{"id":506,"date":"2010-05-28T21:05:57","date_gmt":"2010-05-28T21:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/?p=506"},"modified":"2024-04-23T14:30:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T21:30:23","slug":"leaving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/?p=506","title":{"rendered":"Leaving"},"content":{"rendered":"

The combination of not working, perfect weather, and hanging out with friends were making it difficult to embark on this trip. Placing life on hold was more taxing than I expected and second thoughts began to creep into my consciousness. I needed to get on the road. Phoenix is less than 200 miles from the border so I point the bike toward Nogales and begin the hot blast through the desert.<\/p>\n

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The border crossing is a cinch, in part because I forget to do something that will come back to haunt me when I attempt to leave Mexico at the Guatemala border. More on that later. The change in scenery is immediate and I am excited to be in the bustling border city. I find a money changer and exchange my dollars for pesos. The words of the woman at the exchange hit me like a head on collision. I knew when I was planning the trip that learning another language would be a challenge for me and here am I now getting my first lessons under fire. I stumble through our conversation using lots of hand gestures. It’s an uncomfortable exchange and I’m anxious to get back on the road.<\/p>\n

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I arrive in Hermosillo by mid afternoon and look for a hotel. I don’t see anything immediately but after some effort I find a place that doesn’t look too expensive. It’s hot and the bike’s fan is running non stop as it struggles to cool the bike. A room is $60 a night and way out of my budget. I throw a word collage of bad Spanglish at the manager asking where I can find a cheaper hotel. Somehow he understands and points me down the road a half mile or so. The next place is around $45 and will have to do. The place is clean, has a nice restaurant, and they let me put the bike in the room, a common practice in Mexico. It’s my first night in Mexico and I’m eating an amazing dinner and drinking a tasty Mexican dark beer as I study the map in preparation for tomorrow’s ride to Los Mochis. Life is good.<\/p>\n

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I emerge from the frigid cocoon of my room later than planned. It feels good to sleep in. I have a hearty breakfast of coffee, fresh juice, eggs, tortillas, chorizo, and assorted hot sauces, it’s all excellent. Packing the bike down takes longer than I prefer. I will make adjustments to stream line this process over the coming days. The smells of the morning desert air remind me of AZ as I cut through the Sonoran landscape making my way to Los Mochis. Again I reach my destination in the late afternoon and relegated to search for accommodations in oppressive heat. I should’ve got up earlier. Unable to find a room in the centro I pan out and find a place near the casinos, an area characterized by strip malls and chain restaurants.<\/p>\n

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I learn my lesson the previous day and get on the road early to get a jump on the afternoon heat. My next stop takes me to Mazatlan where I will hang with the Striking Viking of RTW riding fame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The combination of not working, perfect weather, and hanging out with friends were making it difficult to embark on this trip. Placing life on hold was more taxing than I expected and second thoughts began to creep into my consciousness. I needed to get on the road. Phoenix is less than 200 miles from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[269],"tags":[30,21,112,8,41,110,111,27,9],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ktm950hermosillo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s3Lnhy-leaving","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1055,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions\/1055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}