If rain and traffic weren´t enough!? Now you can say: "Did you see the bull on Caselli´s blog?" and really mean it.

Sunset in Mazatlan. Red sky at night, sailor´s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor´s warning. This only works at sea. The next morning (today) I left at 5:30 and suffered rain for 4 of the next 6 hours goint to Tepic. It got so bad I had to pull off and wait under a jungle tree for it to let up. My face visor was covered with rain and then my visor and my bifoculs fogged up! All is now soaked. The worst part is the road spray from the oncoming trucks. It is blinding. One must simply drive through it- not knowing what is behind it. I had one truck pass into me-I took the shoulder to avoid. This is not fun. Very scary now. Only a madman would continue. For all of you who think I´m embellishing some. NOT. And I´m leaving out the stuff that qualifies for the "You aint gonna believe this, but..." section.

Here I am!!! Mazatlan. This internet cafe is costing me $5 per hour. I got my room for $30- a night. No AC but a nice sea breeze and ceiling fan and pool. Pacifico is $2.20 a bottle across the bar.

I´´m not sure what this means but it can´t be good! Sea Jello? Up and down the Mazatlan beach. Any ideas?

Some spots are totally green. Warning! at 60mph there is no bug problem. Just stop for a photo and they quickly catchup!!

I am back on the road (Mexican). First lunch out. The highways are excellent but tolled. It is an easy $20 a day to take the new toll roads but well worth it. Not a pothole or crack the whole way. And that is a huge thing for a motorcycle. I can cruise along at 70 mph if I choose to. Usually not though. 60 is comfortable. Old man and old moto.

These trucks were lined up for 1.5 miles. As far as the eye can see. All waiting to pass an interior checkpoint. And all going north. Coming soon to your neighborhood.

"Made in Mexico." Well, not yet anyway. Two shirts for 100 pesos.

This sign is at the entrance to the local Woolworth store. (If you remember Woolworth´s, you´re over fifty.) THIS IS THE PROBLEM. I translate it as ¨"No money, just charge it!" The security guard tried to stop my photography, but I pretended he was speaking a language I didn´t understand, like Spanish.

It was difficult to tell where the blue evening sky ended and the sea´s horizon began. The extremes struck me. Little more than a week ago I lay in the baja desert sand deserately trying to get my clutch to work. Now I sat in a polished aluminum chair cooled by a just barely sea breeze. I was told my old motorcycle was not fixable. Now the parts are due Friday. I´ve been so wet with sweat that my eyes burned from the salt. (An exciting story to be told another time.) Now I watch three young females across the patio, sitting like nymphs on the bank of the stream of Spanish that flows around me. In three days I leave this now familiar neighborhood and back to the familiar unknown. Sometimes I´m tired. Sometimes I´m shot. Sometimes I don´t know how more that I´ve got. Out of the darkness and into the light, If´m not wrong then I´m totally right.

If you thought you saw me as part of the weekend riot in Oaxca, you are mistaken. I did not set fire to the police bus. I am still in Guaymas, Sonora.

I´m staying here now. It is nice enough to share with a wife or girlfriend! I went to mass today, RC is the only religion in town. I felt really good afterward. Maybe because I was taller than all the women and most of the men. At one point I thought I had a vision: I looked up at Mary MOG (Mother Of God) and she was GLOWING. Then I realized that the priest had just turned on the neon halo. O´well.
While I´m stranded here I will go intense on my Spanish. However, studying without a Spanish teacher does have some dangers. I just learned ¨No hay otra mejor.¨Which means ¨None better¨or ¨Your mother sleeps with burros.¨ I can´t be sure without technical advise.

Last week I arrived in Guaymas at 10pm with a badly slipping clutch, so I was happy to find anything with a vacante room. This place was not my first choice, having alrady experienced "no vacancy." The interior is just as bad. I stayed too long, thinking that only tomorrow I will be back on the road. Places like this can work on your mind. Like an ugly horror movie. $27 per day. Even so, I can take some dark pride in finding it with no sign, no street light, no experience. (A hooker did give me some directions.)

This is a closeup of the bank building next to the main entrance. It is interesting in that all the columns and pilasters are made of brick and then cemented over. There is no marble or granite used.

Mexico has some very impressive buildings built in the classical style. This is the former Bank of Senora building that is now abandoned. There is a lesson here. Owners must be influenced not to abandon. It blights the neighbor hood and embarrasses the community.

This is my only grandchild, Gianna. I´m posting it to give some reality to my present circumstances. Before the emergency parts arrive and we know if this trip will be a success, I want to thank my corporate sponsors. Farokh and Hatice Hormazdi for letting me stay in their home the very hectic night before my departure. Mike Aurnague who hosted me at his home during my prepartions and my son, Ashton and his wife Shari for storing my goods and guesting me between the time at the ranch and Mike´s home.
Farokh also helped me through my first disaster. In his driveway I dropped the motorcycle and bent the turn arm and smashed the turn lens. The motorcycle weighs 520 pounds plus 80 pounds of cargo. I could not have gotten it up without his help.

This is the shop which holds all my hopes for a complete repair. One mechanic who only works mornings.

Rush hour in Guaymas. It rains at night. At ten in the morning the streets are still full of water, by 2 pm-mud, by 6 pm back to dust.

I admit it. I am a type A. In Tecate the man told me to get my motorcycle importation papers in Ensenada. In Ensenada they told me that was wrong. Get them in La Paz. In Rosalia they said in Gauymas. In Guaymas they told me in Emplame, Sonora. With each encounter I´m getting deeper into Mexico. On my mind are the horror stories of vehicles being sent back to the point of entry into Mexico or simply impounded while trying to exit without the correct entry papers. Understandably, I´m getting uptight. I want to do it right. In Guaymas I first asked at the Port Security Office. I only got shrugs in Spanish. Then I went to Immigration. They sent me to Customs. At Customs, a very nice official, Odin Garcia, told me to go to Emplame. "You have no problem. 2 miles down the Panamerican highway is Emplame, it is a 24 hour office. It will take 10 minutes!" I pray he is correct.

I got terribly seasick on the ferry and violently ill twice. I got a room that night and pushed the moto to the Yamaha shop the next morning, where the only mechanic there told me that it could not be repaired because of its age (no part support from Yamaha after 1992)! I returned to the shop with three extra cola´s and smoozed some. He then offered to try to order some parts that ¨might fit.¨(The power of just being nice free drinks manifest) In-the-meantime, my Masonic brother, Mike Aurnague found the necessary parts from a broker in San Diego and has since shipped them express-rush to me in Guaymas. Hopefully they will arrive Monday and all will be well.

There are three internet cafes in this town of 5000 people. Often all three are at capacity. The hourly charge is about one dollar fifty. The equipment is the newest avaliable. Besides being good for surfing, these cafe{s always have the best air coditioning and is a good place to meet other English speaking tourists, if one wants to.

There is a 15% discount avaliable to those who belong to the Mexican government,s version of AARP. I ask for the discount and the clerk asked for my Mexican card. Of course I did not have one. Then he saw my Scottish Rite 14th degree ring. The emblem is very similar... he looked twice and gave me the discount! Thank you AASR for saving me 15 dollars on my ferry ticket.

The ferry ride for me is 650 pesos and another 1350 pesos for the moto. 11 pesos per dollar. Considering that the average daily wage in this country is ten dollars, it is too steep for many folks. Eight hours afloat is usual.

I pulled onto the shoulder to check my map and crashed! No injury to me but lost the clutch. Now it slips terribly and I can't get more than 30 mph out of it and maybe 5 mph over the desert passes. These two Mexicans voluntarily stopped and returned me to town. Thought I had it repaired, but didn't. Now I must divert from my route to La Paz and take the ferry from here, Rosalita, across the gulf to Guymas where there are Yamaha mechanics. Mexican Customs is closed today, Sunday, the ferry leaves today and Tuesday. I hope I like this place.

If you like the desert, you'll love crossing the baja peninsula. There is nothing as far as the eye can see except more highway. The next service is 210 kilometers. They are super good highways, BUT no shoulders and the lanes are only nine feet wide, compared to the eleven feet in the USA.

Alive and well in El Rosario, Mexico Baja, 2:30, Thusday. 191 kilometers to the next fuel stop. (or tire shop)

Day five: Somewhere on the 30th latitude on highway Mexico 1. The roads are two lane in very good repair. Little traffic.

There are two ways of traveling. Either will get you there in approximately the same amount of time. Method A: Don't look at the map, refrain from asking for directions, ignore road signs and drive like hell. Method B: Often review the map, ask the locals for directions, notice the road signs and drive at 55 mph. I use both, depending on my testosterine level.

The best taco stand in the world is in San Quentin, about 200 kilometers south of Ensenada. I was delayed here with my first flat tire. A farmer agreed to drive me to town to get two more cans of ""fix-a-flat" while his family watched my luggage. I made it to a tire shop but they could not fix a motorcycle tire. After more air, I made it to San Quintin for overnight and Tacos Los Poblanos. By noon the next day I was back on the road. $30 to repair tire with a tube.

A TECATE in TECATE!! Now I''ve had a pizza in pisa, a Vienna sausage in Vienna and a Tecate in Tecate, Mexico.

Day two (late entry): 115 degrees was the tops for day two. I have an instrument in my luggage which records the high and the low for both temperature and humidity since the last reset for those who asked. 377 miles and I stayed in Yuma. The photo is my usual configuration for the Moto. The bag on the rear is full of soft clothing so the center of mass is more forward than it looks. We cook along at 70 with a smooth ride.

Day One (yesterday). Highway 95 from Reno to Las Vegas. 425 miles. 108 degrees. Exhausted, I stopped short of Las Vegas by 40 miles and stayed in Indian Springs.

Day Two: (today). I am holed up in Starbucks at Lake Havasu. 211 miles so far today but too damn hot (105)to continue. The heat, the low humidity (15) and the relative wind make it impossible to stay hydrated. I'll stay until 4:00 and go for another 150 miles-maybe Brawley, California.

Your "road warrior" all dressed up.

Baja California. From Reno to Las Vegas to visit family. After Las Vegas, I will stay in Mexico: Ensenada, El Rosano, Guerrrero Negro, Santa Rosalia, Villa Constitution and finally La Paz - where I get a boat to Mazatlan. Each leg is approximately 300 miles or 7 hours with breaks. That's five days of a 12+ day trip. I will post the other route spots from a La Paz cafe. Stay with me and email me at jcaselli13 @yahoo.com

Surprise!!! I couldn't wait until September. Now I plan to leave on July 9th from Reno, Nevada. 3,602 miles on my Yamaha. Or 12 days on the road. I expect to add some rest/recreation days and maybe some more time for motorcycle repairs (God forbid.) So, just maybe, a total of 18 days. First down Baja California to La Paz. Then the ferry to Mazatlan, through Guadalajara then the Central States. My destination is the Panama canal! Start checking in on July 12th!