May 14 - Puebla to Veracruz - 120 Miles

After a good breakfast, we tried to get out of town and get onto the Autopista.  (Autopista is the term for "Express Way", and it might be a "free" road or it might be a toll road.)

Following directions of several people, one after another, we almost made it out of town, and then Alex's motorcycle's intermittent electrical problem showed up again, and it quit.  A jump from Deane's bike worked, and we were off again.

The ride to Veracruz had more variety than any other day so far.  We were going about 100 miles to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.  The scenery got greener and greener as we approached the coastal area.  It was beautiful.

Part of the greenery is many, many sugar cane fields.  We have observed that the main agricultural crop in Mexico seems to be sugar cane.  Anywhere there is water for irrigation, there is sugar cane.

We crossed two mountain ranges to get to the coast.  In getting to the first one, we were climbing quite gradually, but then the temperature went down very quickly.  It went from about 68 degrees to 52 degrees in only a few miles.  It also looked like rain over the mountains, with fog settling in.  We stopped and put on more clothes for warmth, and put on our rain suits in case we did encounter rain.  Over the pass, we did encounter heavy fog, with visibility only about 20 yards, but not rain.  On the other side, we took off the rain suits as it became warm again.

Then we selected a little restaurant and hotel along the road for lunch.  Our luck held, and it was very good again.  The enclosed garden was beautiful, and this shows the type of garden that many Mexican houses and businesses have.  The outside  will look very plain, but the enclosed yard or garden may be very nice.  The location here is about 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, so it shows the lush tropical influence when water is available.

Riding on, we did encounter rain going over the next mountain range.  So we stopped under a road over-crossing and put on our rain suits for the second time.  The rain was heavy, but we rode through it, and took off the rain suits again.  It was very hot and humid by the time we could stop and take off the rain suits, so we felt like steamed chickens by the time we got the rain suits off.

Next, the motorcycle electrical problem stopped us a couple of times, with just a jump start getting us going again.  However, this was obviously getting worse, so we looked up a Honda dealer in Veracruz.

The mechanics in the service department had never seen a Gold Wing before, let alone worked on one.  At first they didn't want to work on it because they did not have the familiarity, but Alex insisted that a Honda dealer had to help a Honda owner in the situation we were in.

So the young inexperienced mechanics started to work on it, and soon found what they thought could be causing the problem.  However, with all good intentions, they wound up putting in a new problem, making a relay fail.  They were trying their very best, so we didn't hold it against them, but it did take more time because it was a red herring.

\So the day ended, with Alex's Gold Wing in the shop, and us finding a nearby motel for the night.

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