Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Today dawned cooler and slightly misty, perfect for the riding day ahead, as we face 285miles, most of which are on dual carriageways as we head for Palenque. After a small breakfast I lead a small group consisting of Nick and Al, and we head off out of the hotel before the main pack is ready to depart. The first 50 miles or so follow the coast road, with spectacular views over idyllic inlets full of little fishing boats or herds of cattle standing in waterlogged fields... but there's nowhere to stop and take a picture, so the images will remain in our minds only... After 50 miles we're about to join the dual carriageway, so we stop for fuel and to prepare ourselves, inserting earplugs and setting the MP3 player on shuffle... the roads are toll roads, so I pay and wave the others through, then resume the lead just as the road goes from 2 lanes down to one and a military checkpoint. These are fairly common in Mexico, especially on the main routes and normally we just get waved through, but this time we're directed to a holding area, where we stop and get off the bikes, remove our helmets and smile a lot. The soldiers want to inspect our panniers, so we open them and let them fumble about inside, not offering any help at all as we don't want to prolong things. After a cursory rummage inside, they're satisfied and we put things back in place and replace the lids, before I cheekily ask if we can take a photo of them by the bikes, which they politely refuse... still, worth a try...

Whilst we were being searched the main group passed by, tooting their horns and waving frantically. When we were released, we rejoined the traffic, which was fairly light allowing a suitably fast cruising speed to help get air flowing across our now sweaty bodies, the temperature and humidity rising fast with every passing minute. We stopped at a roadside cafe for a refresco (pop) and whilst there Andrew appeared and joined our little group, the 4 of us riding in formation at speed down the carriageway for hour after hour towards the big city of Villahermosa, through several tolls, until the road skirted the edge of the city and the traffic intensity grew with the heat, slowing our speed and therefore the air-flow, getting us even hotter and with such high humidity, wetter... There's a saying we use a lot on this trip (attributable to Emmett from the 1st Trans AM in 2005 and up until recently chief instructor at the BMW Road Skills school) which is “Remember where you are”... it certainly helps when the frustration rises due to humidity, temperature and traffic, and slows our pace to a relaxed crawl, as we slow to take in our surroundings and prevent “destination fever” from grabbing us...

Shortly after Villahermosa we stopped again at a roadside cafe, and went to look in the pots of bubbling food to determine what to eat for lunch, a process that involves us speaking English, them Spanish, a lot of pointing and gesturing and then a bowl of chicken noodle soup appearing, followed by some deep-fried curried chicken parcels, both of which were very good. With our lunch stop over we resumed our charge down the dual carriageway, stopping again for fuel at the turn-off for Palenque, before completing the remaining 20 miles or so whilst the vegetation at the roadside changed from fields to jungle.

The hotel we're staying at, Hotel Villa Kin-Ha consists of a main hotel and a collection of thatched-roofed bungalows, which are what we're staying in. They're complete with air conditioning (essential given the humidity, or it would be like sleeping in a sauna) and showers (a waste of time within seconds of standing outside). There's also a large pool, which is where I was about 5 minutes after arriving...





After a couple of beers and a mess about in the pool, followed by a shower and a change of shirt, we had our usual meeting by the pool to run through the next couple of days, then I went and had another shower and changed my shirt (which I immediately put in the washing and handed in at reception), before heading for dinner in the on-site restaurant. Cream of mushroom soup (which was almost certainly Heinz as mushrooms won't grow anywhere near here) was followed by beef fajitas (reasonable, but nothing special) and washed down with a nice bottle of red, shared with Nick. With stomach still growling every time I eat, perhaps the wine was a bad idea, especially as Jim, had gone into town and left the key at reception (I walked all the way to our bungalow only to discover this and have to walk all the way back to reception to get the key – thoughts of the “Reggie Perrin” experience on Koh Chang came to mind...).

Not long after I was in bed and fast asleep... this Adventure Motorcycling lark is, after all, very hard work ;-)