Another Great Motorcycle Travel Network Visit
Thursday, April 24th, 2014
It was a little late when Michel arrived but he was in time for dinner.
Michel showed up a little later than planned on Tuesday night but was still in time for dinner. We ended up sitting at the dinner table talking with him till long past the time when we’re usually headed for bed. It was another good time with a Motorcycle Travel Network guest.
After five and one-half months touring the U.S. and Mexico, Michel is headed back to Toronto–but not before riding for a few days in Colorado with a buddy from Montreal who flew in today. And he’ll probably be staying with us one more day before he mounts the bike and starts the blast back home. Oh yeah, and what he’ll be mounting is a BMW 800 GS, not a Honda as I said before. Turns out his profile on MTN is wrong.
Of course he had some good stories to tell. Are you familiar with Mexico’s Copper Canyon? It’s like their version of the Grand Canyon, only bigger and deeper. And it has a road that runs through part of it.
So Michel was on his way to a town down there and saw some signs that the road was closed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. That can’t be right, he figured, it must be incorrect or old or something, and he kept going. Twice he stopped and asked people and they assured him he could get through. I mean, he’s on this GS, so of course he can get through.
In the meantime, the road is getting seriously bad in places. On one side it is nothing but gravel about a foot deep and on the other side it’s hard-packed but there is a drop that goes a very long way down, with no guard-rail, of course. And it’s raining and getting foggy.
Then he encountered a guy going the other way in a truck who asked him where he was going. “You can’t get there,” he said, “the road is closed.”
“Sure I can,” said Michel, “I’m on this GS.”
“No, you don’t understand, we’re dynamiting. The road is really closed.”
Oh.
“Of course, you can get through after 6 p.m.
“On this road? At night? Oh, no.”
So he had to turn back. But he didn’t have enough gas to get back to the last town. And he couldn’t get there before dark.
Nothing to do but to do it. He did find gas along the way but toward nightfall he could only find a place that seemed to rent rooms in season but that was closed at this time. There was a shed so he figured he’s spend the night there. As he unloaded and took off wet clothes a woman and child came around the house. He asked if he could please stay the night in their shed and the woman replied, “Well, yes, but do you want a room?” Salvation!
There was no heat, and it was cold, and he was wet, but it was a place to sleep. In the morning he pulled on cold, wet clothes and gear and set out, reaching the town he had left early the day before just as it started to snow. Two days of tough riding and he was right back where he had been, and he couldn’t have been happier.
These are the kinds of stories we’ve heard so many times from our MTN guests and hosts. We’re really sold on this organization.
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