Santiago de Querétaro, QRO to Nopala de Villagran, Hidalgo
Posted by scott in Leg 2, tags: Bicycle, Business, Global Positioning System, GPS, GPS eXchange Format, Road, Transportation and Logistics, Truck02/11 I’m not really sure what town I’m in right now but it’s not Nopala de Villagran. That was the closest one and I’m too tired to get up and ask the motel manager. Wherever I am it’s not on the GPS or on the paper map. The town is a decent size so I’m kind of surprised it’s not at least on my GPS.
I was very glad to find a motel room for the night because the day was a long one. I only rode 60 miles but there was 3500 feet of elevation gain that wore me out. That and the brutal wind that luckily was hitting me from the side most of the day. Still made it tough because it kept wanting to blow me into traffic. When I got here I saw a taxi sitting at the side of the road so I rode over to see if there was a motel in town. Just my luck I busted him looking at some porn. Fortunately that’s all he was doing. He was no help anyway so I asked another guy further up the road and he told me where the motel was.
Riding on Mex-57 was horrible. It was 6 lanes the entire way and traffic, especially heavy truck traffic, was constant. I did get to meet a couple pretty cool guys that had stopped ahead of me and were waving for me to come over. Both of them were wheelchair bound but, and I’m not sure how, were able to ride a custom 3-wheel bicycle they had sitting up on top of their car.
When I turned off onto Mex-45 it was like night and day. Very little traffic and a nice shoulder. It didn’t last very long before I had to turn off onto a 2 lane road that’s quiet but whoever thought curbs would be a good idea should be hit over the head. The people that passed were pretty good about moving over because I take up a lot more room when there’s a curb.
The other thing I’ve been seeing a lot of, and it kind of sucks, are flatbed trucks hauling pigs (hogs). The cages they keep them in are very small and you can see them laying on top of each other because there’s no room. Brutal.
I’m also going to stop trying to figure out what state I’m in and then getting the official abbreviation. There are just too many and it’s a pain because I sort my pictures by state and it takes forever.
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Hey Scott,
yeah I remember those trucks with the pigs without room to move and piled up over one another – a saddening sight. If people knew all the suffering associated with that pork or beef getting on the plate, more would turn vegetarian, I suppose… Anyway, interesting how experiences of the touring biker are somewhat similar.
Your photos are, as always, superb. Wait until you get to Patagonia, where Mother Nature has some superior photo motives in store for all of us…
Cheers, Thomas.
Hey Thomas. I read about those winds down there in Patagonia… I might need to get a better tripod.
Hope you are having a great ride. Have you been to Columbia yet? Maybe I’ll run into you there.