The landscape fattened out again as I pushed for the border, a day and a half later I made it to Eagle Pass and decided to stay the night, it was already mid afternoon and I still had to figure out insurance for the bike. I found myself in what is without doubt the most run down motel I have ever seen but, it was $30. I got some insurance from a local shop and wandered about town for a while. I’m pretty sure that the sheets had dried blood on them I stripped them off and slept in my sleeping bag.
The next day the border crossing went so smoothly I wasn’t completely convinced I was in Mexico, the only hitch came when I got to Allende to do my paper work and realized I had lost my wallet… I panicked for a good five minuets and almost turned around before finding it in the wrong pocket. Oops. Its like I’m allergic to easy and have to make my own problems when there aren’t any.
I made my way down Route 57 stayed the night in Sabinas and over the next week I slowly made my way south and then west to Durango.
I was quickly realizing my Spanish is even worse than I thought it was (which wasn’t very good to begin with). Even when by some stroke of luck I understand what someone is saying responding is even more difficult. It seems that more often than not it would come in another language usually German (which I actually do speak) but sometimes, in a language I definitely don’t speak. I was trying to say “no” but my brain was like that’s not foreign enough why don’t you say “nyet” the man trying to sell me bread looks like he speaks Russian…. seriously, why?!
The weather was getting hotter and I noticed the bike was running a little warmer than usual, I chalked it up to the weather and kept going. I spent the night in a pretty little town on the high planes.
The next morning a checked the fan to see if it was the issue it wasn’t. right before leaving I noticed a bit of coolant on my skid plate but, couldn’t find a leak. I topped off the radiator with some water and it ran fine all the way to Durango.
When I got to Durango I found a decent hostel and decided it my be worthwhile to have a mechanic check out the coolant issues, they weren’t all that helpful, with the generous help of the online community at advrider.com I was able to diagnose what the actual issue is; the water pump seals. Now I just have to figure out where / how to get the parts in Mexico.
I decided to stay in Durango while I figure it out, I could probably make it another 1000 miles without issue but, without going someplace that I know has the parts it seems like an unreasonable risk. And, since I am to stuburn to go back north and have the parts shipped to a border town which would probably the sensible thing to do I have hunkered down for a couple days in Durango to try and figure this out.
At least its given me time to catch up the blog.