On the Road Again!!!

It's been awhile since I've posted here. But, I got Ruby back from the dealer a few weeks ago for a complete service including the valves, etc. There was some warranty stuff too including the replacement of the left radiator fan assembly. Nothing wrong with the fan, but the metal guard around the outside of the fan fell off and lodged into the skid plate while I was blastin' down the highway.

I won't go into details, but the experience at the dealer, the cost, etc. was something less than pleasant to say the least.

I've been riding on my Bridgestone TW rear replacement and so far so good. I like it for the highway, and it's ok in the dirt, but we haven't had any rain down here in Texas so I can speak for it's wet pavement grip. I've hit a couple wet patches here and there and it does slip some, but I'll have to wait until I hit some rain before I compare it to the GP110.

Well, I don't really have the time... but I'm making the time to head back down to Mexico. Gotta get outta this corrupt fascist country for a bit. Wink And this time I'm going to head down the East coast of Mexico.

Not sure where I'm going but Xalapa for a destination seems nice. Any other recommendations are welcome for sure!

Last time I crossed the border at Laredo without incident. But, this time I might cross at Reynosa instead. Does anyone know if it's better to just cross at Laredo and work my way over to the East coast on the Mexican side? Or stay on the Texas side and cross at Reynosa for a jaunt down the coast?

Also, not sure about the terrain. I'd prefer to not be caught in mountainous regions at night since it's still basically Winter (although you wouldn't know it from Texas... I think it was about 80F today). Any suggestions or advice is much appreciated.

I didn't turn in my motorcycle vehicle permit when I crossed back into the U.S. in August because I thought I'd be able to go back down into Mexico in October. Unfortunately, I couldn't get away... sooooo.. my permit expired on the 6th of January. I called the Mexican consulate here in Austin and they said it wouldn't be a problem... to just turn it in when I go back. I asked if I'd get fined or jailed and they said "no", but they also gave me Bancito's number in Mexico City. I called them and the person I spoke with spoke VERY little English, but she also said I wouldn't have a problem turning in the permit a couple weeks late. Anyone know for sure?

Regarding my reports... I will likely continue my current "Skip's Mexican Motorcyle Blog" as if the last 4 months since I've been home have just been an "intermission". If you want to catch up start from the bottom and work your way up. ;-) I'm also going to try and add little video clips in addtion to the photos and photo galleries.

Last time I took a Canon dSLR with lenses, and a video camera. Which took up waaaay too much room. This time I'm only taking this awesome little Panasonic point and shoot called an LX1. It shoots 8MP 16:9 images and also shoots full screen 16:9 30fps video clips with sound. So the next reports will also have video samples along with the still photos and "colorful" writing. Wink

This LX1 makes wonderful sharp, hi-res images and is tiny. You can view some galleries I've shot with it so far here:

http://www.poppinfreshmedia.com/lx1v12/

This gallery is the 12th day out with it, but you can see galleries for days 1-11 in the top html navigation.

Ok, should be shovin' off tomorrow. Still scared like I was on the first one, but I'm sure that will give way to motorcycle rapture soon enough! Any tips, suggestions, or advice is certainly welcome!!!

Skip Hunt