A sunrise rainbow --    a sign of the coming    days.


Had a pleasant ride on full bellies down the twistys into Creel and the Horizons Unlimited Meet.
          The day we arrived (I think it was around noon), we stopped by to see Ivan at the tourist-info office on the main drag in Creel.

If you ever need any info in Creel, he's your man.  If he doesn't know it, it ain't worth knowing.


                    

          Ivan told me where to find Armando of the famous orange and purple, 5 room motel,  we rented a room with two double beds and gas heat and sometimes hot (!!) water --- sometimes no water at all ---  for 200 pesos, about $18USD per day.  With three folks in a room it works out to about $6.00 bucks a day, beats the crap outa freezing your ass off camping.          


          After unloading some of our gear, we rode over to the Villa Mexicana to see if anyone else had arrived.  The place was almost deserted.  Later that afternoon, I ran across Daniel Pettersson from Sweden.  He was riding an Africa Twin and on his way around the world spending the loot he had earned as a day trader in Sweden.
          

          The next morning Daniel, Dave and myself took a ride through Arareko park, the Mushroom Rocks, Valley of the Erect Penises and over a woods road to Lake Arareko. Later the same day, we rode out to Divisadero to see the Copper Canyon view there. Had a late lunch/snack off the tops of 55 gallon drums that were modified as cook stoves.  I think this was where I met Mr. Montezuma.  I call him "Mr." because I have a lot of respect for him.  He laid my ass low.          

Two Danish girls (Nette Larsen  and  Caroline Juhl) we met were on bicycles told us the area was called "The Valley of the Erect Penises".
Daniel, Dave and me at the Mushroom Rocks with a little Tarahumara gil.
The "Armando Palace Hotel"  gets a facelift
Some of the folks in Creel are trying to rename the valley --  "Valle de los Monjes" -- Valley of the Monks.  I think it's perfect the way it is.
Daniel, made quite a hit with the girls, but as he told us later, there were plenty of European girls at home.  He was only interested in the Chiquitas.
                                      "THE VALLEY OF THE ERECT PENISES"
If you look real close, you can see Daniel and Dave at the back of the road, in the trees.
Daniel is only 6' 7" tall

Can you tell???
The Copper Canyon view at Divisidero.  See why I Iove this area!
          Dave, Daniel, myself and Dana, a guy from Vail, Colorado, took off the next morning for Basaseachi Falls. We opted to go there by the short route, through San Juanito and the 110 kilometer dirt short cut.  It really was a short cut as we found out later. The dirt was double wide and mostly ;-) smooth and easy.   Some spots were a little dicey, but passable.
          About 2/3's of the way along, Dave and Daniel were stopped, waiting for slowpoke me to catch up.  I pulled up and talked to them for a while, waiting for Dana who had been stopping along and taking pictures.  When Dana didn't show up, Dave flagged down a local in a junker. He came sliding in like a NASCAR driver grinning like hell.  We ask him if he had passed an amarillo(yellow) moto.  He replied, "NO BUENO," and made a hand sign of something going over a cliff. --------- Holy Shit!!! --------- Dave and Daniel took off back down the road to see what was up.  Turns out that Dana had a flat and had plugged and pumped the tire back up with his electric "CyclePump".  No big deal, but it gave us all a start.
Dana hauling ass on his amarillo moto.



Break time.
          Seems like everywhere we went was prettier than the day before ------- my friend Dave put it as well as I have ever heard it. 
Quote:  " If the United States owned Mexico they would make a National Park out of the whole fucking place."
Amen, my friend.
Anybody seen Jose ???????
Don't pull over too far here -- it's a long way to the bottom. 
Guard rails?
We don't  need no "steenking" guard rails!
Taking a break near the falls.
Basaseachi ----------
bah-sah-se-ach-ee

Over one thousand feet, free and clear, drop.  One of the highest waterfalls in the world and it just happens to be in one of the prettiest places in the world.

          What ices the cake for me is that I got to ride here on a motorcycle!!

          Ain't that a kick.

          Just sit back and soak in the pictures and make plans to come down for the next HU meet here.  If you like riding and drop-dead scenery, you will be in motorcycle heaven.
Hard as it is to believe -- these pictures are not postcards.  I took them myself.
We took the long way back to Creel, the paved road.  It really was a long way. 
Had to make a cervesa stop in one of the little towns along the road. 
Also took the opportunity to pump up my tires after I let the pressure down for the dirt road.  Dana had his pump out before I could get to mine.  It was much appreciated.
          
Beautiful ride, beautiful scenery, beautiful weather, but the best was still to come:   
BATOPILAS!!!
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Do I really need to explain this picture ??????????                                                                                       Let's just say Mexico has something for every man.
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need Viagra ???
The little bitty black specks you see at the top of the falls are people.

No shit, it's a lot bigger and more specta-
cular than my poor picture could ever show.