Barra de Navidad: Tiempo Tranquilo

Everything all the way up to checking out and saying “adios” was pleasant at the Hotel del Centro! Didn’t really matter to me what else they do there to keep the doors open. If I’ve ever in Guadalajara on a budget again, I will definitely be heading right back there. Friendly all the way up to the end and again, soooooo clean!

Might be finally hitting some kind of stride. Getting out of Guadalajara was a snap. I was riding for the first hour or so under storm clouds, but never got rained on and the cuota (toll highway) is a splendid ride on a motorcycle. Easy curves and gorgeous scenery…

My only regret is that I didn’t force myself to stop to take photos of the Colima volcano. It was just too overcast at that part of the route and I have a hard time taking images if I don’t think the light is good enough. If I had it to do again, I would have stopped anyway and made due. Very lovely and stunning landscape that only gets more dramatic as you descend into some canyon region with high bridges over rugged mountain-flanked rivers.

Read More

There was a time when everyone in the Soviet Union wanted a Ural but, despite massive production, had to wait to get one. I didn’t spend 48 hours flying to the westernmost end of Siberia to give up inside Ural’s factory grounds. Simply sitting on a Ural inside the factory left me with sweaty palms and white knuckles. I’m in Irbit, home to Ural’s sprawling Soviet-era production facility. Going entirely too fast — but that hasn’t stopped my brain from convincing me that the only thing a sidecar wants to do is flip over. I was too scared to steer right to correct, convinced that I’d end up with the sidecar on top of me. After giving myself a quick pep talk, I was determined to make this work. Taking a 90-degree right turn to go through the gate, I climbed as far as I could over the sidecar to steady it. In first gear. I was convinced I would inexplicably and suddenly find myself upside down beneath a sidecar. Setting out through the frozen factory grounds, I wasn’t a model of confidence.

Read Article