The bike was picked up and taken back to Houston after the second flat tire. A nail was discovered this time which likely caused both flats. I drove past San Antonio and about 3 hours into the night towards Del Rio, TX, on the border with Mexico.
I had been told “You couldn’t pay me to go to Mexico right now.”, “They will take your stuff and kill you if you give them any problems.”, “They have helicopters, Hummers, and automatic weapons – they are stronger than the Army”, “The US Army should just go down there and blow all their ship up.”, etc. I was told that Monterrey was particularly bad and since this was were I was intending passing through, I thought about it for a while and decided on a more direct route to the border area in Mexico that I was interested in – Chihuahua state’s Copper Canyon (Barranca De Cobre). So I spent the night in Del Rio and continued on around Big Bend park in Southern Texas heading towards the Presidio, TX/Ojinaga, MX crossing. I was stopped by border control outside of Del Rio and passed several other border checkpoints as I approached Presidio.
Desert Road HWY 67 To Presidio
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Bike Being Repaired
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Lake Outside Del Rio
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Desert
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Desert Cactus
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Canyon
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Canyon
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Canyon
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Bike
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Bridge over Riverbed
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Riverbed
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Riverbed
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Riverbed
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Riverbed
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Bike
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 90
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Desert Road 67
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Desert Road HWY 67 To Presidio
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After speaking with a border patrolman and the chamber of commerce people in Presidio I feel reasonably confident about traveling to Chihuahua city (and then on to Creel, MX) even on the non-toll route. I’m nervous but all the things I’ve read seem to indicate the problems affect Mexican Americans and Mexicans mostly and violence directed at foreigners not involved in the drug trade seems much less common.
Here are some graphics from the reports:
Mexican Drug Deaths By Numbers
Mexican Drug Gangs Spheres of Influence
US Citizen Murders/Kidnappings Related to Mexico
