Saludos desde Sonora México 🇲🇽

[mulebarn]

Hello from Puerto Peñasco, Sonora!

I or we will try to keep a little bit of an ongoing ride report as we get through this adventure.

@noahnomad started the excitement before we even departed because his vehicle routed him to a nonexistent charging station in Mew Mexico. After a USAA tow to Las Vegas, NM for a charge and an overnighter in his truck, he made it to Scottsdale just in time. We started the trip Sunday morning and made it all of 13 miles before @BrotherPicnic noticed that Noah’s front tire was flat. We then sat in a parking lot of a gas station while Jake diagnosed the issue, and Jake ran to AutoZone to buy a can of Slime. Tusk tires are really hard to install is the lesson. Also, the Slime is holding.

Maybe two hours later and now into the heat of the day we set off from Gilbert, AZ. Jake, who was unfortunately tied to work and couldn’t make the whole trip with us, rode with us to Why, Arizona, and where he went northward home we turned south to Organ Pipes National Monument, and the border of Mexico. We are now three in Mexico, with hopes that Jake can join us later in the week.

Noah’s bike read 105° while we were waiting at the border, although the border crossing was incredibly smooth and only took us about two minutes to actually get through when it was our turn. The sum total of cars that were there when we were there was five.

I had some immigration and motorcycle permit questions for the border guards, and interestingly, they were both using ChatGPT as a real time translator so that part was easy. I attempted to get our FMM and TIP permits from them or an immigration office, but they told us the closest place was about a half hour in the wrong direction. We decided to skip it and push forward to Puerto Peñasco. We still are now trying to figure out how to get those permits, and may end up needing to ride back north to do so. Let’s hope not. It could prove to be a stupid mistake on our part…

Today’s morning ride took us along the northern part of the Sea of Cortez, and while it was mostly pavement, we did get into a fair bit of sand and flowy tracks, which was super fun. Noah decided to turn up the volume a bit (“I think I can ride that!”) and had a 20 minute wrestling match with his 890R. Searching for more compacted sand, I headed toward the ocean, only to find my bike sunken up to the chain in dark wet mud. Luckily, I was only about 30 feet in when this happened, and I was able to get off and do a little bit of first gear clutch work to get back to the soft sand. We just finished up an amazing meal of burritos, flautas, and a bunch of other delicious local food. It’s hot again today but less so, and we will wait for the sun to get a little bit lower before we head out on an afternoon ride.

Please enjoy the video and photos below… I think @ChrisMunro is still digging sand out of his eyelids and ears.

Boulder County ADV on Instagram: "Saludos desde Sonora México 🇲🇽 #adv #mexico...

[MelanieK]

Looks like Chris will be ready to help Rich teach the sand instruction in Moab!

[noahnomad]

[noahnomad]

The ADV lifestyle can be brutal…!

ADV beach party on the Sea of Cortez

[mulebarn]

¡Saludos desde Bahía de Kino!

At the end of today’s 265 mile slog, it officially feels like we are far from home. Temperate waters, humidity, and no gringos. Except us. Trigger warning:

We started the day with perfect high 60’s temps and some pleasant riding south out of Puerto Peñasco. As we started to climb and left the industrial outskirts of town, the landscape became beautiful with ocean views, gnarly, jagged mountains, and Ocotillo blossoms as far as we could see.

We stopped in Puerto Libertad, and filled our tanks. Well, Chris and I did, but Noah didn’t… you can ask him why. We also took the, um, liberty to rip around on the beach for a few minutes, and watching some fisherman pull their boats in from the ocean before we headed out of town.

The nice Señoras who pumped our gas turned us onto a good lunch spot for the locals, and we went there and tried a bunch of different Mexican dishes that we don’t get at home. Chris and I both had a liter of Coca-Cola each, which is more sugar than either of us consume in a typical month at home. My arms felt like they were floating. We have really been embracing the raccoon diet lifestyle on this trip. Bimbuňuelas y chicharones? Sure.

We’ve been balancing the raccoon lifestyle with doing some morning stretching on the yoga mat that Chris brought with him. What is ADV without vinyasa?

We set off toward the coast road, but at a crucial turn, we were stopped by a gate that seemed to be private property. In my route planning, this did not show up on Gaia, OnX, or anywhere else. American companies don’t know shit about Mexican land ownership, turns out.

Our only choice was to climb back up into the desert and away from the ocean. This reroute took us into the inland desert where the temperatures climbed 20 or 25° and it became another hot one. After slogging an extra credit side quest, we turned back toward the coast. With 10 miles to go and temps dropping, Noah ran out of gas on the side of the road. The lesson: if you have the chance to get gas, get gas. He was saved by the not-quite-a-liter bottle in his bag.

The riding today was not world class, but the horrible road conditions kept us on our toes all day, and we are looking forward to staying put for a couple of days in finding some dirt to play in. And the view from our Casita isn’t half bad.

[mulebarn]

Today we stayed put in Bahia de Kino, and we did a fair amount of dirt riding north on the way out of town. The menu was primarily comprised of sand or deep sand, but there were some fun higher speed dirt tracks. There was some absolutely stunning scenery along the ocean, and we were riding trails while dipping between desert, sand, and sea. I really prefer this type of travel where you stay in a place for more than one day at a time. It gives you a much better sense of place, and helps inform whether or not you might want to return someday. Bahía de Kino is in the return-to list. What a place. From the little house we rented, we can see Baja, C.S. across the Sea of Cortez. I wouldn’t mind riding this area for two or three more weeks. if you keep going south from where we are, you can hop on a ferry in Mazatlan and cross the sea of Cortez to La Paz BCS. From there, you can ride back up the Baja Peninsula and into the US.

We’ve been eating tons of great Mexican food, or as they call it here, “food.” If I had to be stuck on one style of cuisine forever, I reckon one could do worse than Mexican food.

Last night we met five Mexican guys at an Oxxo store on KTM bikes ranging from a 390 up to a 1090. They were all from Puerto Vallarta in the last days of a big road tour, and told us that things are getting better there now. They also said that the cartel controls everything, including whether or not there is peace… We actually started to wonder if they were cartel, given their brazen public drinking in a convenience store parking lot. KTMs are not a common sight in these parts.

This morning, we discovered Noah’s front tire had lost all air overnight (again). We woke this morning to a nice marine layer out on the water, and the cool temps were a welcome break. With some air and a bit more Slime, followed by a rip up the road, Noah’s tire did its job all day again. We are soon going to need to find a place to spray our bikes off to get the salt remnants off of the metal. Beach riding and sand riding is fun, but it will make short work of any exposed metal.

Boulder County ADV on Instagram: "Chris gettin’ some by the sea."

https://www.instagram.com/p/DVeChOFERdq/?igsh=aGQwajAxaWM3cW1v

As I’m finishing up this post, Chris and Noah are out for round two on a late afternoon excursion. Hopefully they can post some photos and video later.

[RC_John]

So amazing. Wish I was there!

[noahnomad]

Bahia Kino por vida

Wish y’all were here!

[LeightonCash]

Amazing! A dream motorcycle trip.

[MotoJason]

Such a great report! Thanks for sharing Gino. Looks like you guys had a pretty idyllic trip.

[mulebarn]

We’re still in it! More reports/photos soon.

[mulebarn]

Bahía de Kino was one of the highlights of this trip. We quickly settled into a rhythm of riding all morning, having lunch, getting in the ocean for a bit, rinsing off, and then either riding again or taking naps, or just hanging around and soaking up the chill Mexican vibe. Mexicans seem to have a way of life that is less stressful, more friendly, and in many ways more content than we do. I guess there are pros and cons of everywhere. Every night we would find some local place to eat fresh food, and Chris would talk all of us into getting some junkie ice cream bar at the corner mercado. Aside from the fresh food we ate every day, we did a fair bit of raccoon eating with soda and ice cream nearly daily. Very un-Boulder of us…

Leaving Bahía Kino, we had a long day in the saddle across the plains to Hermosillo, which is the capital of Sonora. It’s a city of about 1 million people, and while we only rode through the northern part of the city as we traversed the metro area, it was modern, clean, and given the population, we saw a lot of retail and service establishments with big American brands. In that context and given where we’ve been the previous days, it all felt a little out of place. As we headed north from Hermosillo, we got into the Rio Sonora Valley, and the big agricultural area of Sonora. Having lived in California for most of my adult life, I’ve likely annoyed my riding partners with my never-ending commentary on how much this place or that place looked like Bakersfield or Chico or some other production crop area. We saw farms, growing ranches, all sorts of nuts, including almonds, and pistachios, tons of stone, fruit, and countless other modern farms.

As you start to get into the small roads that gain elevation and follow the Ruta de Rio Sonora, things became absolutely beautiful and gave us little ribbons of floaty twisty Tulane roads that passed through small villages every few dozen kilometers.

We rode Hwy 89 to Banámichi this day to stay at Los Arcos de Sonora hotel. Tom and Lynn are the only two gringos in town, and they are motorcyclists. 19 years ago they had ridden down Highway 89 along this same route we were taking, and decided to never come back to the US. In that time they bought the property, and have built everything on the site more or less. It is absolutely beautiful, and is one of those places where you simply feel good being in that place on earth. A true oasis.

That night, they both joined the three of us for dinner, and their staff home cooked us an amazing meal with chicken and rice, dishes, posole, some nonalcoholic beer, and told us endless stories into the night. These folks are gems, and rare these days.

The next day, we got up and continued on our route north all the way to the border. We saw three or four cars all day, and were treated with some seriously awesome tarmac ribbon riding through the mountains of northern Sonora.

The border crossing was simple and uneventful, other than a US Border Agent with a snotty attitude (little man with power syndrome). We spent that night in Bisbee, met up with Jake again, and the following day we rode a mix of tarmac and dirt roads (mostly tarmac) back to Scottsdale. It was a 330 mile day, but otherwise uneventful!

I guess that’s about it for this trip writeup. I’ll follow up with another summary of costs, planning, what we brought, etc.

Thanks for reading! Mexico is the best!

Noah’s front tire required daily “service.”

Heading out on our last morning from the Warner Hotel in Bisbee

Jake had some pit stop shenanigans in Tonto National Forest…

I love all the dogs in Mexico. LOVE.

Idiots Abroad

[mulebarn]

A few final thoughts on this Mexico trip, as well as some rough cost estimates for those who might want to do a similar trip.

Firstly, I love traveling in Mexico. I’ve been going there for 20+ years, and have only ever had good experiences. A general rule of thumb: travel places as if you’d want to go back - meaning, create interactions with people and the environment where they’d welcome you back.

Learn and memorize some basic phrases before you go. And smile first, always. “Hello! How are you?” is always a good place to start. Ask folks how they are before you order than delicious baked good. “Thanks so much! I hope to come back again.” - things like that get you a long way. Self deprecation about how bad your Spanish is goes a long way too, especially if you say it in Spanish, and apologize. These little ice breakers truly soften people, and they open up to you. Even on this trip, we had a few situations where we were trying to get a certain permit, and it could’ve been a stressful situation. The group did our best with all these principles, and we’d watch people in real time go from, “Oh great, here come the testy f’ing Gringos” to, “Oh. These guys are sweet, and they’re trying, and they’re patient. I’ll actually speak English to them even though I didn’t start there.” Also, real-time AI translation is a game changer these days.

Read up on cultural norms before you go. Mexican society in rural areas isn’t hurried like we are in the States. As a result, people are more friendly on the whole. The place is family oriented, and super laid back. Match the energy; it’s a healthier way to live, IMO.

In 1300 miles, we had nothing but excellent interactions with people. Everyone was curious where we were from, where we were going, and if we were enjoying their country. Yes, the cartel exists in nearly every part of Mexico. They want nothing to do with messing with Gringos; we are their primary revenue source…

When you’re in Mexico, stay sober, always. It’s simply The Way.

Costs

We all got our bikes to Arizona in different ways, so I can’t comment on that, Maybe @ChrisMunro can chime in on what it costs to ship your bike to Scottsdale. Noah and I drove, and @BrotherPicnic lives there.

For housing, we stayed in some nice houses along the way that I booked on Airbnb. The average per person per night costs for our trip was $100/ni, or $600 in total. That’s for our own bedrooms, secure gated parking, and in Báhia de Kino, oceanfront property. You could go FAR cheaper than this by sharing beds or downgrading, but this range felt good for everyone on the trip.

Hotel Los Arcos de Sonora (@losarcosdesonora) • Instagram photos and videos

Food is just inexpensive and delicious. For fresh, not-processed dinners (think: fresh red snapper, beans and rice, avocado, and some kind of veggies, and a Topo Chico or a beer) we spent maybe $10-15 per night depending on what/where. Breakfast was less and sometimes was leftovers. We’d wing lunch everyday; usually in some family-run spot along the route. Also always fresh and inexpensive. Chris and I both ate like raccoons on this trip, going against our generally hippie/athlete lifestyles at home. We both had Mexican Cokes and random gas station ice cream every night after dinner. I also tried a number of weird, ultraprocessed gas station snacks that we don’t get here with names like Bimbuñuelos (tasted like fortune cookies). Side note: Mexico now (since 2020) labels all high sugar, high calorie processed and high fat foods with warning labels. Hopefully the US catches up to them.

Gas prices were higher than they are in Colorado, and maybe a little higher than they are in Arizona - think $4.50-$5 per gallon. In most cases we found 91 (noventa y uno, or “rojo” since the handle is red. “Fill it up” is “Por favor, llénelo.”). In two or three cases we had to run 87 octane, of which Rich would approve.

All in all, it is much, much less expensive to travel in Mexico than it is in the US. Make sure you have pesos with you as well; some places are still cash only, including gas stations.

Lastly, @noahnomad kindly put together a few “freeform” videos from GoPro footage he shot on our tour. Not storytelling as much as just, ride along with us and see all the things. It’s amazing to watch it after doing it; through the lens provides a very different experience than being in it. In some ways, it’s better because there’s no focusing on what’s ahead and you can truly see the villages. On the other hand, the viewing is totally missing out on all the AMAZING food smells in every single town and village. Riding in Mexico is an olfactory experience as much as it is a visual feast. Everyone is grilling some kind of meat, and it’s everywhere. The briny ocean air is lovely. The refrigerated semi that was a fish hauler who lost his refrigeration? Not so great.

Hopefully @ChrisMunro and Noah can post up a few photos as well.

BISBEE: https://youtu.be/av17bn64hno

BAHIA KINO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqpk-Ow5huM&t=17s

PUERTO PENSACO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbemeIbwt7k

BANAMICHI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3FcEiJgcf4

[MelanieK]

Thanks for writing this up! I love this type of in depth ride/trip report. Have you posted your general route? This is definitely a trip I’d be interested in!

[noahnomad]

Great write-ups Gino! I have nothing more to say other than thanks so much to you and Chris and Jake for letting me tag along. This was an unforgettable dream trip for me and couldn’t have done it with a better bunch of guys. Really appreciate all the work that went into the planning too!

[mulebarn]

This was the basic route, with a final day from Bisbee to Scottsdale around the back side of Mt. Lemmon in Tucson, up through Mammoth, Globe, Apache Trail, etc.

There were some crucial deviations from this route that we couldn’t have known beforehand (alas, true ADV riding!): the road along the coast was close or gone near Puerto Libertad so we had to go inland. Once we got to Báhia de Kino, we went back north on it to see what we’d missed, and it was absolutely brutal with the worst corrugations/washboard I’ve ever seen.

There’s also a concept of communally-owned and family-owned land that Gaia, OnX, etc. have zero clue about. We were told that it’s pretty much a locals-only knowledge game with closed gates, locked gates, etc.

That’s the nature of real ADV riding though… it’s not like a BDR follow the blue line curation.

Also, Mexico is being paved. Even in Baja, there is far less dirt today than there was 25 years ago, unsurprisingly. Pavement = tourism dollars.

[MelanieK]

Thanks, looks like a really fun trip!

[MelanieK]

@DavidLatham wondering if we could do this with you 2 up

[DavidLatham]

I’d have to avoid the deep sand for sure! It looks like a great trip though, so why not give it a try. I’m not sure my better half would think it was a good idea though, especially the picture of Chris getting blasted and pushing through the deep stuff!!

[mulebarn]

FWIW, that deep stuff was purely due to Noah saying out loud “I think I can ride that!” to which we said, “You totally can! Let me get the camera out first.”

All of our sand riding was self imposed.