paochow returned to jaybob,
jaybob donated his go-go juice to help fill paochow's tank. The tow strap was reattached and the two
made the final trek to the pubelito.
Codys was amazed by the skill of the two as they made
the proper Advrider salute...
As they reached the town, paochow put his spanish skills to the test. He
managed to ascertain that the only truck in the area belonged to a husband/wife who were visiting their cabin. Paochow asked(begged) the couple
for help. They were extremely receptive and flat out turned down any offer of
payment. They took the bewildered adventurers into their cabin and cooked the
best eggs, beans, tortillas, and coffee that they had ever tasted.
The favor they had paid the teenage campers the day before,
was quickly repaid twofold as they offered to truck jaybob
and his damaged steed to
The helpful couple also escorted codys
and paochow to the road to 
Jaybob said goodbye..
Armed with directions and the transfer of some fuel to codys KTM, CP made their way out the access road,
taking time to enjoy the scenery....
After 25+mi of some gorgeous dirt roads and several very small towns the
twosome reached pavement again....
Shortly after they reached
Meanwhile, jaybob was having a great time, shooting tequilla, drinking beers and soaking up REAL
Jaybob didn't have much praise for the lavatory
privacy...
CP made their way to
Upon arriving in BV, it was a bunch of uneventful superslab.
Swapping bikes back and forth, CP finally made it to la frontera
just as the sunset. The Sunday night line for Customs,
caused them to make a late arrival to the
CP made it to paochow's house where both would have
been happy sleeping in the yard. Paochow's wife disapproved, so real beds it was.
The following day, CP waited for jaybob's return. A
little bike comparison, had codys making excuses for
his 950's drag race losses to the mighty Uly
(granted off road it would have been a different story)
Finally CP met jaybob in MX to retreive
the battered KLR. JCP thanked their extremely helpful friends and transferred
the beaten bike. 
JCP made it on their way several miles before codys
realized he nearly donated his passport to the desert..
Despite the "adventure" in this trip, JCP are planning to take the
same route to