When I left off last time I was having a mid-day respit in Navojoa, complete with swim, cerveza and siesta, lovely.

The rest of the day was really pretty straight forward. Ride Ride Ride. I passed through Guaymas, the town that I rode through after catching the ferry from the Baja. Basically al the riding I had done in this trip was running back over ground I had covered already. I guess there's a bit of psychological effect at play. It doesn't really feel like true exploration if you have already ridden through, even if it is in a different direction with some new things to see.

Some highway dudes

The rolling hills, the sharp rock outcroppings and soring cliffs, and the desert are fascinating to me (cactus never cease to amuse). I love the vistas this part of Mexico offers. Being stirred from my psuedo meditative state by beautiful long wide open valleys rimmed with distant foothills and a variety of ground colours mixed with amazing blues and oranges of the desert sky was a common occurance. Although I am getting pretty handy with being able to take reasonable photos from the saddle thus not losing time, the pictures never capture the true beauty. And yes, I do occasionally stop and just soak it in.

This new, never before travelled section, held great allure for me. I had been noticing how as I roared further north the ladscape was changing. It seemed greener, cooler, more open. This however was not really true, just a feeling. As I continued on in the undiscovered country, the road become more curvy (always good on a motorbike) and travelled through more and more hills, up and down and around. The higway itself was much worse in this area, broken, rough, big bumps that take one by suprise while in cruise control and fully vegged out mindstate. And, the biggest thing, long long areas of road construction, sometime 10km long. This meant going from 4 lanes to only 2...speed being defined by the lowest common denominator, either a dumptruck or a small mexican pickup loaded 15 feet high with all manner of beds, haybails, produce, or just general junk.

I made good time and pulled into Hermosillo with about 30 mins of daylight left. Right on schedule.

As a treat I stayed in a pretty nice hotel. After the dodgy, but cost saving expereince the night before, I wanted something nice and relaxing. Fine dining at KFC across the street, nice little swim, some TV and a very early crash out.

ONe thing that has been abit odd the past few days has been my utter lack of confidence in the time. In Sayulita its one time, say 6pm, in Puerto Vallarta - a 20 min drive, its 7. At one point on this trip I read another clock that read 5pm, AND, to add to it all, they had their spring time change since I have been here.

Toll Booth Punks.

This is what I know. According to the clock on my cel phone, it gets light at about 5:30 am, and dark around 7:30.

Soooo with a nice cozy sleep in a nice hotel room, I rolled out of the parking alot at 5:45, fully coffeed, fully fueled and ready to lay down some miles. And that is exactly what I did. Having a quick but leisurely pace and lots of construction, I pulled up to the border at about 9am.

Lunch in Tucson, then into Phoenix for dinner.

The total distances travelled are much longer than calculated in Google Maps. The website told me. 1600kms. In reality it was 2100, 3/4 of a day riding further. Its a good thing I left a day early as I needed it to stay on schedule. Sort of...

I never did hear back from my friend in LA and to be honest I was realllly dreading driving into the heart of that city, finding storage, getting to the airport and making my flight. I am worn out, I am in desperate need of a neck massage and I have a nice new condo to return home to, so I changed my flights and am leaving Friday night for Vancouver.

I found storage here for a month and will be catching a flight home tonight.

Changed out of grungy road gear and ready to head to the Phoenix airport. I thought I looked very appropriate, not like a biker at all///The funny thing was, I was the only person dress in white and light colours, LOL!

More later.....