After another surprise leak on the KTM (this time around the spokes!), we managed to leave Veracruz at 10:30am instead of 8am. Our goal was to make it to Mineral del Monte in the State of Hidalgo so we were still hoping.
It was a nice ride on good roads. We saw an amazing number of double-length tanker trucks on the highway hauling gasoline from Veracruz to the western States to alleviate the shortage there. Somebody mentioned that there were 1,600 of these trucks making the rounds. This shortage was caused by the government shutting down its pipelines due to indiscriminate theft. We have had no problem finding gas so far ... until today.
We stopped in Orizaba for lunch ... great town ... another Pueblo Magico. And, yes, we found a Starbucks there. The riding our of Orizaba was on a four lane highway up the mountain for a non-stop twist fest ... except, every once in a while, we would run into the tankers struggling to go up. It is good to be on a motorcycle to get around things : )
As we approached our last gas station of the day outside Pachuca ... no gas. We found out that some of the surrounding little towns may have some so we exited the toll road and went hunting. Luckily, we found a gas station, with gas, in the first town we visited (Calpulalpan) ... but, wait, it also had a long line of cars waiting to load ... again, nice to be on a motorcycle to weasel your way to the shortest line. We found out that the entire state of Hidalgo has no, or very little, gas so we hope we have enough for tomorrow.
Once fully loaded, we headed up the mountain to Mineral del Monte, our destination for the night at 9000ft. Mineral del Monte was a silver mining town, famous in the 17th-19th centuries. Lots of miner immigrants from Cornwall settled in the region ... lots of Cornish pastes bakeries everywhere.
We had dinner at the great restaurant where we had dinner 3 years ago, walked around, bought souvenirs, and headed back to our hotel. Temperature now is in the 40s. Feels like a sky resort out here with all these mountains around us and the cold.
Tomorrow we head up the mountains to 11000ft for non-stop twisties the whole day.
It was a nice ride on good roads. We saw an amazing number of double-length tanker trucks on the highway hauling gasoline from Veracruz to the western States to alleviate the shortage there. Somebody mentioned that there were 1,600 of these trucks making the rounds. This shortage was caused by the government shutting down its pipelines due to indiscriminate theft. We have had no problem finding gas so far ... until today.
We stopped in Orizaba for lunch ... great town ... another Pueblo Magico. And, yes, we found a Starbucks there. The riding our of Orizaba was on a four lane highway up the mountain for a non-stop twist fest ... except, every once in a while, we would run into the tankers struggling to go up. It is good to be on a motorcycle to get around things : )
As we approached our last gas station of the day outside Pachuca ... no gas. We found out that some of the surrounding little towns may have some so we exited the toll road and went hunting. Luckily, we found a gas station, with gas, in the first town we visited (Calpulalpan) ... but, wait, it also had a long line of cars waiting to load ... again, nice to be on a motorcycle to weasel your way to the shortest line. We found out that the entire state of Hidalgo has no, or very little, gas so we hope we have enough for tomorrow.
We had dinner at the great restaurant where we had dinner 3 years ago, walked around, bought souvenirs, and headed back to our hotel. Temperature now is in the 40s. Feels like a sky resort out here with all these mountains around us and the cold.
Tomorrow we head up the mountains to 11000ft for non-stop twisties the whole day.
Our stop for lunch in Orizaba ... yes, that is a full-blown Starbucks
The museum in Orizaba
Our hotel in Mineral del Monte ... a quaint 3 story house turned Hotel ...
... with a nice big garage!
Lots of Cornish "pastes" bakeries around Mineral del Monte
The whole town was getting ready for a major party next weekend ... this is their patron saint
Some of the Churches around Mineral del Monte ...
... and the streets ...
... and the art (incredibly realistic)!
The end to a long ride at our favorite restaurant
No comments:
Post a Comment