Here in Creel

Well, ate breakfast at the little restaurant next door to our hotel. The food was good and plentiful. Nothing exotic, bacon and eggs for me and sausage and eggs for my girl. We the mounted our bikes and started to the border crossing about 2 miles away. Pretty chilly, as the bike thermometer said it was 36 degrees! Brrrrrr. Jenn and I assumed we were going to the tropical climate of Mexico, but it started at 36 and only got to 59 for a high today. Anyway, we got to the border office at about 7 AM. Hardley anyone there, and it took us a while to roust a Mexican Govenment employee to help us get our "Tourist Card". Finally the agent emerged downing a cup of coffee and motioned us inside. He was extremely helpful and after asking where we were headed, we pulled out a map and he was suggesting routes. We didn't have the heart to tell him we had our trip planned to the hour and we really didn't need his assistance. He then asked about our bikes and when I told him they were KLR650's, he said that was too much bike for Jenn! His english was excellent and I explained to him she could handle that and more. He seemed impressed. So we finished that station and went next door to fill out the vehicle importation paper work. Jenn had "pre-registered" on-line to expedite things, but our agent after rolling his eyes and saying something that sounded like it was intended for mature audiences, he motioned that I now needed to go across the street and make some copies and bring them back so he could complete our paperwork. Finally after bringing back the copies and paying him $464 we were given our importation stickers and our "Tourist Cards". The total process took 1 1/2 hours, but we made it thru. Good thing we pre-registered huh :). So while we were waiting in line a gentleman who spoke very good english said that we should take the Carmargo to get to our intended route Mexico 16. It was a toll road but with the military checkpoints we shouldn't run into any banditos. We took his advice and the road was smooth and straight. We encountered 3 checkpoints. The first one the officer just asked to see our paperwork, but seemed like he only wanted to do that so he could have more time to scope out our bikes.  He asked a lot of questions about our modes and the cost of the bike in the states. He told me that you could get all of the Harley Davidsons you wanted, but you pay 2-3 times the cost for a Japenese bike. Seems that Mexico and Japan had some kind of importation falling out and the Jap bikes were extremely rare, and KLR's even more so! He said that he had 2 Jap bikes that he got before the embargo, a Hayabusa, a Rebel. He half-heartedly asked us if we had any guns or drugs on us, but after after a smile he bid us farewell. About 30 miles up the road we hit a military checkpoint. About 20 soldiers, all carrying automatic weapons. When Jenn approached with her helmet camera attached (but not on), they pulled bandanas up to cover their faces. I guess they don't want the bad guys to have any photographs of them! They spoke no english, but motioned for us to open our hard bags, and after a brief look at their contents he sent us on our way. About 50 miles further up the road we encountered another portable checkpoint, but they never motioned for us to stop, so we just passed them by. The rest of the morning was spend going thru a high desert until we reached the city of Chihuahua. There isn't any perimeter or beltway around, so the GPS sent us through it. I am not sure how anyone could have done it with a map, as even the GPS got lost sometimes with the miriade of turns. But somehow about 45 minutes later we found ourselves on the western edge of town and back on Route 16. We continued to slowly climb in altitude while the temperature dropped throughout the day, and eventually we got to the Creel turnoff from Rte. 16. The ride through the high canyons was beautiful and we eventually found oursleves in Creel. Now unbeknown to us, the hotel we had reserved did have a street address but few streets have signs, and the GPS was lost!. We began to weave our way through the town and after asking what looked like a homeless guy and a bystander for directions, we finally got here at Plaza de Margarita's right about dark. They had us take our bikes to a fortified locked lot, and we settled for a dinner provided with our room. Tomorrow we are going on a locally guided tour of the area and relaxing for the day. That is it for now. We are safe, full, and very tired, but we have finally made it to Copper Canyon !