DURANGO

Today I left the state of Chihuahua and entered Durango. Moving further south and east of the mountains there was a change in the landscape to a much more open and desert-like feel. The road took me along a one hundred kilometre straight stretch, across an enormous plain and I had a strange feeling of being a little exposed. I had previously read on the Australian government site warnings about Durango, but I hadn’t checked them for a long while. I decided to up my average speed a bit and sat on 120km/h for this part of the journey. This is where I love having the big bike because Ziggy will do this effortlessly and in no time at all I was past the flats and starting to get into some small ranges again.

There were a number of smaller towns along the way and stopped at this particular one for lunch. It was Sunday and the community was out with their street stalls and baseball game.

I walked onto an overpass over the road for a vantage point and watched a foul ball come over the fence and hit Ziggy right on the engine crash bar!

A friendly guy on a pushbike came and spoke with me in English.

On the approach to Durango city there was a magnificent cloudscape 

I was looking for a hotel to avoid entering the city itself, which looked quite large. There was really nothing around and none of the little towns appealed enough to search backstreets for accommodation and I found myself drifting towards the city. I came across some roadworks and was one of the first ever to drive this stretch of brand new bitumen

I came across one of the ‘love motels’ on the outskirts and I went in to check prices, but they were around 500 pesos for the night and there was nowhere close to get food so I continued on. Before I knew it I was in the city and riding in traffic along a busy main street. I saw a Harley parked outside a workshop and few guys standing around so I stopped to see if they had any suggestions. It wasn’t really a Harley, just the badges on a 250 

but the guys were really helpful and suggested a motel on the exit from the city. One of them lead me there in his pick-up which was really kind.

THE RED MOTEL

Aptly named, the Red Motel is simply a love shack but taken to a higher level than anything I had seen in Mexico. It cost 400 Pesos but once I saw it I was happy to pay. Shame I was all alone. Pictures tell the story.

Shower faucet was embedded in the ceiling

It was a very comfortable sleep but I did have to leave at 7am. I ordered some food which was delivered through a little trap door near the entrance door.