Safetly Reached Monterrey on my Cracked Tire

I felt a sense of relief today as I safely reached Monterrey on my cracked tire. All that anxiety was for nothing ha ha.

Breaks

I continued with my breaks and listening to music. You know I can’t remember what I was even doing in the photo below. I was happy about something. Maybe it was the music.

brian-break

break-road

Earbuds

During my breaks I would take off my helmet. When I did, it would catch my ipod earbuds and pull them away from my ear.

On one break the little rubber piece on the end fell off. I couldn’t find it anywhere. Then it happened again. Luckily, when I bought them they came with a larger and smaller rubber piece. When I get to Monterrey I need to glue them on so they don’t come off.

Monterrey

Monterrey is a big city of about 1.5 million and considered one of the wealthiest cities in Mexico. However, in recent years it has also had problems with violent drug cartels.

Like most big cities there were freeways and lots of traffic to negotiate. I was trusting my GPS to get me to the hotel I booked.

BMW Navigator IV GPS

I have been using the GPS that came with my bike when I bought it in 2013. I am finding out it isn’t very accurate or precise in Mexico. You have to do some interpretation when reading it. And it doesn’t always get you to the right place.

To compensate I make sure I also get the coordinates of the location I am going to as well as marking it both on Google Maps and Maps.me.

On this occasion my GPS took me “close” to my destination.

So as I have done several times previously, I had to stop, pull out my phone and see where I was on Maps.me. I was only a block away from the Suites DIOH.

Suites DIOH

The Suites DIOH is a non descript hotel I guess. You buzz to get into the reception area. This isn’t that uncommon in Mexico. Like usual, the people didn’t speak English. After some work I learned a new word, “piso.” They put me in the penthouse on Piso 10.

Parking was an issue. The ground parking floor was on a steep angle. Not good for parking a motorcycle. To get to the second parking level I had to negotiate a corner that angled one way and then angled a different way. Not a normal curve up to the next level. Complicating matters was that the road was not smooth.

My riding skills couldn’t cope and I stalled out. Not fun on a hill like that. But I finally made it up.

My room was big. And the views from my balcony were awesome.

monterrey-hotel-3

monterrey-hotel-2

monterrey-hotel

There wasn’t much around the hotel so I picked up a few things from a local store and settled in for the night … looking forward to getting my tires replaced tomorrow.

My Route for October 26, 2016

torreon-monterrey-map

Stop off at Torreon on the Way to Monterrey for a New Tire.

I decided to go to Monterrey for a new tire, but on the way I would stop off at Torreon.

There was apparently a tire place in Durango I could have gone to, but I didn’t feel like going backwards. Over the past couple of days I had gained more confidence in my cracked tire. So I decided to go to Monterrey where there was a BMW Mottorad. It was either a 2 day ride or a short 1 day ride for those Iron Butt riders

Music

To date I have not listened to music while riding. I generally prefer just to hear the sounds of the road unless there is a lot of wind and then I put on my custom ear buds.

Today I decided I needed to listen to some music. I was feeling a bit out of sorts and thought the music may be uplifting. For the most part I find music depressing ha ha ha. However, the songs I have on my ipod are one I find uplifting.

The songs are everything from rap, hip hop, country, and rock. I would say they are mostly rock though. And mostly old school rock since there isn’t much being sung these days 🙁 But I do have Kid Rock and the much maligned Nickelback.

Breaks

I have been keeping up with my breaks every hour and find them quite enjoyable.

Today was turning out really nice. The music is just what I needed. And for my breaks I had left over pizza from the night before ha ha. Hawaiian

break-time-pizza

Torreon

It took me a while to find my hotel in Torreon due to all the construction. And it was right downtown. I like downtown hotel as it is easy to walk around. But they are a pain to ride in.

I finally found the Savoy Express.

savoy-express

I am staying at hotels because they are relatively inexpensive compared to the US and Canada. This hotel was equivalent to what I was paying for a Motel 6 in the US. And it is nicer.

Like I am finding at most places, the staff at Mexican hotels are so friendly. Perhaps it is because of my lack of Spanish ha ha ha. It is always a challenge, but fun. It was no different here.

After checking in I explored the town.

Iglesia-del-Perpetuo-Socorro

municipal-plaza

morelos-ave-3

plaza-de-armas

plaza-de-armas-2

It was funny how they were building a big pedestrian mall and no one was on it. Yet on the main road it was packed with chaos.

I found Torreon to be a pretty cool city.

My Route for October 25, 2016

parral-torreon-map

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