The Devil's Backbone - Part 6 of 8

Friday – June 8

Sammy knocked on my door at 7:00 with another cup of coffee prepared just the way I like it.  I didn’t know what time I went to bed the night before because I couldn’t find my watch and my cell phone was dead.  I realized when he came to wake me up that again I did not get as much sleep as I wanted.  I didn’t know then that I would not get enough sleep until after I got home.

I was upset with Billy because he got us up at 7:00 and we didn’t leave until almost 10:00.  I am pretty punctual and I don’t eat much for breakfast.  I could have slept for another couple of hours and still not held anyone up.  I spent the extra time in the morning writing some of what you are reading, which is enjoyable for me and hopefully for you too.

We pulled out of Mexiquillo just before 10:00.  The roads we were traveling today would be pretty good but are filled with turns and lots of construction too.  There would be opportunities for photos and filming some great riding and beautiful vistas.  The views coming down the mountains are completely different than those going up.  Unfortunately when you are riding The Devil’s Backbone on a motorcycle you don’t want to be looking around too much.  Any lack of focus could cause you to miss a turn and cause serious injury or even kill you.  The crew is getting lots of pictures, which I am including, in this story. 

The closer we got to Mazatlan, the hotter it got.  When I ride, I am always looking for the perfect temperature, adding and shedding clothes as I go trying to be as comfortable as possible.  Since my preference is to be a little cold rather than to be a little warm the perfect temperature eluded me on this trip except for a very short period of time. 

We reached the outskirts of Mazatlan about 4:00 and the traffic was pretty heavy.  I don’t think it was a rush hour thing, I think it is usually pretty busy.  The stop and go traffic, the hottest part of the day and having ridden all week made the final 15 miles or so really uncomfortable.  If we were going slow, it was brutally hot.  If we were going fast, we were getting pelted with rocks and sand being thrown up from the cars and trucks ahead of us.  That little bit of discomfort was overshadowed by the fact that we were almost home and we had successfully ridded The Devil’s Backbone. 

We got back to Billy’s air-conditioned shop and got cooled down a bit.  We hung out for about an hour and got back into the van for the 15-minute ride to the hotel.  Sammy greeted us at the hotel with Margarita’s.  We went out to the pool to film a teaser for the TV show.  We were hot and dirty and just wanted to put on some shorts but we filmed the teaser before we adjourned to the pool for a real cool down.

We had dinner in the parking lot across the street from the hotel.  Giovanni made another shrimp feast.  Prepared several different ways along with incredible corn chowder to start off with.  We decided that the parking lot would be easier and quicker because our final full day in Mexico would include a bill-fishing trip 20 miles off shore.  I am not a big fisher-guy and part of the reason is that it would require a 4:30AM wakeup call. 

We ate and headed out to try to get some sleep.  I didn’t get to sleep until about midnight and my last thought was I hope I don’t get seasick.