Brian’s Microblog

February 22, 2026

We tried to get on the road by 8:30, but after a substantial and tasty breakfast at the Hotel Mirador we ended up leaving closer to nine. It was only 45 degrees out and it warmed up very slowly. We definitely got our money’s worth from our electric jacket liners for several hours.

We kept going south, but the landscape changed only very slowly. There is a lot of Mexico that is dry, and today it was windy, too.

We took Mexico 16 south to Mexico 24, then to Parral where we got some gas. Then we continued south, joining up with Mexico 45 as far as Rodeo. We turned off to follow the Nazas River to the east. This road started off being almost more patches than road, then the patching crew gave up and it was potholes everywhere. Finally we got to some pavement in reasonably good condition because the road has a lot of nice curves. Eventually we joined Mexico 49 to the south again, all the way to Zacatecas. We rode about 500 miles and for most of nine hours, stopping only for gas and a short break to eat some protein bars.

After unpacking and spraying some lubrication on the motorcycle chains in the dimly lit garage under Hotel Meson de la Merced, we walked around the town for a while before settling on dinner at Garufa, an Argentinean restaurant. The meal ended up being huge, but very good.

That evening we learned that government or police forces had killed “El Mencho”, the head of one of Mexico’s biggest cartels the previous day. As a result, cartel activity in various areas was causing chaos: roads being blocked by the cartel with burning buses, trucks, or cars, and other roads blocked by the government to try to control traffic. Cartel gunmen even stormed an airport and burned a passenger jet. We will be doing some careful research before getting back on the road.

February 21, 2026

We had breakfast at The Shed in Las Cruces with Gustavo’s friends Ross and Maryanne. My breakfast burritos were delicious, Ross had “Eggsadillas” which looked really interesting (scrambled eggs between tortillas), and Maryanne had some really nice looking French toast.

After breakfast we went to Ross and Maryanne’s house and unloaded the motorcycles and sorted out all the motorcycle gear from the stuff that would stay in the truck. The new rear tire that I just installed on my bike was almost completely flat so we will have to watch out for a slow leak or something.

We left the truck at the house and got on the road around ten. It felt chilly - it was only about 45 and windy. We arrived at the Santa Teresa border crossing around eleven. Unfortunately the line for the vehicle permits moved very slowly and we did not get out and back on the road until after noon. Fortunately it warmed up into the low sixties.

The next few hours we drove straight roads through a landscape that could easily still have been in New Mexico - dry, flat valleys with low mountains. The intercom system we had installed in our helmets worked really well for a while, then seemed to stop working when the speeds increased. We will probably turn it off at high speeds and just use it in towns where it is very handy.

As we got closer to Chihuahua we took the old highway to avoid one of the toll roads. It had some curves, one where a semi and trailer had tipped over, and one with a monument to some school children who died many years ago in a school bus crash.

We arrived in Chihuahua around five Mountain time, six Chihuahua time. We stopped at Gustavo’s sister in law’s house and I met her and her mother. They made a great dinner for us, and then we took their car to make a quick run to Costco - his sister in law does not enjoy driving in traffic. Then we rode to our hotel closer to downtown Chihuahua.

After checking in we walked to the main plaza and down some of the shopping streets, then had a beer at a bar.