We got a descent time's start out of Tulancingo, Don’s ankle was bad, very swollen and now turning black.  But, he was determent to ride.  He had to shift with his heel, but no stopping him from continuing on.  Don is one tough hombre.

As we headed for the coast, it became apparent that many Mexicans were taking vacation and heading the same direction as we were.  Some of the roads were crowded.

For many Mexicans, Easter Holiday means a vacation and that means:  "C'mon kids, get in the back of the pickup, -we're off for vacation, first stop is for a six-pack of cerveza for dad ...being that he has to drive and all"

I can't tell you how many scenerious like this we came across (thousands) ...families on their way to enjoy the Easter holiday.  And of course beer is a must in Mexico for a long drive.

Maybe an hour or so into our ride I noticed a latch on my luggage not securely fastened so I pulled over to fasten it …-knowing that I’d be able to catch Don and Bob.  Well as it turned out, with the traffic and then some confusion on roads ….i was not able to catch them.  I then made a detour through a town instead of the main road going around the town.  I was convinced that this cost me even more time (little did I know that Don and Bob did the same thing).  So, when I was actually right on their heels, I thought I was way behind.  I then started looking for shortcuts.   My shortcuts were anything but shortcuts!!   …. I later found out that I rode by them in a brisk frenzy when they were getting gas –didn’t even see them!

Being all adults, no big deal that we got separated, We knew aprox where we hoped to end up for the night and I thought I’d just enjoy the day.  I knew that they were taking a coastal route; I decided to stick more to the interior and with the holiday traffic, was optimistic that I could make up time compared to their route.   I knew this meant many dirt roads to cut through to the main paved roads.  And sure enough I wound up on many dirt roads, -great ones, many great small towns and some big ones as well.  I saw some fantastic stuff and enjoyed some great riding.  But, I also was winding up more and more lost around 8000feet elevation making no progress.   I had really got myself in a pickle.   And I was discovering no “good” way to get to where I wanted to go.
 
 

Eventually I was able to  drop down into VeraCruz ...a long day and now late, dark and raining.    I retrieved messages and found out where the two old guys were:  South of VeraCruz  by a few hours.   I had planned to grab a motel room and crash and catch them in the morning.  But figured I could ride a few more hours.  So in spite of common sense -I started toward them -I didn’t take the toll-road, and this (added) mistake cost me dearly.

Dark, wet, and muddy I made my way south.  It was slow going.  I was riding a rural road down the coast and not the toll road.  The rural road charactistics were greatly exagerated by the dark and rain.  Finally after a few hours I got to the cut-off to get to the town where they were.  Only 37miles to go!  Now past midnight, I had been riding for over 16straight hours with no stops, no meals etc.  But, only 37 more miles!!

This turned out to be  the longest, hardest 37miles I’ve ever done.  Took me about 2hours!   A muddy levee road with undefined shoulders on the road that went into deep mud ….tractors carrying loooong trailers of wood driving around with no headlights.  Finally at about 2:30am I landed in Carlos a Carrillo.     What a day –over 18hours on the bike -non-stop on crazy roads -much of it spent franticly looking for shorcuts that ended up getting me lost.   But, i had finally caught up to the old guys.

I had so much adrenaline pumping from the day that I had to unwind.  Off  to the cantina for a beer. I was wiped out!   Met a couple of nice girls who were on vacation …their car had broken down and they were stuck in this town for a day or two while it got fixed.   We traded stories and they were a nice bunch to talk to.