Triumphrat

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:06 PM

Grumpy rides again! This time with a pretty large group headed for the Motohermandad bike rally on the beach in Tampico. The group consisted of the Mexico veterans from our earlier trips, plus Gloria, Sapo's wife, Jeff, our newest CMA Corpus Christi member, and Bob from McAllen. Bob read about Grumpy's travels in Mexico on the internet and asked if he could come along. He, of course, was welcome to join the group.

As usual, I have posted pictures on Picasa at http://picasaweb.google.com/andyc740/Tampico0509#. They include a few videos of some of the more interesting stuff.

There were a few concerns about swine flu, but I looked up case locations on the internet and found out Corpus Christi had more cases of swine flu (10) than Tampico (0). We left hoping we didn't give anyone in Tampico swine flu. I was tempted to see if I could find a big rubber pig's head mask to wear at the rally, preferably with a breathing mask over the mouth, but didn't have the initiative to track one down.

Since Tampico is about 500 miles south of Corpus Christi, we decided to leave after work on Thursday afternoon, instead of waiting for Friday morning. We pulled out on schedule at 6:00 P.M. from our usual convenience store meeting point. Lefty had ridden on ahead since he had an errand to do in McAllen before crossing the border. Bob was going to meet us in Mexico since he didn't like the idea of riding after dark down there. We don't either, but we did it this time anyway.

The group consisted of (besides myself), Sapo and Gloria (otherwise known as G2, on her first bike trip to Mexico), Rick, Jeff (our newest CMA chapter member and also his first bike trip to Mexico), Dale and Sandi, and (not in the picture) Lefty. We met up with Lefty at the peso exchange place in Pharr. Exchange rates had dropped from 13.50 to 12.85, not too bad, still better than a year ago.

We hit the border about 9:00 after changing money, were through customs with all our paperwork done by 10:00 and headed south out of Reynosa. Most of the group already had their papers, so we just needed to put a couple people through the mill. We stopped for the night about 11:30 at the "Y", the intersection of the highways going from Reynosa and Matamoros to Ciudad Victoria. The intersection boasts a gas station, convenience store, hotel, 24-hour restaurant and a number of taco stands. All the comforts of home. We checked into the hotel, had a very late supper at a taco stand and hit the hay about 1:00 A.M.

In the morning, we woke up, gassed up, had breakfast at the restaurant and were on the road again by 7:30 or 8:00. We pulled into Soto la Marina about 10:00, seeing Bob's outrigger-equipped Harley parked alongside the road at the gas station.

After gassing up, we headed south again. Past Soto la Marina, the road goes through some nice hills and a few sweepers. Road conditions deteriorate a bit, but traffic isn't heavy. We ran about 65 or 70 mph most of the time. We saw some thatched roofs and some beautiful acacia trees in full flower.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:09 PM

By the time we got near Tampico, it was raining. We rode about 5 or 10 miles through it (We spit on rain!) looking for a good spot to pull off the highway and put on our rain gear. By the time we stopped, we lost Lefty and Bob, but saw them ride past while we were gearing up on the outskirts of Tampico.

Tampico is Mexico's second biggest port. The population is 200,000 or 300,000, depending on who you believe, making it roughly the same size as Corpus Christi, though it seems much bigger to me. The rally site was right on the beach, next to the mouth of the Rio Panuco. When we pulled up to the rally site, Lefty and Bob were waiting for us. They had made the right turnoffs to hit the beach road that skirts town. There's only one traffic signal along the whole route, though there are a few topes. That's Bob in the tan ball cap and vest.

The rally organizers were great. They had reserved a tent for us near the rally entrance where we could set out our stuff, then detailed another person to go with us as a tour guide for lunch. The rally had advertised eating at Chachalaco's, a restaurant on the opposite side of the Rio Panuco, which hits the gulf right next to where the rally was situated. There are half a dozen restaurants across the river from Tampico, all serving seafood. Small launches take people back and forth across the river to eat. The cost of the boat trip is paid for by the restaurants. All we had to do was tip the captain a few pesos. We parked in the yard of a house near the boat landing, then set off on our 3-hour tour.

The two-story building in the picture is the restaurant where we were headed.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:11 PM

Nobody got seasick on our trip.

Pemex has a refinery alongside the river.

I thought the restaurant itself was pretty so-so, though the group enjoyed their meal. That's me, looking Grumpy.

Back at the rally, more bikers were arriving. I took a picture of this same yellow bike on our trip to the rally in Ciudad Victoria. The bike is pretty hard to miss.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:13 PM

The beach at Tampico is pretty nice. Someone told me they get some spring breakers. Their busiest week is probably Semana Santa, or Holy Week, the week before Easter when the whole country tries to go to the beach.

Finding a hotel turned out to be a bit tougher than usual. Tampico has beach tourists and they were showing up Friday afternoon. We checked at a place or two and wound up at Hotel Miramar, about 2 blocks off the beach. The room was about $75/night for two people and the hotel wasn't anything fancy. Oh well. We did have a place to sleep that was near the rally.

Back at the rally, I ran into Raul and Marielena from Matamoros. We met them last year on our way to Matehuala and did a bike blessing for them. Raul's T-shirt seems to say that Marielena is the one that's Bad to the Bone. There were some stunt riders doing exhibitions in the central fenced-in area of the rally, but I didn't get any pictures.

We wound up the evening with dinner at a restaurant along the beach and repaired to our hotel. Lefty and Rick went to a Presidents' Meeting hosted by the bike rally at the hotel.

Lefty got the chance to talk about CMA, our mission and our reason for coming to Tampico.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:15 PM

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at the taco stand across the street from the hotel, then headed for the rally. Manolo, the President for CMA Mexico was at the rally, trying to get rid of the rain water that had collected at our tent.

It was good to see Manolo again. The last time we saw him was at the Ciudad Victoria rally in March. This time another CMA member had come from Veracruz, bringing his wife along, too. We hung up the CMA banners and set out our tracts and other stuff. We brought 100 bibles to give away and a bunch of bike blessing stickers. We brought the air compressor and some other odds and ends. The only table we could scare up was missing a leg, so we made do.

That's Manolo's little car in the background. We were located right next to the beer tent, so we were in a high-traffic area.

Jeff and Lefty were on a mission of their own. Jeff's father was originally from Tampico and Jeff had a half-sister living there who he had met only once or twice over the past 30 years. Jeff got a phone number and called them up. They were home and he went to see them, taking Lefty along to translate.

Sandi spent a little time at the water's edge before things got rolling.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:17 PM

We were next door to a club called Los Dragones, mostly Gold Wing riders from Monterrey. They were interested in the bibles and kept asking us to do bike blessings for their bikes.

Several guys rode in with colored streamers on their hats and masks strapped to the front of their bikes. They said they were the Angeles de Piedra (Stone Angels) from Michoacan. The hats and masks are part of a local folkdance tradition, mocking the Spaniards.

You can see the rally stage in the picture and the fenced-off area used for exhibitions and bike games. This was a very well-organized rally with quite a bit going on.

Jesus showed up from Monterrey on his nice and shiny Valkyrie. We had met him and his wife at the rally in Monclova last November. One of the things that makes these rallies fun is meeting people, then seeing them several times at different rallies.

One club, the Pit Bulls, brought a Globo de Muerte and began assembling it.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:19 PM

By lunch time, things were quite a bit busier at the CMA tent. Cesar (in the green shirt) showed up with his wife, Margarita. Several friends were on hand and Angel and Carmen (in the orange and black Harley shirts) were there with their daughters to get their CMA membership cards, becoming the newest members of CMA Mexico.

A large part of our group rode off downtown on an expedition to see el Pyramide de Flores (Pyramid of Flowers), an Indian pyramid located in downtown Tampico. The grounds were nice.

But the pyramid was less than impressive.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:21 PM

Meanwhile, back at the rally, the sport bikes were holding drag races.

Some younger riders were running laps around the rally site.

And whole families turned out to see the goings-on.

Somebody ordered a pizza.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:23 PM

We did more bike blessings,

Raspa cart blessings,

and hung out with the locals.

Jeff's sister and family showed up at the rally for a bit.

andyc740 · 06-08-2009, 05:26 PM

Finally it was time to pack up. We had given away all the bibles and lots of tracts. We did about 75 bike blessings by the time we wrapped things up. We wound up eating dinner at the same restaurant as the night before and we were immediately besieged by a large pack of mariachi's. Sapo and Gloria made the mistake of asking for several songs, then the troupe spent the rest of the evening blasting away at another table in the restaurant. Lefty got tired of hearing his favorite songs get butchered, so he decided to show them how to do it.

In the morning, we packed up and headed out. Tampico sent us off the same way it had welcomed us, in the rain. However, it soon cleared up and we had pretty good riding weather.

Bob had left earlier in the morning. Once across the border, I split off the group as I had several days work to do in McAllen. I did see a nice little Cooper Mini in McAllen.