RTW North to South: Head for the high ground

KS- Monday

   Beaches are cool, but they have two things we would rather do without. Heat and humidity. I'm sure you're thinking that those two items are unavoidable where we are going, but that doesn't mean we can't try to escape then when we can.   Today, we decided to leave the beach behind, and head inland towards the mountains. Our hotel last night was one of the nicer ones we've had in Mexico, new pillowtop mattresses, monogrammed sheets, and an air conditioner of epic cold, all topped off by courtyard with razorwire topped fences, under a buzzing high voltage power lines. For $23 a night, it was more than worth it. Tonight finds us in a slightly lower ranking accommodations, but still quite nice. There is no AC, but since we are at 5600ft, the air is cool enough on its own. At a meager $13 a night, we can't complain, but I will mention that there is not a toilet seat included in that price. I remember years ago at a campground in Munich Germany, getting a chuckle about the guy walking around carrying his own toilet seat, until entering the camp bathrooms and realizing that he probably had the only toilet seat in camp.   So, fast forward from there, to the start of our day.
   We left Lazaro Cárdenas around 9am, stopping by the Oxxo for coffee and yogurt drinks, which have become a standard morning fare of the journey. Probiotics can't hurt in a traveling situation. We carry extra oil with us since the bikes tend to consume a bit while running higher speeds, and since the consequences of oil starvation on these bikes are not one we wish to face, we check and fill the oil every time we gas up. I had two quarts of oil under the bungee net on the back of my bike, right up until the point where we were making a critical turn on a 4 lane road. About that time the full bottle decided to break free, and go skidding down the road at 60mph. We quickly decided that going back for it would be a huge navigational headache, and a futile effort, since it had probably spewed its contents along the concrete barricade already. Oh well,   there is more oil to be had.
   We traveled along the coast for an hour or so, then turned onto a narrow two lane road that lead us up into the mountains. And when I say up,   I mean UP. After countless twists and turns on beautiful pavement, with some of the most awe inspiring views to date, we crested the top of pass at just over 6000 ft. Many small rockslides left softball size stones scattered around the roadway, so you had to stay on your toes the whole time. The vegetation was super lush and green on the ocean side, but as soon as we crossed the top, it was like entering a whole new world, desert. Pine trees further up, and scrub brush and  cactus as we descended. With views reminding me of the area around the Grand Canyon it was difficult to concentrate of the road. But you'd snap back into focus quickly when you'd round a comer to find a herd of goats and sheep laying in the road,, under the shade of a tree. Quite often there were cows or donkeys either in or along the road as well, with one particular bull wanting to challenge us as we went by. We both agreed it was the best road of the trip so far. Ive ridden many roads in my lifetime, but cant remember any that were a long and continuously winding as this road was today. Good stuff.
   Chip was running low on gas,   and we were still over an hours travel to the nearest station, we think, its really hard to tell sometimes where things really are, and IF they really are. But as we passed a roadside house, I spotted a stack of gas cans in their shed.   We spun around, and went back, asking the woman if we could buy gasoline. She said yes, and sold us a couple 2 liter Coke bottles full of gas for just slightly over the gas station price. Money well spent to guarantee us getting to the next station. Our next stop was a lunch break, at a roadside stand where a man was frying pork skins in oil. We bought some fresh fried pork skin, as well as a couple bananas. While eating the delicious pork skins, I noticed the shop right behind the stand, was a vet. Wondering if the pork skin was a vet patient that went the wrong way, oh well.
   We finished out our riding day with being stopped and questioned at two checkpoints. The first was a military checkpoint wih soldiers in uniform carrying rifles. The second was just guys with rifles and no uniforms. Both let us carry on without any issues. It seems that when you tell them you are riding to Argentina, they tend to let you go without much hassle. We've rolled though probably a half dozen checkpoints with little more than a nod of the head.   Life in Mexico. So before I have to start adding chapters to the post, I'll wrap things up for the night with some pictures.